Jung and Vivian are partnering with other UK colleagues to tackle the project. Valentinos Zachariou, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the neuroscience department in the College of Medicine, wrote the computer code to sift through the PDFs.
“Issues like this are big and complex. They can’t be solved by one perspective or one person,” said Jung. “We need different perspectives to look at any gaps from different viewpoints and methodologies to come up with a solution fitting the complexity of the problem.”
The second half of the project focuses on identifying any obstacles and finding ways to streamline the process of becoming registered historical sites. Jung and the team will choose eight historical sites of minority cultures for analysis, four locations currently listed and four that could be listed but are not.
Researchers will also interview people closely connected to those properties, including owners, managers, community members and historic preservation experts who are familiar with those properties, to better understand the obstacles groups face in the process and why properties from minority cultures are less likely to be represented.
“We know it’s a long, expensive process with several hoops to jump through. Often you need a historian to document the cultural or historical significance. You need resources and connections to understand the processes and interpret what’s required for the application,” Jung said.
The Kentucky Heritage Council (KHC) is a partner in the project. It serves as the State Historic Preservation Office and is responsible for managing sites across the Commonwealth. KHC plans to use the findings to expand the list of protected properties and create a practical solution to help represent all facets of the state’s history.
Jung hopes this collaborative research will lead to a larger, second-tier grant from the NEH to take a closer look at underrepresentation across the country and find a way to make the process more inclusive and equitable. She is encouraging other researchers in the arts and humanities to find and apply for similar grant opportunities.
“I’ve been working toward this and have many, many failed applications out there, so I’m happy to earn this one. It’s meaningful to me,” Jung said. “I think the collaboration at UK makes a huge difference. We don’t have to be limited to certain types of research or certain types of funding. You are extending what you do by collaborating. My background in arts administration certainly helps, being an interdisciplinary field, so it just makes sense for us to do that.”
Mapping the Gaps of the National Register of Historic Places has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.