Submitted by Parker at: May 25, 2011
I renewed my membership in the National Trust.

Submitted by woody at: May 25, 2011
Old is the New Green: Substainability Begins at Home The Museum welcomed Mike Jackson of AIA and acting director of the Preservation Services Division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Along with working with the Preservation Services Division of IHPA, Mike Jackson is also a visiting professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Columbia University in New York. Mike discussed how to be green while maintaining and preserving your old home or building and the challenges you may encounter in the process. Through this program Jackson illustrated the common goal that both preservation and green design shares.

Submitted by EdHuang@CIEDM at: May 24, 2011
Creation & Preservation of Environmental Arts Need Public Participation To promote the creation and preservation of environment artworks, California Institute of Environmental Design & Management (CIEDM), Chinese American Construction Professionals CACP), CAPS, & JCUAA, all LA San Gabriel Valley based organizations, jointly held the Seminar on Environmental Conservation & Green Art as a part of an all day event celebrating the 2011 Mother's Day. Following is the seminar info: Title: Environmental Conservation and Green Art Location: LA Chinese Culture Center, 9443 Telstar Ave., El Monte 91731 Time/Date: 1:30-3:30pm, Sunday 8 May 2011 Admission: Free Program: 1. Introduction by Andy Liu, CACP President 2. Presentation- "Creation & Preservation of Environmental Arts Need Public Participation" by Dr. Edward Huang, AICP, CGBP, LEED AP 3. Presentation- "Making & Application of Stone Art" by Baogui Zhang, artist 4. Commentary by Andy Liu, CACP President The event was featured on CTITV, Macroview TV, World Journal & SingTao Daily on 5/9/2011. Following is the summary of the 1st presentation by Dr. Edward Huang: The objectives of the presentation are to: • Promote public appreciation & creation of public environmental art. • Raise public awareness of the linkage of creativity & sustainability. • Call for public attentions to the National Preservation Month and public actions to protect & preserve environmental art work. • Call for public support to the Green movement, love our own mother & our Mother Earth, both breed us with water, food & other resources that we need for growth & creativity. Environmental sustainability is a major interest for the general public in the era of fast-moving green movement. Environmental art and the recent trends in public environmental art are fashionable topics to many people. This presentation starts with the definition of environmental, green & eco & public art, and with an introduction to their evolution in human civilization and to the inspirations of natural & man-made wonders for the artists. The presentation proceeds to address the significance of the 2011 Mother's Day and the National Preservation Month because our Mother Earth, our only home for us to live & create, is encountering a number of issue -- global warming/cooling, extreme temperature, floods & earthquakes. It illustrates how the hazards & disasters would impact our livability and great art works that the nature & human have created on the Earth, and the need for preserve them in order to sustain our livability. The main body of the presentation is focusd on the roles and functions of green environmental art and how the artists have been responding to the needs and lead the green movement. A number of beautiful, intriguing and environmentally sensitive environmental art works displayed in public spaces are showcased through a power point presentation and their creativity for sustainability are discussed. The speaker also shares with the audience his own experience in public environmental art in City of Los Angeles and his own art works in Arcadia EcoHome, a certified green building in Arcadia, designed to house & display a number of green art pieces. The speech concludes with a call for the audience to be loving-care sons or daughters for our mothers as well as for Mother Earth. It also calls for actions starting this 2011 Mother's Day and Preservation Month to support the creation and the preservation of green art works and a green earth.

Submitted by Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation at: May 23, 2011
Our Foundation hired an architect to prepare an adaptive reuse plan for the historic York Institute in Jamestown, Tenn., the school built in the 1920s by WWI hero Sgt. Alvin C. York. Slated for demolition by the State of Tennessee in 2008, the building has undergone a $1 million remediation and stabilization through the efforts of the Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation. Additional fundraising of an additional $4 million is set to begin during Preservation Month, with the goal of creating a regional multi-use educational facility and WWI museum/research space. This building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been elevated to the status of National Significance. For more info and photos of our accomplishments so far, visit www.sgtyork.org.

Submitted by Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation at: May 23, 2011
Our Foundation hired an architect to prepare an adaptive reuse plan for the historic York Institute in Jamestown, the school built in the 1920s by WWI hero Sgt. Alvin C. York. The building has undergone a $1 million remediation and stabilization through the efforts of the Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation. Fundraising is set to begin during Preservation Month, with the goal of creating a regional multi-use educational facility and WWI museum/research space.

