Transcripts For CSPAN3 National Historic Preservation Act 20

Rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction of Historic Places. This event is about one hour. [applause] good morning, everybody. It is a great treat for me to be back here in charlottesville. I was born just across the street here in 1938. I graduated from the school of architecture in 1961. The first and at that time the only recipient of the newly minted bachelor of architectural history degree. Professor Frederick Nichols referred to me as his historical guinea pig, given my dismal grades in design this seems to have been a relief to him, that i had some glimmer of academic quality in my otherwise rather lazy nature. One of the advantages of that situation, being the first graduate with this degree, was that at commencement it was the tradition that you gather with people having the same degree that you were getting. You all walked together. So i walked down the lawn all by myself. One of the advantages of this unique situation is that i could say with equal honesty that i was first in my class or last in my class and be telling the truth in both situations. I would like to thank the leadership for this opportunity to speak about the importance of the National Historic preservation act in safeguarding the american cultural heritage. In 1966, Congress Passed the National Historic preservation act. This was a huge moment and things have never been the same. There was an excitement about the middle 1960s with the passage of this act and the programs that came out of it that i hope we can rekindle here today, which is a yes we can look at what we are doing. As an aside, my wife and i in the early 1970s learned the phrase, when the italians came meaning 1870. One day, i was teaching in rome at the International Center for conservation. I asked a room full of new students where they were from. When i asked, who is from italy, only three hands went up. When i asked, who is from rome, 20 hans were quickly raised. 1870 had been a seminal and somewhat negative year for romans. After nearly 3000 years of being known only as romans, they were renamed in the mind of some, italians. Many romans even today still do not accept this. So they will say it with a sniff, when the italians came. It reminds me of a scene in gone with the wind. Yankees in georgia . Likewise, 1966 was a seminal year for american Historic Preservation. With the passage of the National Historic preservation act, american preservation was reborn. As i was growing up, i had the good fortune of spending some time with my parents friends, our distinguished secretary of state. He was a lover of history and especially those moments or events that changed things forever for the better. I learned from him and expression i treasure. He would speak about being present at the creation, meaning those moments in our lives when something new and wonderful was being born. For me, such a moment was on july 16, 1969 when neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off from the moon. I was standing at a lunch counter of the National Park service in washington. And watched that on an old black and white tv screen, and i thought to myself, it has taken all of Human History to arrive at this moment when human beings leave the planet for the first time. The National Historic preservation act of 1966 changed the fundamental structure of how we do preservation in the United States. 48 years is a long time ago, and many of us do not remember how or when we did it any other way. Looking back on american preservation legislation, as im sure you all know, the first piece of Historic Preservation legislation in the United States was the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allowed the president to set aside public natural areas, such as park and conservation land. In 1906 act stated that it was intended for, and i quote, the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest. It was limited to sites of national significance. They were to be given, according to this 1906 act, the title of national monuments. We have kind of gotten stuck in that and that phraseology. I hope today that we can just move on to a more creative vocabulary. In 1916, congress created the National Park service. In 1935, Congress Passed the Historic Sites act, which declared, for the first time, that it is a National Policy to preserve for public use Historic Sites, buildings, and objects of national significance. They came out and said not only was it a good thing to do but that it was a National Policy. The reason that was so significant in 1935 is that it gave every single federal agency the authority to have a player in this game, to put something in their work program, their budget to help achieve this new National Policy. Up until 1966, the federal governments preservation focus remained largely defined by the words national and monuments. The private sector across the country carried the responsibility for state and local efforts. An early and shining example of the importance of pricegrabber private preservation was demonstrated by the union when they acquired mount vernon in 1958. Later, the partnership of the reverend w a r goodman and John D Rockefeller was equally significant in their rescue of the 1920s of the colonial capital in williamsburg. Similar efforts took root and thrived across the nation largely encouraged by the example set by these two seminal projects. In 1966, Congress Passed the National Historic preservation act, and american preservation was changed forever. These were exciting days to be involved in american preservation. Thus all of us were touched by it. Some of the people important to the implementation of the act included i would like to mention their names today george herzog, director of the National Park service, robert garvey, director of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation , ernest conley, director of the office of archaeology and Historic Preservation at the park service, and william murtaugh, who was the first keeper of the National Register of Historic Places. In many of our minds, he will always be the keeper. This is what wikipedia tells us about this act. Im almost embarrassed to suggest that my Research Includes wikipedia, but it does. It is so easy, and i am coming to trust it. Wikipedia has this to say the National Preservation act is legislation intended to preserve historical and archaeological sites in the United States of america. The act created