Recent USC Heritage Conservation graduate Eliza Jane Franklin wrote her master’s thesis on a deeply personal topic: lynching. Not just the act of physical violence that took her great-grandfather’s life in 1922, but “the act of terrorizing and/or controlling individuals’ or a community’s heritage,” which she named “heritage lynching.” In this episode, co-host Trudi Sandmeier speaks with Eliza Jane about her thesis, Re-Membering Heritage Lynchings, Hoop Skirts, and History: A Southernbelle Radical’s Unveiling of the Daughters of Dixie’s Role in the Legacy of Violence in Preservation in Eufaula, AL. Eliza Jane discusses how White people sustain a Lost Cause narrative in her hometown, how she is reclaiming her heritage, and how people can do the same in their own communities.

See episode page for photos, resources, and transcript.

Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!

What does “sublime” mean to you? Join us for an art history-meets-heritage conservation episode with recent graduate Ryan Holcomb. Like many of our students, Ryan fused seemingly disparate interests with heritage conservation in his thesis, Ponderous, Romantic and Awful: Tracking the Sublime within the Interpretation of Industrial Landmarks. He puts a name to that feeling we get—that mix of awe, wonder, even terror—from certain overwhelming experiences. He shares the role of the sublime in three case studies: Lowell National Historical Park’s Boott Mill in Massachusetts, Pittsburgh’s Carrie Blast Furnaces, and Ford’s River Rouge Plant near Detroit. Ryan tells co-host Cindy Olnick how he came to this unusual thesis subject, how the sublime affects our experience of industrial sites, and how it serves heritage conservation through emotional connection.

See episode page for photos, resources, and transcript.

Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!

Recent graduate Andrea Mauk is from the historic mining town of Clifton, Arizona, just a few miles from the largest copper mine in the United States. Like many rural communities it has an aging and deteriorating housing stock, and its workforce is increasingly priced out of homeownership. In this episode, Willa Seidenberg talks to Andrea about her thesis, Old and Improved: Exploring the Use of a Community Land Trust to Rehabilitate Historic Rural Housing. It explores whether a Community Land Trust (CLT) model could serve as a mechanism for preservation, affordability, and community empowerment in Clifton. We hear about the popularity of mining town tourism and how a CLT can be tailored to meet the housing needs of Clifton.

See episode page for photos, resources, and transcript.

Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!