We have done a wide range of work in design, research, public outreach, and planning. Our projects have included complete interpretive and strategic plans, exhibits and trail signage, comprehensive site histories and structure reports, field studies, logos and branding, articles and press releases, and hands-on fabrication and restoration projects.
A visual portfolio highlighting our design capabilities is available here.
Our founder and principal, Dave Vago, has a complete resume here.
Our leadership and staff are equipped and prepared to get to work discussing and meeting your organization’s needs!
Exhibits and Interpretation
Interpretive Panels
Example: an ongoing, multi-phase project, with 22 panels to date, intepreting historical themes related to railroad, coal mining, timber, and commercial resources along a rail-trail near the Blackwater Canyon, Tucker County, WV.
Friends of Blackwater, 2018-present
Comprehensive Interpretive Plans
Example: As part of a historic rehab and redevelopment project at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company’s Union Iron Works shipyard, with a full site history and recommendations for onsite and virtual programming.
Canogle, Inc. and the Port of San Francisco, 2016
Rotating and Permanent Exhibits:
Example: Streetcar Suburbs – Building Neighborhoods, Linking Communities – a rotating, indoor museum exhibition on how transportation shaped urban development in the streetcar and automobile eras.
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, 2011
Museum Planning
Example: The Beverly Heritage Center – a complete, $1.5 million museum development project. Grant writing and private fundraising, historic building renovation oversight, operations planning, and conceptualization, design, fabrication, and installation of permanent exhibits.
Historic Beverly and the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation, 2005-2010
Interpretive Scripts, Manuals, and Program Planning
Example: Creation of manual, writing of narrative outlines and scripts, and programmatic and structural additions to a seven-day-a-week interpretive program featuring an operating train ride, site tours, events, A/V presentations, and museum facilities.
Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, 2005-2010
Various Print and Digital Media
Example: Driving and walking tour brochures, technical illustrations, short-term and temporary exhibits, maps, A/V presentations, and social media and web content on themes pertaining to forest history and ecology, African-American history, and other local and regional subjects.
Appalachian Forest Heritage Area and other clients, 2005-2012
Research and Development
Historic Property Development
Example: Assisted property owners and public officials with acquisition, finance, business planning, regulatory issues, and rehabilitation in revitalization of downtown storefronts.
Three Rivers Main Street, 2016-2018
Historic Rehab Project Management
Example: Provided design and construction guidance oversight to architects and contractors on $1.5 million project involving four historic structures.
Beverly Heritage Center, 2006-2010
Archival, Lab, and Field Research
Example: Developed a comprehensive site history and provided guidance to architects and photographers in completing a Historic American Engineering Record documentation project and National Register of Historic Places narrative on part of the former Western Maryland Railway.
National Park Service, 2009-2011
Other Work
Hands-on Restoration
Dave has performed professional restoration and conservation work on historic railroad rolling stock, antique machinery, buildings, and artifacts for two decades.
Georgia State Railroad Museum and other organizations, since 2001
Events Planning
We have helped plan events ranging from small reenactments and live music shows to multi-feature living history events hosting up to 10,000 people in a weekend.
Various local, state, and national park systems and private organizations, since 2005
Branding and Advertising
Our work experience includes having designed a comprehensive range of images, logos, stationery, and branded products for gift shops and fundraising campaigns, as well as interpretive products that integrate organizational branding and graphic standards.
More than 20 clients, since 2001
Workshops and Training
In most given years, Dave leads a handful of workshops, conference sessions, and in-class guest presentations on hands-on preservation trades, interpretive design, museum planning, historic themes, ecology, and other, related topics.
Various local, state, and national park systems and private organizations, since 2005
Organizational & Project Planning
We take a step-by-step approach to designing projects, new initiatives, policies, and directives. We start with facilitated stakeholder input, and use our professional experience to apply that input in a way that is practical, effective, and fits each organization’s needs, mission, and culture.
Various private organizations, since 2005
Project Analysis
In addition to ground-up planning of new projects and initiatives, we also have a strong record of applying the “soft skills” it can sometimes take to get an existing endeavor onto more solid footing with clearer direction, strategy, and purpose.
Various private organizations, since 2005
Please see our portfolio and Dave’s resume for additional examples.
Historic Resource Design & Planning, Inc. 