Keeping Time: The History and Theory of Preservation in America

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)