Barbara Haney Irvine

Last updated
Barbara Haney Irvine
Born1944
OccupationHistoric preservationist
Known forWomen's historic sites preservationist

Barbara Haney Irvine (born 1944) is an American advocate for the preservation of women's historic sites. Irvine is the founding president of the Alice Paul Institute, named after American suffragist leader Alice Paul, and is the executive director of the New Jersey Historic Trust. In 2007 she was an honoree for Women's History Month by the National Women's History Project. [1]

Contents

Historic preservation

"While Barbara Haney Irvine was initially influenced by Alice Paul, she has created her own powerful legacy through her tireless efforts to ensure that the stories of women’s lives and the places where women lived, worked and died will continue to inspire us and all future generations. - The National Women's History Project [1]

Alice Paul Institute and Paulsdale

Paulsdale, ca. 1958, the birthplace and childhood home of Alice Paul Paulsdale.jpg
Paulsdale , ca. 1958, the birthplace and childhood home of Alice Paul

Finding inspiration in the life of Alice Paul, the suffragist and women's rights activist who initiated and ran the main actions and events of the 1910s Women's Voting Rights Movement which successfully lobbied for the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote, Irvine co-founded the Alice Paul Centennial Foundation in 1984. Now known as the Alice Paul Institute (API), the organization was formed to celebrate the centennial of Paul's birth.

For over 16 years Irvine served as volunteer president and board chair for API, leading successful campaigns to preserve historic objects related to Paul's life and to the lives of other women's activists. The group successfully raised over $58,000 to purchase a collection of Paul's books, papers and personal items, including a desk owned by Susan B. Anthony which Paul also used during her movement. The collection was then donated to the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard University. [1]

Less than a year after the collection acquisition, API was offered the chance to purchase Paulsdale , the birthplace and childhood home of Alice Paul, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. The home was threatened by housing developments, which threatened to swallow the six-acre site. Irvine led the national campaign to preserve the site, raising over $1.8 million in private and public funds to purchase and rehabilitate the site, turning it into an interpretive site. In 1991, under the leadership of Irvine, the property was declared a National Historic Landmark. [1] Paulsdale continues to serve as a leadership development center for women and girls attesting to the ongoing inspiration of Paul's vision for women's equality.

Other opportunities in heritage preservation

During the Paulsdale campaign, Irvine started and chaired the first national conference about women's historic sites. This conference was held in 1994 at Bryn Mawr College, and in 1999 the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites was founded. The Collaborative serves to preserve and interpret the sites and venues where women were key in American history. During this time, Irvine also assisted in the creation of the New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail. [1] Irvine has also served as a program content adviser for the New Jersey history program, Our Vanishing Past, produced by the New Jersey Network. [2]

Current life

In 2004 Irvine became the executive director of the New Jersey Historic Trust, seeking to shift the Trusts' focus towards the preservation of urban historic buildings. She is married to Geoffrey Irvine [1] and lives in Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey. [3]

Awards

In 2000 Irvine was appointed to the Women's Progress Commemorative Commission, and in 2005 she was named "Woman of the Year" by Gamma Sigma Sigma. In 2007 she was an honoree for Women's History Month, sponsored by the National Women's History Project. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey</span> Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, US

Cinnaminson Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Cinnaminson Township borders the Delaware River, and is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 17,064, an increase of 1,495 (+9.6%) from the 2010 census count of 15,569, which in turn reflected an increase of 974 (+6.7%) from the 14,595 counted in the 2000 census. The township, and all of Burlington County, is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Paul</span> American suffragist, feminist, and activist (1885–1977)

Alice Stokes Paul was an American Quaker, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote. Paul initiated, and along with Lucy Burns and others, strategized events such as the Woman Suffrage Procession and the Silent Sentinels, which were part of the successful campaign that resulted in the amendment's passage in August 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Woman's Party</span> American political party (1916–2021)

The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP advocated for other issues including the Equal Rights Amendment. The most prominent leader of the National Woman's Party was Alice Paul, and its most notable event was the 1917–1919 Silent Sentinels vigil outside the gates of the White House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Burns</span> American suffragist (1879–1966)

Lucy Burns was an American suffragist and women's rights advocate. She was a passionate activist in the United States and the United Kingdom, who joined the militant suffragettes. Burns was a close friend of Alice Paul, and together they ultimately formed the National Woman's Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Trustees of Reservations</span> Preservation and conservation nonprofit organization in MA, US (established 1891)

The Trustees of Reservations is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the oldest land conservation nonprofit organization of its kind in the world and has 100,000 member households as of 2021. In addition to land stewardship, the organization is also active in conservation partnerships, community supported agriculture (CSA), environmental and conservation education, community preservation and development, and green building. The Trustees owns title to 120 properties on 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) in Massachusetts, all of which are open to the public. In addition, it holds 393 conservation restrictions to protect an additional 20,000 acres (8,100 ha). Properties include historic mansions, estates, and gardens; woodland preserves; waterfalls; mountain peaks; wetlands and riverways; coastal bluffs, beaches, and barrier islands; farmland and CSA projects; and archaeological sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Battlefield Trust</span> Nonprofit preserving battlefields

