Stories in Bricks, Beams, Paint, & Plaster: Reading Buildings as Evidence – 2027 Building Archaeology Symposium

The Asa and Emilia Stebbins House at Historic Deerfield is currently undergoing an intensive physical study to uncover details of its construction and evolution—and we are exploring and sharing with visitors what its architecture can tell us about the Stebbins family and their material life over time. With very few written records to illuminate the building process or change over time, the Stebbins House itself emerges as a crucial historical document to inform its restoration and interpretation—an artifact to be “read” for the information embedded in its bricks, beams, paint, and plaster.

The 2027 Building Archaeology Symposium at Historic Deerfield—a one-day event to be held on Saturday, April 3, 2027, at the Deerfield Community Center—will mark the return of our annual Architectural Preservation Symposium series. Inspired by our work at the Stebbins House, this event will help reinvigorate conversations about historic buildings studies—their value, methodologies, and applications. It will bring together architectural historians, preservationists, conservators, students, archaeologists, architects, cultural resource management firms, site managers, historic homeowners, historic tradespeople, and material culture scholars to engage in stimulating conversations about building archaeology projects and what we can learn from them.

The symposium program will focus primarily on case studies and investigative methodologies, aiming to highlight the crucial role of building archaeology before restoration work, including the value of the formal Historic Structure Reports (HSRs) that often result from such work. We especially invite case studies that highlight how careful and systematic study of building fabric have informed accurate restorations and contributed to the understanding and interpretation of historic properties. The symposium will, we hope, help promote the continued training of emerging professionals who might engage in this work in the future.

The program will include a keynote address by Willie Graham (architectural historian and former curator of architecture at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation) and an open house visit to the Stebbins House, where attendees will get a behind-the-scenes look at our discoveries, contemplate some of our remaining architectural mysteries, and learn more about our decision-making process for restoration.

Stay tuned for registration details.