Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area Staff

 
Carroll Van West (cwest@mtsu.edu) is the director of the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. He also serves as editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture web site, and director of the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, the only National Heritage Area administered by a university department.

His research interests lie in 19th and 20th century southern and western history as well as architecture and material culture. His most recent book is A History of Tennessee Arts: Creating Traditions and Expanding Horizons (UT Press, 2004), the state’s first comprehensive history of the arts. He recently published chapters on “Rocky Mountain Architecture” for Rocky Mountain Cultures (Greenwood Press, 2005), “Architecture” for the Encyclopedia of Appalachia (UT Press, 2006), and co-authored a National Trust for Historic Preservation booklet, Heritage Areas: Getting Started (2006).

Earlier books include: an edited anthology, Trial and Triumph: Readings in Tennessee’s African-American Past (UT Press, 2002), the first such textbook on Tennessee’s African American history in over 20 years; the web edition of The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture (UT Press, 2003), which includes many more visuals, maps, videos, audio, and illustrations than the original print volume; Tennessee’s New Deal Landscape (UT Press, 2001), the first statewide book on New Deal-era structures, buildings, and parks; The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, co-winner of the Tennessee History Book Award and recipient of an AASLH Award of Merit in 1999 (Tennessee Historical Society, 1998); the edited anthology Tennessee History: The Land, The People, and The Culture (UT Press, 1998); Tennessee's Historic Landscapes, a study of history and architecture, (UT Press, 1995); Capitalism on the Frontier: The Transformation of Billings and the Yellowstone Valley in the 19th Century (University of Nebraska Press, 1993); Images of Billings, a photographic history of Billings, MT, (Western Heritage Center Press, 1990); Tennessee Agriculture: A Century Farms Perspective (Tennessee Department of Agriculture, 1987); and A Traveler's Companion to Montana History, (Montana Historical Society Press, 1986).

As a professor in MTSU's history department, he teaches courses in architectural history, historic preservation, and state and local history. Dr. West has directed to completion over seventy M.A. theses of MTSU graduate students in history, historic preservation, and public history. Dr. West serves on the board of advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He has worked with museum/preservation projects in many other states and has been recently working on historic preservation issues in California, Mississippi, and Montana, He has written numerous articles and book reviews in southern and western history. Recent articles include a chapter on rural African American churches in, African American Place-Making and the Struggle to Claim Space in the United States (University Press of Colorado, 2007). He regularly speaks to history, museum, preservation, and civic groups and conferences in Tennessee and across the nation. A native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Dr. West holds a B.A. from MTSU, a master's degree in history from the University of Tennessee, and a doctorate in history from the College of William & Mary.


Michael Thomas Gavin (mtgavin@mtsu.edu) is the preservation specialist for the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, administered by the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. He has also served as an adjunct professor in the History Department at MTSU. Mr. Gavin received a B.A. in English from Rutgers University and a M.A. in history from MTSU. For twenty-five years, he was president of a restoration company specializing in rehabilitating historic buildings. His current research areas include the Civil War, African American history, Tennessee’s charcoal iron industry, and vernacular architecture, particularly log buildings. His recent publications include Restoration Guide for Historic Log Houses (Murfreesboro: TCWNHA, 2007); Tennessee Iron Furnace Trail: A Guide to the Resources of the Western Highland Rim, (Murfreesboro: TCWNHA, 2006); “From Bands of Iron to Promise Land: The African-American Contribution to Middle Tennessee’s Antebellum Iron Industry,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 64 (2005); and “Building with Wood, Brick, and Stone: Vernacular Architecture in Tennessee, 1770-1900,” in A History of Tennessee Arts: Creating Traditions, Expanding Horizons (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2004).

Dr. Antoinette G. van Zelm (avanzelm@mtsu.edu) is the historian for the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, administered by the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. She provides research, writing, and editing assistance to partnering organizations. Dr. van Zelm received her Ph.D. in American History from the College of William & Mary, completing her dissertation on the transition from slavery to freedom among women in Virginia during and after the Civil War. She serves on the executive council of the Southern Association for Women Historians (SAWH), chairs its mentoring committee, and serves as book review editor for H-SAWH. Her publications on the Civil War and Reconstruction era include “A Soldier of the Cross in Norfolk, 1865-1876: Chloe Tyler Whittle and Evangelical Womanhood” in Virginia Cavalcade (2000), “Virginia Women as Public Citizens: Emancipation Day Celebrations and Lost Cause Commemorations, 1863-1890” in Negotiating Boundaries of Southern Womanhood: Dealing with the Powers That Be (2000), as well as contributions to the Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era (2006) and the Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition (2007).

Laura Stewart Holder ( lholder@mtsu.edu ) serves as the part-time Federal Liaison for the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area. Ms. Holder received a B.A. from the University of Kansas and a M.A. in public history with emphasis in historic preservation from Middle Tennessee State University, completing her thesis on the establishment and preservation initiatives of the historic African American Natchez Street neighborhood in Franklin. She served as manager for the Heritage Area for four years before moving to a part time role as Federal Liaison. In her current role, she assists wtih daily operations, publications, and project administration. She has developed heritage tourism initiatives for communities across the state, including driving tours and feasibility studies. She serves on the Governor's Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, and the advisory board of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, the Mississippi River Natural and Recreational Corridor, and the Alliance of National Heritage Areas Heritage Development Institute. She has also contributed to the online edition of the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.
Jennifer B. Butt (jbutt@mtsu.edu) is Program Assistant at The Heritage Center for Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. The Heritage Center is a partnership effort of the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and Main Street Murfreesboro/Rutherford County, Inc. She provides assistance to the Center’s various public programs, including walking tours of the Murfreesboro square. Ms. Butt received her B.S. and an M.A. in History with emphasis in Historic Preservation from Middle Tennessee State University, completing her thesis on the emergence of gable-front and wing houses in Murfreesboro during the late-nineteenth century.