Guest Lecturer: James L. Garvin "What Buildings Tell Us"

James L. Garvin, Ph.D. served as the New Hampshire State Architectural Historian from 1987-2011 and has also served as Curator of the New Hampshire Historical Society, the Portsmouth Athenaeum and Strawbery Banke Museum.  He brings unparalleled expertise in the history of American architecture and engineering, building assessments and a deep understanding of New England traditional construction methods and materials to our classroom. This is a rare opportunity.

Dr. Garvin summarizes his career:

My work experience has focused on an understanding of material culture, especially that of New England.  Working as the curator of a historic preservation organization, as a museum curator, and as an architectural historian and building investigator, I have attempted to understand historical methods and materials of fabrication, the evolution of style, and the most effective means of preserving and interpreting the legacy of the past. My work experience has focused on an understanding of material culture, especially that of New England.  Working as the curator of a historic preservation organization, as a museum curator, and as an architectural historian and building investigator, I have attempted to understand historical methods and materials of fabrication, the evolution of style, and the most effective means of preserving and interpreting the legacy of the past. My work experience has focused on an understanding of material culture, especially that of New England.  Working as the curator of a historic preservation organization, as a museum curator, and as an architectural historian and building investigator, I have attempted to understand historical methods and materials of fabrication, the evolution of style, and the most effective means of preserving and interpreting the legacy of the past.

Selected publications:

Historic Portsmouth: Early Photographs from the Collections of Strawbery Banke (Somersworth, N. H.: New Hampshire Publishing Co., 1974; second edition, with revisions by Susan Grigg, Portsmouth, N. H.: Peter E. Randall for Strawbery Banke Museum, 1995).

Co-author with Donna-Belle Garvin and John F. Page, Plain & Elegant, Rich & Common: D0cumented New Hampshire Furniture, 1750-1850 (Concord, N. H.: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1979).

Co-author with Donna-Belle Garvin, Instruments of Change: New Hampshire Hand Tools and Their Makers, 1800-1900 (Concord, N. H.: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1985).

Co-author with Donna-Belle Garvin, On the Road North of Boston: New Hampshire Taverns and Turnpikes, 1700-1900 (Concord, N. H.: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1988; second edition, Hanover, N. H.: University Press of New England, 2003).

A Building History of Northern New England (Hanover, N. H.: University Press of New England, 2001).


http://james-garvin.com/