Retaining Wilmington : the role of class, heritage and memory in historic preservation, 1882-1963
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Gareth Evans (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
- Advisor
- William Moore
Abstract: History is made by those who write it, and preservationists write history through
the medium of historic buildings. The historic, built environment is irreplaceable, and the
work of historic preservation is indispensable in maintaining our sense of identity and
place. Historic preservation is a field that aims to maintain the character of a place by
renovating and retaining historic structures, and with them the memory of the people who
built and used them. Historic preservation was begun and is traditionally led by the upper
classes in American society. Early preservation in Wilmington, from the last decades of
the nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, illustrates the fact that the powerful create
and preserve their own history, and that the upper classes are motivated to memorialize
their own heritage through the built environment. This work argues that the success of
early preservation in Wilmington was directly proportional to the degree of investment by
the upper classes in a specific property. Early successes and failures of preservation as
exemplified through the case studies of the Burgwin-Wright House, City Hall-Thalian
Hall, the main branch of the United States Post Office, and others support this argument.
These examples, as well as the historiography and evolution of historic preservation over
time, highlight upper class motivations for preservation such as memorializing, retaining
their sense of place and solidifying their position as leaders of society. An examination
of early efforts at preservation within the state of North Carolina and across the United
States indicates that events in Wilmington reflected larger trends.
Retaining Wilmington : the role of class, heritage and memory in historic preservation, 1882-1963
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Created on 1/1/2009
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters of Arts
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Historic preservation--North Carolina--Wilmington