December 2014 Newsletter

Dec 15, 2014 by SAH News

 
December 2014 Volume LVIII, No. 12 / Society of Architectural Historians Newsletter
     
    2015 SAH International Travel Grant Recipients
SAH is pleased to announce the twelve recipients of the 2015 SAH International Travel Grant Program, generously funded by the Getty Foundation. The grants are intended to provide funding to scholars from countries that have traditionally been underrepresented at the SAH Annual International Conference to attend the SAH 68th Annual International Conference in Chicago, April 15–19, 2015. This is the first year that SAH has received a Getty grant to support the program.

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  Architectures in the Rio de la Plata Basin: Between Tradition and Cosmopolitanism
September 1-12, 2015 | Registration opens February 10, 2015
This SAH Field Seminar takes you to two South American nations united by the river between them, Uruguay and Argentina. Explore the architecture of the Rio de la Plata Basin with SAH 2nd Vice President Sandy Isenstadt and architect Natalia Muñoa. This seminar features an itinerary customized for SAH members and includes visits to sites not open to the general public, supplemental lectures, and a significant educational component designed to enhance your experience of the architecture, landscapes, and culture of the region.


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  Chicago Preservationists Honored at SAH Awards Gala
The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) held its 2014 Awards Gala on November 8, at The Fortnightly of Chicago. The theme was A Foundation for Preservation, honoring the work of early initiators and continuing supporters of preservation work in Chicago. The gala’s nearly 200 attendees included architectural historians, architects, preservationists, and others from the Chicago architecture community. The event raised over $45,000 to support the educational mission of SAH and the ongoing restoration of SAH’s landmark headquarters, the Charnley-Persky House, which suffered flood damage in August.

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  Restoration Update of Charnley-Persky House Flood Damage
Imagine sitting at your desk answering emails, and suddenly hearing the sound of water gushing from a second floor bathroom. On August 19, 2014 seven SAH staff members heard that panic-inspiring sound and jumped to the rescue to find two uncontrollable geysers of storm water shooting up from a second-floor sink and toilet in SAH’s National Historic Landmark Charnley-Persky House. The water cascaded down the walls and through heating vents to the first-floor library and basement below. It soaked the library ceiling, walls and floors and ran downstairs like a waterfall, filling a basement storage room. This happened three more times before specialists could unearth and replace the clogged 19th-century sewer pipe that was the cause of the flooding.

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  Buildings of Texas Wins San Antonio Conservation Society Award
Buildings of Texas: Central, South and Gulf Coast has won a 2015 Publication Award from the San Antonio Conservation Society. The Society's Publication Awards recognize the authors of the best recently published books on Texas history. The volume is part of the Buildings of the United States series from the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH), a state-by-state documentation of important buildings across the United States, written by leading local and national scholars.

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  The New Flower: Addis Ababa and the Project of African Modernity
By Brooks Fellow Amber N. Wiley
Addis Ababa, or “New Flower” in Amharic, was founded in 1886. During early imperial times the capital had been located in Axum, Lalibela, and Gondar, as well as several other smaller cities. In modern times, the capital was built anew. Empress Taytu Betul, wife of Emperor Menelik II, first settled in the Entoto hills. This settlement was “little more than a military encampment.”


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Thank You for Supporting SAH
The Society of Architectural Historians is grateful to the many members, individuals, organizations, corporations and foundations who made gifts and grants this past fiscal year. Your contributions supported SAH, including the Committee of 300, fellowships, Buildings of the United States, SAH Archipedia, Charnley-Persky House, the Awards Gala and other special events including the Maison de Verre fundraiser. We sincerely thank you for your generosity and for supporting the ongoing educational mission of the Society. View the list of of donors from October 1, 2013, through September 30, 2014.
 
