Public and Preservation Work

Here you can find examples of my work in applied folklore and historic preservation projects.

National Register Nomination

Download the Black Bottom Historic District National Register Nomination here.

Beginning in the fall of 2006, I began partnering with Michael Morrow and the West Kentucky African American Heritage Museum to nominate Russellville, Kentucky’s historically African American neighborhood, known by residents as the Black Bottom, to the National Register of Historic Places. This Nomination went before the Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board in May of 2008 and was unanniaously accepted. It is now waiting approval from the National Register of Historic Places in Washington D.C. This Nomination was a group effort by Michael Morrow, Tamisha Hardy, Samantha McCormick, and myself.

Sample Grant Proposal

View Sample Grant Proposal here.

In the fall of 2007 I began writing a Folk Arts Grant to fund the implementation of the Listen Out Loud! youth radio curriculum as a part of this upcoming summer’s Kentucky Remembers! special week long Voices of Conscience Human Rights Leadership Camp. For more information about the Listen Out Loud! youth radio lesson plans visit the Folklore and Education page.

Contract Work for Rural Heritage Development Initiative

Download RHDI Interview Log here.

Download RHDI Interviewee Information Sheet here.

Download RHDI Final Student Report here.

In the summer of 2007 I worked on a contract basis for the Kentucky Folklife Program to help coordinate the beginning stages of the Rural Heritage Development Initiative Central Kentucky Cultural Survey. I worked as a contact person for four Community Scholars as they began their fieldwork and later as a liaison between the Community Scholars and the students in the Folk Studies program with whom they were partnered. This work carried on through my assistantship work with Dr. Michael Ann Williams. As her assistant I kept lines of communication open between our program and the various people and agencies working on this project. I have included samples of the standardized documentation forms I helped to create for this project as well as the final report outlining the student research conducted. I am grateful to fellow graduate student Janine Criswell for her help on this project.

If you'd like to see fieldwork materials from this project visit the Fieldwork page.

Ravensford Oral History Project

The Ravensford Oral History Project began in the summer of 2004 under the direction of Dr. Michael Ann Williams. This partnership between the National Park Service, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Western Kentucky University’s Folk Studies graduate program, served to document the once existent community of Ravensford in North Carolina. I began working on the project in its final stages as a transcription reader and editor, data compiler, and as one of the writers on the final report. I also worked to tie up loose ends and prepare the final archival hardrive. Just as with the Rural Heritage Development Initiative, this project taught me a great deal about teamwork, communication, working in partnership with larger agencies and entities, and the importance of meticulous archival work. I am thankful for all the skills I learned from fellow graduate students with whom I worked on this project: Christie Burns, Sarah Schmitt, and Janine Criswell.