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2019 Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award: Ruth J. Abram

By Special Contributor posted 4 days ago
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Editor's Note: These remarks were presented by Ruth Abram, the 2019 Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award recipient, on October 11 at PastForward 2019 in Denver Colorado. The Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award is the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s highest national recognition. Named for one of the National Trust’s founding trustees, the award is made with the greatest care and only when there is indisputable evidence of superlative achievement in the preservation and interpretation of ...
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How Does the National Mall Tidal Basin Actually Work?

By Special Contributor posted 10 days ago
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Before we can save something, we must understand it. Even as a fresh graduate of a landscape architecture program, I was surprised by the design and operation of the National Mall Tidal Basin. I knew about the Tidal Basin before working on the campaign to save it at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Like many visitors to Washington, D.C., I saw that the reservoir links the Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other monuments. The well-known cherry ...
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Crisitunity Seized: Encouraging News on Visitation to History Organizations

By Katherine Malone-France posted 13 days ago
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Six years ago, when I talked about historic sites and house museums around the country, I borrowed the term “crisitunity”—a combination of crisis and opportunity—from an episode of The Simpsons .  As a field, we identified the fact that these institutions had particular challenges that demanded attention if they were going to continue to exist.  However, we also understood that there was an untapped potential in how we engaged with the public that, if realized, could allow us not just to survive, ...
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Opportunity Zones and Historic Preservation: At the Crossroads

By Shaw Sprague posted 19 days ago
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At the National Trust’s 2019 PastForward Conference in Denver, Opportunity Zones were a popular topic.  Opportunity Zones have gained significant attention and notoriety as either a potential new tool for historic preservation or a modern iteration of Urban Renewal.  For those that missed the session, “ Opportunity Zones and Historic Preservation: At the Crossroads (slides) ” provides an overview of the Opportunity Zone (OZ) incentive and how preservation organizations and local communities are ...
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Funding Opportunity: Putting the Historic Preservation Fund to Work for Women’s History

By Christine Luthy posted 24 days ago
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The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) is the principal source of federal funding for implementing the nation’s preservation programs, including core funding for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. The National Park Service (NPS) administers several competitive grant programs within the HPF that protect and interpret the stories of all Americans. As we look to the upcoming centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment—and beyond—we have a unique opportunity to use these existing programs ...
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The 2019 National Preservation Awards

By Forum Online posted 10-11-2019
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The 2019 National Preservation Awards are being presented this week at PastForward 2019 in Denver, Colorado. The awards honor inspirational projects, individuals, and organizations that have demonstrated excellence in the field of preservation.  Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award The Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award is the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s highest national recognition. Named for one of the National Trust’s founding trustees, the award is made with the greatest care ...
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Remarks at PastForward 2019 by Paul Edmondson

By Paul Edmondson posted 10-11-2019
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Good afternoon. Welcome to Denver, and welcome to PastForward, the National Preservation Conference.  First, let me thank you for being here. You are what makes the preservation movement what it is – a vibrant community of people committed to saving places that matter – in our cities, on our main streets, in our small towns, and across the countryside. I’m fortunate to count all of you as colleagues in this important work.  And that’s why I’m deeply honored to serve as the 9 th president of ...
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2019 PastForward Virtual Attendance and Social Media Details

By Colleen Danz posted 10-08-2019
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PastForward 2019 kicks off here in Denver this week! Preservationists from all over the country—and even some of our international colleagues—will come together to learn, mingle, and immerse themselves in all that this amazing city has to offer.  Can't attend in person? You can still be a part of the conversation. While we want everyone to be able to participate in all the programming, networking events, and unique experiences in Denver, we also want to provide as many people as possible the ...
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PastForward 2019 Preview: Revitalizing Small Communities – Dar Williams

By Forum Online posted 10-02-2019
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Dar Williams has been called “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters” by The New Yorker. She’s released ten studio albums and authored four books including her latest, What I Found In A Thousand Towns .   Known as much for her staunch progressive ideals as her raw acoustic energy, Williams has been captivating audiences with her sheer elegance and honesty in her folk-pop songwriting since the '90s. Williams’ growth as an individual over her two-decade-long career has gone hand-in-hand ...
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Building Tomorrow’s Heritage: Correcting “Architectural Myopia”

By Special Contributor posted 09-26-2019
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By Michael W. Mehaffy and Nikos A. Salingaros This is the third post in a series about recent lessons from the sciences for historic preservation and compatible new development. The authors—a physicist and mathematician, and an urban researcher and philosopher—explore emerging scientific findings about historic structures, and discuss lessons for generating more sustainable and resilient human environments. The shopping center of Cumbernauld near Glasgow, U.K. (Geoffrey Copcutt, 1967). ...
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PastForward 2019 Preview: Celebrating Women's History—Amythyst Kiah

