Jandl-Stevenson Collection

The Jandl-Stevenson Collection consists of research data involving the Sears, Roebuck and Company mail-order house designs prevalent in the first half of the twentieth century. Authors H. Ward Jandl and Katherine H. Stevenson, both architectural historians, used this material to compile the book, Houses by Mail (Preservation Press, 1986).

H. Ward Jandl

H. Ward Jandl was born March 17, 1946 in Princeton, New Jersey. He attended the Hotchkiss School, a preparatory school, and graduated in 1964. He received a degree in art history from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1968. After college, Jandl served two years in the U.S. Peace Corps teaching English in Ankara, Turkey. In 1970 he moved to New York City to attend Columbia University where he received a graduate certificate in historic preservation in 1971. While living in New York, he worked for the New York Public Library. Jandl moved to Washington, D.C. in 1974 and began working for the National Park Service as an architectural historian with the National Register of Historic Places, where he reviewed and evaluated nominations. He advanced to the position of Chief, Technical Preservation Services Branch in the Preservation Assistance Division (PAD), then Deputy Chief, PAD, and Chief Appeals Officer. He was responsible for overseeing the Historic Preservation Certification Program by which property owners receive tax incentives for rehabilitating historic buildings. In 1984 President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Design Award for the Rehabilitation Tax Incentive Program. Jandl also received several awards from the Department of the Interior, including the Meritorious Service Award. As chief appeals officer, Jandl ruled on appeals of denials for certification under the Tax Incentives Program. Having worked for many years developing policy and advising national and state historic preservation programs, he was a nationally known figure in historic preservation. In addition to Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company, published in 1986, Jandl co-authored Yesterday's Houses of tomorrow: Innovative Homes: 1850-1950 in 1991 along with numerous official publications and reports. H. Ward Jandl died March 18, 1995 of heart disease in Washington, DC at the age of forty-nine.

Katherine Stevenson

Katherine H. Stevenson was born January 20, 1948. She attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, graduating in 1969. She continued her education at the University of Delaware, completing a Master's degree in Art History in 1971. After college, Stevenson worked as a researcher for the National Portrait Gallery before beginning work at the National Park Service as the assistant to the Chief of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. She remained in Washington, D.C. until 1980, when she became the Assistant Regional Director of the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Services division of the National Park Service in Denver, Colorado. In 1983 Stevenson was promoted to the Chief of Division of Cultural Resources. She moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1987 to become the Mid-Atlantic Region's Associate Director for Planning and Resource Preservation in the National Park Service. In 1995 Stevenson returned to Washington, D.C. to take the position of the Associate Director for Cultural Resources, National Park Service. In addition to Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company, published in 1986, Stevenson has written numerous official publications and reports for the National Park Service. The Department of the Interior awarded her the Meritorious Service Award in 1995.

From the guide to the Jandl-Stevenson Collection, 1908-1986, 1908-1986, (State of Maryland and Historical Collections)