the National Register of Historic Places, the list of National Historic landmarks, and the state Historic Preservation offices. Those are huge accomplishments. It goes on to say the act was signed into law on october 15, 1966 and is the most farreaching preservation legislation ever enacted in the United States. The act makes an interesting exercise in reading after a gap of almost half a century. Many of its provisions are farsighted and remain the central to this day remain essential to this day, but there are things we can still do to move beyond its impressive vision. Turning to the act, i would like to read you some bits of it, and coming from my background as a bureaucrat in the department of interior, i have an enormous respect for what it actually says in the law or what Congress Actually said in their enabling legislation. We often forget some of the adjectives or take a new view that isnt exactly what they intended. Enacted by the house and senate of the United States of america and congress assembled, Congress Finds and declares that the spirit and direction of the nation are founded upon and reflected in its historic past. Wow. The spirit and direction of the nation are founded upon and reflected in its historic past. It goes on to say the historical and cultural foundations of the nation should be preserved as a living part of our Community Life and our development in order to give a sense of orientation to the american people. Now an aside here i look at each of you. Each of you is in on repeated divine event an unrepeated divine event. There will never be another you. Dont worry about madame curie or albert einstein. The only thing that you can do with any authenticity at all is to be you. What is that . How can we give, through the use of our past, pieces of our story , a sense of orientation to who it is that you were born to be . You cant be me. I cant be you. Weve got the same set of toys in our toybox, and i would like us to think about how we can use them to be more authentic in our work to build a peaceful world. The act goes on to say in the face of everincreasing extensions of urban centers, highways, residential, commercial, and industrial developments, the present governmental and nongovernmental Historic Preservation programs are inadequate to ensure future generations a genuine opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the Rich Heritage of our nation. In other words, right now we are saying, we are in trouble. I think we are still in trouble. We havent won the battle. We have been fighting it. We are doing a good job. Leadership is being taken by organizations. Weve got a Good National system of this, that, and the other that we are all familiar with, but i dont think we are there yet. We cant sit back and say, phew, we did that. We have to keep working and keep working hard. The act goes on to say although the major burdens of Historic Preservation has been borne and major initiatives initiated by private agencies and individuals thats still true it is nevertheless necessary for the appropriate federal Government Agencies to accelerate their Historic Preservation programs and activities. The biggest thing that happened in the National Historic preservation act is section 101. The secretary of interior is off the rise to expand is authorized to expand and maintain the National Register of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American History, architecture, archaeology, and culture hereinafter referred to as the National Register and to grant funds to the states for the purpose of preparing statewide historic surveys. Right now, there are over one Million Properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places or. If i counted right, 600,000 are individually listed, and another 400,000 are contributing buildings in an historic district. The secretary of the interior certainly has done a good job expanding and maintaining the National Register. Notice how the act says, not create a National Register but expand and maintain. That is because, since 1906, there were already national monuments, and from 1935, National Historic landmarks. The first register was the Shopping List of all of those. Then this thing went into action. Looking at our preservation picture from a state and local perspective, as well as the national perspective, we began adding to our National Register sites of local and state significance. That was the most enormous step forward. You didnt have to be in mount vernon to be protected. You could be a simple site in a Simple Community that meant something to the people of that community, and it would be legitimately accepted on the National Register of Historic Places. I had a personal connection with the implementation of the act. At that time this is so bureaucratic i was chief of the protective Services Division of the office of archaeology and Historic Preservation of the National Park service of the department of interior. There is going to be a pop quiz at the end of this. Shortly after the new active the secretary of the interiors desk, my phone rang, and an inpatient staffer in the secretarys office said to me, the new act calls for criteria or standards to be established by the secretary. What are they . To which i replied, there arent any. Well, write them then, he said, and slammed the phone down. I a bully i, ably assisted by one of my branch chiefs, set about writing what are now known as the secretary of interior standards for the Historic Preservation projects. The diplomacy involved in achieving this objective cannot be exaggerated. As gary and i had to achieve the approval of all of the state Historic Preservation offices, including farflung dominions such as guam imagine crafting standards that were equally applicable both in guam and in providence, rhode island. That was a challenge. This was truly an exercise in onesizefitsall, which is a difficult proposition at any time. In our intention to create flexible standards to get guam and providence in the same place , we worked hard for language that would work. Sadly, much of that flexibility has been lost in subsequent revisions of the secretary of interior standards. For example, the original standards contained words such as whenever possible. These words have now been replaced with must or shall. There are 10 standards. What i say often, and i will say it again right now, i am not moses. I did not write the 10 commandments of historic commandments of Historic Preservation. I wrote