Catherine W. Bishir, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, has degrees in English from the University of Kentucky and Duke University. From 1971 through 2001 she served in various capacities in the Survey and Planning Branch of the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.
She is currently adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture, College of Design at North Carolina State University and senior architectural historian with the statewide non-profit preservation organization, Preservation North Carolina.
A founding member and former president of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, she is author of numerous articles on North Carolina and vernacular architecture. In addition to the three-volume guidebook series, she is co-author of Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Building, and author of North Carolina Architecture, both published by the University of North Carolina Press.