Submitted by annielaurie at: May 21, 2011
I'm currently relocating to the State of Washington. I have three properties on which I can make an offer as a permanent residence – these are older “mini-farms, and have wonderful houses built in the period of 1916-1928 that look surprisingly modern. They are the models for some ultra-modern homes – high-peaked profile with the shape of an old barn, open floor plan, usually a loft that constitutes the second story, with amazing curved or spiral staircases. The one I most prefer would require some restoration work. I am trying to get input from the Trust, or other members, on how to choose a qualified contractor for such repairs, how to meet current codes while maintaining the original character of the farmhouse, and similar considerations. I have learned a bit form my own research, but I am sure there are some members or staff at the Trust who could give me the benefit of their experience.

Submitted by JimJS at: May 21, 2011
I would like to be able to celebrate by actually having a local government which acts like a Certified Local Government, instead of just adopting the name for bragging rights. One which actually implements it's own law for historic preservation. Unfortunately, real preservation is under attack here just now and without some outside help, may not survive.

Submitted by JimS at: May 21, 2011
I would like to celebrate this month, if we could replace the local government, which claims to be a Certified Local Government, but does not act at all like one. That would include replacing our local Historic Preservation Officer. Unfortunately, instead, real preservation is under attack by the local government just now.

Submitted by DL-Historian at: May 21, 2011
I'm leading a tour through Historic South-View cemetery today. The cemetery is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. In February 1886, a group of formerly enslaved African American men—Jacob McKinley, George Graham, Robert Grant, Charles Morgan, Albert Watts, and John Render—petitioned the state of Georgia for a charter to establish the South-View Cemetery Association. The new cemetery gave African Americans an alternative to Atlanta’s segregated burial grounds and provided an environment where they could be buried with dignity. Originally 25 acres, South-View has expanded to approximately 100 acres and contains over 70,000 burials. In earlier times, the modern concept of perpetual care did not exist. Families held the sole responsibility of caring for the graves. Because many families have passed on or moved away, the Historic South-View Preservation Foundation, Inc. was organized in 2004 to raise awareness and support to aid in the preservation of South-View's unique historic landscape. The mission of the Foundation is to record, preserve, restore, and interpret the art, history, and environment of the non-perpetual care sections of South-View Cemetery. The Foundation sponsors guided walking tours of the cemetery throughout the year. Historic South-View Cemetery is located at 1990 Jonesboro Road S.E., in Atlanta, Georgia (404 622-5393).

Submitted by cobragirl517 at: May 20, 2011
I would like to go to The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mi. I love going there to see all the old preserved buildings and different items from history

Submitted by Anonymous at: May 20, 2011
By going to Lawerenceville, New Jersey to accept the award for National Country School Service Award presented to Marilyn Boley for her dedicated service to preserve East Union School and Morris Park.

Submitted by Jeff M at: May 20, 2011
In Centralia, WA we are celebrating all month long with a series of brown bag lunch Fridays. At today's lunch seminar I gave a presentation on how to restore and preserve wood windows and their benefits. Each Saturday in May we are giving a free guided tour of our historic downtown buildings focused on exploring upstairs spaces that you can't see on a regular day.

Submitted by Laura Henderson at: May 20, 2011
This is our third year that the Historic and Architectural Preservation Commission in Oxford, Ohio has collaborated with the Visitors & Convention Bureau and the Smith Library of Regional History to offer free guided walking tours of the Oxford Historic Districts. They have been very well attended, thanks to articles and historic images that our committee has placed in the local newspaper preceding each tour. We also have a Proclamation from the Mayor declaring May as Historic Preservation Month in Oxford. In April, a group of us gathered in front of the Miami University president's house, together with the president and his wife, David and Valerie Hodge, holding signs for "This Place Matters" and we placed the photo on the National Trust website. Lewis Place was built in 1839 and has been the home of Miami presidents since 1903. In 2007 it underwent a major restoration and renovation. The May 21 tour included an interior tour of Lewis Place, led by Valerie Hodge.

