TrustModern, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Modernism + Recent Past program (2008-2012) through 2009 and 2010 convened of a series of Modern Modules to increase public awareness and appreciation of our nation’s rich more recent built environment. The Modules were designed, in part, to gather the critical local input needed to advance a national discourse on this topic and build a network for preserving buildings, structures, and landscapes from the modern era and the recent past.

These two-day events held in Aspen, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and St. Paul, kicked off with a free, public panel discussion designed to explore and embrace an area’s post-WWII cultural heritage, followed with an invitational roundtable conversation of leading‑edge topics in the field of preserving modern and recent past places.  

Also, the Modules included production of a booklet series - The America’s Modern and Recent Past Heritage - highlighting significant examples of modern and recent past architecture, planning, and landscape design in communities participating in the Modern Modules program.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation Modernism + Recent Past Program’s Modern Module project was funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Henry Luce Foundation.