with gary the standards to be flexible, but in taking out the words over the years, such as whenever possible, leaving a little individual initiative in different places, and theyre being replaced with must or shall, it has tended to turn the standards into the 10 commandments of Historic Preservation. It means that poorly educated or poorly prepared usually, poorly paid staff at state and local agencies are able just to point to the piece of paper and say, it says here, must, it says here shall, and they will make a decision not based on what is right for their community but what it says in the standards. That is not where gary and i were headed. Whenever possible. We never intended to take the ultimate decision away from the people who care for and are responsible for the wide variety of Historic Resources we find across our great nation. A second objective was to establish a program of matching grants in aid to the states. The act says, having as their purpose the preservation for Public Benefit of properties that are significant in American History, architecture, or archaeology archaeology, and culture. The act also called for the establishment of a program of matching grants and aid to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. What is important about two words one might jump over our the words for Public Benefit. We had to be very careful not to create a grand and aid program aware uncle sam where uncle sam could authorize the states to give money to people to fix up their house without any clear demonstration of Public Benefit. It became a requirement of the program that, if you received grants and aid under this program for your house that was listed in the National Register, you are perfectly eligible, but you needed to make it available to the public at least once a year. You werent just going to say, thank you, take the check, and locked the door. I think this is been enormously helpful in that not only has it made it possible for the public to see places they might not ordinarily see, but i think it has also build confidence in the program with the general public. The term Historic Places<\/a>. This event is about one hour. [applause] good morning, everybody. It is a great treat for me to be back here in charlottesville. I was born just across the street here in 1938. I graduated from the school of architecture in 1961. The first and at that time the only recipient of the newly minted bachelor of architectural history degree. Professor Frederick Nichols<\/a> referred to me as his historical guinea pig, given my dismal grades in design this seems to have been a relief to him, that i had some glimmer of academic quality in my otherwise rather lazy nature. One of the advantages of that situation, being the first graduate with this degree, was that at commencement it was the tradition that you gather with people having the same degree that you were getting. You all walked together. So i walked down the lawn all by myself. One of the advantages of this unique situation is that i could say with equal honesty that i was first in my class or last in my class and be telling the truth in both situations. I would like to thank the leadership for this opportunity to speak about the importance of the National Historic<\/a> preservation act in safeguarding the american cultural heritage. In 1966, Congress Passed<\/a> the National Historic<\/a> preservation act. This was a huge moment and things have never been the same. There was an excitement about the middle 1960s with the passage of this act and the programs that came out of it that i hope we can rekindle here today, which is a yes we can look at what we are doing. As an aside, my wife and i in the early 1970s learned the phrase, when the italians came meaning 1870. One day, i was teaching in rome at the International Center<\/a> for conservation. I asked a room full of new students where they were from. When i asked, who is from italy, only three hands went up. When i asked, who is from rome, 20 hans were quickly raised. 1870 had been a seminal and somewhat negative year for romans. After nearly 3000 years of being known only as romans, they were renamed in the mind of some, italians. Many romans even today still do not accept this. So they will say it with a sniff, when the italians came. It reminds me of a scene in gone with the wind. Yankees in georgia . Likewise, 1966 was a seminal year for american Historic Preservation<\/a>. With the passage of the National Historic<\/a> preservation act, american preservation was reborn. As i was growing up, i had the good fortune of spending some time with my parents friends, our distinguished secretary of state. He was a lover of history and especially those moments or events that changed things forever for the better. I learned from him and expression i treasure. He would speak about being present at the creation, meaning those moments in our lives when something new and wonderful was being born. For me, such a moment was on july 16, 1969 when neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and Michael Collins<\/a> lifted off from the moon. I was standing at a lunch counter of the National Park<\/a> service in washington. And watched that on an old black and white tv screen, and i thought to myself, it has taken all of Human History<\/a> to arrive at this moment when human beings leave the planet for the first time. The National Historic<\/a> preservation act of 1966 changed the fundamental structure of how we do preservation in the United States<\/a>. 48 years is a long time ago, and many of us do not remember how or when we did it any other way. Looking back on american preservation legislation, as im sure you all know, the first piece of Historic Preservation<\/a> legislation in the United States<\/a> was the Antiquities Act<\/a> of 1906, which allowed the president to set aside public natural areas, such as park and conservation land. In 1906 act stated that it was intended for, and i quote, the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest. It was limited to sites of national significance. They were to be given, according to this 1906 act, the title of national monuments. We have kind of gotten stuck in that and that phraseology. I hope today that we can just move on to a more creative vocabulary. In 1916, congress created the National Park<\/a> service. In 1935, Congress Passed<\/a> the Historic Sites<\/a> act, which declared, for the first time, that it is a National Policy<\/a> to preserve for public