Biographical Note
A pioneer in the field of historic preservation, Thomas Tileston Waterman had a varied career. The majority of his extant drawings are represented in the Thomas Tileston Waterman Archive (Library of Congress). Waterman began practicing as an architect in 1919, as an apprentice to Ralph Adams Cram in the Boston office of Cram and Ferguson. During this time, Waterman also worked with the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) to preserve the historic buildings of Boston. His work with Cram and SPNEA led to his employment from 1928 to 1933 with Perry, Shaw & Hepburn on the restoration and rebuilding of Colonial Williamsburg. In 1934 Waterman began work with the National Park Service, first restoring historic buildings located on park property, then selecting buildings to be recorded and reviewing and approving drawings to be included in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). During this period and continuing until his death in 1951, Waterman also worked with Henry Francis Du Pont to install historic interiors at his Winterthur estate near Wilmington, Delaware. From 1942 to 1946 Waterman worked as an architect for the U.S. Navy, and thereafter worked in private practice. For the greater part of his career, Waterman was involved in researching and writing books relating to historic buildings.