Over 300 people attended sessions, tours, and special events during Oklahoma’s 26th Annual Statewide Preservation Conference. Fifty-four speakers from across the state and from around the country spoke in three tracks related to the conference theme of “Historic Preservation ABCs.” One track included a special one-and-a-half day “CAMP” or Commission Assistance Mentoring Program, run by the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions for local review board members. Another half-day session of a track was based at the Oklahoma Archeological Survey on OU’s South Campus.
While all sessions were held at Gould Hall, home to the College of Architecture and IQC on OU’s Van Vleet Oval, special events and tours occurred throughout Norman. Lunch tours covered the history of Norman’s residential architecture including the Moore-Lindsay Historical House Museum, Harold Gimeno’s Sooner Theater and houses, and Bruce Goff’s Ledbetter House. Special breakfasts and luncheons for architects and designers, archeologists, and architectural historians occurred on Main Street, in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, and on Campus Corner, respectively. The Opening Reception was on Main Street at the Norman Arts Council’s MAINSITE gallery. A pre-awards banquet reception was at The University Club with the banquet being held in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. An after party, the POK Mixer, was hosted by Preservation Oklahoma, Inc. at The Chouse.
The second preservation conference was held in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1990. Many attendees commented on how different the recently rehabilitated Gould Hall is, how beautiful campus is, and how vibrant Campus Corner and Main Street are. Many took self-guided walking tours of the campus, the Western History Collection, and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.
The University of Oklahoma, the College of Architecture, and the Institute for Quality Communities partnered with many other groups on campus and throughout the Norman to create a conference that had a record-setting attendance.
Opening night reception held at MAINSITE Contemporary Art in downtown Norman.
Awards banquet at the Oklahoma Memorial Union.