Become a Founding Member of Friends of Charnley-Persky House
Join us as we launch a new campaign to support SAH headquarters, the National Historic Landmark Charnley-Persky House. Make a donation of any amount to CPH now through December 31, 2014, and become a Founding Member. Anyone who has made a contribution since August 20 to support restoration of CPH is considered a Founding Member. Learn More
 
Make Your Annual Fund Gift Today
In July 2015, the Society of Architectural Historians will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding at Harvard University in 1940. As we plan activities and events to reflect on SAH’s history and its many accomplishments, we also are planning for the future. Please help us continue SAH's success by making a contribution to the 75th Anniversary Annual Fund, Celebrating Our Past, Building Our Future. With a minimum gift of $75, your name will go on an SAH birthday card to be displayed at the 2015 Annual Conference in April. To commemorate SAH’s birthday, please consider making a donation reflecting our 75 years: $75, $175, $375, $750, $1,750 or more. Donate Now
 
JPASS 50% Off for SAH Members
In collaboration with JSTOR, SAH offers its members a 50% discount for JPASS, a JSTOR access plan for individuals. Designed for those without institutional access to the JSTOR archival collections, JPASS is ideal for SAH members working outside of the academy, faculty members at institutions with limited access to JSTOR and adjuncts with sporadic access to library resources. To purchase, members must first log in to the SAH website, then visit the JSAH webpage and click on the link to purchase JPASS for $99/year. If you need assistance, please contact Anne Bird at abird@sah.org.

NEH Public Scholar Grant Program
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant opportunity, the Public Scholar Program, intended to support well-researched books in the humanities that have been conceived and written to reach a broad readership. Books supported through the Public Scholar Program might present a narrative history, tell the stories of important individuals, analyze significant texts, provide a synthesis of ideas, revive interest in a neglected subject, or examine the latest thinking on a topic. Most importantly, they should present significant humanities topics in a way that is accessible to general readers. The Public Scholar Program is open to both independent scholars and individuals affiliated with scholarly institutions. It offers a stipend of $4,200 per month for a period of six to twelve months. The maximum stipend is $50,400 for a twelve-month period. Applicants must have previously published a book or monograph with a university or commercial press, or articles and essays that reach a wide readership. Application guidelines and a list of F.A.Q.’s for the Public Scholar Program are available on the NEH website. The application deadline for the first cycle is March 3, 2015. Recipients may begin the term of the grant as early as October 1, 2015 or as late as September 1, 2016.
 
Keeping It Modern Architectural Conservation Grants
Keeping It Modern is a new grant initiative from the Getty Foundation that will support grant projects of outstanding architectural significance that promise to advance conservation practices. Grants focus on the creation of conservation management plans that guide long-term maintenance and conservation policies and the testing and analysis of modern materials. In select cases, grants may support implementation projects that have the potential to serve as models for the conservation of other 20th-century buildings. Letters of Inquiry are due by January 9, 2015.
 
Chapter and Partner News
On January 31, the Southern California Chapter (SAH/SCC) of SAH will present "Authors on Architecture: Suisman on the Boulevards" lecture and book signing with architect, urban planner and author Doug Suisman, at the Santa Monica Library. 
 
Current SAH Opportunities
HABS-SAH Sally Kress Tompkins Fellowship: This fellowship permits an architectural historian to work on a 12-week HABS project during the summer. Deadline December 31, 2014.

Charles E. Peterson Fellowship of the Buildings of the United States and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia: This fellowship supports the participation of a graduate student in the research and writing for a volume in the Buildings of the United States series and/or SAH Archipedia. Deadline January 2, 2015.

Call for Nominations to JSAH Editorial Advisory Committee: SAH invites nominations and self-nominations for two individuals to serve on the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Editorial Advisory Committee for a term of four years starting April 15, 2015. Deadline January 15.

2016 SAH Annual International Conference Call for Sessions: SAH is accepting session proposals for the its 69th Annual International Conference in Pasadena/Los Angeles, CA, April 6-10, 2016. Deadline January 16.
 
Members in the News
Belmont Freeman & Gabrielle Esperdy: Articles in Places Journal
Alison Fisher: Exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago
Obituary: Juergen Schulz
C. Ford Peatross: National Building Museum's President's Award
Interview with Zoë Ryan: 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial
Michael Graves: The Mouse that Roared
 
SAH December Booklist
Read the December Booklist of recently published architecture books and related works. Booklists and exhibition catalog lists are selected by Barbara Opar, architecture librarian, Syracuse University Library.