Dr. Barbara McCaskill is a subgrantee on a 2-year, $750,000 grant that Penn Center National Historic Landmark District has received from the National Park Service. This NPS African American Civil Rights Preservation Grant will support the remediation and stabilization of the Butler Building on Penn Center’s campus, the institution’s original museum and library constructed by students and teachers in the early twentieth century.  She will work with UGA students alongside Dr. Alison McCletchie (Sociology, South Carolina State University) and her students to organize, digitize, and write about select newspapers, photos, newsletters, books, and other archival materials stored there. Dr. Danielle Willkens (Architecture, Georgia Tech) and Dr. Kimberly Cavanagh (Anthropology, University of South Carolina-Beaufort) plan to work with students on stabilizing and digitally mapping the structure.  

 

All will attend workshops led by historic preservationists on basic techniques and goals of the trade.  Penn Center leads are Dr. Robert Adams (Executive Director) and Mr. David Yoakley Mitchell (Head, Board of Trustees). This idea grew out of our participation in the annual spring   student residency week of the Willson Center’s Mellon Foundation-funded project, Culture and Community at Penn Center National Historic Landmark District.