1 Material history scholars and preservation and heritage professionals in Canada may not be aware of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, a group formed in the United States in 1980 to encourage the study and preservation of all aspects of vernacular architecture and landscape. VAF members are drawn from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines, public and private agencies and geographic regions, including Canada. Activities include an annual conference featuring at least two days of field study, the publication of a quarterly newsletter and bibliography and a continuing anthology of selected papers entitled Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, edited by Camille Wells and published by the University of Missouri Press, of which two volumes have so far appeared. The VAF also awards an annual prize—the Abbott Lowell Cummings Award for the best book, article, museum exhibition or film having to do with American vernacular architectural themes.

2 The 1988 annual conference was held at Staunton, Virginia, 11-14, May 1988, and featured excursions which examined the cultural landscapes that arose from the interaction of German, English and Scotch-Irish settlers in Appalachian Virginia.

3 The VAF welcomes Canadian members (both Peter Ennals, Mount Allison University, and Gerald Pocius, Memorial University of Newfoundland, are currently serving as directors of the organization). Individual membership costs US $9 per year, students US $5— payable in the fall of the year. For further details contact Orlando Ridout V, 47 Fleet Street, Annapolis, Maryland 21401.