A Note from the Editors

Abstract

A Note from the Editors Marta Gutman and Cynthia G. Falk We’d like to open by offering a word or two about the contents in this issue. Ever eager to experiment, we’re launching a new column, Object Lesson, which will run occasionally and complement the Viewpoint essay and Research Notes. If the former column examines why we do what we do and the latter column examines how we do what we do, the Object Lesson column will address how we engage others by highlighting places that have a distinct public history component. We’re launching it with an essay by Jeff Klee about the James Anderson Blacksmith Shop at Colonial Williamsburg. Jeff has written an appreciation of a place that was created in one way, reconsidered after new evidence came to light, and subsequently destroyed and rebuilt. Jeff’s essay thus memorializes a building that has been demolished, and he analyzes a story of evolution and change. His essay is the first iteration of a column that we’re eager to develop with material that speaks to all of our readers, especially our readers who are involved with museums and preservation practice. This issue also includes a new kind of research essay—one that reaffirms the link of Buildings & Landscapes to the VAF annual conference. This essay, “Schools for the Colored,” is the work of the award-winning photographer Wendel A. White, and it consists of a short text and a portfolio of stunning, haunting images. Many of us who heard/saw Wendel present his “Small Towns/Black Lives” and “Schools for the Colored” projects at the 2014 VAF meeting in southern New Jersey were taken with this remarkable photographer’s documentation, and depiction, of racial segregation in places in the north. We’d like to thank Wendel for agreeing to share his work with B&L readers, a new audience for him. [End Page v] Copyright © 2015 Vernacular Architecture Forum