AMST 205: Historic Preservation

In this course students will study the history and theory of historic preservation, specifically of cultural landscapes, and gain practical experience in site assessment and historical analysis using a local Middletown site. How do we determine historic significance? Who are the stewards of historic spaces? What are effective strategies for preservation planning and policymaking? How do historic artifacts and documents inform our understanding of a historic site? Throughout the semester students will participate in a mapping survey of gravemarkers in the Washington Street burying ground. During the second half of the semester students will apply what they have learned in an individual research project.

Past Projects

  • 2009: Grave Markers

    Students were assigned particular grave markers in the cemetery. Students researched a deceased person, while studying how artifacts can mark the history of space and place within the urban environment of Middletown. John Hinchman, a lecturer and research specialist in the Architectural Conservation Laboratory of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Pennsylvania, taught Milroy’s students how to use a “total station” and scanner tool to map the cemetery’s terrain and grave markers. The collected data is imported into engineering software AutoCAD, and as a result, the class will have a detailed and accurate map of the entire cemetery’s physical layout.

    More about 2009: Grave Markers

    At the end of the semester, The class’s findings were donated to the Middletown Old Burial Ground Association.

    Read more about the project in the Wesleyan Connection:

    “Service Learning Class Studies Local Cemetery” (10/8/09)