Forum Blog - Preservation Leadership Forum - A Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Forum Webinar: What is Our ‘New Normal” Like

By Forum Online posted 8 hours ago

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On June 17, 2020, Preservation Leadership Forum held a webinar examining the economic and longer-term impacts of the pandemic across a variety of communities. The recording for the webinar is now available in the Forum Library . Credit: Neal Santos Description: Cultural institutions, historic sites, Main Street commercial districts and the small businesses they support, have all experienced severe economic impacts from the pandemic through job losses and business closures. In ...

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Forum Webinar: Creating a Successful Case Statement

By Forum Online posted 4 days ago

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On June 24, Preservation Leadership Forum, in partnership with the Texas Historical Commission presented the Forum Webinar "Creating a Successful Case Statement." The webinar recording is now available along with some responses to follow up questions. Description : Fundraising is about building a compelling case for support for your organization—its mission, the programs you offer, and the projects that you implement to serve your constituency. This case is equal parts storytelling and facts ...

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Building the Mental Resilience of Preservation Professionals

By Raina Regan posted 16 days ago

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Psychology Today defines resilience as “the psychological quality that allows some people to be knocked down by the adversities of life and come back at least as strong as before. Rather than letting difficulties, traumatic events, or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, highly resilient people find a way to change course, emotionally heal, and continue moving toward their goals.” As I reached a decade in the historic preservation field, I recognized my professional development ...

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Preservation’s Existential Crisis

By Marisa Brown posted 22 days ago

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January 23, 2020, was an unseasonably warm night for New England. I almost left the house in a short-sleeved sweater—but I was glad when I arrived at Grace Church in downtown Providence that I had worn an extra layer. When I get nervous, I get cold, and it was good to be over-dressed as people started to arrive for Providence Preservation Society’s annual meeting. As the keynote speaker, I wasn’t sure that they would like what I had to say, in short, that preservation is facing an existential crisis. ...

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On the Hill: Senate Passes Historic Parks and Public Lands Bill

By Special Contributor posted 23 days ago

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This week, the Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation that will provide the greatest investment in historic and cultural resources on our public lands in more than a generation. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) , which passed with bipartisan support by of vote of 73-25 on June 17, will invest up to $9.5 billion to repair historic and other assets of the National Park Service (NPS) and other federal agencies. It will also fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million ...

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Do No Harm: HOPE Crew and Preservation at Kalaupapa National Historical Park

By Special Contributor posted 28 days ago

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By: Kerri A. Inglis and Molly Baker In March 2020, fourteen students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo gathered at Kalaupapa National Historical Park for a HOPE (Hands-on Preservation Experience) Crew preservation workshop and cultural immersion program, offered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS). From 1866-1969, the Kalaupapa peninsula was used as a place of separation for those who had contracted Hansen’s disease ...

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Forum Webinar: Virtual Public Meetings (Part 1 & 2)

By Forum Online posted 06-04-2020

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On May 19, 2020 Preservation Leadership Forum, in partnership with the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC) hosted the first of two webinars on Virtual Public Meetings. Part One focused on the legal issues surrounding this shift to virtual meetings, while part two took a look at some case studies from the field. Virtual Public Meetings: Part 1 - Legal Issues With traditional, in-person public meetings on hold for the foreseeable future, local preservation commissions and advocates ...

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Taliesin Preservation: 2019 Trustees Emeritus Award for Historic Site Stewardship

By Special Contributor posted 05-28-2020

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By Carrie Rodamaker History surrounds us, each and every day. But what does it teach us? How do we use the past to guide our future? That was a common theme at the 2019 PastForward Conference in Denver, Colorado, where Taliesin Preservation received the Trustees Emeritus Award for Historic Sites Stewardship. For over a century, Taliesin and the surrounding Driftless hills and valleys in southwest Wisconsin have served as a laboratory for living. This is where Frank Lloyd Wright spent over ...

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Forum Webinar: Transforming Digital Engagement at Historic Sites

By Forum Online posted 05-22-2020

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As we all know, preservationists and history professionals across the country have been forced to shift overnight the way they share, engage, and tell their stories from in-person programming to the digital realm. We recognize this has not been easy. On April 19, Preservation Leadership Forum hosted a webinar that focused on this transition. In this webinar five dynamic speakers talked through the process of transformation—how to develop a strategy, what lessons have been learned (so far), and gave ...

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Forum Webinar: Coronavirus Response: the Historic Tax Credit as An Economic Recovery Tool

By Forum Online posted 05-21-2020

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On April 24 th , Preservation Leadership Forum (in partnership with the National Trust Community Investment Corporation and the the Historic Tax Credit Coalition), hosted the webinar “ Coronavirus Response: the Historic Tax Credit as An Economic Recovery Tool ” for preservation leaders and the rehabilitation industry to hear about efforts to promote the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) as a crucial component of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our nation’s economic recovery. ...

