Every year the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia presents the Preservation Achievement Awards to individuals, organizations, businesses and projects from throughout the region that exemplify outstanding achievement in the field of historic preservation. The Awards include Grand Jury Awards to specific projects and Special Recognition Awards to individuals and organizations whose extraordinary accomplishments in preservation contribute to the region’s unique character and sense of place. Continue reading
Author: Guest Contributor (Page 16 of 17)
The Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office occassionally asks our partners to share their news, successes, challenges, and perspectives on historic preservation matters in Pennsylvania.
The cool weather this week has reminded many of us that fall is on its way and the warm days of summer will soon be behind us. With the beginning of fall comes an abundance of public programs for archaeologists across the Commonwealth and especially for those employed at The State Museum of Pennsylvania. Continue reading
by Mike Piaskowski, Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources
As Pennsylvanians, we are beyond fortunate to live in a place rich with heritage. Our ridges, valleys, plateaus and waterways lured natives and settlers alike to bountiful opportunities and un-imaginable challenges. Continue reading
The Bureau for Historic Preservation (BHP) unveiled Pennsylvania’s Statewide Historic Preservation Plan last year. In an effort to assist County Planning Directors and Certified Local Governments to become familiar with the Plan, BHP recently sent a request for our local government partners to endorse the plan. Continue reading
By. Dr. Sally McMurry
The term “gray literature” well conveys the level of visibility for much work done at agencies like the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office. Historic Structures Reports, National Register nominations, exhibits, and drawings may have limited long-term public exposure even though they are often based on high-quality research and analysis. The Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF) has recognized that these efforts often make exemplary contributions to our understanding of the built environment, and the organization honors such work through the Paul E. Buchanan Award. VAF spokesman Michael Chiarappa has characterized the award as a “testament to VAF’s commitment to civic engagement and the idea that broad participation in the study and understanding of vernacular landscapes provides an indispensible social good.” We are proud to announce that the Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project is the 2013 winner. Continue reading
Help Celebrate Success at the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards
Photo: Shippensburg University’s restored Old Main Fountain will receive a Construction Project Award for Public & Institutional Properties at the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards luncheon in Pottstown on Friday, September 27.
by Erin Hammerstedt, Preservation Pennsylvania
Earlier this summer Preservation Pennsylvania, along with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and our other partners, announced the recipients of the 2013 Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards. Presented annually since 1979, the awards honor impressive historic preservation projects and inspiring commitment to preserving and protecting Pennsylvania’s rich historic resources. We want to highlight just a few of the 2013 recipients and invite you to join the celebration by attending the awards ceremony and luncheon on September 27 in Pottstown, Montgomery County.
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by Audrey Plummer
When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was grab my phone and check Twitter. Yes, I’m addicted! People my mother’s age like to gripe and complain about technology and the demise of youth in America. However, social media, the main culprit of teenagers’ and young adults’ addiction to their smartphones, is here to stay. If the preservation community wants to be relevant and important to a new generation of Americans, it needs to embrace social media. Continue reading
Preserving the Oley Valley Rural Historic District in Pennsylvania
by Brenda Barrett
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in the Living Landscape Observer and appears here with the permission of the author and founder of that publication, Brenda Barrett. We appreciate Brenda’s contributions and reporting on this subject.
Oley Valley gristmill. Credit: Zachary Pyle.
Even in a state famous for its agricultural landscapes, the Oley Valley in southeast Pennsylvania is an exceptional place. Located in a in a bowl-shaped valley flanked by the forested hills of the Reading Prong and underlain by limestone, the region is drained by two small creeks, the Manataway and the smaller Monocacy. English Quakers, French Huguenots, and Palatine farmers from Switzerland and Germany settled in the valley as early as 1725 in search of religious freedom and good farmland. They found both, producing an 18th-century pattern of farmsteads, fields, and villages that has marked the landscape ever since. Continue reading
The Statewide Conference on Heritage: Twenty-three Sessions, Five Tours, Three Private Evening Events, and One Unforgettable Experience
by Jennifer Horn, Preservation Pennsylvania
Every summer Pennsylvania’s preservation and conservation communities convene for a weeklong conference to explore current trends in archaeology and historic preservation. This year, the Statewide Conference on Heritage will be held at the historic William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. The conference will begin on Tuesday, July 16thwith a pre-conference workshop on the Federal and State Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit programs and conclude with Preservation Pennsylvania’s Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Friday, July 19th. The conference is co-sponsored by Preservation Pennsylvania, PennDOT, PHMC, DCNR, Heritage PA, and local partners and attracts over 350 attendees annually.
Unearthing the Forgotten Past at Pandenarium, Site 36ME0253
Growing up in a small northwestern Pennsylvania town, I always assumed that while our local history was important to us – it didn’t always carry the same import to the world beyond. As so often happens, I was wrong and, in this case, willingly so. In graduate school, I was fortunate enough to work on a local archaeological site with national, even international implications on our understanding of a shared history.
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