Ellen von Karajan

Executive Director – The National Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, part time April 2017 – 2018. Full time 2018 to present.

Executive Director
Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell’s Point
March 2000- November 2015

  • Strategic planning process – working with five board committees to meet the evaluation goals stated in the plan, with annual updates for the five-year plan.
  • Fund raising – with emphasis on technical grants writing and capital and project grants. This includes private sector, Maryland Historical Trust and federal grants through the National Park Service and other funding sources; preparation of historical tax credit applications for properties. Responsible for annual giving/membership appeal and cultivation and stewardship functions in general. Responsible for State Community Reinvestment Tax Credit program.
  • Organizing conference and workshops, interpretation of historical and technical material for public understanding, including tours, exhibits and programs as well as managing relationships with attorneys, historians, archeologists, preservation contractors, architects and consultants.
  • Budget preparation, oversight of accounting system, staff liaison with audit firm, financial reporting to the board, contract and funding sources.
  • Oversight and coordination of insurance bid process, risk management program and hands-on responsibility for claims settlement after the fire and Isabelle flood damage.
  • Financial coordination and volunteer recruitment for Fell’s Point Fun Festival.
  • Property management for all the historic properties listed below, including leasing and tenant relationships for completed projects and coordinating funding/financing/joint venture programs for acquisition and rehab
  • Serving as organizational spokesperson for the preservation advocacy program; preparing position papers and testimony for hearings
  • Serving on the Fell’s Point Task Force and other committees in the community.

Projects completed:

  • Restoration of the Robert Long House, ca. 1765, after a fire in December 1999. Served as general contractor for the project with Peter Pearre as consulting architect. Historic house museum and Preservation Society office headquarters.
  • Restoration of the Horsecar Barn, 1724-26 Thames Street, ca. 1853. F.M. Harvey, General Contractor; Ziger Snead, restoration architect. John Milner Associates, archeologists and historians. Adaptive re-use as maritime museum and offices rented for income.
  • Stabilization of the London Coffee House, c. 1760. Worcester/Eisenbrandt, stabilization engineers.
  • Merchant’s House, ca. 1810, to be restored and interpreted as the home and business of a War of 1812 merchant and militiaman. Peter Pearre, architect; Catherine Rogers Arthur, guest curator; contractor to be selected. Historic house museum.
  • Two Sisters’ Houses, 612-614 Wolfe Street, c. 1774, stabilization in 2015 of what may be the oldest surviving wooden workingmen’s houses in the City. Peter Pearre, architect. Contractor to be selected. Study houses in the style of the New England Society for Antiquities.
  • Interpretive signage text for Fell’s Point jointly developed with the Baltimore National Heritage Area and Baltimore City Commission for Historic Preservation.
  • Write and administer grants for the above projects.
  • Coordinated Fell’s Point programs for the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and secured and administered $250,000 in funds from the MD Bicentennial Commission, National Park Service and other funding sources.
  • Executive Co-producer for new Fell’s Point Visitor Center orientation film which won four awards www.prizeoftheChesapeake.org; assisted in developing content and edited content for 1812 website. Produced 1812 brochure. Researched and produced interpretive text for Visitor Center highlighting Fell’s Point’s “Golden Age”. Developed new walking tour content specific to 1812.
  • Coordinated NPS-funded Visitor Experience Plan process, working with consultant Doug Comer of Cultural Resource Management Inc. and oversaw implementation for the colonial seaport of Fell’s Point over a three-year period.

Writer

October 1998- March 2000

Freelance. Published pictorial history and biography of James M. Stewart.

Founding Executive Director

James M. Stewart Museum Foundation, Indiana Pennsylvania

1994 – 1998

  • Worked with the community to organize and open a museum honoring their most famous former resident. Secured grant and donor funds for and overseeing the rehabilitation of the second floor of Indiana Library for use as museum, development of interpretive plans and materials, curation of archives, documents and awards; fund raising and grants writing, securing licensing agreements for products, marketing, development of tour program.

Director, Marketing/Development, Associated Catholic Charities, Baltimore, 1988-1990

Director of Administrative Services, American Stone-Mix, Inc.,1986-1988 Cement company: Sakrete lines. Managed labor relations, employee benefits and pension plan asset transfer for six plants east of Chicago. Responsible, with labor attorney, for union negotiations with the Teamster and Bagger Unions.

Director of Administrative Services, Maryland Science Center. 1977-1986

Responsible for finance and development, insurances, audit, human resources, lawsuit over defective roof, strategic planning process. Oversaw construction of new entrance, and later, of the addition of the IMAX Theatre.

Director of Development, Kennedy-Krieger Institute, a Johns Hopkins University affiliated facility, 1975-76.

Education

B.A., cum laude, English, Goucher College, 1971. Isabelle Kellogg Thomas Writing Award.

Completed coursework for a M.S in Psychology, Towson State University, 1974

Carnegie Corporation Fellowship, educational administration, 1975

Volunteer Activities

Friends of President Street Station, volunteer grant writer and coordinator for TEP and other grants, 2015-present

Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, Board Member and Recording Secretary, 2008-2017

Coordinated program activities, with Robert Reyes, for the Baltimore and Annapolis visit of L’Hermione in 2015.

Baltimore Immigration Memorial, Board Member, 2006-2011.

Fell’s Point Development Corporation (Main Street program) Board Member, 2005-2007.

Awards

Baltimore National Heritage Area – Service Award, 2013

9-11 Fell’s Point Community Service Award, 2014