Week 1: Exploring History

I have chosen an internship for the Knox Heritage Salvage Coodrinator, Beth. I will give a more detailed introduction of Beth another week. I have been interested in historic presevation for many years therefore my internship will allow me to explore this branch of design.

Knox Heritage aims to "preserve structures and places with historic or cultural significance". Knox Heritage began in 1974 when a group of citizens wanted to protect the Bijou Theatre from demolition. Knox Heritage wants "to educate everyone about the benefits of historic preservation". 

Alexander InnThe main focus of my internship this past week was The Alexander Inn estate sale. The Alexander Inn is a historic building built in 1943 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.The reason all of the interior items are being salvaged is because Family Pride Corporation is restoring the Alexander Inn. My supervisor Beth was in charge of an estate sale at the Inn. The first sale was was on Saturday May 25. On the previous Friday we prepared for the sale. We organized and cleaned items and moved them to the front lobby. We had to wear masks when we were in the back of the Inn due to a risk of asbestos and mold exposure. The money raised from the sale is for the East Tennessee Preservation alliance. 

The sale went so well that we hosted another one the next weekend. The estate sale has many volunteers that I had the opportunity to meet. Some were from the Oak Ridge Preservation Alliance and others were passionate citizens interested in the Inn.

Sara Hill (Alexander Inn Volunteer)

The most enthusiastic volunteer came on the first Saturday just as a customer. Her name is Sara Hill. She arrived at the sale two hours before the sale started because she was so excited! She adopted the role of crowd control since many people arrived before the sale began. Sara was at the Inn throughout the entire sale on the first Saturday. She enjoyed the sale so much that she decided to become a volunteer for the second sale. Sara had learned about the Alexander Inn estate sale from the newspaper. Her husband is an Oak Ridge native and she has lived there for eleven years. Sara has a passion for anything historic, especially the Alexander Inn. Sara works in Knoxville at the Trust Company.

Other than the Alexander Inn, I learned how to work in the Knox Heritage Salvage Room. The goal of the Salvage Room is to provide the community with historic architectural items. Beth also showed me the Knox Heritage room in the Nostalgia store. I met with Jeff from Nostalgia to discuss a wall removal relating to the Knox Heritage room. This information is important for me because I am redesigning the Knox Heritage Nostalgia room this upcoming week.

(Knox Heritage history and quotes from www.knoxheritage.org)

Comments

[MBR]

Very good start, Monica! I would like to suggest that you go back and add to your post a more formal definition of historic preservation. I understand the context of historic preservation from the context of Knox Heritage, but a more general definition and the importance of it in general needs to be more fully developed.

What an exciting project to begin your work at KH! Do you know what they plan to do with the Alexander Inn now that the owners are moving forward with emptying the place? Does the sale of the furniture go to the cost of renovation? I hear they are planning to turn the old inn into an assisted living. If this is true, with the existence of asbestos and possibly mold, it looks like the contractor has quite a bit of cleaning up to do to bring the facility up to health codes. Are you going to be able to follow the progress of this project? Sounds like Knox Heritage is definitely giving their support. Can you explain more their role beyond the sale of existing furniture and fixtures, if any?

In regards to overall post format, continue to edit out the additional spaces between paragraphs, and select "full justify" for text formatting. You may want to organize content into 3 distinct sections for clarity. Images look great. Work on refining your writing to be in present tense and consider more closely the use of prepositions to better match content. Read over post before publishing and have someone else read content to help with overall edits. Also, go into more detail in general to flesh out the full story. The detail you have is very good, and the content is very good. A bit more research and exploration into each week's focus through interviews and such needs to be considered.

Looking forward to learning more about all you are leaning about historic preservation and your position with KH!

[Amy P]

Monica, this sounds really cool! I've always wondered what Historic Preservation would be like. Is this a non-profit firm? Can't wait to see and hear more about it.