use Historic Sites<\/a>, buildings, and objects of national significance. They came out and said not only was it a good thing to do but that it was a National Policy<\/a>. The reason that was so significant in 1935 is that it gave every single federal agency the authority to have a player in this game, to put something in their work program, their budget to help achieve this new National Policy<\/a>. Up until 1966, the federal governments preservation focus remained largely defined by the words national and monuments. The private sector across the country carried the responsibility for state and local efforts. An early and shining example of the importance of pricegrabber private preservation was demonstrated by the union when they acquired mount vernon in 1958. Later, the partnership of the reverend w a r goodman and John D Rockefeller<\/a> was equally significant in their rescue of the 1920s of the colonial capital in williamsburg. Similar efforts took root and thrived across the nation largely encouraged by the example set by these two seminal projects. In 1966, Congress Passed<\/a> the National Historic<\/a> preservation act, and american preservation was changed forever. These were exciting days to be involved in american preservation. Thus all of us were touched by it. Some of the people important to the implementation of the act included i would like to mention their names today george herzog, director of the National Park<\/a> service, robert garvey, director of the Advisory Council<\/a> on Historic Preservation<\/a> , ernest conley, director of the office of archaeology and Historic Preservation<\/a> at the park service, and william murtaugh, who was the first keeper of the National Register<\/a> of Historic Places<\/a>. In many of our minds, he will always be the keeper. This is what wikipedia tells us about this act. Im almost embarrassed to suggest that my Research Includes<\/a> wikipedia, but it does. It is so easy, and i am coming to trust it. Wikipedia has this to say the National Preservation<\/a> act is legislation intended to preserve historical and archaeological sites in the United States<\/a> of america. The act created the National Register<\/a> of Historic Places<\/a>, the list of National Historic<\/a> landmarks, and the state Historic Preservation<\/a> offices. Those are huge accomplishments. It goes on to say the act was signed into law on october 15, 1966 and is the most farreaching preservation legislation ever enacted in the United States<\/a>. The act makes an interesting exercise in reading after a gap of almost half a century. Many of its provisions are farsighted and remain the central to this day remain essential to this day, but there are things we can still do to move beyond its impressive vision. Turning to the act, i would like to read you some bits of it, and coming from my background as a bureaucrat in the department of interior, i have an enormous respect for what it actually says in the law or what Congress Actually<\/a> said in their enabling legislation. We often forget some of the adjectives or take a new view that isnt exactly what they intended. Enacted by the house and senate of the United States<\/a> of america and congress assembled, Congress Finds<\/a> and declares that the spirit and direction of the nation are founded upon and reflected in its historic past. Wow. The spirit and direction of the nation are founded upon and reflected in its historic past. It goes on to say the historical and cultural foundations of the nation should be preserved as a living part of our Community Life<\/a> and our development in order to give a sense of orientation to the american people. Now an aside here i look at each of you. Each of you is in on repeated divine event an unrepeated divine event. There will never be another you. Dont worry about madame curie or albert einstein. The only thing that you can do with any authenticity at all is to be you. What is that . How can we give, through the use of our past, pieces of our story , a sense of orientation to who it is that you were born to be . You cant be me. I cant be you. Weve got the same set of toys in our toybox, and i would like us to think about how we can use them to be more authentic in our work to build a peaceful world. The act goes on to say in the face of everincreasing extensions of urban centers, highways, residential, commercial, and industrial developments, the present governmental and nongovernmental Historic Preservation<\/a> programs are inadequate to ensure future generations a genuine opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the Rich Heritage<\/a> of our nation. In other words, right now we are saying, we are in trouble. I think we are still in trouble. We havent won the battle. We have been fighting it. We are doing a good job. Leadership is being taken by organizations. Weve got a Good National<\/a> system of this, that, and the other that we are all familiar with, but i dont think we are there yet. We cant sit back and say, phew, we did that. We have to keep working and keep working hard. The act goes on to say although the major burdens of Historic Preservation<\/a> has been borne and major initiatives initiated by private agencies and individuals thats still true it is nevertheless necessary for the appropriate federal Government Agencies<\/a> to accelerate their Historic Preservation<\/a> programs and activities. The biggest thing that happened in the National Historic<\/a> preservation act is section 101. The secretary of interior is off the rise to expand is authorized to expand and maintain the National Register<\/a> of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American History<\/a>, architecture, archaeology, and culture hereinafter referred to as the National Register<\/a> and to grant funds to the states for the purpose of preparing statewide historic surveys. Right now, there are over one Million Properties<\/a> listed in the National Register<\/a> of Historic Places<\/a> or. If i counted right, 600,000 are individually listed, and another 400,000 are contributing buildings in an historic district. The secretary of the interior certainly has done a good job expanding and maintaining the National Register<\/a>. Notice how the act says, not create a National Register<\/a> but expand and maintain. That is because, since 1906, there were already national monuments, and from 1935, National Historic<\/a> landmarks. The first register was the Shopping List<\/a> of all of those. Then this thing went