The Time Stitchers Collective is our community-driven cooperative where activists create and execute projects with the structural support and assistance of Historic Atlanta.
This is our program for engaging with you and our other treasured community members to provide you with all the support you need to accomplish your place-saving goals that advance social justice.
Historic Atlanta’s Time Stitchers Collective is your home for all of those passion projects or pet peeves that you have always wanted resolved, but never had the external support to pull off – look no further!
We are all – you, me, everyone – members of the Collective, with an obligation to mend our historic fabric by stitching together the many missing pieces, places, and people.
History for all, justice for all.
Time Stitchers Collective Philosophy
We are grassroots to our core.
Historic Atlanta believes that community ideas are the best ideas, community organizing is necessary organizing, and community action is the most powerful action.
That is why the practice of Historic Atlanta’s Time Stitchers Collective is to first LISTEN intently, then ORGANIZE carefully, and, finally, ACT quickly.
Whether ultimately led by you or by Historic Atlanta, every Time Stitchers Collective initiative is 100% generated, planned, and executed by the greater community.
Together, we are powerful. Together, we are unstoppable. Together, we are the Collective.
Time Stitchers Collective project example: 1860s Historic Home Deconstruction
Sometimes, circumstances necessitate discretion from the Collective, which was the case in 2022 when a fellow Time Stitcher contacted us with a chance to save (via deconstruction, in lieu of unstoppable demolition) a historic home built by forced labor — one of the last remaining antebellum structures in Atlanta.
We still can’t disclose details at this time, but this project is an ideal example of how Historic Atlanta can be the vital institutional structure that is sometimes required for complex or larger scale initiatives.
In this instance, the project leader was a volunteer willing to do all of the hands-on deconstruction work himself. He just needed an organization to back him up with institutional support, primarily for insurance and liability purposes.
The project was a success! The humble historic home is being lovingly preserved in pieces while its stewards search for a new place to rest its bones.
PRESERVATION 20/20: Annual Gathering of the Time Stitchers Collective
The flagship event of the Time Stitchers Collective is Historic Atlanta’s annual “Preservation 20/20” gathering.
Preservation 20/20 is a dual-purpose event that is both celebrating you, our supporters, and asking for your specific input on what historic people, places, and planning policies matter the most to you.
This is typically our largest community listening session and usually takes place in May every year.