The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War, through the acquisition of battlefield land. The American Battlefield Trust was formerly known as the Civil War Trust. On May 8, 2018, the organization announced the creation of the American Battlefield Trust as the umbrella organization for two divisions, the Civil War Trust and the Revolutionary War Trust, which was formerly known as "Campaign 1776".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Austen House</span> Historic house in Staten Island, New York

The Alice Austen House, also known as Clear Comfort, is located at 2 Hylan Boulevard in the Rosebank section of Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was home of Alice Austen, a photographer, for most of her lifetime, and is now a museum and a member of the Historic House Trust. The house is administered by the "Friends of Alice Austen", a volunteer group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save America's Treasures</span> US government program to help preserve historic artifacts

Save America's Treasures is a United States federal government initiative to preserve and protect historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public–private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute of Museum and Library Services are also partners in the work. In the early years of the program, Heritage Preservation and the National Park Foundation were also involved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton Battlefield</span> United States historic place

The Princeton Battlefield in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, is where American and British troops fought each other on January 3, 1777, in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War. The battle ended when the British soldiers in Nassau Hall surrendered. This success, following those at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, and the Battle of the Assunpink Creek the day before, helped improve American morale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulsdale</span> United States historic place

Paulsdale is a historic estate and house museum in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey. Built about 1840, it was the birthplace and childhood home of Alice Paul (1885-1977), a major leader in the Women's suffrage movement in the United States, whose activism led to passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1989, for its significance in social history and politics/government. Paulsdale was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey Historic Trust</span> Government agency in New Jersey, United States

The New Jersey Historic Trust was created by the State of New Jersey in 1967 to preserve New Jersey's historic resources. The Historic Trust's executive director is Dorothy P. Guzzo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Beverly, New Jersey)</span> Historic church in New Jersey, United States

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, in Beverly, Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, is located on the corner of Warren and Wilmerton streets in Beverly. While the St. Stephen's community worshipped at the site beginning in 1837, the current church building was consecrated in 1855 and the rector presently serving the congregation is Fr. Robert Legnani.

Marian A. Van Landingham is an American community leader, politician and artist. She served in the Virginia House of Delegates for 24 years and spearheaded the transformation of a decrepit former military storage building into the Torpedo Factory Art Center, in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2006 she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Mary Longfellow</span>

Alice Mary Longfellow was a philanthropist, preservationist, and the eldest surviving daughter of the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. She is best known as "grave Alice" from her father's poem "The Children's Hour".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Hurlbut</span> American suffragist

Julia Hurlbut (1882–1962) was an American suffragist known for her participation in the picketing of the White House by the National Woman's Party in 1917.

The New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail is a collaborative effort between the New Jersey's Historic Preservation Office, part of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and 94 historic sites statewide to raise awareness about the roles played by women in shaping the history of state of New Jersey.

Demond "Brent" Leggs is an African American architectural historian and preservationist from Paducah, Kentucky. Among his roles at the National Trust for Historic Preservation he has been the founding director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, with the goal of raising $25,000,000 to protect and preserve African American history via material culture and beyond.

The Women’s Project of New Jersey was initiated in October 1984 to publish the first comprehensive reference volume on both representative and notable women in New Jersey’s history. Its mission expanded to promote the understanding of “the role of women in the history and culture of our state." The original goal was achieved in April 1990 with the publication of the award-winning volume Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women. The organization’s broader goal was and continues to be achieved by the creation of a traveling photographic exhibit, a speakers’ panel series, a lecture series, two school workbooks and K-12 curricula found on the NJ women’s history website, a speakers’ bureau, a poster series, a paperback revised and updated edition of Past and Promise, and the development of the nation’s first state-based women’s history website.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a program formed in 2017 to aid stewards of Black cultural sites throughout the nation in preserving both physical landmarks, their material collections and associated narratives. It was organized under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The initiative which awards grants to select applicants and advocates of Black history has been led by architectural historian Brent Leggs since 2019. It is the largest program in America to preserve places associated with Black history.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Barbara Haney Irvine". Women's History Month. National Women's History Project . Retrieved 14 Aug 2011.
  2. "Credits & underwriters". Our Vanishing Past. New Jersey Network. 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 14 Aug 2011.
  3. Edward Colimore (2004). "New Historic Trust leader sees urban sites as a priority Barbara Haney Irvine of Cinnaminson also aims to collaborate with the preservation community". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Historic Sites. Retrieved 14 Aug 2011.