The Preservation Process

Sequence of Preservation actions 1. Setting standards or criteria that define what is worth preserving. 2. Undertaking a survey to locate and describe resources potentially to be saved. 3. Evaluating the resources discovered in the survey against the standards established in step one. 4. Giving those properties that qualify “official status” in some way. This is Listing on the National Register 5. Following up with protective measures.

Why this sequence? Sequence represents an approach to government administration. a. Standards are set in legislative action. b. Administration of a disaster relief involves identifying scope, triage (planning what to do first), providing aid. c. All steps must be constantly under scrutiny and are subject to change.

Who does the work of Historic Preservation? Procedures are expressed without actors (agents). This approach obscures decisions of inclusion and exclusion and who constructs the rhetoric of those choices. Stated in this listing suggests a linear process-making the irrational appear rational. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 created a protective structure and set the criteria for consideration, yet little of survey necessary for inclusion had been done.

High Standards of Standardness The standards of what is worthy of protection was codified in the language of the National Historic Preservation act of 1966 and has been further elaborated in publications of the National Park Service in defining properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Eligibility is the term for meeting standards.

Criteria of the National Register A. Structures associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or B. That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or D. Have yielded or likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

How did we get standards? The standards of what is worthy of protection was codified in the language of the National Historic Preservation act of 1966 and has been further elaborated in publications of the National Park Service in defining properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Background events: In 1963 the National Trust and Colonial Williamsburg sponsored a conference to discuss historic preservation, improving transportation and urban decay. The outlines from that conference contained in a 1966 publication Historic Preservation Today was narrow in focus on outstanding sites of historic content. In 1964 a small committee of preservationists began to push for new legislation. In January of 1966 the report of their findings With Heritage So Rich was published. The National Historic Preservation Act was created by vote of the 89 th Congress. How do you read a public law? First understand that the name of a law is not necessarily the official title, but a popular name used for convenience of the readers. The legal outline form involves: Title I. Section 101. (a)(1)(A)

Survey Field-based Research Design. The goal of research with any preservation organization is the development of a complete and fully documented, comprehensive inventory of the community’s historic properties. However, “a survey need not be complete and comprehensive in order to be useful.” National Park Service Bulletin 24 Criteria of survey includes a “fifty year” rule–moving target of survey. In 1970s administrators (with their own criteria) felt that surveys would be finished, however, newer buildings have continued to be added to mix.

Evaluation In order for properties to be listed on the National Register they must meet four conditions: They must a. possess a significance that b. meets at least one of the criteria of the national register and the significance must c. be developed from an understanding of the historic context (theme, time, place), and d. retain integrity of location and materials. Properties may have buildings that are Contributing or “non-contributing.”

Listings The National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks Virginia Landmarks Register Local Historic Districts

Protective Measures and Incentives Protecting against the actions of man. a. Section 106 protections against the practices of government. Protecting against environmental and temporal effects– conservation. Funding the costs of preservation. tax incentives. Direct and Indirect. Grants.