Reflections from Former Keeper of the National Register and National Park Service Historian

After a year and a half of monthly meetings engaging with the theme study, we conclude our Reading Path Forward program. We were joined by guest speakers Dr. Stephanie Toothman, former Keeper of the National Register, and Barbara Wyatt, National Park Service historian. We are grateful to close this program in conversation with both speakers about the formation of and thinking behind the Asian & Pacific Islander Americans National Historic Landmarks Theme Study. Dr. Stephanie Toothman spent more than three decades at the National Park Service, where she held a range of cultural resource positions before retiring in 2016 as Associate Director for Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science, the senior NPS role overseeing the National Historic Landmarks Program, the National Register of Historic Places, and federal historic preservation programs broadly. She continued advising NPS as a consultant through approximately 2024. A graduate of Smith College with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania, she has been a long-time supporter of APIAHiP and a consistent ally in bringing APIA heritage into the mainstream of federal historic preservation practice. Barbara Wyatt has worked in historic preservation for nearly 50 years, holding positions as survey and National Register coordinator for the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office, preservation planner for the City of Frederick, Maryland, and historian for NPS in the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks programs. Barbara holds degrees in History, Planning, and Landscape Architecture and was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2021. Since her retirement from NPS in 2021, Barbara has volunteered for various organizations. She helped organize the 2022 Richmond conference for the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation and the 1882 Foundation's Rural Chinatowns conference in Salt Lake City in 2024. She currently serves as Membership Secretary of the ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes and Chair of the Frederick County Rustic Roads Commission. Barbara remains a strong supporter of the 1882 Foundation and of APIAHiP and a consistent ally in the recognition of APIA historic places. Check out the rest of our programs at apiahip.org!