A virtual series featuring author talks with Q&A and conversational book club meetups

Discussions will focus on works that explore a sense of place, our built environment, cultural heritage, New York, and other issues that intersect with historic preservation. The aim of Preservation Book Club is to center diverse voices and perspectives as a way to drive dialogue around important issues that have not necessarily been part of traditional preservation conversations.

If having a sign language interpreter present for any of our Book Club programs would facilitate your participation, please let us know at least one week in advance of the particular program: kpeace@preservenys.org

Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill: Author Talk with Davida Siwisa James
Wednesday, January 28, 6:00 p.m.
Click here to register for the Zoom | Click here to buy a copy of the book

Join Save Harlem Now! and the Preservation League of NYS to hear from author Davida Siwisa James about her book Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill: Alexander Hamilton's Old Harlem Neighborhood Through the Centuries. Following Davida's presentation she will be joined in conversation by Jane Tillman Irving.

It was the neighborhood where Alexander Hamilton built his country home, George Gershwin wrote his first hit, a young Norman Rockwell discovered he liked to draw, and Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man. Through words and pictures, Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill traces the transition of this picturesque section of Harlem from lush farmland in the early 1600s to its modern-day growth as a unique Manhattan neighborhood highlighted by stunning architecture, Harlem Renaissance gatherings, and the famous residents who called it home. Author Davida Siwisa James brings to compelling literary life the unique residents and dwelling places of this Harlem neighborhood that stands at the heart of the country's founding.

The Handcrafted Utopia: Author Talk with Thomas Guiler
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 12:00 p.m.
Click here to register for the webinar | Click here to buy the book

In response to the trauma of industrialization and urbanization in the late-nineteenth century, the Arts and Crafts Movement took America by storm. In his new book, The Handcrafted Utopia: Arts and Crafts Communities in America's Progressive Era, Thomas Guiler takes a look at three intentional communities established in New York State within the Arts and Crafts Movement — Rose Valley, Byrdcliffe, and Roycroft. In imagining a compromise between machine-dominated industry and handicraft, these artisans sought to critique industrial capitalism and carve out a space where craftspeople could once again flourish in community.

About the Author: Thomas A. Guiler (Ph.D., Syracuse University) is the director of museum affairs at the Oneida Community Mansion House in Oneida, New York. He was assistant professor of history and public humanities at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Wilmington, Delaware. He also served at the president of the Communal Studies Association. He has published on the history and material culture of intentional communities such as Oneida and of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Past Picks

Thank you to our sponsor: Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust

Continuing Education Credits

We are pleased to offer 1.0 CE credits for architects who attend Author Talks, offered through the New York State Education Department.

Please note: The League does not report to NYSED the way that other credit programs (ex., AIA) would. Certificates of completion are for each architect's individual records and reporting procedures for maintaining licensure.

Visit our Bookshop.org Page to stock up on all our past picks and recommendations! The League receives an affiliate commission when you shop through this link.

Have a suggestion for a future Preservation Book Club Pick?