Kara Briggs
Collections Manager, Center for Historic Architecture and
Design
311 Alison Hall
University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
302-831-4562
Kara Briggs is the Collections Manager for the CHAD Collection at the Center for Historic Architecture and Design. Briggs received a BFA in Interior Design from The Savannah College of Art & Design. She is a graduate of the CHAD program and received an MA in Urban Affairs and Public Policy with a specialization in Historic Preservation from the University of Delaware.
For over 10 years, she has worked in the museum field in a variety of capacities. She served as a member of the committee to designate Wilmington’s Forty Acres neighborhood as Delaware’s first Conservation District. Currently she serves as a member of the Delaware Avenue/Bancroft Parkway Neighborhood Comprehensive Development Plan Working Group. Her areas of interest include museum studies, exhibit design, collections management, social history, urban landscape and community, historic preservation planning, and historic urban neighborhoods.
Most recently, she published a book, Forty Acres (Arcadia Publishing, 2008). Forty Acres was developed into a northern Delaware neighborhood in the 19th century from a 40-acre parcel of farmland. Just as many other neighborhoods have ethnic associations, many Irish Wilmingtonians have their roots in Forty Acres. Some Forty Acres families stayed for generations, and the neighborhood was popular well into the 20th century. What makes Forty Acres different is its sense of community and the close-knit relationships developed between its residents. While it is admired for its historic charm, the neighborhood is an urban community made up of a mixed-use residential and commercial village within the city of Wilmington. Today Forty Acres continues to be a place where the word "neighbor" holds strength, value, and friendship. The book can be order from Amazon or from Barnes and Noble.
