The Preservation Durham Board of Directors is pleased to announce that April Johnson has been hired as Preservation Durham’s new Executive Director. April comes to us with non-profit experience in historic preservation. Her work involves previous work with Preservation Durham, identifying and documenting overlooked African-American historic resources. She also has urban planning experience working as a historic preservation planner with other municipalities.

NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT AND RESTATEMENT OF BYLAWS

The following information serves to provide official notice to the members (hereinafter, “Members”) that an amendment and restatement of the Bylaws (hereinafter, “Bylaws”) of The Historic Preservation Society of Durham, Inc. (hereinafter, “Preservation Durham”) has been proposed (hereinafter, the “Bylaw Amendment”).

The Bylaw Amendment is a complete restatement and replacement of Preservation Durham’s current bylaws. Preservation Durham’s current bylaws are out-of-date with North Carolina’s non-profit statute and do not embody best governance practices. The Bylaw Amendment seeks to ensure compliance with state law and instill solid governance as an organization through amending and restating our bylaws in their entirety.

Notice is hereby given to all Members that the Bylaw Amendment will be voted

Preservation Durham is partnering with the Durham City/County Planning Department to update the Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory. The Inventory is a comprehensive listing of all the historically significant architectural resources in the city and county. The listing and description of each site is used as a reference for research and city planning. Since the last update in 1982, Durham has seen a great deal of change, many historic buildings have been renovated or demolished, and of course the standard 50-year-old historic threshold has advanced. This work will update records on previously listed sites, as well as add historic sites built after 1940.

Preservation Durham is excited to utilize Open Durham to make the update process more open to the public. We will

It’s always easier to tear something down and build new. There are always investors looking to build the next subdivision, or a chain store, or simply a parking lot. Built in 1936, the former Edgemont Freewill Baptist Church (now Church of the Apostolic Revival) has seen better days, narrowly escaping demolishment in 2016 after being condemned by the city. Having grown up in the church as a young boy, Charles Gibbs, takes us down memory lane of irreplaceable parts of Durham’s history, and reminds us that some things survive in spite of themselves.

Preservation Durham is proud to announce that the Preservation Equity Project has been selected as one of five Finalists for the 2017 What Matters Innovation Award from the Triangle Community Foundation, sponsored by American Underground. The $25,000 grant would kick the PEP project into high gear and enable us to begin offering technical assistance coupled with low-interest loans to needy property owners.

The final step in the Innovation Award competition is for the five finalists to prepare pitches to be delivered before a live audience on March 30 at Innovation Award Pitch Day. This is an exciting opportunity, and Preservation Durham is honored to be selected as a finalist.

Center for Documentary Studies
Continuing Education Class on College Heights!

We have partnered with Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies in order to have a Spring Continuing Education course on the College Heights neighborhood. The course will be led by Michelle Lanier (acting director of North Carolina’s African American Heritage Commission), with assistance from Ben Filippo of Preservation Durham.

This course will set the stage for a broader involvement by CDS Continuing Education in the College Heights neighborhood in the summer of 2017. This class will help empower the neighborhood to tell their own story, of a thriving Black middle class in the midst of urban renewal and disinvestment. Students will learn best practices in oral history and documentary work more broadly. Each student

by Bob Ashley (PD Board Member)

A couple of weeks ago, our innovative and astute executive director spoke at the Durham County Library.

“Durham must find a way to use historic preservation as an economic development tool that includes all community members and mitigates the effects of displacement for local businesses and residents as growth continues throughout the county,” my newspaper, The Herald-Sun, quoted Ben Filippo as saying.

“Now, what we’re watching is a totally new Durham unfolding before our eyes. We’re watching a Durham in which housing rates are going up at a dramatic clip,” he said. “We’re seeing the price of housing stock in some of our neighborhoods, particularly in neighborhoods central to the downtown area, going up by astronomical levels.”

Coincidentally,

Preserve Durham 

Guest Post By:

Jason Norris

Hello, my name is Jason Norris and I am going into my second year in the Public History Master’s program at North Carolina State University. Thus far I have focused primarily on heritage studies, though I do eventually want to get my Master’s degree in Library Science so as to enter the field of archives and records management. This summer I have been interning in the file room at the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office in Raleigh. My primary responsibility is helping the SHPO with their backlog of the photographic slides which are an integral part of National Register applications and surveys.

My project, beyond the above duties, concerns the