into action. Looking at our preservation picture from a state and local perspective, as well as the national perspective, we began adding to our National Register<\/a> sites of local and state significance. That was the most enormous step forward. You didnt have to be in mount vernon to be protected. You could be a simple site in a Simple Community<\/a> that meant something to the people of that community, and it would be legitimately accepted on the National Register<\/a> of Historic Places<\/a>. I had a personal connection with the implementation of the act. At that time this is so bureaucratic i was chief of the protective Services Division<\/a> of the office of archaeology and Historic Preservation<\/a> of the National Park<\/a> service of the department of interior. There is going to be a pop quiz at the end of this. Shortly after the new active the secretary of the interiors desk, my phone rang, and an inpatient staffer in the secretarys office said to me, the new act calls for criteria or standards to be established by the secretary. What are they . To which i replied, there arent any. Well, write them then, he said, and slammed the phone down. I a bully i, ably assisted by one of my branch chiefs, set about writing what are now known as the secretary of interior standards for the Historic Preservation<\/a> projects. The diplomacy involved in achieving this objective cannot be exaggerated. As gary and i had to achieve the approval of all of the state Historic Preservation<\/a> offices, including farflung dominions such as guam imagine crafting standards that were equally applicable both in guam and in providence, rhode island. That was a challenge. This was truly an exercise in onesizefitsall, which is a difficult proposition at any time. In our intention to create flexible standards to get guam and providence in the same place , we worked hard for language that would work. Sadly, much of that flexibility has been lost in subsequent revisions of the secretary of interior standards. For example, the original standards contained words such as whenever possible. These words have now been replaced with must or shall. There are 10 standards. What i say often, and i will say it again right now, i am not moses. I did not write the 10 commandments of historic commandments of Historic Preservation<\/a>. I wrote with gary the standards to be flexible, but in taking out the words over the years, such as whenever possible, leaving a little individual initiative in different places, and theyre being replaced with must or shall, it has tended to turn the standards into the 10 commandments of Historic Preservation<\/a>. It means that poorly educated or poorly prepared usually, poorly paid staff at state and local agencies are able just to point to the piece of paper and say, it says here, must, it says here shall, and they will make a decision not based on what is right for their community but what it says in the standards. That is not where gary and i were headed. Whenever possible. We never intended to take the ultimate decision away from the people who care for and are responsible for the wide variety of Historic Resources<\/a> we find across our great nation. A second objective was to establish a program of matching grants in aid to the states. The act says, having as their purpose the preservation for Public Benefit<\/a> of properties that are significant in American History<\/a>, architecture, or archaeology archaeology, and culture. The act also called for the establishment of a program of matching grants and aid to the National Trust<\/a> for Historic Preservation<\/a>. What is important about two words one might jump over our the words for Public Benefit<\/a>. We had to be very careful not to create a grand and aid program aware uncle sam where uncle sam could authorize the states to give money to people to fix up their house without any clear demonstration of Public Benefit<\/a>. It became a requirement of the program that, if you received grants and aid under this program for your house that was listed in the National Register<\/a>, you are perfectly eligible, but you needed to make it available to the public at least once a year. You werent just going to say, thank you, take the check, and locked the door. I think this is been enormously helpful in that not only has it made it possible for the public to see places they might not ordinarily see, but i think it has also build confidence in the program with the general public. The term Historic Preservation<\/a> has these words protection, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction as activities that are eligible under the act and to be used in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects. You will notice, from the early legislation, the word districts crept in, thank heavens. The city of charleston, South Carolina<\/a> had one of the first historic districts in the country. First, we didnt think in terms of districts. Now, we do. They got that plugged into this act to make it eligible under earlier legislation. You could do all of this if your project was significant that is an enormously important word. In American History<\/a>, architecture, archaeology, or culture. Im going to suggest later that we add a little bit to that. The act is very careful i the act is very careful i would love to meet the bureaucrat who put that in section 107 nothing in this act should be construed to be applicable to the white house and its ground, the Supreme Court<\/a> building and its grounds, or the United States<\/a> capital and its related buildings and grounds. Here are all of these legislators saying, it applies to all of you, not to us. The act also established the enormously important Advisory Council<\/a> on Historic Preservation<\/a> , and it said there should be 17 members, seven from the government and 10 appointed by the president from outside the federal government. The seven within the government are fairly easy to spot. The secretary of the interior, the secretary of hud, the secretary of commerce, the administrator of the General Services<\/a> administration, the secretary of the treasury, the attorney general, and the chairman of the National Trust<\/a> for Historic Preservation<\/a>. They are appointed by the president , and the act says, the Council Shall<\/a> advise the president and the congress on matters relating to Historic Preservation<\/a>. Now, as you will recall, the act states that the term Historic Preservation<\/a> includes