PhD student, Michael Verville, hosts a cemetery clean up and restoration workshop for Public History students
Our Public History graduate students attended a cemetery clean up and restoration workshop with Verville Preservation on Saturday, November 2nd at Oakwood Cemetery. Michael Verville is a current PhD student in the Public History PhD program.
Verville Preservation is a family business of trained craftspeople that combine history and science to preserve traditional cemetery monuments. They study photographs, historical records, and family diaries and research the best materials to use to repair and restore monuments. Verville, along with his wife Hilary, are committed to applying scholarship to monument restoration.
Earlier this month, Verville invited Public History MA and PhD students to attend a cemetery clean up and restoration workshop at Oakwood Cemetery. Says Verville, “The workshop was one of our monument maintenance classes that Hilary and I offer several times each year. We’ve led them as far away as New Bern and Winston-Salem, as well as throughout the Triangle. At the workshops we generally focus on safety in cemeteries, identification of common monument materials and styles, symbolism, frequently encountered types of damage, and basic cleaning and straightening techniques. Although we typically charge a fee for these workshops, this is the second year we have offered one at no charge for graduate students in NCSU’s History Department.”
Katie Boatner, a Public History MA student, attended the workshop because much of her research in US public history is connected to death studies, sites of burial, and cemeteries. Says Boatner, “I also wanted to spend time with other students and engage in community activism. The most valuable thing I got out of the workshop was learning about best practices regarding cleaning grave markers, but the interaction with my peers and some people I had hitherto not met was a close second. I appreciate the work Michael and Hillary do with cemetery and marker preservation, and any chance I get to work with them I take! I attended last year’s workshop as well, and I intend to be there for any that come up again in the future.”
Michael holds a Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation from UNC-Greensboro (UNCG) and a Bachelor’s degree in History from North Carolina Central University (NCCU). He apprenticed under the late Dean Ruedrich, a master craftsman in historic preservation and continues his education with workshops on traditional stone masonry (e.g., Brooklyn, NY and Stirling, Scotland). Michael has served on various historic preservation committees and boards in the Piedmont region of North Carolina and is available as an independent consultant.
