Preservation Proposal: Eastern Female High School

Description:

For my preservation project proposal, I have chosen the Eastern Female High School building, which is located in Baltimore City on 249 Aisquith Street. I found is building on a list of historic buildings in Baltimore that the Baltimore Heritage Organization feels need to be preserved, but currently are not. Although this website is calling for the traditional rehabbing of this historic building, I thought that it would still be a good site to be preserved in an American Studies class project because of it’s rich history as a traditionally female school, and its roots from the Civil War time period.

The Eastern Female High School was built from 1869 to 1870 and it Baltimore City’s oldest surviving building that was built for the purpose of a public school building. It is a beautiful redbrick building with white trim and tall white columns, and it is also a memorial to Baltimore’s expansion of secondary education in the Post-Civil War period. This building was renovated and made into apartments in the 1970s, and then in 2004, the city of Baltimore transferred the building to the Sojourner-Douglass College. Today the Eastern Female High School original building is boarded up and vacant. (http://www.baltimoreheritage.org/Current.html)

Purpose and Main Goal:

Since this building is on the Baltimore Heritage Organization’s list of historic buildings in Baltimore that need to be preserved, the building is one that already has already gained some degree of public attention. The purpose of the project would be to make a documentary video about the Eastern Female High School building and it’s extraordinary historic significance. The main goal of the project would be to use the documentary video to bring a great deal of public attention to the building and for the public to see how great of a historic monument this building is in Baltimore. A possible long-term goal of the project would be that the documentary video would be able to generate more of a public need and desire to preserve the building, and in turn, the documentary would attract an individual or an organization to follow the traditional model of historic preservation, and fund a rehabbing of this historic building. Upon completion of the video, this proposal calls for a public showing of the video in a Baltimore City Public School. The showing will be advertised in the school and the community, in an effort to bring many viewers and show the public the results of the project. Even if this documentary is unable to lead to a rehabbing of the building, it will still be one that documents the building’s original uses, shows what the building looks like and what it was originally used for, and even if the site was ever to be torn down, it would be a video that would forever remember and memorialize the original Eastern Female High School in Baltimore City.

Public Awareness:

This project will enhance the public awareness of this historic building by presenting the completed documentary in Baltimore City. I had originally suggested getting approval to use a Baltimore City School, such as the gymnasium or the cafeteria, to use to present the project, but a church in Baltimore city willing to show the documentary to the public, or even some kind of community building would suffice for the showing.

In order to let the public know about the showing of the documentary, advertising would need to be worked into the budget. Advertising for the showing would take place in churches, community buildings, schools, and through the Baltimore Heritage Organization. Other museums in Baltimore could be contacted, as they would more then likely be a useful tool in helping to advertise and to let the public know when and where they could see the documentary about the historic Eastern Female High School building.

Sustainability:

This project would only be able to truly become self-supporting if the long-term goal was met. This would be through the documentary’s ability to spark a public interest and to lead to an individual or an organization’s desire to fund the necessary money to rehab the building entirely. Even if this does not occur, the project would be able to live beyond the semester if the documentary was able to become part of circulation in one or more Baltimore City libraries. This would ensure that the documentary would be accessible for the public use and viewing, even after the original showing. If the project could be accessed at the public library, anyone who has a curiosity about the importance of historic buildings in Baltimore would be able to view the documentary for as long as the libraries are in existence.

Budget:

With an original budget of $1,500 dollars, the needs for this project would definitely fit into the amount of money allotted in the budget. In addition, since the video equipment and other necessary video editing equipment is already accessible, making a video documentary for the preservation project would allow for more of the budget money to go towards the actual project itself.

Advertising for the documentary should have the most money spent on it because if no one comes to the showing, public awareness of the site’s importance will not increase. Advertising will be done in the form of flyers, which upon gaining approval, will be placed in and around Baltimore City schools, churches, community buildings, and museums, as well as placed in mail boxes of people all around the city. (Approximately $300- $500 depending on how many homes fliers are distributed to)

Transportation for students of the class as well as the professor should take a small part of the budget. It would be unrealistic for participants of the documentary to spend all of their own money transporting themselves around the city, as it would become quite costly throughout the entire semester. (TBD depending on how much gas money a student uses on the project, this would be on an individual basis, up to $200)

Renting out a space to show the documentary would more then likely cost money. It would depend on what space was chosen as to how much it would cost, but it is possible that a community building or a church building would ask for compensation for the use of their space. (TBD based on which space is chosen)

One idea that would potentially attract more people to come to the viewing, would be offering some kind of snacks after the completion of the showing of the documentary. While those interested in historic sites in Baltimore would come to the showing, the public might need an extra incentive to come watch a documentary about historic buildings. (Approximately $100)

Contacts:

Baltimore Heritage, Inc. (410) 332 9992: This is the organization where I found the list of historic buildings in Baltimore that should be preserved but are not. The organization looks into preserving historic sites and buildings within Baltimore City.

Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (410) 396 4866
410-396-PLAN (7526): This organization’s goals include, “preserving historic architecture and monuments; reclaiming broken neighborhoods; preventing demolition by neglect; and integrating our City's past into its future.”

Baltimore County Historic Preservation, Contact Vicki Nevy (410) 887 3495: This organization is one that preserves historic buildings within Baltimore country and looks to “establish a tangible sense of place.”

Statement of Historical Significance:

This project would be one that would deal with a historic Baltimore building that deserves to be preserved and remembered, but currently is not. The building’s origination during a time when the city was involved in a Civil War give the building an even greater historical importance and more to examine upon completion of this preservation project. This building also has such a huge historical significance when it comes to the expansion of education in the late 1800s, in particular, the education of females in Baltimore City during this time.

Readings:

Agnew, Elizabeth N. From Charity to Social Work. University of Illinois Press, 2004.

This book is an interesting source as it is about a woman, Jane Addams, who was very influential in American charity. Jane Addams was enrolled in the Eastern Female High School of Baltimore, and parts of the book talk about her time there. There is also a part of the book that describes the original goal of the school, which was to provide a better education for Baltimore’s young females.

Current Preservation Watch List, Eastern Female High School, Baltimore Heritage Inc,

2007. http://www.baltimoreheritage.org/Current.html

This web page is where I found the list of buildings in Baltimore that need to be preserved. It gives a brief history of the building, including information about its history in regard to the expansion of secondary education. This website also shows photographs of the building.

Davis, Henry Winter and John Angel James. Speeches and Addresses Delivered in the Congress
of the United States. University of Michigan Library, 2005.

There are ten pages of this book, pages 104-114, which is a section entitled “Remarks at the Commencement of the Eastern Female High School of Baltimore.” This address took place at the graduation of the class of 1858. I think that this section is a very interesting source because it helps to give a better idea of how life was for the graduates of the school during this time period.

Eastern Female High School (Public School No. 116) National Park Services Web Page http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/baltimore/b32.htm

This website is gives a history of the building and why it was constructed. It also briefly discusses the architecture of the building as well as gives details on the heating and ventilation systems. In this site you can also find information about famous people who went to Eastern Female High School.

Hayden, Dolores. The Power of Place, Urban Landscapes as Public History. The MIT Press, 1995

The selection “Place Memory and Urban Preservation” from this book is a very useful resource because of its discussion of urban landscapes, which is very relevant to this project. This selection is helpful because it helps to understand the importance of public history and bringing the history to the public. Also, this selection talks about the need to bring more history of women, workers, and ethnic groups to the public, leading to my selection of a traditionally female high school for this preservation proposal.