Women in Historic Preservation: Saving America’s Landmarks and Legacy

Long before historic preservation became a formal profession, women were leading efforts to save buildings, landscapes, and community histories across America. Public historian Amanda Roper explores women’s often-overlooked role in the preservation movement, from the campaign to save George Washington’s Mount Vernon to the broader ways women have shaped cultural memory and influenced what Americans choose to preserve.

Key Topics

• Women’s role in the history of historic preservation
• The women who helped save George Washington’s Mount Vernon
• Preservation efforts before the field became professionalized
• Historic places as keepers of cultural memory and identity
• How preservation shapes the stories Americans remember
• Recovering underrepresented voices in public history
• The evolving role of women in preservation

Guest Bio

Amanda Roper is a public historian whose work focuses on historic preservation and underrepresented stories in American history. She has worked with institutions including the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and National Trust for Historic Preservation and is a 2025–2026 Research Fellow at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. She is currently researching and writing Saving America’s Past: Women in Preservation, a history of women’s contributions to the American preservation movement.

Books Mentioned: Black Majority by Peter Wood Paperback | Ebook

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