Historic Savannah Foundation, a leading nonprofit preservation and cultural institution, will recognize Women’s History Month with its free virtual lecture, Women in Savannah’s Historic Preservation Movement: A Perspective, at 6 p.m. Monday, March 8 via Zoom. This lecture will be presented by Davenport House Museum Director Jamie Credle, who will highlight women pioneers in preservation and their important achievements. 

Credle will discuss organizations with a local impact, such as the Colonial Dames, Trustees Garden Club, and the Junior League of Savannah, as well as individual icons and groups. This includes Emma Adler, Paula Wallace, and Anna Colquitt Hunter. Hunter, along with six other determined and civic-minded women, helped found Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF) in 1955 for the purpose of saving the Davenport House from demolition. Today, HSF has saved more than 400 Savannah structures from similar fates.  

The free lecture is presented by HSF as a community service and an opportunity for enrichment on topics related to its mission. 

“I am excited to share my knowledge about women in preservation and, hopefully, increase the community’s awareness on the importance of these individuals to Savannah’s preservation movement,” Credle said. “I’m looking forward to this opportunity to shine a light on people who may not be considered ‘preservationists’ in a traditional sense, with the idea that we can all be preservationists.”   

The lecture on March 8 will also serve as the launch of a new HSF initiative to honor local women who have made a name for themselves by working to further regional historic preservation efforts. Beginning on March 9, HSF will highlight the following contemporary women – who’ve been essential to the success of regional preservation efforts – through an awareness campaign: Ardis Wood, founder of "The Victorian Lady" tour company; Briana Grosicki, real estate developer and former associate principal of PlaceEconomics; Ellen Harris, co-founder and principal of Ethos Preservation; Holly Kincannon, architect, stone conservator, and founder of Kincannon Studios; Jessica Kelly, a Realtor with Engel & Voelkers Savannah; Leah G. Michalak, director of historic preservation for the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission; Luciana Spracher, director of the City of Savannah’s Municipal Archives; Mae Bowley, executive director of Re:Purpose Savannah; Meredith Stone, an architect with Gunn Meyerhoff Shay Architects; Rebecca Fenwick, co-founder and principal of Ethos Preservation; Sarah Ward, president and preservation principal for Ward Architecture + Preservation; and Vaughnette Goode-Walker, director at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.  Every day for 12 days beginning March 9, HSF’s social media followers can check the organization’s social media accounts to read about each of the women’s accomplishments, backgrounds, and preservation work. 

Anyone interested in attending the free lecture on March 8, should RSVP by emailing [email protected], who will then send participants the Zoom information prior to the event. Using that information, participants will log on for the virtual lecture.

For more information about HSF, please visit www.myHSF.org. To learn more about the Davenport House Museum, please visit www.davenporthousemuseum.org.