Shepherd Alumni Are Working to Preserve and Expand Historic Trade Jobs

by Cecelia Mason

During a visit to the National Historic Preservation and Training Center (HPTC), you might see employees restoring doors and windows from historic structures that are located all over the country, including the White House. A large map of the United States hangs on a conference room wall. It is covered with push pins that show the locations of all the historic sites where restoration work has been done.

Based in an old bean factory building in downtown Frederick, Maryland, the HPTC has provided training in historic preservation, safety, cultural resource awareness, and trades by delivering historic preservation and construction projects to the National Park Service and other partners for 24 years.

HPTC’s 125 employees work on about 120 projects a year anywhere in the country. The Center also offers stand-alone training programs such as brick, earth, stone, and timber workshops; a traditional trades advancement program; a six-month program for youth and veterans; a preservationin-practice program for historically Black colleges and university students in architecture; skill bridge program for activeduty military; and water, wastewater, heavy equipment operator safety training and chainsaw certification for the park service.

“When we accept a project from a park, we perform the work while teaching individuals different areas from project management to how to scrape and glaze windows,” said Moss Rudley ’99, HPTC superintendent.

Many of the nation’s historic buildings are in great need of repair and restoration, but there is a shortage of historic trades people with the specialized skills and knowledge to properly preserve these structures. Moss is working with fellow Shepherd graduate Nicholas Redding ’08, president and CEO of Preservation Maryland, to address the problem.

“The need for creating these pathways to historic trades and apprenticeships has been something that has been missing from the American preservation landscape and was identified as early as the 1960s as something that had to be fixed,” Nicholas said.

“If you don’t keep that cycle of learning moving forward, there won’t be enough people working in historic trades to keep up with demand,” Moss said. “At least over the last 80 years we haven’t set up a system to create enough skilled knowledgeable trade workers who can do things without using a kit you put together.”

With the support of the park service and private philanthropy, Preservation Maryland and HPTC has focused on beginning the process of registering federal apprenticeships for various historic trades, with an emphasis on recruiting both those who want to begin a trade as well as those seeking certifications.

Nicholas Redding ’08, president and CEO of Preservation Maryland, and Moss Rudley ’99, National Historic Preservation and Training Center superintendent, are working together to address the lack of highly skilled trades people to work on historic structures.

“Not only a mason who wants to be a restoration mason, or a carpenter who wants to do historic carpentry, but a plumber who wants to have a preservation certificate, so you know when you hire this plumber, and you bring them into your historic home they know what they’re doing and how to be sensitive to historic fabric,” Nicholas said. “We are well on the path of doing that, which will change the landscape of historic trades training in the country.”

The program will not only help improve work done for the nation’s national parks, it will also benefit private property owners wanting to preserve their buildings.

“The park service gives out millions of dollars in historical tax credits each year,” Moss said. “A program like this helps assure that work being done on those historic structures is up to standard.”

Moss Rudley ’99 points out windows from historic National Park Service properties, including the White House, that need to be repaired.

Preservation Maryland created the Campaign for Historic Trades, which has a full-time recruiter who works with the training center and Conservation Legacy, one of the larger conservation youth corps in the country, with an eye toward diversity.

“Our recruiter is focused on working with existing entry programs and trying to help connect the dots as well with various racial and ethnic groups, veterans, and at-risk youth,” Nicholas said. “The goal is to have one trainee in each national park in the country.”

Preservation Maryland is also working with the Preservation Trades Network, which was started 24 years ago by the American Institute of Architects and is focused on creating opensource curriculum that aligns with national standards that anyone can use. P