Upcoming Workshops

Mark your calendars! The Preserve America Grant Team is currently organizing two workshops, which will be free and open to the public.

The first workshop will be help on Friday, June 18th. It will be a stone identification field trip that will depart from Stephen F. Austin State University and travel to Cherokee and Houston counties. The trip will be led by Dr. Kevin Stafford of the SFASU Geology Department.

The second workshop is an Oral History Workshop to be held on Friday, June 25th. This workshop will be led by Dr. Paul Sandul and Dr. Perky Beisel of the SFASU History Department, and it will be held on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

Flyers and additional information will be posted soon, so stay tuned!

Preserve America Newsletter

Click on the images below to read the Preserve America Newsletter. Let us know if you have any questions or ideas in the comments!

Article in the Toledo Chronicle

The Toledo Chronicle wrote an article about recent Preserve America Workshop in Sabine County. You can read the article and see some great photos here. Thanks to all who helped put together a great event, and to all the community members who attended. We hope to see you at the next workshop!

Cemetery Preservation Workshop - April 30th

Join us on April 30th in Hemphill, Texas at 11:00am for a lecture about cemetery preservation. Jason Church of the Center for Preservation Technology and Training and will speak about the physical care of grave markers and then give a hands-on demonstration at the Gasby New Zion Cemetery, which is one of the Preserve America Grant's partner cemeteries.

The location of the lecture will be announced soon. Questions and comments can be directed to George Avery, at averyg@sfasu.edu.

Cemetery Preservation-Tourism Workshop

On March 12, 2010, a workshop on cemetery preservation and tourism will be held in the Multimedia Room 2.106 of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus.This workshop is a part of the larger Preserve America Cemetery preservation grant entitled “Community Based Interpretation: Linking Heritage, Preservation, GIS, Curriculum and Web Services.” The Workshop is for individuals who are interested in cemetery preservation and how it relates to heritage tourism. It is open to the public and free of charge. The event will begin at 11:00 a.m.  Lunch is on your own,  and there will be a field trip to a local monument company. The workshop will conclude with a headstone identification seminar from 3 -4 p.m.

Speakers for the event include Dr. Perky Beisel, department of history, Dr. William Forbes, Department of geography, Dr. Chay Runnels, Hospitality Administration, and Dr. George Avery, archeology. For more information, please email  me at: runnelsc@sfasu.edu.

We are excited to bring this workshop to the public and are looking forward to a great day of networking and learning. Please click the photos below for the full schedule and additional details. See you then!

 

Article in the Medallion

The Cemetery Interpretation Project has been featured in the January/February 2010 issue of the Texas Historical Commission's magazine: The Medallion. A free PDF version of the complete issue is available online - the article about our Project begins on page 6.   

Thank you to The Medallion for such a well written and informative article. We appreciate the exposure, and we hope that you enjoy the piece!

Curriculum Development Team Workshop

This past week, Ralph W. Steen Library faculty and staff held a workshop for the educators taking part in the Curriculum Development Team for the Preserve America Grant Project. Four teachers from East Texas were hired, and we couldn't have asked for a better group.

The workshop began on Tuesday morning and we spent a few hours in the library, going over contracts, the Google group the teachers will be using to discuss and share information, and the TIDES website. Next on the agenda was a tour of the Library's East Texas Research Center, a delicious lunch at Shelley's Bakery, a tour of the Stone Fort Museum, and finally an experiment in geocaching in downtown Nacogdoches with the guidance of the Columbia Geospatial Service Center. Despite the heat and humidity, our educators approached each new adventure with enthusiasm and high spirits!

 

 

On Wednesday, we loaded into vans and had a whirlwind tour of cemeteries and historic sites along the El Camino Real. This included stops at Caddo Mounds State Historic Site for a picnic lunch and brief tour, an exploration of Mission Dolores, and a walk though the Monroe-Cook House in Crockett. By the end of the second day, half the teachers were jotting down ideas for lesson plans. By the next morning, they were already brainstorming together through the Google group. All in all, it was a rewarding workshop and helped to renew the excitemtn for the Preserve America Grant and resources that will be made available to the coummunity.

 

  

 

Thank you to Joy, Jeanell, Jacy and Mindy for a fun workshop and a great time! We can't wait to see the lessons and activities you develop for the Project!