Week 4: Historic Preservation, Accurate Information, and the Bogyman

            The first reading this week was section III from Mickey Mouse History And Other Essays American Memory by Mike Wallace included Preserving the Past: A History of Historic Preservation in the United States and Preservation Revisited.  The first essay spoke about the evolution of historic preservation in the United States starting from the colonial period through to the  early 1980’s, covering preservation vs. development, laws, and government backlash.  This author has a tendency to ramble on, considering the last paragraph in its entirety is one sentence twelve lines long.  The second essay picked up the ball from the previous essay, starting from the late 1980’s. It spoke about the hits and delay’s historic preservation has had from fuzzy worded initiatives, the decrease in available funding and the idea to promote restoration as a form of environmentalism.

            The reading from Public History: Essay’s from the Field edited by James B. Gardner and Peter S. LaPaglia included the articles Historic Preservationists and Cultural Resources Managers: Preserving America’s Historic Places by Antoinette J. Lee and Interpreters and Museum Educators: Beyond the Blue Hairs by Mark Howell.  The first essay spoke about what the responsibilities, duties and concerns are of preservationists and cultural resource managers.  The second essay discusses how to present information to the public as an interpreter or museum educator, as well as the difficulties of breaking into the field. 

            The web reading this week was awesome.  Professor Cebula’s letter was pointed yet polite, and pointed out some real flaws inherent in presentations at historic sites.  Even better was the rebuttal by the director of the site, which admittedly made me laugh, both with humor and disbelief that someone in that position could be so ignorant and unprofessional. 

            The website this week was the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It had a clear and aesthetically pleasing layout that wasn't confusing.  The goal of the group is so save America’s historic places, and the site has information on their current sites, histories, news coverage, work and volunteer opportunities, and how to join or support them.  This site does a good job of not overloading visitors with ads or plea’s for funding, as is often the case with preservation or historical groups, unfortunately.   

            The second website was the National Register of Historic Places page on the National Park Services website.  This was a clean and organized site that was easy to navigate.  According to the “About Us” page, the National Register of Historic Places is “part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources”.  This website has links to publications, databases, information on how to list a property and much more. 

            The PreservationNation Blog contains “stories, news and notes from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  I think it’s a good blog without being too “loud”, and the authors of the posts are from the Trust or similar organizations. It even has a Pinterest segment, which is smart as it allows for a greater reach of the Trusts goals to use multiple media outlets.

The historic farm house in Star, NC. Courtesy of PreservationNation Blog.

            The video of the week was on Eastern State Penitentiary. It was very brief and did not give a lot of information, but I gathered that there is a bit of controversy over the institute turning into a haunted house at night to bring in revenue.  There is worry that it trivializes the history of the Penitentiary, but on the other hand there are people who think it is a necessary evil in order to remain open to the public.   I’m not sure where I stand on this issue. In this case, I think it’s kind of a good idea as long as the site is not damaged further from the haunted house and it does not present misinformation on what went on when the Penitentiary was in use.