Learn with AARCH!
From the very beginning, public education has been a central part of how AARCH fulfills its mission. This focus reflects an early choice by the organization to cultivate a regional historic preservation ethic, by changing hearts and minds, primarily through public education.
Public Tours. Each year, AARCH sponsors between thirty and forty public educational tours, primarily between June and October, throughout the region. They focus attention on a variety of communities and themes and reflect AARCH’s broad view of what sites and communities have historic and architectural significance. Special tours include “White Pine Camp” and “Rustic Study” tours.
Workshops. AARCH periodically offers workshops to teach people various skills and subjects, including restoring historic wood windows, plaster repair, architectural travel sketching, What Style Is It?, and more!
Public Talks & Presentations. Since 1995, AARCH staff has delivered nearly 500 public talks and presentations to almost 10,000 people, in diverse locations throughout the region. The slide programs include “There’s More to Adirondack Architecture than Great Camps,” “Camp Santanoni: Past, Present and Future,” “Historic Preservation: What’s It All About?” and “Historic Bridges of the Adirondacks” to name a few. These presentations are a great way to introduce new people to AARCH and to spread the word about our mission and work.
The AARCHer Blog. Catch our latest posts, news, and plenty of rich preservation-related content on our blog. The content covered in our blog includes technical assistance pieces, exploring Adirondack places, DIY project support, energy efficiency in historic buildings, and more.
Arts in Education. For more than a dozen years in the past, AARCH offered school programs in various regional public schools. The longest running of these programs was as part of an innovative program in the Plattsburgh City School District.
Publications. AARCH has published several books, including Richard Longstreth’s A Guide to Architecture in the Adirondacks, Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp by Rob Engel, Howie Kirschenbaum, and Paul Malo, and Sally Svenson’s Adirondack Churches: Their Design and Building. AARCH publishes a yearly Newsletter, a monthly digital E-Newsletter, and our blog, The AARCHer. Additional project contributions have included Places of the Spirit with the Lake Placid Institute, and Adirondack Style by F-stop Fitzgerald.
Conferences. AARCH periodically offers a conference on some topic of regional interest. These have included:
Adirondack Fire Towers: Past, Present and Future (2004)
All Aboard: Railroad Architecture and Heritage (2002)
New York State Barn Coalition Conference at Silver Bay (2001)