Overview of credentials, experience, and services

1. David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
History ·Oral History · Historic Preservation
Atlanta, Georgia

2. David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
Email: david.rotenstein@earthlink.net
Phone: (404) 326-9244
Website & Blog: http://www.historian4hire.net
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dsrotenstein
The Basics: Contact Information

3. Historic preservation and general history consulting practice. I have worked in various areas including environmental compliance,
corporate history, and litigation support research.
Key Accomplishments
Provided technical services and expert testimony to clients in local, state, and federal regulatory proceedings.
Conducted 70 oral history interviews with current and former bank presidents, government officials, and development company
executives for a Washington, D.C., company history.
Interviews, photography, and production for a corporate annual report video documenting housing programs for chronically
homeless women in the District of Columbia.
Created the only public history blog included in the new (2010) TBD.com network.
Served two full terms on the Montgomery County, Maryland, Historic Preservation Commission (two years as vice-chair; final
year as chairman).
Appointed to the Montgomery County Zoning Advisory Panel as an expert in historic preservation.
Presented papers derived from research at regional and international professional conferences.
Wrote articles in diverse academic, professional, and popular publications, including
IA: The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology, the National Trust for Historic Preservation Forum News,
and the 2010 Philadelphia Folk Festival Program Book (lead feature article).
Elected to the Society for Industrial Archeology Board of Directors (2010-2013 term).
Appointed H-Urban Web editor.
About David Rotenstein

4. Are you looking for someone to help capture the company founder’s memories before she retires or did you decide to
preserve your family’s intangible heritage after listening to a Story Corps segment? What about that book you thought about
doing to commemorate your company’s anniversary?
For more than 25 years I have been interviewing people in their offices, factories, homes, and farm fields. As a journalist I
interviewed notables you may know (B.B. King, ZZ Top, Graham Nash, and Carlos Santana) and some folks you may not know
(Ahmet Ertegun, George Britton, Tabby Thomas, Jay Ungar, and Jeff Kumer). I have interviewed a blues musician (Roy Book
Binder) between gigs at a rest area on the New Jersey Turnpike and a woodworker (Lawrence Hojo) who once made
sounding sticks for Pennsylvania coal miners and an active duty army captain nearing the end of his hitch temping as a town
crier Pittsburgh newspaper strike.
Working with clients to document their business history, I have interviewed a former D.C. mayor and the federal regulators
who tried to rein in his administration. I interviewed a prominent developer in his penthouse office from which he pointed to
landmarks across the Washington area skyline that his company had built. I have interviewed women who were single-family
heads of households took leadership roles in their apartment buildings to galvanize tenant groups to purchase the buildings
and transform them into limited equity cooperatives or condominiums. And, in 2010 I made a video for a client featuring
interviews and photography documenting supportive housing programs for chronically homeless women in Washington.
Whatever your interviewing and oral history needs may be, I can help you find the ways to meet them using digital audio,
video, and photography.
Services: Oral History

5. Whether you are a private property owner who wants to know the history of your home or business or you are a developer or
land use attorney confronted with compliance with local, state, or federal historic preservation laws, hiring a historian with
more than 25 years of experience can help you meet your goals. My credentials exceed the Secretary of the Interior's
Professional Qualifications Standards in History and Architectural History (48 FR 44716, et seq.). I have successfully completed
regulatory compliance projects throughout the United States and I have taught cultural resource management professionals,
agency attorneys, and others procedures for complying with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In Montgomery County, Maryland, I served for six years on the Historic Preservation
Commission (2 years as vice-chairman and 1 year as chairman) and I testified as the county's historic preservation expert
before other regulatory bodies. My experience includes expertise in American architectural, engineering, and landscape
history. My experience in regulatory review and as an appointed local official provide me with the skills you need to get your
project through the review process quickly and in a cost-effective manner.
Some specific services I provide:
•National Register of Historic Places evaluations
•State and local designation evaluations
•Historic properties surveys (individual buildings and districts)
•Assessment of effects to historic resources
•Mitigation plans
•Historic preservation planning
•Documents review and evaluation
•Expert testimony
Services: Historic Preservation

6. Oral History
Research
Historic Preservation
David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
david.rotenstein@earthlink.net
www.historian4hire.net
(404) 326-9244