Social Sciences Hosting Vernacular Architecture Forum Annual Conference
This week, Michigan Tech’s Department of Social Sciences (SS) is pleased to host the annual conference of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, North America’s leading professional organization for the study of everyday buildings and landscapes. Throughout the week, 200 academics and heritage professionals will board buses to visit sites throughout the Keweenaw that tell stories about the copper mining boom and bust, immigration, urban growth and industrial labor, as well as postindustrial patterns of recovery, reinvention and reinterpretation.
Conference Chair Sarah Fayen Scarlett (SS), associate professor of history, and the conference planning team of colleagues from the Keweenaw National Historical Park and formerly of Finlandia University have been working with property owners, municipalities, heritage sites and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to produce a heavily illustrated three-volume set of guidebooks providing new research and perspectives on buildings and sites in the Keweenaw.
The guidebooks, co-edited with Michigan Tech Professor Emerita Alison K. Hoagland (SS), will be shared throughout the community and are available for download now on Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech. The guidebooks’ essays and site histories highlight important contributions made over 30 years by graduate students and faculty in Michigan Tech’s industrial heritage and archaeology program.
On Saturday (June 15), the VAF conference will end with a day of over 40 research papers presented at the MUB, and the VAF’s President’s Plenary, with roundtable participants presenting on the first three years of community engaged architectural field schools, co-sponsored by the VAF and the Mellon Foundation, at sites of significance for African American built heritage.
For more information, visit the VAF 2024 Conference webpage or contact Scarlett at sfscarle@mtu.edu or 989-487-2110.