History Students Participate in Restoration Project

Anderson, Sadie. "History Students Participate in Restoration Project." Its Happening Today, 1 November 2007.

Students from History 431, The North American Plains, with support from the Center for Heritage Renewal, took part in the Hutmacher farmstead restoration project in Dunn County on Oct. 13-14. The farmstead is a complex of buildings constructed of locally quarried stone and locally harvested timber by a German-Russian family.

Students Toni Berning, Aaron Granley, Ann Erling, Molly Lefor, Dan McCollum, Ashleigh Pust, David Suda, Todd Volk and Cory Wheeler were members of the service learning party. The group was led by Tom Isern, professor of history, who is director of the Center for Heritage Renewal, instructor of the course and a board member of Preservation North Dakota. History doctoral student Suzzanne Kelley also worked at the site, representing Phi Alpha Theta, the NDSU history honor society.

Restoration of the complex is proceeding under the auspices of Preservation North Dakota, the state organization for historic preservation, and executive director Dale Bentley through a National Park Service Save America's Treasures grant.

The NDSU delegation worked with Preserve North Dakota representatives and visited with descendants of the Hutmacher family. The students worked primarily on restoring of the farmhouses brush and flax straw roof, and repairing the buildings walls using a mortar of clay and sand.

Details of the project, including photos and a Weblog by students, can be accessed at www.ndsu.nodak.edu/heritage/.