Wiley’s preservation work ranges from research, interpretation, programming, grant writing and management, advising, and policymaking.

DC Legacy Project

The DC Legacy Project: Barry Farm-Hillsdale is dedicated to uplifting the Black-led struggle for land and housing in DC at an important site of this sacred struggle—the five remaining buildings of Barry Farm Dwellings. In 2020, the site was designated a historic landmark.

Barry Farm: Community, Land, and Justice in Washington, DC

This documentary film, a collaboration between the Bertelsmann Foundation and the DC Legacy Project, tells the story of Barry Farm, but it is also a story of Washington, DC. And, in the cycles of place and displacement, it is a story of the United States of America. As a result of the rigorous research, wide audience, and use as an educational and advocacy tool, the film has been recognized by numerous architectural and preservation organizations:

Sojourner Truth Memorial Plaza

On May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth—abolitionist, activist, author—delivered her most recognized speech, commonly known as “Ain't I a Woman?,” to a crowd gathered at the Universalist Old Stone Church in Akron, Ohio, for the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Although the title of her speech is challenged by historians and journalists, her voice and words spoken in Akron prior to the legal ending of slavery will never be forgotten, because of the collaborative work of preservationists, locally and nationally to tell her story with the Sojourner Truth Memorial Plaza.

Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site

This project provided the park and its partners with up-to-date documentation so that they could responsibly manage and steward the Carter G. Woodson National Historic Site. The NHL update documented the physical characteristics of the building through an architectural description and inventory of resources on the property, a general property development history, and created scholarly arguments for why the property possesses exceptional value in illustrating the heritage of the United States. The update was highlighted in the NPS Best Practices Review.

National Heritage Sites Research Committee of ASALH

The National Heritage Sites Research Committee guided the work of the Cooperative Agreement between the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and National Park Service. This includes selection of principal investigators and peer reviewers for all NPS and CESU Task Agreements for sites such as the Booker T. Washington National Monument, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, and the Valley Forge National Historic Park, among others.

National Historic Landmarks Committee of National Park System Advisory Board

The National Historic Landmark committee reviews NHL nomination forms and recommends to the National Park System Advisory Board to either accept, reject, or send nominations back for revision. The committee is an essential part in the review of NHL nominations, discussing the interpretation of layered and complex sites like the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and Chicano Park in San Diego.