By Forum Online posted 09-20-2019
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Born in Chattanooga and now based in Johnson City, Amythyst Kiah’s commanding stage presence is matched by her raw and powerful vocals—a deeply moving, hypnotic sound that stirs echoes of a distant and restless past.   Accompanied interchangeably with banjo, acoustic guitar, or a full band, her eclectic influences span decades, finding inspiration in old time music, alternative rock, folk, country, and blues. In preparation for   the   TrustLive on Celebrating Women's History    at   PastForward ...
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PastForward 2019 Preview: Saving Urban Neighborhoods —Mindy Fullilove

By Forum Online posted 09-13-2019
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National Trust conference attendees first heard from Dr. Mindy Fullilove at the National Preservation Conference in St.Paul, MN in 2007 where she talked about her book Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It . In the years since, Fullilove has continued to examine the connections between the environment and mental health in cities and beyond. During her talk at PastForward 2019, attendees will hear about another project, the 400 Years of ...
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Storytelling with Audioguides at Industrial Heritage Sites

By Sarah Rovang posted 08-27-2019
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Preservation Leadership Forum is presenting  a series of posts  by  Sarah Rovang , the 2017 recipient of the H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship from the Society of Architectural Historians. The fellowship allows its recipients—recent graduates with advanced degrees or emerging scholars—to study by travel for one year, providing them with opportunities to see and experience architecture and landscapes firsthand; think about their profession deeply; and acquire knowledge that will be useful for ...
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PastForward 2019 Preview: Celebrating Women’s History – Dr. Tiya Miles

By Forum Online posted 08-20-2019
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Tiya Miles is the author of three multiple prize-winning works in the history of early American race relations, a prize-winning work of historical fiction, and various articles and op-eds on women’s history, history and memory, black public culture, and black and indigenous interrelated experience. She is a past MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellow, and a current National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Award recipient. She is currently a Professor of ...
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From Vacancy to Vitality in Little Havana

By Mike Powe posted 08-15-2019
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With contributions from Carson Hartmann In many cities across the country, older neighborhoods are experiencing intense development pressures. City planners, preservationists, and residents are considering how to maintain community identity while also accommodating growth. In such scenarios, infill development presents an opportunity to add new vitality to vacant and underutilized spaces while also preserving existing cultural heritage. Over the past two years, the National Trust has worked ...
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PastForward 2019 Preview: Celebrating Women's History - Ada Deer

By Forum Online posted 08-07-2019
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Ada Deer has spent her life advocating for American Indians across the United States. Born in 1935 she was the first Native American woman from Wisconsin to run for Congress, and the first American Indian to graduate with a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. A member of the Menominee Tribe, she was pivotal in the passage of the Menominee Restoration Act of 1972 which restored the tribe to federally recognized status. In 1993, she was appointed the first woman Assistant Secretary, ...
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Lessons Learned, Lessons Shared: A Q & A with Jannie Harriot

By Lawana Holland-Moore posted 07-29-2019
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The work of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission (SCAAHC), which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, illustrates how grassroots organizations and leaders can have a significant impact on historic preservation efforts in their state. Founded as a council in 1993 and established as a commission in 2001, the SCAAHC was created to identify and promote the preservation of African American historic sites, structures, buildings, and culture in South Carolina. Comprised of about ...
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Forum Journal: Heritage in the Landscape

By Forum Online posted 07-25-2019
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The latest issue of Forum Journal examines the history, issues, and current conversations surrounding the preservation of cultural landscapes. In her introductory piece on cultural landscapes and the National Register, Barbara Wyatt explains that there is no single, rigid definition for a cultural landscape, and that in the past, the National Register process accepted varying descriptors, as long as the accompanying narratives included explanations and context. With that in mind, this ...
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Heritage Conservation as a Civil Right

By Special Contributor posted 07-17-2019
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John H. Sprinkle, Jr. The Pocantico Center Preservation Fellowship, now in its fifth year, is funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This two-week residential fellowship provides preservation professionals with the opportunity to reside in the historic Marcel Breuer House in Pocantico Hills, New York, while working on a defined project with significant benefit to the preservation field.   For more on the Environmental Justice movement and ...
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2019 National Preservation Law Conference: Attacks on the Antiquities Act

By Forum Online posted 07-12-2019
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The 2019 National Preservation Law Conference was held on Tuesday, June 25 in Washington, D.C. The conference is put on by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in partnership with Georgetown University Law Center. This intense one-day summit provided a highly focused look into historic and cultural preservation law, highlighting recent and influential developments in the field. Attendees were able to gain knowledge and skills to effectively advocate and champion key preservation issues. ...
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