Category: Resources

Save the Date: Bmore Historic is on September 23, 2022!

Baltimore’s annual unconference on people, places, and the past will be held in-person at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Friday, September 23, 2022!

What is Bmore Historic?

Bmore Historic is a participant-led unconference for people who care about public history and historic preservation in and around Baltimore. This includes historians, preservationists, museum professionals, archivists, librarians, humanities scholars, students, volunteer activists, Main Street board members, educators, and anyone interested in exploring the intersections between people, places, and the past in Baltimore and Maryland.

Unconferences are events run by participants. Attendees set the agenda for what’s discussed, lead the sessions and workshops that fill the schedule, and create an environment of innovation and productive discussion.

Past, in-person Bmore Historic unconferences have been structured around four session blocks: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We usually have between four to six sessions in each of the time blocks for a total of twenty sessions throughout the day. Learn more about Bmore Historic or read our introduction to unconferences. 

 

We hope to see you on September 23!

 

 

 

The Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund Is Open!

The third round of Baltimore City Historic Preservation Funding is open for applications. Applications are due August 6, 2021.

Baltimore Heritage, in partnership with the Maryland Historical Trust, Preservation Maryland, and the Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, are proud to partner for the Baltimore City Historic Preservation Fund. Funds for the grant program are provided by the Baltimore Community Foundation. The fund’s goal is to provide direct assistance for capital and non-capital activities that advance efforts to preserve historically significant properties in the City of Baltimore.

A special focus of this initiative is to support projects that not only preserve structures but are also important to neighborhood identity and contribute to the revitalization of communities. In the first two rounds, the Baltimore Preservation Fund supported sixteen projects totaling $120,000 in grant awards.

Tax-exempt organizations performing work in the City of Baltimore are eligible to apply for recommended grant requests of $1,000-$10,000. Projects must take place in the City of Baltimore. Projects eligible for the competitive grant funds include, but are not limited to, rehabilitation work of historic materials, preparation of National Register nominations, educational, research, and planning efforts related to preservation efforts.

Please contact Jessica Feldt, Preservation Initiatives Manager at jfeldt@presmd.org with any questions.

Applications for the 2021 round are due August 6, 2021. To learn more, please visit the grant site here.

Members Make It Happen: Thank You from Baltimore Heritage

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We at Baltimore Heritage cannot say it enough. This year has been challenging for everyone and we could not have navigated it without your support. Our new Five Minute Histories video series and our ongoing Legacy Business and Centennial Homes programs, to name a few, are possible only with your help. If you haven’t yet done so, please consider joining or renewing your membership today.

Here are just a few of this past year’s projects made possible with your support:

We produced over 100 Five Minute Histories videos. Beginning the first day of Maryland’s Covid lock-down, we have traveled all over our city covering topics such as the Civil Rights Movement, mercantile history, immigration, religious development, Native American history, LGBTQ heritage, transportation, landscape design, women’s rights, and even some geology.

We expanded our Friday afternoon history lecture series and went virtual. In partnership with the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, we held engaging talks by Charlie Duff, Nancy Proctor, Jackson Gilman-Forlini, Aaron Henkin, Anne Bruder, Meg Fairfax-Fielding, and more.

We handed out 5 micro-grants and 18 preservation awards virtually. We pivoted to a Zoom pitch party to continue to make preservation a participatory sport with micro grants. Thank you to member Brigid Goody for making this yearly event possible. And we have been featuring our 2020 preservation awards winners on our website and on our YouTube channel.

We continued to fight to preserve Baltimore’s heritage. Restoration has begun at the Bruce Street Arabber Stable. Construction continues at the Lafayette Square bathhouses. And the Center for Health Care and Healthy Living at the Baltimore Hebrew Orphan Asylum will soon be 100% occupied by the Baltimore City Health Department and Behavioral Health System Baltimore.

For all of you who volunteer, log-on to our programs, email us kind words (and correct our mistakes), and support our advocacy work in Baltimore, please accept a sincere thank you from all of us at Baltimore Heritage. Your time, talents and financial support make a difference. Please consider joining or renewing your membership.

We wish you a safe holiday season and thank you again for doing so much for Baltimore.

P.S. Need a holiday present idea? Get in touch about how you can get a gift membership for a friend or family-member!

Job Opportunity: Community Engagement and Communications Manager

We have a staff position open! We’re looking for a Community Engagement and Communications Manager to join us in our work to preserve and promote Baltimore’s historic places. Below is description of the position and how to apply. The application deadline is June 30, 2019. 