Submitted by P.j. at: May 19, 2011
Historic Murphysburg Preservation (HMP) is celebrating National Preservation Month by presenting a self-guided tour titled “Evening on the Veranda” from 6:30 until 8:30 PM on Friday May 20th. This tour features nine porches. You can purchase your ticket for $15.00 per person at 220 South Moffet Avenue. That is also where you receive the list of porches on the tour. The tour finishes at the Jesse Starr House and Belle's Garden located at 310 South Moffet Avenue. The Strarr house will be open for festivities. We will celebrate with a Tapas Bar catered by Crabby's and beverages are compliments of HMP. The Arabesque String Quartet will perform through the evening. Tickets for Horse Drawn Carriage rides for through part of our Historic District can be purchased for $5.00 per person. The Dream Theatre Company will perform skits fashioned after turn of the century events. They will portray personalities of the original occupants of the neighborhood. HMP extends a big thanks to our HMP friends that volunteered their stately porches for the tour. And to our members for helping HMP to realize and support our mission statement: Historic Murphysburg Preservation’s mission is to promote historic preservation throughout the Murphysburg Residential Historic District and the City of Joplin. We seek to preserve the integrity of the downtown residential community, educate visitors about our rich history, save limited natural resources, and instill community pride. Please check for more details on Murphysburg Face book or our web site www.murphysburg.org

Submitted by p.j. at: May 19, 2011
with a historic porch tour

Submitted by EdHuang@CIEDM at: May 12, 2011
As the founder & principal of California Institute of Environmental Design & Management (CIEDM), an education & research center based in Arcadia, California, I completed the following article as a part of CIEDM activities to celebrate the Preservation Month. Other CIEDM activities include (1) my speech titled " Creation & Preservation of Environmental Arts Need Public Participation" in the CIEDM co-sponsored Seminar on Environmental Conservation & Green Art taken place on 8 May 2011, and (2) CIEDM's series Workshops/Projects on Plantation & Preservation of Community Forests starting from 13 May 2011 to early June. The said article is posted in my blog on the Arcadia Patch through an editor review & approval process. History and Historic Preservation for Downtown Revitalization Edward Huang, PhD, AICP, CEI, CGBP, LEED AP Principal, California Institute of Environmental Design & Management (CIEDM) In early April Arcadia Patch reported that City Council was taking actions to revitalize our downtown. With the coming Metro Gold Line Station and the updated General Plan adopted at the end of 2011 that provides development incentives in downtown, this is the right timing for the council move. This write up, completed on May 1, the 2011 MayDay, an initiative sponsored by Heritage Preservation and other non-profits since 2006 to protect the nation's cultural heritage, is to offer my thoughts for making a successful downtown based on my 25 years of experience in the field of community redevelopment and close to 30 years of residency in Arcadia. Downtown revitalization often takes many steps and needs to address many challenge & dynamic issues. In the early 90s when I served in the Planning Commission, the City hired a consultant and engaged a public participation process to develop a revitalization plan for downtown. Consequently vigorous building design and development standards were established, street reconfiguration and streetscape improvements were made, and financial assistance were also made to several downtown businesses for building rehabilitation. With many of the consultant's recommendations been implemented and our downtown been beautified with new sidewalks, street trees, lights & furniture, the revitalization clearly has given downtown a better appearance than the old blighted one once we had. However, its overall image is still similar to the rest of Huntington Drive running through Arcadia, Monrovia and Duarte and to many other commercial districts in the southland, and it still appears non-descriptive comparing to several revitalized downtowns and commercial districts in the region. When everybody wears a new dress, the new dress that we put on downtown could not give it enough power to take off, and could not draw enough interest and investment to make a significant change to the area. I'm glad to see that downtown stakeholders including the City are now taking additional steps to re-revitalize the area. How to make it work? Establishing a Business Improvement District (BID) and providing convenient parking are great and necessary approaches. There are other necessary steps & directions as well. One of them is to give the old body under the new dress a spirit, an identity that is unique and different. Arcadia has an interesting history of growth, and our downtown is the best representation of the history of the City, and this is an advantage that no other competitors such as enclosed malls, other commercial districts in town, and other downtowns in the region have. Arcadia Downtown is the place for Arcadians and others to learn about our past and present, explore our culture, and discover our identity. In his new book titled “Beyond Preservation: Using Public History in Revitalize Inner Cities (2010, Temple Univ. Press)”, historian Andrew Hurley of the University of Missouri- St. Louis has revealed good ideas about how the history of a community and heritage/historic preservation can become useful tools in revitalization of old commercial districts. Based on this book and information provided by historic preservation organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), the US Heritage Preservation Services (HPS) and California Office of Historic Preservation (OHP), history and heritage/historic preservation are important tools to create unique identity for a place and create a base for branding that in turn would facilitate the making of “place” and draw people’s attention and visit. Considering the size and floor area inventory in our downtown, we could not make it a regional attraction as Pasadena Old Town does. To make our own downtown work, its role shall be placed as a community-centered and branded as a community-serving district for Arcadians and our neighbors. Those who live in and around here is the consumer base that we shall go after. Therefore this identity, character or “history” making task is very important in a competitive marketplace when our neighboring communities are improving their downtowns and commercial districts and when shopping centers and malls around are remodeled with an open-street model. It is especially important for a community such as Arcadia in demographic transition which is also a part of our recent history since the 70s. As reported by Arcadia Patch in March, the US census data clearly shows that we have a lot of new comers in town. The new comers may not know the history of the community where they now live, and they may not have the desire for visiting Arcadia downtown unless the downtown offers what they are looking for. A downtown like a supermarket can sustain only if it catches on the trends and needs of the customers, old and new. With Asian representation in town, let us create an Asian food section in our store so their needs are met locally right here. The new BID shall take advantage of this consumer base, make their 40-year of history is clearly a visible part of our 108-year history. On top of what the downtown stakeholders are currently doing, I propose to include history telling and heritage/historic preservation approaches in the revitalization efforts. Heritage/historic preservation is not something new. Served in the General Plan Advisory Committee, I’m glad that at policy level they are already embedded in the section of “Cultural Resources and Preservation” of the City’s updated General Plan. It is now a matter of priority and implementation. The downtown possesses several old and attractive architecture and several long established businesses and institutions, and they are the seeds for such approaches. In addition, NTHP, HPS and OHP have various programs providing financial and technical assistances to localities to take on history and preservation projects. Through the support of NTHP programs like Save America’s Treasures, thousands of preservation projects in states, cities and towns from coast to coast have worked to preserve significant places in the history. Another example is the Main Street program offered by both NTHP and OHP. NTHP over the past 30 years has spearheaded the Main Street movement and more than 2,000 communities across the nation are now part of the Main Street network. The program has helped to transform many declined Main Streets and downtowns back into life and into the economic engine again of the community. May is the National Preservation Month as established by NTHP. Since NTHP celebrated Preservation Week in 1973 to promote preservation efforts in America, the event has grown into a popular annual event. NTHP has extended the celebration to the entire month of May since 2005 that provides Americans a longer opportunity to celebrate the unique and diverse heritage of our communities. This success tells us the usefulness and value to include the suggested approaches in our revitalization efforts. With the establishment of the BID for our downtown I hope the new BID will soon start a process with the MayDay urgent spirit to identify and conserve any historic elements in downtown that makes our downtown a unique and story-telling place, and hope by next May we will participate along with other 2000+ communities in the celebration of the Preservation month with architectural, heritage and historic tours, award ceremonies, festival events, and other programs in our downtown.