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Building Tomorrow’s Heritage: Making Places For All, By All

By Special Contributor posted 05-20-2020

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By: Michael W. Mehaffy and Nikos A. Salingaros Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final essay in a series about recent lessons from the sciences for historic preservation and compatible new development. The authors—an urban researcher and philosopher, and a mathematician/physicist— explore emerging scientific findings about historic structures, and discuss lessons for generating more sustainable and resilient human environments. LEFT: The historic context of a new Nobel Museum ...

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Looking Beyond the Architecture at the African Orthodox Church in Highland Park

By Special Contributor posted 05-12-2020

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By Curtis Maxwell Perrin In 2018 Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood learned of a developer’s intention to raze the historic African Orthodox Church at 56 Cedar Street and replace it with condos. It seemed an uphill battle when the Highland Park Neighborhood Coalition (HPNC), of which I am the co-chair of the Preservation Committee, decided to try to save this church building beloved to the neighborhood: The building was in a poor state of repair, which did not help claims to preserve it, and the ...

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Forum Webinar: Leveraging Insurance to Aid Your Organization During the Coronavirus

By Forum Online posted 05-08-2020

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On April 29, Kevin Sullivan from the National Trust Insurance Services joined Preservation Leadership Forum for a webinar " Leveraging Insurance to Aid Your Organization During the Coronavirus. " This webinar discussed a wide variety of insurance and risk management related subjects that may help organizations during this time of crisis. Kevin covered a range of topics including, Business Income/Interruption insurance that may be available, how organizations could be protected with General Liability ...

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More than Maintenance: Replacing the Glass of the Glass House

By Special Contributor posted 05-07-2020

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By Ashley Wilson and Anna Blyth Philip Johnson’s Glass House , the National Trust for Historic Preservation Historic Site in New Canaan, Connecticut, spans 49 acres that once belonged to one of the United States’ prominent modernist architects. Johnson used the property as a playground for his imagination, where he created 14 structures that allowed him to experiment with form, material, and their interaction with nature. Like all historic properties, these buildings require continued maintenance ...

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Preservation Easement Stewardship during the time of Coronavirus

By Special Contributor posted 05-05-2020

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By Raina Regan and Casey DeHaven How does the coronavirus impact preservation professionals responsible for ongoing easement stewardship? In the short-term, being unable to visit easement properties may delay project reviews and defer cyclical easement inspections. At the National Trust, while we are unable to travel to visit our easement properties in 25 states and Washington D.C., we’re largely continuing our office-based program operations while working on long-term projects to improve our ...

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Honoring James M. Vaughan: Leader in Re-Inventing Historic House Museums and Historic Sites

By Tom Mayes posted 05-01-2020

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The National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the preservation and historic house museum fields, remember and honor the life and career of James M. Vaughan, who served as vice president for Historic Sites at the National Trust from 2000-2011 and executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission from 2011 until his retirement in 2017. Previously executive director of The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson in Tennessee, and the head of the San Diego Historical Society ...

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Preservation Community Outlines Priorities to Congress During the Coronavirus Pandemic

By Pam Bowman posted 04-30-2020

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Many of us are approaching the two-month mark of a new way of living, working, and responding to the lifestyle and economic conditions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Nonprofit organizations and others continue to operate in a state of economic crisis due to the loss of revenue from closures, event cancellations, and a decline of charitable contributions. The preservation and arts and culture sectors are defining this impact with research and data from their networks and the findings ...

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Carrying On: Local Preservation Through Virtual Meetings

By Special Contributor posted 04-30-2020

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By Anne Nelson and Jim Lindberg Elected officials at all levels are struggling with how to conduct the business of government at a time when many state capitols, city halls, and council chambers remain closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it is unlikely that large public meetings will be allowed in these spaces any time soon, what are the alternatives? How can diverse opinions about important decisions be heard if public meetings are held “virtually” on cell phones and computer screens? ...

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To the Moon and Back: Preserving Mission Control in Houston, Texas

By Forum Online posted 04-28-2020

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In July of 2019, NASA’s Johnson Space Center completed a $5 million restoration that returned the Apollo Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, to its former midcentury glory—just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The mission control room is where NASA’s flight control team made history planning, training, and executing numerous internationally significant space missions. Last year at PastForward 2019 in Denver, Colorado, the team behind the preservation of Mission ...

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A Preservation Pause: Irene Hirano Inouye, Virginia McAlester, and Inspiration for the Future of Preservation

By Priya Chhaya posted 04-23-2020

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Every morning for the last four weeks, I have stood on my balcony and taken a single moment, a breath, before I start the day. Like many of you, I find the current state of the world overwhelming, and this moment, this pause, helps clear my mind to find order in the chaos in which we now live. Starting my morning with a view of the world beyond my home. | Credit: Priya Chhaya For me, part of the chaos is the uncertainty around the cultural heritage sector—museums, historic sites, preservation, ...

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