Table of Contents

Preface.

Preface to the Previous Edition.

Introduction.

Chapter 1. The Language of Preservation.

Chapter 2. The Preservation Movement and the Private Citizen Before World War II.

Chapter 3. The Preservation Movement and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Chapter 4. Government and the Preservation Movement.

Chapter 5. Government and Preservation Since World War II.

Chapter 6. The Historic Room and House Museum.

Chapter 7. Outdoor Museums.

Chapter 8. Historic Districts.

Chapter 9. Rehabilitation and Adaptive Use.

Chapter 10. Landscape Preservation.

Chapter 11. Rural and Small Town Preservation.

Chapter 12. Archaeology.

Chapter 13. Preservation Values in Oral Based Cultures.

Chapter 14. Preservation in Practice.

Chapter 15. International Preservation.

Epilogue: And What of the Future?

Appendix A: Selected Federal Legislation.

Appendix B: The National Register's Criteria for Evaluation.

Appendix C: The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.

Appendix D: Preservation Resources.

Glossary.

Bibliography.

Illustration Credits.

Index. 

About the Author

WILLIAM J. MURTAGH has held pivotal positions in the field of historic preservation for almost fifty years. He served as the first keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, Department of the Interior; and was vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and president of the Victorian Society in America. He directed the preservation program at Columbia University and initiated preservation programs at the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaii. He is a founding and active member of the Preservation Roundtable in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

Since 1812, when architect Robert Mills drew up plans for rebuilding the steeple of Independence Hall, the impulse to preserve historic American sites and buildings has snowballed. Today tens of thousands of buildings and some 5000 historic districts are recognized by the federally coordinated National Register of Historic Places. In part an illustrated historical survey, in part a handbook for civic activists, this primer by the first Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places traces the shift in the preservation movement from the restoration of isolated landmarks and houses where ``Washington slept,'' to an emphasis on outdoor museums (Old Salem, N.C.; Sturbridge Village, Mass.) and, in recent years, a concern for the neighborhood in which a building stands. Through a case study of the Historic Savannah Foundation, which has saved some 1000 buildings in that city, Murtagh illustrates how the public can treat the built environment as a conservable national resource. (September)

This one-volume introduction to the history and philosophy of preservation in America moves from the private sector's early concern for saving patriotic sites to extensive governmental activity and the legal and economic dimensions of a growth industry. Broad-ranging chapters treat terminology, outdoor museums, historic districts, adaptive use, landscape preservation, and case studies for successful programs; appendixes include selections of important federal legislation and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. A recommended short history particularly useful for introductory courses and for laypersons concerned with preservation issues in their communities. Douglas G. Birdsall, North Dakota State Univ. Lib., Fargo