Foundation Body of Knowledge for Cultural Resource Management Module #1 - DAY 1

Introduction to Historic Preservation History and

Philosophy

WHY PRESERVE ?

Mount Vernon Ladies Association, c. 1873

Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, 1765 (restored 1827-8)

Independence Hall, (the Old State House), Philadelphia, PA 1732-56 (reconstruction/restoration efforts began in 1828, other efforts through 1976)

Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872

Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876

Chickamauga and ChattanoogaNational Military Park, established 1890

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, 1892

World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893

Established the first federal policy for the protection of cultural resources on land owned or controlled by the federal government.

Authorized the President the power to create National Monuments by proclamation to protect historic, prehistoric, and scientific objects on federally owned land.

Antiquities Act of 1906

Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities established, 1910

Congress creates the National Park Service, and prescribes fundamental purpose: “to conserve the scenery, and natural and historic objects and wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same . . . as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

National Park Service Organic Act of 1916

Governor’s Palace (reconstructed) at Colonial Williamsburg, a museum village, 1926 -7

Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village, dedicated in 1929

George Washington Birthplace National Monument, established 1930

Charleston Historic District, South Carolina, initiated in 1931

The Vieux Carre, the historic French Quarter in New Orleans received a landmark designation in 1936

Historic American Building Survey (HABS) was created in 1934

U. S. Congress first articulated a national policy of historic preservation.

Act created administrative infrastructure for historic preservation.

Directed the Secretary of the Interior to secure, collate and preserve drawings, plans, photographs, and data of historic and archeological sites, buildings, and objects; restore buildings; erect markers; and develop educational programs.

Historic Sites Act of 1935

The National Trust for Historic Preservation was founded, 1949

With Heritage So Rich published, 1966

The preservation movement’s success hinges on the idea of going beyond saving “occasional historic houses and opening museums…It must attempt to give a sense of orientation to our society, using structures and objects of the past to establish values of time and place”

- Conclusions to the Findings, With Heritage So Rich, 1966

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966

Congress broadened the federal government’s concept of historic preservation to include sites, objects, districts and structures of national, state, and local significance.

“The historical and cultural foundations of the nation should be preserved as a living part of our community life and development in order to give a sense of orientation to the American people.”

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

In relationship to historic preservation, it established the environmental impact statement and the fact that there is a continuing federal responsibility to “preserve important historical, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage.”

Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic

Properties

• PRESERVATION

• REHABILITATION

• RESTORATION

• RECONSTRUCTION

Tax Incentives for Rehabilitation

• Tax Reform Act, 1976 established tax incentives for rehabilitation of commercial and income-producing historic properties certified by the Secretary of the Interior.

• Revenue Act, 1978 established investment tax credits for rehabilitation of historic building.

• Economic Recovery Tax Act, 1981 established 25% tax credits for rehabilitation of historic buildings.

• Tax Reform Act, 1986, cut back some of the incentives.

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic

Building

A 2-story commercial building, c. 1876 with inappropriate alterations made in the 1960s (left) was successfully rehabilitated

using the Secretary of Interior Standards to it present use as a multi-shop complex with a unified façade (right)

The Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation was established in 1980 as a preservation as a tool for economic revitalization

Quincy Market, 1825, “re-developed” by Rouse Development Corporation in 1970s, the catalyst for the proliferation of the festival marketplace and boom in heritage tourism

The 25 -year old PBS Series, This Old House and companion newsstand magazine represent the individual homeowners growing interest in preservation

BEGINNINGS IN PRESERVATION MOVEMENT (18th and 19th

Centuries)

• England (John Ruskin)• France (Viollet-Le-Duc)• Sweden (Skansen)

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

Alaska Region:

Sitka National Historical Park

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

Pacific West Region:

Yosemite National Park

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

Intermountain Region:

Devils Tower National Monument

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

Midwest Region:

Harry S. Truman National Historic Site

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

Southeast Region:

Andersonville National Historic Site

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

National Capital Region:

Manassas National Historical Park

National Parks by Region that Dovetail into Our Timeline

Northeast Region:

Frederic Law Olmsted National Historic Site

EXERCISE #1CHARACTERIZE HISTORIC

PRESERVATION

MOVEMENT: PRE-WWII AND POST-WWII

Turn to Page 27 in Your Course Participant Guide for Instructions.

DEFINING HISTORIC PRESERVATION

FINDING A COMMON LANGUAGE

EXERCISE #2DEFINING KEY TERMS

Turn to Page 29 in Your Course Participant Guide for Instructions.

• What is a cultural resource ?

• What is preservation ?

• What is rehabilitation ?

• What is restoration ?

• What is reconstruction ?

• What is adaptive use ?

• What is conservation/consolidation ?

Valley Forge National Historical Park, Valley Forge, PA

City Hall, Philadelphia PA

Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center, Philadelphia PA

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Jacob Graff House, Philadelphia, PA

Lascaux II, Montignac France

Loews Hotel, formerly PSFS Building, Philadelphia, PA

Drayton Hall, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Charleston, SC

END OF DAY 1…The Midway