protection, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. I hope you will notice that these terms are presented according to an ascending degree of intervention, and each one has a specific meaning. Protection the first one i think of it as the gentlest of all the words. It means to keep something as you find it, protected but not changed. If you need to put a chain link fence around it because its getting vandalized, thats ok, but you are not doing anything to it. Youre going to fix a hole in the roof, fix a broken window, but it means to keep something as you find it, protected but not changed. Rehabilitation means to modify something, howbeit with sensitivity albeit with sensitivity, so it can serve a useful purpose. The word rehabilitation has everything to do with bringing an abandoned or underused historic structure back into the useful life of its community. You can think of some very obvious ways that you might need to do this, but it isnt change. It is a change from what was there earlier. A plumbing, heating, air conditioning, life safety issues , access for the handicapped. The list is quite long. The price tag can be quite significant, but rehabilitation is saying, make it useful and safe for your community now. It involves more than protection. Restoration means to return something to its exact appearance at a specific moment in its past. Restoration, to restore something. It has a very specific meaning, to return something to its exact appearance at a specific moment in its past. Many people think that restoration means, make it look like the day it was built, but it doesnt necessarily mean that. You might have a very famous thing happened or event take place in a building that was older than the event, but you want to restore the building if you want to celebrate the event to look exactly as it did at the moment of the event, not the earliest form the building may have taken. My favorite example of this is a very sad one, and that is the Lorrain Motel<\/a> where dr. King was murdered. You want it to look like what it looked like the moment he stepped onto the balcony, not what it looked like when it was first built. Reconstruction means to recreate something that has vanished and to do so out of entirely new materials. Reconstruction means to recreate something that has vanished and to do it out of entirely new materials. The Capital Building<\/a> in williamsburg is a reconstruction. The Governors Palace<\/a> in williamsburg is a reconstruction. There is not an old piece of material in either building. What reconstruction doesnt mean it is reassembling pieces of a damaged or demolished building. There is a very fancy greek word for that called anostylosis. If a temple fell over in the sands of egypt, but youve got all the pieces, you can put them back together. That is not reconstruction. You are putting back original pieces that are all there, as opposed to reconstructing an entirely vanished resource. The original wording of the act has been amended several times since 1966 with the aim of strengthening it. These amendments i will not go into. You can find them for yourself. They are rather bureaucratic and boring, but they have to do with making the act work with the new National Environmental<\/a> policy act that was passed in 1969, making those two documents work together. In 1976, congress wisely extended the section 106 Advisory Council<\/a> process to include resources eligible for listing in the National Register<\/a> but not necessarily yet listed. This may sound like not a big deal, but i think its a big deal. There are many resources that you may be trying to preserve, which you are in the process of trying to get on the National Register<\/a>, but it isnt there yet. The amendment to the act made it possible to have the Advisory Council<\/a> look at all of that while you were still trying to get it on the register, not waiting until that had happened. The act has been amended to require federal agencies to establish internally their own staff for Historic Preservation<\/a> programs. This was again a huge step forward. You wouldnt be calling up the department of commerce and saying, why did you just bulldoze soandso . Huh . No. Historic what did you say . Where are you calling from . Now, federal agencies are required to have internally staffed Historic Preservation<\/a> programs looking at what might be eligible within their purview to preserve and to actually preserve resources they have already selected. In 1992, last but not least thank heavens the act was amended to significantly increase protection for native american and native hawaiian preservation sites and efforts. One of the things i do in my job that i have tried very hard to be consistent about i dont get off the plane in x, y, or z and say, i love that one, we will keep that one. I get off the plane, and i say to people, i am here to help you preserve what you want to preserve. You tell me what that is. The individual background education or taste of the person my position, whatever that may be, is not imposed on a cultural area where we have very little expertise. That certainly applies to me when it comes to native american and native hawaiian preservation efforts. I have virtually zero competency in making adequate value judgments about what is important to those cultures. Ive got a little story i want to tell you. When i was teaching at the university of washington that their preservation program, i rounded all the students up and i said, please go over to the giant across route one and take a survey. Ask people as they come out of the giant, what do you think the term Historic Preservation<\/a> mea ns . \\ then write down their answer. When we get the answers, lets come back and look at them all. The overwhelming answer from people coming out of the giant when asked, what you think the words Historic Preservation<\/a> mean, they said, preserving the past. One very quick thinking person scratched his head and said, i think it is some kind of un leaded gasoline. We never found that person again. The people who said that preservation is about preserving the past were all wrong. You and i cannot preserve the past. The past is past. We werent there, we dont think like that, we are educated under the educational systems of the past. You and i are now people, and our job is to look at what has survived from the past into the present moment for us and decide what to keep from the present for the future. Our job is to decide what to keep from the present