2023 Homewood Museum Architecture Lecture: Homewood’s Backyard with Michael Olmert

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Homewood’s architectural footprint extended beyond the main house to include several outbuildings, most notably the still extant and recently restored brick privy. For this year’s Architecture Lecture, Michael Olmert, a professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an expert on 18th-century Mid-Atlantic outbuildings, will give an illustrated lecture on the architecture of Homewood’s privy. Drawing from his highly regarded book Kitchens, Smokehouses, & Privies (Cornell University press, 2009) Olmert will discuss how Homewood’s privy compares to the outbuildings that can still be found at obscure rural farmsteads throughout the Tidewater and greater mid-Atlantic and explain how these well-made buildings actually functioned, their architecture, patterns of use, folklore, and even their literary presence. The talk will be followed by a reception with the speaker.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Michael Olmert has been teaching Shakespeare and drama at the University of Maryland English Department for 37 years. He’s spoken frequently on the “The Invention of Colonial Williamsburg.” He’s written The Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg (CWF, 1986-2016), The Smithsonian Book of Books (Smithsonian Institution, 1992), Milton’s Teeth & Ovid’s Umbrella (Simon & Schuster, 1996). His television writing has won three Primetime Emmys. He’s written 80 TV docs, as well as five books, seven plays, three feature films, an IMAX film, and over 200 articles, essays, and reviews. In 2005, he was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame. 

SPONSORSHIP

Sponsorship of this lecture supports program costs and Homewood Museum’s Architectural Preservation Fund, which is used to maintain and improve the historic building. The current priority for the fund’s resources is restoration of Homewood’s north entrance stairs. Thank you to this year’s generous sponsors! If interested in becoming a supporter, please contact Dominique Zeltzman, Associate Director of Development for the JHU Museums, at dzeltzman@jhu.edu.  

Premier 

Henry Dugan and Caroline Griffin 

Benefactor

C&H Restoration and Renovation

Forbes and Sara Maner 

Eileen Perkins

Patron

Delbert Adams Construction Group

Lewis Contractors

Libby and Tim Naylor

Vincent Greene Architects

Fellow

Anonymous

Carroll Family Member

Mary and Greg Pinkard

SM + P Architects