Art, Art History, and Film Faculty

Timothy Orwig is an architectural and social historian with a special interest in historic preservation. In addition to his Ph.D. in American and New England Studies he holds M.A. degrees in Historic Preservation Studies (also from Boston University) and English Language and Literature (University of Arkansas). The courses he has taught at Boston College and other universities in the Boston area include the history of art, architecture, design, and Boston itself.

Professor Orwig is a community preservation activist and co-founded the preservation organization Sioux Landmark in his home state of Iowa. His ongoing preservation consulting work includes successfully nominating more than two dozen sites to the National Register of Historic Places, from an early African-American church in New Hampshire to entire Massachusetts neighborhoods. He served as the Preservation Chair of the New England Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and a board member of the Vernacular Architecture Forum—New England Chapter.

In his numerous publications, Professor Orwig has investigated and brought to light many of the successes of the historical preservation movement. He is currently working on a book on the subject of his dissertation, Boston architect and preservationist Joseph Everett Chandler. Chandler restored two dozen buildings that are today museums, including the Paul Revere House and the Old State House in Boston, and the House of the Seven Gables in Salem.