Preservation Professionals Gather for Forum

by Andy Ferrell

Following the dedication of Lee H. Nelson Hall, NCPTT held a two-day forum, "Charting NCPTT's Role in Preserving America's Heritage in the 21st Century." Preservation professionals from across the United States came together for an informal town meeting with NCPTT leadership and staff to lay the groundwork for a business plan that will ensure the Center's future success.

Thirty-nine participants in the forum had an opportunity to voice their opinions in five facilitated sessions. Topics within sessions included:

1. Technology and Historic Preservation in the 21st Century - What's Needed?
2. Who? What? Where? Technology and Research - Where Is It Happening?
3. Defining NCPTT's "Market Niche" - We Can't Do It All
4. A New Way of Doing Business - How Best Can NCPTT Serve Its Mission? and
5. Developing NCPTT's Business Plan: A Road Map for Preservation Technology in the 21st Century.

Over the past seven years, NCPTT has served the historic preservation community in several different ways: as a research and training facility, a clearinghouse for information on preservation technology, and a source of grant funding. Now, NCPTT is reflecting on the past with an eye toward refining the Center's evolving role in developing and delivering preservation technology to meet the needs of the preservation community in an ever-changing world.

Participants recognized that preservation is very different today than it was 50 years ago when Lee Nelson and a small group of professionals created the public policy that became the basis for the practice of historic preservation in America. The field is practiced in a wider, more inclusive context in the 21st century.

Following the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, preservation moved away from historic house museums and toward historic districts and entire cultural landscapes. As preservation embraced a greater variety of buildings, landscapes and objects, a greater diversity of people embraced preservation. In more recent times, preservation professionals are considering early 20th century buildings and problems inherent in their often-innovative building materials and systems.

Similarly, the digital revolution has had a tremendous impact on historic preservation. Greater numbers of people have access to the information superhighway and demand immediate access to preservation information in an understandable and easy-to-use format. Therefore, the efficient dissemination of preservation information is critical.

NCPTT's mission is to use technology to address the growing number and variety of preservation/conservation problems. Forum participants acknowledged the need for NCPTT to re-focus resources on the core business of preservation technology. All research, training, and information management projects, grants, publications, workshops and conferences are best used to support the development and/or application of technology for preservation. In addition, technologies must be developed to the point that they are ready for use by practicing preservationists and conservators.

While assisting the development of technologies is a critical function of NCPTT, the results of those efforts must be effectively communicated to be meaningful. Forum participants discussed the potential for creating a centralized hub through NCPTT for preservation technology information. Drawing upon content from the forum discussion, NCPTT is currently reworking and updating its website to provide pertinent information in an intuitive, user-friendly format.