Interview with Barbara Zdravesky

Barbara Zdravesky is an historian and a preservationist, mostly by accident.  She grew up in New Mexico, then came to Rhode Island to finish her degrees in music and anthropology.  She was a longtime volunteer with the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Providence Preservation Society, but when she bought an old house in Pawtucket, she dove head first into learning the stories of the Blackstone Valley.

1. In 2021 the Preservation Society of Pawtucket changed its name and mission to the Heritage Alliance of Pawtucket to emphasize the cultural heritage of city residents in addition to preserving the city's historical architecture. Tell us more about that decision and the new programs and initiatives you have implemented.​

​The changes we made reflect our desire to take a broader, more contextual approach to preservation work.  The Society’s mission statement was written in 1978, and it hadn’t ever changed.  By 2021, the membership and financial had essentially disappeared, and we were struggling just to exist, without a well-defined strategy for how to protect the city’s historical resources.  We examined which of our activities got the most response from the community, and we chose a new mission and a name that we think focuses on Pawtucket’s most valuable resources…it’s people and their stories.  We didn’t want to just become the Pawtucket Historical Society, because well, we didn’t want a name with the word Society in it.  Perhaps the new name Heritage Alliance doesn’t immediately identify what we do, but we like that it gives us a lot of leeway, in terms of how we achieve our mission.

Our historic building plaque program is still popular, and the plaques still have the Preservation Society name on them, but we did away with the old scoring sheet that rated a building’s importance, mostly based on architectural details.  The new criteria include buildings that might look unimportant, but represent some aspect of the city’s history.  For example, we recently approved a plaque for a house that is fairly plain in design but it was built by a middle-class immigrant family who was able to move away from the city center and commute to their jobs by streetcar.  It tells a story about hardworking people who were able to improve their lives, and it is part of the story about how industry and technology changed the city.  The historic buildings are the structural ancestors of the city, and we value them very much, but they mean far less without the stories of the people who occupied them.  It isn’t enough to identify who designed a building, and what era or style it is, but for most people to agree that a building is worth preserving, there has to be a human connection.        

2. The Preservation Society of Pawtucket sold the Joseph Spaulding House in 2019, after working with Preserve RI to secure a historic easement on the property to permanently protect it.  How did selling the property free up resources to pursue other initiatives?

The Spaulding House is an 1828 house that was the lifelong home of Betty Johnson, a beloved and prolific history researcher in Pawtucket.  Betty was a founding member of the Preservation Society, and it is often assumed that she wanted the Society to inherit the house, which she and her husband meticulously restored.  How the Society came to own the house in 2012, in spite of Betty’s wishes, is a long story that we have publicly shared, but for the sake of answering your question it is most important to know that the house came with almost no funds for its maintenance, only a very small endowment.  At the time, the Society also owned the 1828 Baker-Hanley House, purchased in 1999 with the hopes that it would be a permanent headquarters and arts center.  That plan became untenable as membership support and participation fizzled out.  Maintaining two houses with practically no income was impossible.  We sold the Baker-Hanley House to the Samaritans, who were led by a past president of the Society, so we were sure the house would be in good hands, and it is.  The harder struggle was what to do with the Spaulding House.  We pursued several ways to earn income for its maintenance, even renting it out as an AirBnB, which brought in enough money to pay the bills, but we were risking damage and theft, and our board members had essentially become hotel staff and groundskeepers.  Meanwhile, the Society’s real mission was being ignored completely.  Most of the time the house was unoccupied, and we were absentee landlords, which was bad for the house and its neighborhood.  It was obvious that we had to sell it, so we started investigating how to attach a preservation easement.  We were really grateful to work with Preserve Rhode Island as the easement holder, and we knew we were doing right by Betty and her house. Now, the Spaulding House is occupied and being cared for, and that’s preservation.  Selling the house was the only way we could guarantee the long-term existence of both it and the Society. The proceeds of the sale were divided in half with the Pawtucket Library, which now owns Betty’s history research collection. 

After we sold the house, all doors were opened for us, in terms of how to achieve our mission. No longer facing bankruptcy, we were able to explore any and all ideas for how to promote preservation in Pawtucket. We don’t have to spend our time raising funds, but we get to spend it raising awareness about the unique and valuable history of Pawtucket.

3. What initiatives have been most successful in bringing more diverse voices into your organization?

What advice would you give to other historic non-profits that want to be more inclusive? It is to our great advantage that Pawtucket’s cultural heritage is so diverse, and there are innumerable stories to tell. All we had to do was choose a name (for our organization) that reflected our desire to include cultural preservation in our mission.  I want to clarify that the city already has several cultural clubs that each celebrate the traditions of the groups they represent, and we aren’t trying to replace them.  We are careful to not declare that we are more capable of telling their stories, but we’re hoping to enhance what they do.  One initiative we’re experimenting with is our Neighborhood Heritage Series, where we highlight a different neighborhood each year.  We spent last year focusing on the Woodlawn neighborhood, and created a Woodlawn Bingo game where players had to find sites or architectural details that corresponded to squares on a Bingo card.  This year we’re looking at Darlington.  We led a trolley tour of several houses of worship in Darlington, including a brand new mosque, which sits right next to a 19th century Congregational meetinghouse.  The pair is a literal representation of Pawtucket’s past and present, and we were able to celebrate both by telling the stories of the two congregations and their uniquely beautiful buildings.  The day was a great success in many ways and we were very gratified to see so many people learning about each other and making connections for future collaborations.  

4. Tell us more about the Preservation Reward Program—how has this helped encourage historic preservation in Pawtucket?

Remember when I mentioned the small endowment attached to the Spaulding House?  The terms of the fund had previously required us to spend the annual interest on maintaining the house, but when the house was sold, we were allowed to use the interest as operating income.  We chose however to do something else with it.  If the Society hadn’t owned the Spaulding House, we wouldn’t have had that endowment income, so without the house, we decided to give the money away.  We created the Preservation Reward Program to highlight and reward preservation projects in the city of Pawtucket.  We give a total of $2000 each year; the amount is divided amongst no more than three winners.  The top criteria is that the project be viewable and accessible to the general public.  House exterior repairs qualify, but not interiors.  Also considered are digital and archival projects - last year we chose Run of the Mill as a recipient, for the film and photo documentation of the Conant Thread Mills.  Another project we really liked was the Slater Mill’s work of repairing historic textile samples and improving the storage methods.  This was important work for which we are grateful; we couldn’t give them the reward money because the textiles were not generally available for public viewing, but we were sure to give them credit and publicity.  The Reward Program hasn’t necessarily stimulated preservation in the city, but we think it has helped convey that preservation is not just about maintaining buildings.  At the very least, we just enjoy being in the rare position of being able to give away money, something we never thought would be possible.     

5. While your mission has broadened, you are still involved in protecting historic structures. How has being a more inclusive organization helped in these efforts?

Well, we’re still just a tiny organization, run by a group of nine volunteers.  Sometimes we do actually make the news headlines, but our impact on the community is nowhere near what groups like the Providence Preservation Society are doing.  Once upon a time, the Preservation Society of Pawtucket was using Providence as a benchmark for what a preservation society is supposed to be, and I agree that it’s a great model.  Trying to imitate that model though was only setting us up to feel like we were failing.  When we had an honest conversation about what we could realistically achieve, we agreed to give the Society a new role and identity.  I hope my Heritage Alliance colleagues will agree with me when I say that our work is not so much about what we’re supposed to be doing, in terms of how a preservation society typically operates, but it’s about what we enjoy doing and what matters to us as individuals and as a collective group of preservationists.  When we take that approach, what we do becomes a lot more meaningful and valuable.