Have you seen a movie at the Uptown? Have you – or your kids or grandchildren – taken a ride on the carousel at Glen Echo Park, or wondered about the low-lying, tiered, rounded entrance to the massive office building at 1100 New York Avenue NW? (If you haven’t yet, get thee to all three locations.) The city has Richard Striner, among others, to thank for the continued presence of these locations.
As president of the Art Deco Society from 1982 to 1992, Dr. Striner led a series of historic preservation campaigns in Washington D.C. and its surrounding suburbs, including the former Greyhound bus terminal (just a few blocks from the Carnegie Library building, of the Society’s home and host location for this week’s 41st annual conference D.C. Historical Studies); the Uptown Theatre; Glen Echo Park; the Greenbelt Center School in Prince George’s County, Maryland; and the Silver Theater-Silver Spring Shopping Center complex in Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1993 the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. awarded Dr. Striner the Renchard Prize for Historic Preservation.
You can learn more about each of these projects through the Society’s holdings, which include the Richard Striner Historic Preservation Papers, 1980-2005. (MS 650) and the related Richard Striner Photograph Collection. In addition to photographs, renderings, and research for historic landmark designations, the collections include correspondence and blueprints.
And on Thursday November 20th, Dr. Striner kicks off this year’s conference by delivering the evening’s Letitia Woods Brown Lecture, entitled “Reflections on Historic Preservation in Washington.” A reception will follow the talk; both the lecture and reception are included in conference registration. (Please note, registration is required and the fee is a suggested donation. The conference is organized by a volunteer committee. For more information about registration or general inquiries, please write to dchistoricalstudies@gmail.
The conference continues at the Carnegie Library building the days following Dr. Striner’s talk. Other sessions will include:
- Saturday Plenary Session: Washington, D.C.: From Company Town to Global Business Center with Dr. Stephen Fuller
- Early Washington, D.C.: War, Politics, and Brewing
- Digitization and Social Media for D.C.’s History
- The 1960s: Protest and Cultural Politics
- Documentaries on Southwest D.C., Black Broadway on U, and Urban Gardening
- And much, much more! Review the full program.
Hope to see you there!
About the Conference
The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. is pleased to host the Annual Conference on D.C. Historical Studies at the Carnegie Library in collaboration with the D.C. Public Library Special Collections, Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives, and H-DC Washington D.C. History and Life (https://networks.h‐net.