Representation of Nebraskan Women in the National Register of Historic Places

Kaitlan Wong Author

04/04/2021 Added

12 Plays

Description

This is a brief overview of my study on the representation of Nebraskan women in the National Register of Historic Places. This research was done alongside History Nebraska.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:02.120]Hello, my name is Kaitlan Wong,
[00:00:03.840]and I am going to talk about my study
[00:00:05.980]on the Representation of Nebraskan Women
[00:00:08.760]in the National Register of Historic Places.
[00:00:14.300]So a little bit of background on my research.
[00:00:17.420]So the National Register of Historic Places is a list
[00:00:20.420]of historic places that tell the stories
[00:00:22.460]of the people and events
[00:00:23.640]that form America's collective identity.
[00:00:25.940]This prestigious list is also one
[00:00:27.840]of the most valuable tools individuals and communities have
[00:00:31.200]to encourage the preservation of important historic places.
[00:00:35.310]There are currently over 1,000 Nebraskan properties
[00:00:38.170]listed in the National Register.
[00:00:41.290]Benefits of being listed on the National Register
[00:00:43.750]include eligibility for federal and historic tax credits
[00:00:46.960]that apply to rehabilitation projects
[00:00:49.410]as well as recognition for being a significant piece
[00:00:51.800]of local, state, or national history,
[00:00:54.020]which promotes community pride in a local identity.
[00:00:58.080]For my research, I worked alongside History Nebraska,
[00:01:01.260]previously known as the Nebraska State Historical Society.
[00:01:04.520]Their mission is to collect, preserve,
[00:01:06.550]and open to all the histories we share.
[00:01:10.170]So onto the purpose of my study.
[00:01:12.700]The purpose of this study is to examine
[00:01:14.760]and better understand the representation
[00:01:16.870]of influential Nebraskan women
[00:01:18.750]in the National Register of Historic Places.
[00:01:21.790]Throughout history, women,
[00:01:23.120]especially women of color have been marginalized
[00:01:25.460]and have been left out of larger historical narratives.
[00:01:28.810]Women are also underrepresented
[00:01:30.600]in the field of architecture.
[00:01:32.270]Through researching properties in Nebraska
[00:01:34.210]that are listed in the National Register,
[00:01:36.230]I hoped to assess how well women are being represented.
[00:01:40.950]This research will hopefully provide information useful
[00:01:44.580]to History Nebraska in diversifying and expanding properties
[00:01:48.180]on the National Register.
[00:01:49.730]There is reason to believe that women are underrepresented
[00:01:52.620]by the properties that are currently listed.
[00:01:55.260]Traditional historical narratives have failed
[00:01:57.090]to represent women and the voices of women of color
[00:01:59.990]have been further silenced throughout history.
[00:02:02.130]According to the National Women's History Museum,
[00:02:04.590]the experiences of women are not well incorporated
[00:02:07.000]into state history standards.
[00:02:09.090]Paying recognition to the historical contributions of women
[00:02:12.140]is important in preserving their stories.
[00:02:14.400]We cannot hope to have a clear picture of history
[00:02:17.000]without the experiences and stories of women.
[00:02:19.580]There is potential that this study will lead
[00:02:21.380]to the discovery of more properties that could be nominated
[00:02:24.240]to be on the National Register.
[00:02:26.020]Overall, including more properties that are a significant
[00:02:28.730]because of women will promote the stories
[00:02:30.830]and legacy of women.
[00:02:33.060]I had four main research questions.
[00:02:36.210]My first question was how many historical properties
[00:02:39.450]listed on the National Register in Nebraska
[00:02:41.710]were designed by women.
[00:02:44.200]My next question was how many historical properties
[00:02:46.870]listed on the National Register in Nebraska
[00:02:48.890]were built by women?
[00:02:51.160]My third question was how many historical properties
[00:02:54.040]listed on the National Register in Nebraska
[00:02:56.620]are historically significant because of a woman or women.
[00:03:00.800]And finally, my last question was how can we use