for the future. It doesnt mean preserving the past. We cant do that. Its gone. Besides, who would want to preserve every single chevrolet ever made . You dont want to do that. Our job is to be selective, to be evaluative. In order to do that, we need standards and guidelines. That is the point of the secretary of the interior standards for Historic Preservation<\/a>, to give you something to use as a means of having a conversation with the person youre talking to. They arent the 10 commandments. They are there simply to say, lets talk about this idea. What do you think . Here is what i think. They are a way to begin to organize your thinking. No two places are alike. We do not live in a onesizefitsall world. What may be unthinkable to do in one place is just the right thing to do in another, because its a different part of the world, its a different culture, the materials are utterly different from what you and i deal with everyday. We need to be flexible and responsible, and we need to have some help in thinking about our responsibility. Im thinking about journey. Journey is big, bright, and wonderful. It currently includes many Properties Listed<\/a> in the National Register<\/a>. It includes properties that are of national significance. Am i correct, kate, that as a unit with its very clear edges, it is not yet independently listed on the National Register<\/a> of Historic Places<\/a> . That is what i thought. Here is the flag im waving. I want everybody in this room to help journey get the boundaries to help get the site its boundaries and independently listed on the National Register<\/a> of Historic Places<\/a>. Why do i want to do that . Our present system requires you and me to pick out the few things in our community that it is clear to everybody that we want to preserve. I want to put the shoe on the other foot. I want developers to have to say, if i want to modify this, it is not negatively and af fecting the integrity of the area. If we want to preserve the journey footprint. Weve got to preserve the journey footprint and put it on the register so people have to demonstrate that a change they want to make is honoring that and not eroding that. Until we can do that, i dont think we are going to be as successful as we should be in preserving large areas. We can all work hard and preserving individual building, or maybe even a modest historic district, but when you talk about something as big as the journey area, i think we need a new tool. That is what i want to close with. I think we have work to do, and the work is to help journey get journey on the National Register<\/a> so that journey, the journey experience is protected. In order to do that, we may want to expand our list from the traditional categories of district sites, buildings, structures, and objects to include a new word ive got one, but i dont love it yet, and ive put it in as a possible word environments. Districts, sites, buildings, structures, objects, and environments. The journey footprint is much bigger than in the store district than an historic district. It is much bigger than the already recognized sites, buildings, structures, and objects. We need to get a word in their to expand the traditional categories. I also think that we talk about American History<\/a>, architecture, archaeology, were culture or culture. You have to be significant in one of these areas. Again, i dont have the word yet, but ive got the idea. I want us to get the idea of stories in there. If you look at an area like the journey footprint, think of the stories that we want to preserve that are more inclusive than an individual district, site, building, structure, or object. Again, its a question of scale. I want us to, you know, grow a little bigger, get a little bolder, and make it possible for organizations such as journey to preserve what it is committed to preserving. By including the idea of environments or stories this is hard to put into words again i believe doing that would help us protect our national myth. Myth often has a negative connotation, as being something that isnt true. I look upon the word myth in an entirely different way when i look at greek myths or whatever. They are stories which contain something absolutely valid and worthy of preservation. I think that there are myths not meaning something untrue but stories about the journey footprint that we need to protect that are larger than an individual site that may illustrate in some way that bigger idea. I thank you all for listening to me. I want journey to succeed, and i want it to get very bold in changing how we go about our work. Thank you. [applause] w. Brown morton to once again create a huge new and important challenge. I am so jazzed. I saw jonathan shaking his head. Among the next choice of workshops you have is i think this might be your term the large Cultural Landscape<\/a> initiative that jonathan is leading the charge on hand has brought journey into. We are so grateful to you for that. Do we have a minute for questions . We have a few minutes for questions from the audience. Kathleen kirkpatrick, our esteemed state Historic Preservation<\/a> officer. If you would like to ask a question, the microphone right here is available. I want to acknowledge how thoughtprovoking your presentation was. I have to confess im struggling a little bit with it. I, of course, was going to remark on the wonderful emerging area of consideration of large Cultural Landscape<\/a>s. I think thats an important evolution of the last 1015 years, borne by consideration for indigenous landscapes or battlefields, etc. Whether that should be merged into the register is something i struggle with. I keep coming back to whether we are better served by perhaps treating heritage areas, large Cultural Landscape<\/a>s, etc. As different tools, of equal importance as the register perhaps for preservation. The problem many of us see with the register itself is that in our proper zeal to have it be inclusive, it has perhaps become a less powerful tool for your words like selectivity. What was the other word that you used . We have perhaps reached a point where, when you talk about one million listings, that there is a certain cynicism about it. We are looking for other tools such as heritage area, Cultural Landscape<\/a>s, and there is a bit of a danger here in continuing to move all of these tools into the register and expand, expand, expand. I wonder if you might comment on that. There is a fundamental contradiction as you become