By Rhonda L. Deeg

Career and technical educators are familiar with construction programs offered at the secondary level entitled Building Trades, Building Maintenance, Electricity and HVAC. There are additional programs offered that support the building industry, such as general drafting, architecture and interior design. We all understand how important these programs are to budding student architects and builders who dream to pursue a career in an ever-growing building industry; however, are we really offering students a fully embodied curriculum in construction, or are there components missing? What I suggest may put a backspin on construction curricula; nevertheless, it seems all too important but sometimes forgotten.

A Little Background

In October of 2001, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the International Preservation Trades Workshop, held at Floyd Bennett Field in New York and hosted by the Preservation Trades Network, a five-year-old international preservation organization representing more than 500 people and 500 years of traditions. This was my first workshop as a new member of the Preservation Trades Network, and I was impressed!

Historical craftsmen, timber framers, plaster painters and many others gathered to demonstrate their skills as historic artisans preserving traditions of the past. Demonstrations lasted 45 minutes?each paying particular attention to teaching the attendees the meticulous details of a specific trade procedure.

I was surprised to learn that several dedicated demonstrators traveled from as far as Europe to attend this event, while others represented mostly the mid-eastern areas of our own country. This was a gathering of historic preservationists, planners, architects, educators and trades craftsmen and women who outwardly showed their respect and passion for saving our cultural heritage. Like builders who build with contemporary materials, these craftspeople represent a trade to which they are committed and in which they have much experience.

There is one difference nonetheless, and that concerns the type of building materials with which they work. The building materials often represent fabric from buildings 100 years old and older! Preservation trades craftsmen?those who work with historical building materials and technology?have acquired an irreplaceable skill unknown to many and, unfortunately, are part of a disappearing profession.

The Preservation Trades Network (PTN) is a nonprofit organization that brings together construction trades members in the fields of historic preservation, restoration, conservation, architecture, engineering and development. The organization believes that preservation trades can make a difference by sharing information about crafts among peers in the field. It also sets a precedent of building a community of preservationists who share in a hands-on approach of teaching and learning. This year?s sixth annual preservation trades workshop, held in Fairmont, West Virginia, was equally as educational. In 2003, the Preservation Trades Network plans on holding their workshop in Maryland.

A New Idea

As a former interior design high school vocational instructor and an advocate of historic preservation education in the historical trades, I propose a new idea in program development. Currently, the physical preservation and conservation of our historical buildings is in the hands of national organizations, historic preservation professionals and those well educated in respect to history. However, the future of saving our past cultural icons should not solely rest on the shoulders of an elite group of preservationists. All public school leaders and educators who are concerned about our nation?s historical past, and how it will be preserved in the present and future, should become collaborators with preservationists to develop opportunities for teaching students about historic preservation, philosophy, content and technique.

The role that career and technical education plays in program development could make a phenomenal difference in the way our younger generations respect or treat our historical landmarks, not to mention broadening their career opportunities to include the fields of historic preservation, traditional trades/crafts and conservation.

I propose considering implementation of preservation trades activities into existing building trades curriculum. Projects such as mixing and applying historical flat plaster, replicating intricate moldings, onsite examinations of historical building materials and methods, and actual hands-on restoration projects are just a few of many ideas that can be integrated into existing programs. Numerous opportunities to tie historic preservation to the classroom are available with state/local historical societies, museums, parks and interpretive sites.

The Historic Preservation Trades

Today, the shortage of adequately trained craftsmen (both technically and artistically) has left the preservation field suffering. A preservation trades program would not only fulfill the increased need for specialized craftsmen but would also provide students interested in restoration with career opportunities to expand their construction knowledge base, refine skills needed to carry out traditional ways of American craftsmanship and increase their occupational options.

Furthermore, teaching preservation trades at the secondary career and technical program levels allows students to develop an understanding of the connection between abstract concepts of history, technology and technique and the varied learning methods of practical hands-on experiences.

Finally, historic preservation principles can be an approach to educating people in the care and restoration of historical buildings, thus improving the future quantity of informed historical property owners and public stewards who will help in the preservation of a community?s architectural history?a history that has so often been lost.

The Preservation Trades Network supports the knowledge and educational exchange of its profession and is dedicated to enlightening others about it. For more information on how you can make the historic preservation trades a part of your career and technical education curriculum, please link to the Preservation Trades Network at http://www.ptn.org and http://epreservation.net; or contact Philip Marshall pcmarshall@epreservation.com and Robert Cagnetta robcags@cox.net, both chairpersons of the Preservation Trades Network Education Committee, or Rhonda L. Deeg r_deeg@hotmail.com, chair of the PTN Education taskforce committee for high school and vocational education.

Rhonda L. Deeg is a former Michigan vocational high school teacher and former construction coordinator for Taliesin Preservation, Inc. at Frank Lloyd Wright?s estate in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She is currently a full-time Ph.D. student in the Continuing and Vocational Education Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses upon perpetuating the historic preservation trades and crafts.