Featured Speakers
Bob L. Blackburn, Ph.D., Executive Director & Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Officer.
Special Lecture: The Oklahoma Preservation Story
Bob L. Blackburn, Ph.D., Executive Director & Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Officer
Tuesday, October 21, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church
Sponsored by the Bank of Oklahoma and the Tulsa Community Foundation
Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Opening Plenary Session
Join the stirring opening session of the National Preservation Conference in the 1929 landmark Art Deco Boston Avenue Methodist Church, considered to be one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical Art Deco architecture in the United States. Be inspired and awed by the Cherokee Youth Choir, performing traditional Cherokee songs in the Cherokee language, demonstrating that Cherokee language and culture are beautifully alive today.
Tulsa's mayor, Kathy Taylor, will welcome us to Tulsa and talk about the how the city is embracing preservation while developing their communities, followed by Richard Moe's annual Presidents Report.
David L. Winstead, Commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, will set forth GSA strategies for utilizing its historic public buildings. Roughly half of GSA’s inventory of buildings are over 50 years old, and about one fourth are listed on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
As a leader of the Cherokee people, Wilma Mankiller represented the second largest tribe in the United States. Chief Mankiller was the first female in modern history to lead a major Native American tribe. She will address community revitalization and rebuilding, about the Native American experience in Oklahoma and the United States, and about what it takes to rejuvenate a community and lead a nation to rebirth.
Michael Wallis, Author and Historian
Special Lecture: The Romance of the Mother Road, Historic Route 66
Michael Wallis, Author and Historian
Friday, October 24, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
First United Methodist Church
Sponsored by Sonic, America's Drive-In
Closing Plenary
Eminent historian Nell Irvin Painter, PhD. was until recently the Edwards Professor of American History, Princeton University. A prolific and award-winning scholar, her most recent books are Southern History Across the Color Line and Creating Black Americans. She is known for books that question traditional notions of history by blending vivid narratives and artwork by African American artists adding a new depth to the understanding of black history. Dr. Painter offers a history written for a new generation of African Americans, from life in Africa before slavery to today's hip-hop culture. Dr. Painter is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and currently serves as president of the Organization of American Historians. She has two new books in the works, The History of White People and Personal Beauty: Biology or Culture?
For more than thirty years, Tony Goldman, chairman and CEO of The Goldman Properties Company, has recognized the importance of depressed, undervalued urban areas, revitalizing and transforming declining historic districts into popular, thriving global destinations. He translates the pioneer's excitement of discovery into sound financial investments, while respecting, enhancing and embellishing the historic architecture of all the districts he undertakes. Goldman has been recognized as the driving force behind the transformations of the Upper West Side, the Wall Street Financial District and Soho in New York City, Center City in Philadelphia, South Beach in Miami Beach, and most recently undertaking transformation of the warehouse districts in Miami's Wynwood and Downtown Boston.
