The Prairie Landscape

The Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award - 2006


Joseph A. Weber, Ph.D.

Nominated By The Honorable Gary Niebur


Edwardsville


Joseph A. Weber, Ph.D.

Joseph Weber, former Art Education Professor and Chairman of the Art History Department at Southern Illinois University (SIU), has enriched the cultural life of Edwardsville with his boundless energy and enthusiasm for historic preservation as well as his passion for and knowledge of historic buildings and architecture. Mr. Weber has been a member of the Edwardsville Historic Preservation Commission for over 20 years and served on the original committee recommending the purchase and restoration of the 1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House, a local architectural and historical treasure. With Mr. Weber's support and guidance, the Friends of Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House was organized to provide support, raise funds and oversee the subsequent restoration of the House, as well as plan future programming. Mr. Weber served as Site Liaison for the entire project and is currently Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Friends. He created and taught the Stephenson House Museum Education Course at SIU, in which teachers develop classroom plans utilizing the Museum and volunteers as a regular docent dressed authentically as Col. Stephenson. Through his involvement with the House, he has lived out his educational philosophy that the study of buildings can reveal much about the identity of their inhabitants and how people and their needs change through time.

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