Pay & Benefits: $50,000 and $1,500 retirement plan match.

Applications Due: June 30, 2019

Start Date: September 3, 2019

Position Description

The Community Engagement and Communications Manager will lead Baltimore Heritage’s tours, educational programs, and outreach initiatives to engage people in our mission of protecting and promoting historic buildings and revitalizing historic neighborhoods in Baltimore City.

The manager is responsible for a range of community programs including planning historic walking and building tours, managing an annual micro-grant program for preservation projects, and working with volunteer contributors to publish stories about historic places to our Explore Baltimore Heritage website and app. The manager will also be responsible for sharing information about these programs and the broader work of the organization through Baltimore Heritage’s website, social media, and print communications.

This is a full time position (40 hours per week) reporting to the executive director. Work hours are typically 9:00 am to 5:00 pm with occasional evening and weekend requirements. The work will take place mostly at Baltimore Heritage’s office as well as locations throughout Baltimore City for meetings and program events.

Position Responsibilities

Education Programs

  • Heritage Tours Programs: Initiate tours at new sites by contacting potential building owners and tour guides, research and write tour descriptions and announcements, support volunteer guides and organizers, attend tours, and compile quarterly reports.
  • Preservation Micro-Grant Program: Promote micro grant program to prospective applicants, manage grant selection process, organize public event where final grants are selected and announced, work with grantees on follow-up stories.
  • Explore Baltimore Heritage Website & App: Draft occasional interpretive stories on historic places in the Baltimore area and edit and publish stories from volunteer contributors.
  • Bmore Historic unconference: Help coordinate a volunteer planning committee to organize an annual unconference at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

Communications

  • Website: Periodically update Baltimore Heritage WordPress-based website.
  • Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Groups): Use social media to promote public programs and share announcements and information related to Baltimore Heritage and preservation in Baltimore. Social media responsibilities include moderating two Facebook groups—the Old House Forum for local historic homeowners and Bmore Historic for area preservationists and historians.

Administrative

  • Assist in organizing and staffing annual historic preservation awards event, annual membership renewal mailing, monthly board of directors meetings, and other fundraising and program efforts.
  • Assist in maintaining and updating member records.

Qualification and Skill Requirements

  • Interest in Baltimore and the city’s history, architecture, and people
  • Bachelor’s degree in historic preservation, history, urban planning, or a related field
  • Strong writing and research skills
  • Experience researching local history or preparing National Register nominations
  • Ability to work with volunteers and community partners
  • Ability to work independently with good organization and time management skills
  • Familiarity with WordPress, GSuite (Docs, Slides, Sheets), Adobe Photoshop and/or Adobe InDesign, and membership management tools (e.g. Salesforce, CiviCRM)

To Apply

Send cover letter, resume, and short (500 words or less) writing sample to Mr. Johns W. Hopkins, Executive Director, Baltimore Heritage: hopkins@baltimoreheritage.org.

For questions, contact Mr. Hopkins at 410-332-9992 or hopkins@baltimoreheritage.org.

About Baltimore Heritage

Baltimore Heritage is a city-wide non-profit historic preservation organization. Founded in 1960, it has two-full time staff positions, a 35 member board of directors, and dozens of volunteers. Baltimore Heritage operates in three primary areas: preservation advocacy for historic buildings and neighborhoods; education programs including an expansive Heritage Tours Program; and technical assistance to homeowners and building owners working to restore their historic buildings.

This Saturday! Meet Baltimore’s historic homeowners and learn new ways to help your house

This Saturday, we are partnering with Retrofit Baltimore and Live Baltimore to host our very first historic homeowner social. Stop by Second Chance anytime from 10:00 am to 11:30 am to enjoy coffee, donuts, and answers to all your questions about weatherization, historic tax credits, and home buying in Baltimore City.

This event is also your first chance to sign up for the 2015 Baltimore Historic House Co-op. The co-op is a way for homeowners to save money on weatherization services through Retrofit Baltimore. For each home-owner who signs up before April 25 and pledges to complete their project by the fall, Retrofit’s contractors are offering a 1% discount – up to a 15% discount for everyone who participates. Learn more about the benefits of weatherization for historic properties or sign up for the Historic House Co-op today.

This new partnership is just one of many new resources that we’ve put together for historic home-owners over the past few months. Check out new or recently updated resources including:

We even have a new resource guide just for homeowners – a growing online toolkit  for the thousands of home-owners who preserve historic neighborhoods. If you have questions or suggestions for how we can help historic homeowners in Baltimore, please get in touch. And don’t forget to join us at Second Chance on Saturday morning!