Research Interests

My interest in preservation of both our natural and built environments stems from very deep roots. My father was a commercial artist who used to drive our family around old Saint Louis neighborhoods in our 1955 Plymouth to view the historic architecture and old neighborhoods, so my propensity for preservation reaches back as far as I can remember. In fact, some of my earliest childhood memories involve venerable city museums like the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Missouri Historical Society. It’s just in my blood…

Those roots in heritage preservation have branched in several directions over the years as I continue to explore the presence of the past. For example, I drafted a successful National Register nomination for midtown Saint Louis in 1976, and conducted extensive research on historic downtown buildings while coordinating the Downtown Element of the City of Saint Louis Comprehensive Plan in the early Eighties. I also conducted extensive archival research at the Archives of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial for my doctoral dissertation and subsequent book The Gateway Arch: Fact & Symbol (Popular Press, 1992). Recently I wrote a chapter on the Buildings of Howard County for The Buildings of Missouri, (forthcoming) edited by Emeritus Professor Ozzie Overby.

I have also been exploring the tremendous educational impacts of new information technologies upon higher education. Much of that research interest stems from the pioneering writings of Father Walter J. Ong, S.J., at Saint Louis University, who also influenced media scholar Marshall McLuhan with his studies in this emerging field. Building upon that research interest generated by Father Ong, I served as a Research Fellow for the Northwest Area Foundation (Saint Paul, Minnesota) in 1998 to help the Foundation develop a database and website for the communities in their vast ten-state service region. I also received support from Saint Cloud State University to research the future of higher education in the digital age, and gave a presentation last February on the topic at the Teaching Renewal Conference here at the University. One particular challenge I perceive for the Museum of Art & Archaeology is how to be both a Muse and amusing to young people acculturated in a world of popular entertainment choices while demonstrating the continued presence and importance of The Past in their lives.

My family
St. Louis Place Park

The Phenomenology of Place (pdf)
from Humanities Education

The Gateway Arch jacket
The Gateway Arch