Our Story

As Co-Principals, we established Guerra & McBane LLC in 1996. We are a minority and woman-owned business. We met while working at the California Council for the Humanities in the 1990s, with Ms. Guerra serving as the Exhibit Coordinator and Dr. McBane as the Los Angeles Area Program Officer. We have experience in 40 years of Oral History, 30 years of Interpretation, 25 years of Historic Preservation, and 12 years of Archival Preservation. Our Team meets or exceeds the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Professional Qualifications in History, Historic Architecture, or Historic Preservation. Our Oral History projects comply with the Oral History Association Standards Policy for Implementation.

Since 1996 we have undertaken a variety of Public History projects in Oral History, Archives, Historic Preservation, Interpretation and a new field we call Community History, which integrates multiple Public History methods. We both bring distinct skills and interests to the firm and engage ourselves in heritage pursuits outside of our business. We sit on local archives, professional networks and economic development boards, national history associations, and the national preservation affiliate Latinos in Heritage Conservation under the National Trust. We participate in workshops and conferences for local history organizations, national historical associations, Oral History, Archives and Historic Preservation. Suzanne Guerra focuses on the study and documentation of historic places, cultural landscapes and the development of community archives; and Dr. McBane specializes in Oral History.