Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel (born January 27, 1932) is an American preservationist, historian, author, and television producer. She is an advocate for the preservation of the historic built environment and the arts. She has worked in the fields of art, architecture, crafts, historic preservation, fashion, and public policy in the U.S. She is the author of 24 books, numerous articles and essays, and recipient of many honors and awards. She is a former White House Assistant, the first Director of Cultural Affairs in New York City, and the longest serving New York City Landmarks Preservation Commissioner.
Career
From 1963 to 1966, she served as a White House Assistant at The White House, where she helped create the White House Fellows, the Presidential Scholars Program, and the first and only White House Festival of the Arts in 1965. In 1966, she was appointed by Mayor John V. Lindsay as the first Director of Cultural Affairs in New York City. As director, she organized the first public art exhibition, which was in Bryant Park with artist Tony Smith, the first public performance in Central Park by the Metropolitan Opera, the first city-wide Poetry Festival, and the first week-long festival of films about New York at the Regency Theatre.
In 1972, Mayor Lindsay appointed Diamonstein-Spielvogel to be a Commissioner of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. She served until 1987, the longest serving Commissioner for this agency. She also served, for more than a decade, on the NYC Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs (1975 to 1986); now the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission. In this role, she was Chair/Founder of the Mayor's Awards of Arts and Culture.
From 1987 to 1995, she was named Chair of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Foundation, where she created and funded the placement of Historic District street signs, descriptive markers, and maps in each of New York City's then-84 Historic Districts, which have since become models for similar initiatives throughout the United States. The historic markers and street name signs were designed pro bono by renowned designer Massimo Vignelli and colored terra cotta, black and white, to blend well with many building materials. Diamonstein-Spielvogel entered into an agreement with the city, for the NYC Department of Transportation to maintain the signs and finance additional signs. In 1995, she became Chair of Historic Landmarks Preservation Center (HLPC), where she created a Cultural Medallion program which documents notable occurrences, distinguished individuals and other important aspects of New York City's cultural, economic, political and social history. The medallions were also designed pro bono by Massimo Vignelli.
In 1987, she was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Board of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she served as Chair of the subcommittee that commissioned all of the original art created for the museum. She was appointed by Mayor David Dinkins to the Art Commission of the City of New York (now the Public Design Commission), and served from 1991 to 1994. In 1996, she was appointed to the United States Commission of Fine Arts by President Bill Clinton, and was the first woman Vice Chair of the Commission of Fine Arts, where she served until 2003. In 2010, Diamonstein-Spielvogel was appointed a director of the Trust for the National Mall in Washington D.C. President Barack Obama appointed her a Commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission, which has responsibilities related to the design, construction, and maintenance of military memorials throughout the world. She chaired the ABMC New Memorials Committee, and represented the U.S.A. at Armistice commemorations and memorial dedications in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Belgium, England, Guam, and Iceland. On July 28, 2013, during the 60th anniversary commemorations of the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War, a U.S. monument was dedicated in the United Nations Cemetery in Busan, South Korea. It was the first non-World War I or World War II monument constructed by ABMC outside the U.S. Diamonstein-Spielvogel represented ABMC and led the U.S. delegation at the Busan anniversary events, where she was the keynote speaker and laid a wreath in honor of the memory of American, Korean and U.N. Troops. The event was attended by leaders and veterans of 21 participating nations. In 2018, she was appointed to the newly-formed American Battle Monuments Foundation. Dr. Diamonstein-Spielvogel was appointed to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts by President Biden in March, 2022.