May is National Historic Preservation Month

In years past, I've published a series, organized into four pieces, on what people can do to learn and experience preservation:

-- "May is Historic Preservation Month: 60 ways to celebrate | Part 1: Cultural Heritage Tourism (1-19)"
-- "May is Historic Preservation Month: 60 ways to celebrate | Part 2: Explore your community (20-36)"
-- "May is Historic Preservation Month: 60 ways to celebrate | Part 3: Learn and Get Involved (37-52)"
-- "May is Historic Preservation Month: 60 ways to celebrate | Part 4: Preservation At Home (53-60)"

It lists things like going on house tours, reading preservation plans, visiting historic theaters, commercial districts, hotels and railroad stations, riding a train or streetcar, etc.

This year, so far, there's not all that much we can do in person, at least right now, because of restrictions on public activities as a result of the coronavirus.

So this year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is celebrating the month virtually.  You can sign up for daily or weekly alerts.

Here are some things we can do virtually.

1.  Online tours of Frank Lloyd Wright houses.  Yes, on urban planning FLW wasn't that great, but the design of his buildings, both commercial and residential, are interesting and important.  A goodly amount of the architecture in Salt Lake City's neighborhoods constructed in the 1930s-1950s is influenced by FLW's "Prairie" style.

-- "You Can Now Virtually Tour 17 Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings," KGUN-TV/Tucson

Michael J. Lewis, a professor of architectural hsitory at Williams College, and architecture critic for the Wall Street Journal recommends:

2. The Foundations of Classical Architecture video series produced by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. Four one-hour videos, hosted by Calder Loth, the now retired Senior Architectural Historian for the State of Virginia.

-- "Part 1: Roman Classicism"
-- "Part 2: Greek Classicism"
-- "Part 3: Motifs & Details"
-- "Part 4: Classical Design Principles"

3. Other videos that you can watch include "Palladio: The Architect and His Influence in America" (free), "Human Scale" ($2.99), and a presentation by Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, on "Why Beauty Matters."

4.  The Chicago Bungalow Association has a series of how to videos online, including on insulating your home and diagnosing and repairing vintage masonry.

Bonus web article: "20 Facts About Chicago Bungalows You Might Not Have Known"

5.  On Thursdays, the New York Times has been running once-a-week architectural walking tours.  In the printed newspaper, the features are two pages or more.

-- "Rockefeller Center's Art Deco Marvel: A Virtual Tour"
-- "Take a Virtual Tour of New York's Museum District"
-- "The East River Waterfront Dazzles. Take a Virtual Tour"
-- "A Virtual Tour of Broadway"
-- "Classic Skyscrapers Define New York: Take a Virtual Tour"

6. Many museums and groups have been offering webinars and other resources to support online learning and he like.

One such group is the Virginia Historical Society. Their programming is organized as "Virginia History at Home."

7.  Or Historic Preservation 101, Michigan Historic Preservation Network, a webinar on Thursday May 7th, and "Heritage Tourism and Museums: Collaborating for Success," by the Texas Historical Commission on Tuesday June 9th.

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I always intend to write reviews of relevant historic preservation related books during Preservation Month and I never manage to do so.

One such book I'm not likely to get to this month is Reimagining Historic House Museums: New Approaches and Proven Solutions, an edited collection by MAX A. VAN BALGOOY AND KENNETH C. TURINO.

At the 2004 NTHP conference in Louisville, I took a workshop led by Max, based on the old NTHP/AALSH book, Great Tours!: Thematic Tours and Guide Training for Historic Sites, on the same subject, which opened my eyes onto new ways of looking at cultural resources and interpreting them in innovative ways. I'm sure this book is just as good.

(For years, I thought that the same workshop needed to be presented in DC to area cultural organizations for capacity building and training purposes.)

According to "Navigating to Success at Historic Sites and House Museums," in the Engaging Places blog, the three elements common to successful sites are:

1. Finding a Mission and Purpose That’s Meaningful.
2. Thinking Holistically to Get Beyond the Four Walls of the House.
3. Supporting Risk and Experimentation.