The University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation has awarded the 2011 Historic Preservation Book Prize to “Line, Shade and Shadow: The Fabrication and Preservation of Architectural Drawings” by Lois Olcott Price.
The book “offers both a beautifully illustrated exploration of the evolution of architectural drawing craft and an innovative discussion of the preservation of these drawings,” said Andréa Livi Smith, jury chair and director of UMW’s Center for Historic Preservation.
The center awards the Historic Preservation Book Prize annually to a book that a jury deems has made the most significant contribution to the intellectual vitality of historic preservation in America.
Price is director of conservation, senior conservator of library collections and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Delaware. Since 1991, she has pursued a long-standing research interest in the fabrication and preservation of American architectural drawings. “Line, Shade and Shadow” was published in 2010 by Oak Knoll Press, HES & DE GRAFF Publishers and the Winterthur Museum.
“In light of the increasing reliance on computers and computer-aided techniques, this volume provides a timely and welcome reminder of a fading craft,” Smith said. “The result of decades of research, Lois Olcott Price’s fine book makes the process of drawing come alive as a celebration of the creativity of the draftsmen.”
This year, the jury for the $500 prize also included Christopher Baas, assistant professor of landscape architecture at Ball State University; Clyde Carpenter, professor of architecture and historic preservation at the University of Kentucky; Dennis Pogue, vice president for preservation at Historic Mount Vernon; Michael Spencer, assistant professor of historic preservation at UMW; and Cameron Henry, UMW student juror.
Entries may come from any of the disciplines that relate to the theory or practice of historic preservation. To be eligible for the 2012 prize, a book must be published first in the United States between Jan. 1, 2011 and Dec. 31, 2011.
Established in 1980, the Center for Historic Preservation is a research and public outreach organization affiliated with the UMW Department of Historic Preservation. The center sponsors lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences for students and faculty in the historic preservation department, and it offers programs for the public.
For more information, contact Smith at alsmith@umw.edu or (540) 654-1316.