[00:03:03.580]the data collected to further the goals of History Nebraska?
[00:03:08.120]So onto my methods.
[00:03:09.860]I used History Nebraska's database
[00:03:11.850]of Nebraskan properties listed in the National Register
[00:03:14.840]to conduct this study.
[00:03:17.020]In total, there were 1,185 places in Nebraska
[00:03:20.950]listed in the National Register.
[00:03:24.100]I aimed to identify three main criteria for each property.
[00:03:28.870]First, I identified whether the property
[00:03:30.750]was designed by a woman.
[00:03:33.700]Next, I identified whether the property
[00:03:35.680]was built by a woman.
[00:03:37.400]Properties listed as being designed
[00:03:39.110]or built by an organization were coded as not available.
[00:03:42.520]Properties listed as having unknown architects
[00:03:45.100]or builders were also coded as not available.
[00:03:48.490]Finally, identified whether the property was named
[00:03:51.010]after a woman or women.
[00:03:52.660]Properties named after a woman were coded as yes.
[00:03:55.490]Properties named after men or non-humans were coded as no.
[00:03:59.270]And properties named after both a man and woman were coded
[00:04:02.370]as being partially named after a woman.
[00:04:06.580]Onto my results.
[00:04:08.070]So I found that 42% of the properties were designed by men
[00:04:11.970]and 58% of the properties were coded as not available
[00:04:15.450]or we couldn't determine
[00:04:17.230]if they were in fact designed by women.
[00:04:20.340]28% of the properties were built by men
[00:04:23.100]and 72% were coded as not available.
[00:04:26.170]And this was largely because many properties
[00:04:28.390]listed the builders as being a construction company.
[00:04:32.960]Finally, 1.6% of the properties were named after women.
[00:04:37.150]And 1% were partially named after a woman.
[00:04:40.920]So onto my conclusion and future directions for this study.
[00:04:45.160]So my findings indicate that there is much work to be done
[00:04:48.850]in regard to gender representation
[00:04:50.610]in the National Register of Historic Places.
[00:04:53.700]There were many limitations to my study.
[00:04:56.330]One such limitation was that my criteria
[00:04:58.610]was limiting in itself.
[00:05:00.000]Just looking at the architect builder
[00:05:01.850]and name of a property is very surface level
[00:05:04.530]and is not necessarily indicative of whether a property
[00:05:07.160]is significant because of women.
[00:05:09.500]Looking for other types of criteria would have been useful,
[00:05:11.980]but I was limited by the time constraints
[00:05:13.790]as I had to individually analyze over 1,000 properties.
[00:05:18.180]Furthermore, the contributions of women
[00:05:19.940]have historically been stolen and erased.
[00:05:22.170]So using a surface-based level
[00:05:23.580]of analysis was not super effective.
[00:05:27.650]My methods were also problematic in that I used
[00:05:29.890]the black and white approach in regards to gender.
[00:05:32.370]Gender is not binary and non-binary
[00:05:34.760]and gender nonconforming people are also marginalized.
[00:05:38.490]So it would have been beneficial to take this into account.
[00:05:41.350]And it's also impossible to know for sure
[00:05:43.210]the gender identity of every architect and builder
[00:05:45.860]especially ones that lived hundreds of years ago.
[00:05:49.870]I have a few recommendations
[00:05:51.250]for future research and future action.
[00:05:53.510]First, I would recommend the History Nebraska
[00:05:56.390]actively seek out properties that tell the stories of women,
[00:05:59.570]especially women of color.
[00:06:02.810]I would also recommend future studies
[00:06:04.710]to go deeper than looking at architects, builders,
[00:06:06.970]and names of properties.
[00:06:08.350]This will allow for more reliable and useful findings.
[00:06:13.100]Finally, I would like to acknowledge my advisors,
[00:06:15.490]Jessica Tebo and David Calease
[00:06:17.600]as well as the staff at History Nebraska.
[00:06:20.120]They made this research possible.
[00:06:22.100]Thank you for watching my presentation.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

Representation of Nebraskan Women in the National Register of Historic Places

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments