He is a member of the George Watts Hill Circle and has sponsored home tours and Leadership Lectures. He is a financial supporter of a Partners in the Field grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a three-year research program with the mission to document Durham’s African-American historic sites and neighborhoods. He is on the project’s steering committee.

Dr. Speller served as the Dean of N. C. Central University's School of Library and Information Sciences from 1983 to 2003. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from NCCU and master’s and doctoral degrees in library science from Indiana University. While at NCCU, he helped create a "collaborative archival project ...viewed by the national archival, historical, and humanities communities as a pioneering model for preservation of African American documentary resources."

He has served on the boards of nearly every historic preservation organization in North Carolina. He was president of the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation (1986-1994) during the initial renovation of the education building of the Historic St. Joseph's AME Church complex to become the Hayti Heritage Center of Durham.

He has served as president of the Historic Stagville Foundation and of the Historic Hope Foundation in Windsor.

He is on the board of directors of Preservation North Carolina and is a member of the North Carolina African American Network for Historic Preservation. A long-time member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, he is one of two National Trust Board of Advisors for North Carolina.

In recognition of his many contributions, he received the 1998 Ruth Coltrane Cannon Award, North Carolina's most prestigious preservation award.

(Portions of this article are adapted from the website of the N. C. Central University School of Library and Information Sciences.)