Model T Ford at the Palace of Fine Arts

I was at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco this morning to welcome the arrival of the Historic Vehicle Association of America in their 1915 Model T Ford – culmination of a 3600 mile drive from Detroit following the tracks of Edsel Ford who made the same road trip a century ago. He…

Pebble Beach 2015 – history as advocacy

Yesterday I was again at Pebble Beach Concours d’Élegance – that rather exclusive and impressive gathering of car collectors and connoisseurs [Link] I was there to wind up our Stanford class concerned with the historical significance of the automobile (Jon Feiber, David Kelley, Reilly Brennan and myself running ME200). Since April we have been debating…

heritage – new definitions

This is one of a series of comments on the 8th biennial symposium “Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car” held at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, Florida in March 2015. [Link] Cars are changing – robots are arriving. The car collector is becoming curator [Link] Car collecting is evolving from hobby to heritage…

history’s ruin – the case of an automobile

This is one of a series of comments on the 8th biennial symposium “Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car” held at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, Florida in March 2015. [Link] I’m in a workshop at the Revs Institute in Naples Florida, home of Miles Collier’s remarkable collection of cars and all things…

car collection – connoisseurship and archaeology

This is one of a series of comments on the 8th biennial symposium “Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car” held at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, Florida in March 2015. [Link] The symposia at the Revs Institute bring together people passionate about collecting cars, passionate about thinking deeply around questions of conservation and…

Cultural heritage and violence in the Middle East

From Fiona Rose-Greenland on openDemocracy war encompasses the old things and places that make us who we are Cultural heritage and violence in the Middle East. Theatres of erasure: Syria and Iraq The violence in Iraq has killed nearly 6,000 civilians since the start of 2014, according to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. In…