Historic Tuscaloosa Lecture Series | 2024

Historic Tuscaloosa is excited to announce the return of its three-part lecture series, which explores the fundamentals and highlights broad aspects of heritage and historic preservation in Tuscaloosa.

This year’s lecture series will take place in Farrah Hall in Room 214 at the University of Alabama on July 25, August 22, and September 26. The series is not just about listening, but also about engaging. Each meeting includes interaction between participants and presenters through Q&A sessions at the end of each lecture, fostering a sense of community and shared learning.

Historic Tuscaloosa, formerly known as the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society, is a non-profit organization that values the role of our local community in preserving our historical and cultural heritage. In our ongoing effort to engage and educate our community, we are thrilled to announce the return of our lecture series this year, offering a free and enriching experience to learn and expand one’s knowledge of our local history.

Beginning in July, the lectures will take place on the fourth Thursday of the month in room 214 in Farrah Hall at the University of Alabama. Lectures will start at 5:30 pm.

The series starts at 5:30 p.m. on July 25 with George Adair discussing his topic about the “Bryce Hospital Coal Mines.”

The series, sponsored by Historic Tuscaloosa, will continue at 5:30 p.m. on August 22 with Dr. Jennifer Feltman discussing “The Notre-Dame Restoration and Collaborative Research at UA.”

The final event will feature Dr. Sharony Green, who will discuss using the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion as a lab for University of Alabama student discoveries concerning our complicated shared past at 5:30 p.m. on September 26.

All the events in this exclusive series are free and open to the public. We eagerly anticipate the privilege of welcoming you to this enriching event.

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Historic Tuscaloosa will continue its annual summertime lecture series on Thursday, August 22, at 5:30 with Dr. Jennifer Feltman, who will discuss the Notre-Dame Restoration and Collaborative Research at UA. This event is open to the public and free of charge.

Dr. Feltman will talk about restoration and research groups in France but highlight what professionals are doing at the University of Alabama. This lecture will provide insight into the rebuilding process and the major discoveries made over the past five years, thanks to interdisciplinary and collaborative research. Highlights will be placed upon the UA-led collaborative research project, Notre Dame in Color.

Jennifer M. Feltman is a Medieval Art and Architecture associate professor at the University of Alabama. Her research focuses on French Gothic architecture and sculpture. She is a Chantier Scientifique de Notre-Dame member, a team of scientists and historians authorized by the French Ministry of Culture to study the fire-ravaged cathedral as it is being restored. As part of her contribution to new research on Notre Dame, she is directing “Notre Dame in Color,” a project to investigate, document, and virtually recreate the vibrantly painted sculptures of the Gothic Cathedral of Paris. This work is supported by the FACE Foundation – Transatlantic Research Partnership, a program of the French Embassy in the United States, a 3-year National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research Grant, and the UA Collaborative Arts Initiative.

Medieval descriptions of the construction of Gothic cathedrals often begin with a destructive fire, miraculous survival, and renewed collective purpose for restoring what was lost. The old becomes new, and new ideas and possibilities emerge. Not only is a building reconstructed, but it is also transformed, and so are we: new techniques, artistic forms, and ideas are developed through the organization of collaborative effort. The Notre Dame restoration continues this story into our present moment as we watch the spire of the cathedral rise once again. The impressive reconstruction project is scheduled for completion in December 2024. At the same time, interdisciplinary groups of researchers continue to make new discoveries about this famous work of Gothic architecture.

DISCLAIMER: Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this lecture do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.