Sunny and 82 degrees — every day. This type of weather forecast isn’t what I typically look forward to during a conference week. However FORUM 2014 – A Keystone Connection wasn’t your typical conference. Through an unprecedented partnership, FORUM 2014 harnessed the energy of 781 preservation-minded individuals from 48 states. These attendance numbers and ideal weather conditions will be hard to top in future years. Continue reading
Category: Philadelphia (Page 12 of 13)
As the calendar flips to another Fiscal Year, I want to take a few minutes to review the first year of Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit and present the first 15 projects to receive historic tax credits in Pennsylvania. Continue reading
As preservationists from all over the country converge in Philadelphia this summer for Forum 2014 it is only appropriate to highlight the fabulous and historic food venue that will host the conference reception on July 18th—the Reading Terminal Market. The Market itself is a real preservation success story. It is a landmark building (recognized as a NPS National Historic Landmark since 1976 and documented as an engineering marvel by the Historic American Engineering Record ) with its own storied history which has survived challenging and uncertain times to delight a new generation of Philadelphians and visitors. Continue reading
A Museum for the 21st Century: The Online Presence of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Editor’s Note: Each year PHMC hosts students from Pennsylvania state colleges and universities through The Harrisburg Internship Semester (T.H.I.S.) program. The interns come from a wide variety of backgrounds and majors and are encouraged to gain writing experience by authoring a blog post on a topic that interests them.
by Kara Adams, T.H.I.S. intern
A lot can be said about where I grew up and where I went to college, but their one feature in common is their rural natures. While rural communities are excellent places to grow up and live, it’s hard to ignore the disconnectedness they experience from cultural centers, such as museums in big cities. Many museums, however, are taking a new approach to providing access to their collections, with a rise in the usage of social media and the creation of collections databases hosted on the museums’ websites. One Pennsylvania museum taking full advantage of the interconnectivity the internet provides is the Philadelphia Museum of Art, whose online collections database and social media pages give a museum experience to anyone with an interest in history and an internet connection. Continue reading
Just Listed is a semi-annual feature of Pennsylvania’s Cultural Resources that were recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Three very different Pennsylvania resources were recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places. They hold significance for very different reasons, too, ranging from design and architectural merit, to labor history in the textile industry, to the development of Philadelphia’s court system.
Registration is now open for FORUM 2014, July 16-20, in Philadelphia. FORUM is the title for this year’s Statewide Conference on Heritage/Byways to the Past, which has teamed up with the National Alliance of Preservation Commission’s biennial training program for a jam-packed week of workshops, tours, and sessions. Whether you’re a perennial attendee of the Pennsylvania Statewide Conference, or a first-timer, a planner, architect, archaeologist, historical commission or HARB member, elected official, or consultant the combination of these two events in a single place is a training and networking opportunity not to be missed! Continue reading
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recently approved 21 new historical markers. Approval Criteria require that marker subjects must have statewide and/or national rather than local or regional historical significance. After the jump is a quick look at this year’s approved markers. Continue reading
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
Mark your Calendars – Keystone Grant Applications are due March 3, 2014! It is amazing that the Keystone Recreation, Park & Conservation Fund celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2013. That’s 20 years of enhancing natural, recreational, educational, and historic resources for residents throughout every region in Pennsylvania.
The Spotlight Series is an occassional series that highlights interesting people, places, programs, and partner organizations working on historic preservation issues.
When it comes to protecting historic places and maintaining the character of our neighborhoods, villages, and landscapes, we all know that the real action is at the local level. Cities like Charleston and New Orleans paved the way for municipal historic preservation programs in the 1920s and 30s when they adopted ordinances designating portions of those cities as historic districts and enacting design review programs for managing changes to buildings in those districts. Since then, thousands of communities across the country, including hundreds in Pennsylvania, have adopted preservation ordinances of their own. A major resource for these communities is the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, the only national –level organization dedicated to serving the needs of local government preservation boards and commissions through education, advocacy, and training. Continue reading
Recent Comments