14 C O N T E X T 9 3 : M A R C H 2 0 0 6 significant in American history and culture, to preserve and administer them for public benefit’. Accordingly, one of the first public actions taken by the newborn trust was the acquisition and restoration of Woodlawn, an early 19th-century house that is the centrepiece of a plantation presented by George Washington as a wedding gift to his adopted daughter. Woodlawn was the first property in what has since become a unique collection of 26 historic sites. Spanning more than two centuries of history and architecture, the collection includes three houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, including his own home and studio; America’s oldest synagogue, dedicated in 1763; an adobe house that dates from the early period of American settlement in California; a tenement that housed generations of immigrants in New York’s Lower East Side neighbourhood; an African-American church in Boston that was a centre of antislavery activity in the pre-Civil War era; and the Farnsworth House, a sleek glass box designed by Mies van der Rohe. While the trust purchased the Farnsworth House at auction, most sites were donated or bequeathed to the organisation, which in recent years has insisted that such donations be accompanied by an endowment to help pay the ongoing costs of maintenance and administration. Also in recent years, the trust has employed a variety of mechanisms governing ownership and management of the sites – in some instances, for example, retaining ownership of the property while entrusting responsibility for administration to a locally based organisation. In all cases, the trust views its historic sites as invaluable vehicles for helping visitors appreciate the richness and diversity of America’s heritage and the importance of preserving it; demonstrating best practice in restoration, preservation and museum administration; and offering people a better understanding of – or an initial introduction to – the work of the National Trust. While the trust continues to recognise ownership and interpretation of historic sites as a vital component of its work, its commitment to assisting local preservation efforts, demonstrating preservation’s effectiveness as a tool for economic revitalisation, and strengthening the organised preservation movement has assumed increased importance over the years, sparking the development of a wide array of outreach programs and projects. Many of these undertakings have a single goal: education. A bi-monthly magazine, Preservation, offers general-interest articles and features on preservationrelated topics; a quarterly journal, Forum, is more specifically targeted to the interests of preservation practitioners. Annually in May, the organisation sponsors National Preservation Month, during which communities are encouraged to engage citizens in a celebration of their heritage of historic buildings and neighbourhoods. The trust issues an annual list of ‘America’s 11 most endangered historic places’ to alert people to landmarks in peril and galvanise efforts to save them, while the annual presentation of National Preservation Awards honours individuals, organisations and projects that represent preservation at its best. To give preservationists the information they need to work most effectively in their home towns, the trust sponsors a wide range of conferences, seminars and workshops. The largest of these, the annual National Preservation Conference, generally draws 2,000 attendees for several days of educational presentations, tours and social events. Far beyond merely talking about preservation, the National Trust is directly involved in hands-on efforts to save America’s historic places. In partnership with the National Park Service, the trust operates the Save America’s Treasures programme, which encourages communities to identify and protect the buildings, sites, documents and works of art – whether world-famous or little-known – that tell America’s story. Since its creation in 1998, Save America’s Treasures has designated more than 1,200 official projects in every state and raised more than $55 million in preservation funding from private sources, complementing $242 million in government funds. The trust also awards grants and loans to aid grassroots preservation projects. In Connecticut, for example, a National Trust loan helped a developer convert a long-vacant hotel into low-income apartments, with retail space on the ground floor. In Mississippi, a grant helped prepare feasibility studies for the preservation and reuse of four buildings in a once-thriving African-American commercial district that is now the site of a planned baseball stadium. And inWashington DC, the trust offered financial and technical assistance to residents of a mixed-income historic neighbourhood to help mitigate the impact of a massive new convention centre. The trust’s regional offices offer hands-on technical assistance, advice and support to individuals, organisations and government agencies.The Northeast Office, for example, launched a successful initiative to persuade national drugstore chains to stop demolishing older buildings and constructing suburban-style stores in historic commercial areas. When an earthquake struck Washington State, the Western Office hired an engineering team that investigated 14 damaged historic structures and advised their owners that the buildings were salvageable. And as this is being written, the trust is undertaking a major campaign to assist in the preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings and communities in the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. In recent years, the National Trust has placed particular emphasis on its work to expand and strengthen the organised preservation movement. The keystone of this effort is the state and local partnerships programme, which works to create a strong national preservation network by awarding challenge grants and technical assistance to help organisations hire
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