Place, Identity and Natural Disaster: The Storm that Changed a Town and Its People- OVPR CURATE Program

Travel:

A poster presentation "Place, Identity and Natural Disaster: The Storm that Changed a Town and Its People" was accepted for the 2023 Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF) annual conference that took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts in May 2023. It presented my research on the effects natural disasters impose on personal and cultural identities, particularly in Appalachia, and it examined these effects through a climate change lens. The research is rooted in oral histories with residents, survivors, city, county, and state officials and first responders to the 2012 EF-3 tornado that destroyed West Liberty, Kentucky. Vernacular architecture lies at the heart of the West Liberty research because it was largely a vernacularly built environment before the storm. This simply designed and constructed landscape gave the town much of its character and appeal. The 2012 tornado changed that. Being present for the VAF’s annual event would have allowed me to share my scholarship in person, but it would have immersed me in the highest concentration of vernacular architecture scholarship in the US, strengthening my knowledge and expertise for my research.

I could not attend the VAF conference due to familial responsibilities beyond my control. While this was a difficult time and a missed opportunity, it came with an unexpected silver lining. Though I could not attend in person, I was still able to share my research poster with the VAF conference attendees and receive feedback from my peers, and In October of 2023, with Curate funding, I was able to attend Past Forward: The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Annual Conference held in Washington, DC. The 2023 theme was Climate Change, fortuitously. Here, I learned from other historic preservationists grappling with the effects of climate change-fueled natural disasters on our landscapes and properties. I could exchange ideas with scholars about building techniques, building codes, and urban landscapes developing from our reactions to climate change disasters. Through a series of meetings and conversations, I had the ability to organize, outline, and begin the accompanying thesis for my research that will ultimately result in a book publication.