Historic Preservation

This well-illustrated book offers an up-to-date synthesis of the field of historic preservation, cast as a social campaign concerned with the condition, treatment and use of the legacy of existing properties in the United States. Drawing on a wide range of research, experience and scholarship over the last fifty years, it allows us to re-think past and current ideas in preservation, challenging readers to explore how their own interests lie within the cognitive framework of the activities taking place with people who care. “Who” is involved is explored first, in such a way as to explore “why”, before examining “what” is deemed important. After that the questions of “when” and “how” to proceed are given attention.

The major topics are introduced in an historical review through the mid-1980s, after which the broad intellectual basis and fundamental legal framework is provided. The economic shifts associated with major demographic changes are explored, in tandem with responses of the preservation community. A chapter is dedicated to the financial challenges and sources of revenue available in typical preservation projects, and another chapter focuses on the manner in which seeing, recording, and interpreting information provides the context for an appropriate vision for the future. In this regard, it is made clear that not all “green” design alternatives are preservation-sensitive. The advocacy battles during the last few decades provide a number of short stories of the ethical battles regarding below-ground and above ground historic resources, and the eighth chapter attempts to explain why religion has been long held at arm’s length in publicly-supported preservation efforts, when in fact, it holds more potential to regenerate existing sites than any governmental program.

Michael A. Tomlan is the Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation Planning in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University. With nearly four decades of teaching and field experience, Professor Tomlan serves students pursuing degrees not only in historic preservation but also in archaeology, architecture, city & regional planning, history, public administration, real estate, and urban studies. A published author with a wide range of interests, he also edited Preservation of What? For Whom? A Critical Look at Historical Significance (1998). He currently serves as a Project Director for the National Council for Preservation Education, having established a cooperative agreement for that organization with the National Park Service in 1995 that supports the longest-running preservation internship program in the country. Dr. Tomlan is a Fellow of the Association for Preservation Technology, a former board member of the Society of Architectural Historians, former consultant to the World Monuments Fund and advisor to the Global Heritage Fund, working on significant sites in India, China and Cambodia. He regularly travels abroad as the Treasurer of Heritage Watch International, based in Siem Reap, and the President of Yosothor, a publishing firm in Phnom Penh, in Cambodia. He also remains the Chair of the New York State Barn Alliance, and the President of Historic Urban Plans, Inc., based in Ithaca, NY.