Caitlin Herrnstadt

State Historic Preservation Office of Iowa

During the summer of 2012 I completed an internship at the State Historic Preservation Office of Iowa.  My internship experience included a variety of responsibilities and projects.  I actively participated in meetings with architects and property owners, took part in staff reviews of draft National Register nominations, Section 106 projects, and Historic Tax Credit projects. I was also lucky enough to be invited on multiple site visits.  In addition to all of these responsibilities, I was tasked with creating a Certified Local Government Notebook, which provided me with a professional work product to use in my portfolio.  

This internship was extremely applicable to the Master’s of Historic Preservation program at the University of Maryland.  It gave me a chance to learn first handhow preservation works on a state level, and to put to use what I had learned about state preservation programs in my first year of courses.  In addition I was able to learn how preservation consultants, architects, and developers interact with the state as well as one another.