Kingston William Heath (1945-2024)

Kingston William Heath, a renowned scholar of architectural history and preservation, passed away on June 29, 2024, in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 79. Kingston and his beloved wife, Randall May Heath (1948–2022), moved to Mississippi following his retirement from the University of Oregon (UO) as Professor Emeritus of Historic Preservation in the College of Design, and as an affiliated faculty member in Folklore and Public Culture. Kingston's areas of scholarship included the vernacular architecture of the American West, New England workers’ housing, American building construction history, and vernacular architecture theory. Kingston's scholarship is recognized for its multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives including the scholarship associated with the field of folklore.Kingston's affinity and commitment to the field of folklore is, in part, evident in his article “Toward a Humanist Approach to Historic Preservation” published in the Journal of American Folklore (2019). He writes about being introduced, when he was a graduate student at Brown University, to Henry Glassie's “humanist” orientation to historical archaeology with its emphasis on fieldwork, people, context, and expressive culture. Kingston considers the field of folklore, with its commitment to fieldwork, to be integral to a humanist approach to historic preservation. He emphasizes how a humanist approach is informed by fieldwork dedicated to the identification, documentation, and analysis of historic sites; preparing historic preservationists; and educating the public about the importance of historic preservation.Kingston earned a BA in English from Lake Forest College, an MA in Art History from the University of Chicago, and an MA and PhD in American Civilization from Brown University. He became passionate about western architecture when he took a position as State Architectural Historian for the Montana State Historic Preservation Office in the late 1970s after finishing his graduate coursework. His research and fieldwork there inspired his dissertation, “Striving for Permanence on the Western Frontier: Vernacular Architecture as Cultural Informant in Southwestern Montana.”Eager to share his passion with others, Kingston was excited to become Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, in 1980. He taught the full architectural history curriculum, developed an emphasis in historic preservation, and advised on graduate theses. In 1987, Kingston accepted a position as Associate Professor in the College of Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he continued to teach a full range of courses on architectural history and historic preservation.During his time living in the eastern part of the country, Kingston yearned to return to the West. In 2003, he accepted a position as Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Oregon (UO), where he remained until he retired in 2019. A dedicated scholar and teacher, Kingston brought passion, collegiality, and humor to the position as he mentored students in the field that he loved and built a thriving program.With his commitment to the importance of fieldwork, Kingston strongly advocated that students needed to develop these skills as a critical part of their training. At Montana State University, he founded and directed the Field School in Early American Building from 1981–1989. Using his extensive collection of historic tools, Kingston taught traditional joinery techniques to his students, who then constructed a seventeenth-century New England box frame house in the mountains outside Bozeman. At UO, he founded and directed field schools in Italy and Croatia, the latter focusing on documenting the traditional stone architecture of Croatia's Central Dalmatian Coast.One of Kingston's greatest honors was receiving the prestigious Abbott Lowell Cummings Prize from the Vernacular Architecture Forum in 2002 for his book The Patina of Place: The Cultural Weathering of a New England Industrial Landscape (University of Tennessee Press, 2001), in “recognition of his outstanding work in North American vernacular studies.” This ethnographic study of triple-decker housing in a Portuguese industrial community incorporated his personal family memories growing up in New Bedford, Massachusetts.Kingston's commitment to his students and teaching was equal to his commitment to his scholarship. Soon after beginning his position at the UO, Kingston joined the Folklore Program (now Folklore and Public Culture Program) as a “participating” faculty member, which was in keeping with his enthusiasm for working with people outside of the confines of architecture alone. Kingston was among approximately 20 other faculty members from fields such as folklore, English, anthropology, journalism, linguistics, history, global studies, and arts administration contributing to the multidisciplinary environment of the Folklore Program. Kingston's scholarship and teaching associated with the vernacular and material culture studies coupled with his commitment to the importance of fieldwork was highly valued by the faculty and students in this program. Folklore graduate students interested in public folklore, the built environment, and landscape were drawn to his courses on American architectural history, historic preservation, vernacular environments, and cultural landscapes.Kingston was known as a strong advocate for his students as they moved through their careers in historic preservation or related fields. From the beginning, he was routinely in his campus office in Lawrence Hall. Those who visited with him in his office were surrounded by his collections of historical architectural objects and a vintage hi-fi upon which he played his popular music favorites upon request. It was not unusual to pass Kingston's office hearing lively conversations between him and his graduate students.Kingston concludes his 2019 Journal of American Folklore essay “Toward a Humanist Approach to Historic Preservation” stating that “as stewards of cultural heritage, the past is our domain. However, it is most valuable when it can propel us forward and support both the present and future needs of its citizens” (405). This observation by Kingston pervades his scholarship, teaching and service to the fields, including Folklore, with which he is associated. This is his lasting legacy

Environmental ethics · Geography · American Environmental and Regional History · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Philosophy