Apply now for National Trust preservation grants

Applications are now being accepted for grants from the National Trust Preservation Fund, the Hart Family Fund for Small Towns, the Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation, and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors. The application deadline for all four programs is February 1, 2012. Guidelines and links to applications can be found here (there is additional information on this page for other funding opportunities, too).

Filoli to host Emergency Planning Workshop in January

Filoli. Photo by Carol Highsmith.

Filoli, a National Trust Historic Site in Woodside, California, is partnering with the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works to host a one-day workshop on January 23, 2012 to cover practical ways that museums and historic sites can prepare for future emergencies.  The all-day workshop is a bargain at $25, which includes refreshments, handouts, and lunch.  The FAIC has planned a series of workshops around the country on emergency planning and mitigation strategies for historic sites, and the workshop at Filoli is the first in this series. (Shadows-on-the-Teche in New Iberia, Lousiana, another National Trust Historic Site, will host the next workshop). You can register online at www.conservation-us.org/courses.  Read on to learn more.

Four Scholarships Available for 2012 AASLH Onsite Workshops

Each year, AASLH offers four scholarships to history professionals to attend an AASLH Onsite Workshop.  To be eligible, applicant must be a paid employee of a history organization. Recipients receive registration fee reimbursement and a one-year individual membership in AASLH. Applicants do not need to be AASLH members to apply for Workshop Scholarships!

The deadline to apply is December 12, 2011. Two scholarships each are available in the following categories:

• New Professional Scholarship
  Applicants must have been working in the field for three years or less.
• Workshop Diversity Fellowships
  Applicants must represent a minority group in the U.S.

Scholarships available for the following 2012 AASLH Onsite Workshops:
•March 15-16: Museum Education 101
•March 22-23: Historic House Museums Issues & Operations
•April 12-13: Exhibit Makeovers
•June 13-14: Collections Management & Practices
•June 27-29: Collections Camp: Military History

Online scholarship applications are available on the AASLH website. Good luck to all!

We need your creative help!

As the Trust launches its new strategic plan, we are working carefully to make certain our programs are messaged in ways that elicit support from a broader base of constituents than those already engaged in our work. For one of those programs in particular, this grassroots connection is essential for success. We plan to identify up to 100 historic places of national significance, or that raise national preservation issues, and institute a formal approach to taking direct action to save, protect or revitalize these threatened places. We need a name for these places that will be readily understood by a broader base of constituents, that is positive and forward looking and that represents the Trust well.

These 100 places of direct action could be humble sites such as John Coltrane’s 1950’s ranch house in suburban New York, to iconic sites such as the National Cathedral, to culturally important sites such as the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. The work will be a blend of all types of diverse places and represent a major part of the Trust’s work over time. This will be a constantly evolving list. As our work is completed, projects will drop off and new ones added.
In early 2012, the Trust will announce its first group of these important places. The Trust has used the name ‘National Treasures’ in its strategic plan but wants to be certain that other ideas for this important work are considered.  We’re searching for a name to facilitate marketing and fundraising efforts and to help us galvanize Local Preservationists to the cause. Our plan is to use data-driven research to help in making this name decision to give us the best chance for success. The name needs to be a proper noun. (No verbs.) It needs to be short and memorable. It needs to convey the importance of these places and signal the commitment of the Trust to their protection. We are asking friends close to the Trust to provide name ideas that we can test in our upcoming research. If you have suggestions, please send them to my attention at names@nthp.org by November 23.

Thank you for your assistance.

Stephanie K. Meeks | President

President Electric Opens at Wilson House

Today Woodrow Wilson House, a National Trust Historic Site in Washington, DC, opens Woodrow Wilson, President Electric: Harnessing the Power of Innovation in the Progressive Era, an innovative exhibition that will illuminate President Wilson’s leadership role in fostering scientific and technological innovation and collaboration during his administration (1913-1921). The exhibition will also explore the many advances in science and technology which took place during President Wilson’s lifetime, with an emphasis on the years of his presidency, and explain their impact on the lives of the American people and to all of us today.

Using multimedia content, hands-on interactive experiences, and authentic artifacts, the exhibition will explore scientific and technological advancements during the Progressive Era through the eyes of the first family. Interactive components will include

National Trust launches Preservation10X

Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation completed its restructuring of the organization based on Preservation10X, its new strategic plan.  Since the arrival of Stephanie Meeks as the president of the National Trust in July 2010, the organization has been working intensely to rebrand and reform itself in a time of declining support and stretched resources. The process has prompted Stephanie to make changes large and small over the past year, but the most dramatic ones occurred