Just as my chosen profession of interior design and the way I approach teaching is not limited to learning in a classroom with four walls, the folk experience is no different. While the discipline of folk studies is varied, I am most interested in the concentration of museum planning and design along with historic preservation.

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Historic Preservation...Gardner House
Located on WKU’s 700-acre biological preserve, the Gardner House has been touted as the oldest house in Hart County, KY, dating between 1790-1820. Proposed use is for an interpretative center.


Historic Preservation...Adaptive Reuse
The Greyhound Lines bus terminal in downtown Evansville, IN, stands as an icon of streamlined architecture. Operations will eventually share the City’s metro line station leaving the building vacant.


Historic Preservation...Graveyard Archeology
Field work experience with mapping, documenting and restoring a private graveyard in Morgantown, KY, along with exhumation of a remains from a private graveyard in Simpson County, KY.

Part 1: Andrew Kuykendall Graveyard, Morgantown, KY The first part of our summer class was spent restoring and documenting the family plot of Andrew Kuykendall located on a private farm. Dating back to the mid-1800’s, the graveyard was not being maintained properly and many of the grave markers were damaged (broken, chipped, tipped over…) by cows using them as a scratching post, by weather or by farm equipment. The photos below show, in brief, our process of completing the work necessary to restore order to the graveyard. Information collected during the process is being used by Dr. Darlene Applegate, WKU anthropologist, as research into the Kuykendall family history and their relationship to the founding of Morgantown, KY. As further assistance to Dr. Applegate, I traced over forty property deeds in search of land once connected to the Kuykendall family.

Part 2: Private graveyard in Simpson County, KY The part we’ve all been waiting for...time to exhume remains. In the second part of our class we headed to Simpson County to do the same type of documentation and restoration exercise just completed at the Kuykendall site, but this time we were also on a mission of identifying the occupant of one grave in particular. Per the request of the decedent’s family the remains of the grave were to be removed for identification so the family may appropriately re-mark two graves in question (in other words– inscribed headstones that once marked two graves had long since been removed and the family wanted to restore them to the appropriate location but did not know who was buried where, so by exhuming one grave we would know which was the matriarch and which was the patriarch of the family and the headstones could be returned to their rightful owners). In addition to learning techniques that would cause the least amount of damage in the restoration process, learning about motifs and their meanings, how to search for soil disturbances and things hidden underground, learning the difference between a casket and a coffin, how to document artifacts and markers, and how to use topography survey equipment, I also found out how to distinguish between human remains and rocks. It was a good summer!


Museum Project...Southern Arts Federation
In a joint effort between WKU’s Folk Studies department and the Southern Arts Federation from Atlanta, GA, a collaborative team of twelve students created our vision of a traveling exhibit.


Museum Review...Bluegrass Music Museum
Critique of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY. Review covers space plan, displays/vignettes, graphics, storage and other features of the museum.


Field Work...Veteran's History Project
Used as a contribution to the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project, my interview with a WWII veteran was recorded and transcribed verbatim according to LOC guidelines.


Documentary..."Westside Nut Club's Fall Festival"
Overview of the Westside Nut Club’s 83rd Annual Fall Festival and why the festival is such an important part of shared experiences among generations of participants and attendees.


Documentary..."Clips from the HairCut"
Case study of post-memory and transference of personal narratives between a hairdresser and her clients in connection to the personal and historical memorabilia on display at The Haircut.


Architectural Review...Seaside, FL
My favorite vacation spot, Seaside, FL, is where the concept of New Urbanism was implemented first. This review addresses the conception of the idea, town planning considerations and the design guidelines instituted that make the town iconic.


Internship...Downtown Evansville, Inc.
Suffering from urban sprawl, Evansville’s Main Street and surrounding downtown area are no longer a destination spot. The mission of Downtown Evansville, Inc. is to support revitalization efforts of downtown businesses and event planners to bring people back to the area.