more inclusive, and at the same time, look for the true selectivity thats an excellent question. My thought about that is you dont want to water down what you are doing so that it doesnt mean anything anymore. My response to that is we need to do a better job educating people about what we are doing so they can see the value in expanding the footprint, rather than sticking with a footprint that, for a variety of reasons, we are finding is no longer adequate. I want to build a bigger boat but one where people really understand why we are doing that. A crazy idea that i had that im working on it isnt crazy, its just daunting to get at what kathleen is talking about i want to work with all of you to develop a curriculum for Historic Preservation<\/a> values for our Public School<\/a> system all the way from kindergarten through 12th grade. Every single grade, you add a new piece. You might begin with, at kindergarten, where do you live . Does your house or apartment building, how old is it . What do you like about it . What is it made of . You begin to have children understand they live in the building that is brick or frame or old or new or whatever. Then you begin to move on as you move up in the grades with increasingly demanding questions of the students. By the time they get to 12th grade, they understand what Historic Preservation<\/a> means. I also i dont think i will ever win this 1 i want to dump the term Historic Preservation<\/a>. I think it is very oldfashioned. We all sort of know what it means, but i think we are about something much more profound than simply preserving history. I think we are also about preserving community identity, preserving who people think they are and what they might do. I grew up in a very old time virginia family. The women in my family who i spend more time with than the men, because i grew up during the second world war, and all the men had uniforms and were in other parts of the world i would hear my greatgrandmother say, tell me, do we know who they are . I understand they are nice people. Are they an old family . I grew up with that attitude of sorting people out. Each of us in this room is from just as older family is anybody else in the world. We all go back. I think we need to think very hard about whose history we are talking about. Sometimes, i think we are not, and there are groups in our own communities that feel excluded from our Historical Society<\/a> or you name it whatever group, the sons of the american revolution, the waterford group. There are people who feel excluded from that. Im not criticizing those organizations for their focus, but we need to build a bigger boat and get more people on board. If i could just add that when Beth Erickson<\/a> did yeomans work, Early Research<\/a> in creating what exactly was here, pulling all the registered files and the National Register<\/a>, what became abundantly clear, one million acres already on the National Register<\/a> within this swath of land, 16 national landmarks. Woefully lacking was the recognition of female native american female, native american, or africanamerican contributions. One of the first things beth thought and she achieved was seeking partnership with the department of virginia Historic Resources<\/a>, with the foundation for humanitys, to bring together 34 scholars who worked for three years to combine primary source documents, creating 100 stories of africanamerican contributions within the journey which had not been told and shared. We are currently on the path of getting those 100 sites now on the National Register<\/a>. Perfect to your point, brown, and in recognition to beth and all the years of research and dedication i want to acknowledge that that is exactly where we have tried to move the journey. It is becoming as inclusive as possible. I know that we have to move on, but before breaking for our workshop, i want to recognize and ask you to help me thank brown. I am particularly mindful of the fact that he is the most unique unrepeated divine event i think ive ever met, and our small way of saying thank you we are planting 13 for each of the unrepeated Divine Events<\/a> of the 620,000 men who died during the civil war and marching those trees along our Cultural Landscape<\/a> from Thomas Jeffersons<\/a> home straight up to gettysburg. Our team thought, long before we understood the importance of your unrepeated divine event, that we are dedicating one of those trees in your name as a small way of saying thank you. [applause] bless your heart. Thank you. We believe that all men are created equal, yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men have , yetin unalienable rights Many Americans<\/a> do not enjoy those rights. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of beingy, yet millions are deprived of those blessings. Not because of their own failures but because of the. Olor of their skin the reasons are deeply embedded in history and tradition in the nature of man. We can understand without rancor or hatred how this all happens, but it cannot continue. Our constitution, the foundation of our republic, the principles it. Ur freedom forbid morality forbids it, and the law i will sign tonight forbids it. This weekend, the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act<\/a> with president johnsons address to the nation and the signing ceremony. Later, hear from reporters who. Overed the debate in Congress Sunday<\/a> night at 8 00 eastern on American History<\/a> tv on cspan3. With live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the senate on cspan2, here on cspan3, we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional public hearings. And on weekends, cspan3 is home to American History<\/a> tv with programs that tell our nations story. American artifacts, touring museums and Historic Sites<\/a> to discover what artifacts reveal about americas past. History bookshelf with the bestknown American History<\/a> writers. A presidency, looking at the policies and legacies of our nations to mentors in chief, lectures in history with top College Professors<\/a> delving into americas past, and our new series, reel america, featuring archival government and educational films. Cspan3, created by the tv yourtry and funded by local cable or satellite provider. Watch as in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. Each week, American History<\/a> america brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. 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