Submitted by The Delray Beach (Florida) Preservation Trust at: May 12, 2011
The Delray Beach Preservation Trust Presents "Doin’ Good in the Neighborhood!" with an encore presentation of “Delray Then and Now” : The Movie and the unveiling of the DBPT Matching Grants Program for Historic Districts! Thursday, May 26th 7:00 pm The Historic Crest Theatre 51 North Swinton Avenue Admission is Free to all Historic District Residents and DBPT Members Learn How Delray Neighborhoods Can TRIPLE Their Funds For Beautification! Celebrate National Preservation Month! Each Guest Will Receive a Special Gift and Have the Rare Opportunity to Sample a Very Special Treat Straight from The Old “Patio Delray” Menu! (Shhh...It’s a secret!) For more information, please contact JoAnn Peart (561) 276-8968

Submitted by Artists/Authors Victoria Rogers and Cal Haines at: May 7, 2011
Our book "Santa Fe's Historic McKenzie Neighborhood" has just been published by Sunstone Press and gives a lesser-known downtown neighborhood some visibility for appreciation of its architecture and history and the importance of preservation. The book's unusual format includes original images of the area architecture and documentation of architectural details plus some history of the area. It can be previewed at www.newcanstudios.com and ordered there or through www.sunstonepress.com. Our booksigning event June 5 will include speakers coordinated by David A. Rasch, book text contributor from the Historic Preservation Division of the City of Santa Fe, talking about related topics of historic architecture, neighborhoods and preservation. We are interested in creating imaging for other historic areas. For more information, call 505-989-1088.

Submitted by Anonymous at: May 4, 2011
Every month should be Preservation Month!

Submitted by Lawrence History Center at: May 4, 2011
The Lawrence History Center, located in the historic Essex Company Building and Yards will host an exhibit of Robert Lussier's photographs: THREADS OF TIME: Preserving Lawrence's Industrial Heritage, May 3-July 29. www.lawrencehistory.org