Looking Forward: Preservation in New England in the Twenty-First Century

In October 2011, Historic New England and Roger Williams University invited a new generation of preservationists to articulate a vision for what is to be preserved in New England in the twenty-first century. Graduate students from the nation's top preservation and public history programs explored topics in three different areas: evaluation, assessment, and interpretation; integrity and treatment; and advocacy and activism.

Download PDFs of the presentations below, and tell us what you think in the comments section.

Keynote address

Preserving Twenty-First Century New England: What Place Will We Be?

Ned Kaufman, Ph.D., adjunct professor, Pratt Institute; director of research and training, Rafael Vinoly Architects, New York; author, Place, Race and Story: Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation (Routledge, 2009)

Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation

Surveying the Recent Past: The Challenge of Creating and Defining Context, Caitlin Corkins, University of Vermont, 2008

A New Approach to Evaluating Significance in Recent-Past Properties, Applied to 1960-1969 Properties in Philadelphia County, Kristin Hagar, University of Pennsylvania, 2011

Smith College: Interpretation and Preservation of Gendered Space, Neela Wickremesingh, Columbia University, 2011
Provocateur: Meredith Arms Bzdak, Ph.D., Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects, Princeton, N.J.

Lunch

Rethinking Preservation, Jason Hart, CUBE design + research, Boston

Integrity and Treatment

The Materiality of Place: Brick, Granite, and Concrete in Twenty-First-Century Boston, Mary Nastasi, Columbia University, 2011
Preserving Progress: Assessing the Significance of a Small Steel House in New London, Douglas Royalty, University of Vermont, 2010
Provocateur: Lisa Howe, principal, director of preservation, Goody Clancy, Boston

Advocacy and Activism

Mobile Information Technology: Supporting the Preservationist and Reaching the Public, Barbara Kurze and Elizabeth Sherva, Boston University, 2011
Modern Seashore: The Development of the Modern Summer House on Cape Cod, Kaity Ryan, Columbia University, 2012
The Beacon Hill Historic District: Pioneer of the 1950s with Lessons for Today, George Walter Born, Ph.D. candidate, Boston University

Provocateur: Briann Greenfield, Ph.D., associate professor, public historic program coordinator, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Conn.

Symposium partners

Looking Forward on Facebook

Tweet with hashtag #LF2011

This project has been funded in part by a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Antoinette Downing Preservation Fund for Rhode Island.

Personal tools

Looking Forward: Preservation in New England in the Twenty-First Century

Support Historic New England

Historic Sites for Special Events

New Books

Find Us on the Web