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An
Overview of the National Historic Preservation Program
Within the past generation, historic
preservation has evolved from a limited and somewhat insular pursuit
into a broad based popular movement with wide support. The reasons
for this support are varied. Some desire a tangible sense of permanence
and community, while others wish to know about and embrace America's
heritage in a direct and personally meaningful way.
Recognition that historic preservation
often is associated with economic successes is an important reason,
as is the fact that many see the preservation of historic districts,
sites, buildings, structures, and objects as enhancing their quality
of life, adding variety and texture to the cultural landscape
in which they live and work. Largely because of such highly personal
responses, public support for historic preservation has flowed
from the bottom up, making it in the truest sense a grassroots
movement, not just another Government program.
Passage of the National
Historic Preservation Act in 1966 was a watershed event. It
marked a fundamental shift in how Americans - and the federal
government - regarded the role of historic preservation in modern
life. Before 1966, historic preservation was mainly understood
in one-dimensional terms: the proverbial historic shrine or Indian
burial mound secured by lock and key - usually in a national park
- set aside from modern life as an icon for study and appreciation.
NHPA largely changed that approach, signaling a much broader sweep
that has led to the breadth and scope of the vastly more complex
historic preservation mosaic we know today. Like the American
culture it mirrors, historic preservation today is perhaps best
defined in terms of its diversity.
As diverse as American culture is, so
too is the diversity of historic properties that express this
rich cultural legacy. Consider the intricacy and the complexity
of the modern mosaic. Our definition of historic properties has
evolved to encompass a much broader interpretation of American
history, one that acknowledges significance at the local level.
Further, historic properties are now understood and appreciated
as part of - not isolated from - the landscape to which they belong.
It is only logical that this more complex view of what historic
properties are, and how Americans relate to them has engendered
equally complex challenges concerning their preservation and treatment.
Historic preservation is both a public activity
and a private passion and is supported through the country by
individual citizens, organizations, businesses, communities, elected
officials, and public institutions in various and varied ways.
For more than three decades the National Historic Preservation
Program has continued to rely upon the partnership between the
State Historic Preservation
Offices, the Advisory
Council on Historic Preservation, and the National
Park Service, as well as the National
Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation
Action. The underlying premises and principles of the National
Historic Preservation Act, and the partnership it engendered,
remain sound.
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