Rachel Silva of Arkansas Historic Preservation Program to speak to Arkadelphia Rotary, Aug. 21

The Arkadelphia Rotary Club will meet Friday, August 21, 2015, at Western Sizzlin, 106 WP Malone Drive, for its weekly meeting. Ms. Rachel Silva, preservation outreach coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program has been invited to speak to the club. Rotarians and guests are invited to attend.

Rachel Silva was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and grew up in the nearby town of Farmington. She is a graduate of Farmington High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in History/Political Science from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville as well as a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. 

Rachel is preservation outreach coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (AHPP) in Little Rock, one of seven agencies in the Department of Arkansas Heritage. She has been in this position since February 2008. Rachel organizes and leads the AHPP’s monthly “Sandwiching in History” and “Walks through History” tours, develops and delivers various programs on historic preservation, and writes articles for publication in local and state-wide journals. Rachel is the president of the Pulaski County Historical Society and serves on the Arkansas Historical Association board of trustees. In 2009 she won the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas’s award for outstanding achievement in preservation education, and in 2014 she was the recipient of the Arkansas Heritage Award at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism. 

Rachel enjoys meeting new people and learning about towns all over the state. She likes to research people and places, and she always tries to tell her audiences something they don’t already know. Rachel and her boyfriend, Drue, and their dogs, Lily and Buddy, enjoy living in North Little Rock’s Argenta Historic District.

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