A Richer Heritage

Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century

Edited by Robert E. Stipe

592 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 108 illus., 3 tables, notes, index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5451-8
    Published: July 2003
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-6321-3
    Published: December 2003
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7355-2
    Published: December 2003

Richard Hampton Jenrette Series in Architecture and the Decorative Arts

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Awards & distinctions

2005 Antoinette Forrester Downing Award, Society of Architectural Historians

Surveying the past, present, and future of historic preservation in America, this book features fifteen essays by some of the most important voices in the field. A Richer Heritage will be an essential, thought-provoking guide for professionals as well as administrators, volunteers, and policy makers involved in preservation efforts.

An introduction traces the evolution of historic preservation in America, highlighting the principal ideas and events that have shaped and continue to shape the movement. The book also describes the workings--legal, administrative, and fiscal--of the layered federal, state, and local government partnership put in place by Congress in 1966. Individual chapters explore the preservation of designed and vernacular landscapes, the relationship between historic preservation and the larger environmental and land-trust movements, the role of new private and nonprofit players, racial and ethnic interests in historic preservation, and the preservation of our intangible cultural values. A concluding chapter analyzes the present state of the historic preservation movement and suggests future directions for the field in the twenty-first century.

Contributors include preservationists, local-government citizen activists, an architect, landscape architects, environmentalists, an archaeologist, a real-estate developer, historians, a Native American tribal leader, an ethnologist, and lawyers.

About the Author

Robert E. Stipe is Emeritus Professor of Design in the Landscape Architecture Department at North Carolina State University. He is coeditor of The American Mosaic: Preserving a Nation's Heritage.


For more information about Robert E. Stipe, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Raises important questions for those at the highest levels of the ongoing fight to preserve."--Charleston Post and Courier

"This one serves as a milestone and signpost, indicating both where we are and where we might want to go. . . . A Richer Heritage offers an excellent introduction to the state of the field and how it got there."--Vernacular Architecture Newsletter

"In 2003, a book with the subtitle Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century is timely, and the book's title, A Richer Heritage, is justified, as the nation's heritage becomes deeper and richer each year. . . . There is much to spark interest within the pages of A Richer Heritage. The essayists present instructive and interesting material, and Robert E. Stipe, who introduces the work and closes it, chose them well."--North Carolina Historical Review

"The breadth and depth of subject matter enrich our understanding of what it means to preserve, and each author's impassioned approach invites the reader's participation in a meaningful discourse. . . . There can be little doubt that this book can facilitate a critical dialogue among members of the preservation community. Furthermore, its broad scope and provocative content make it a potent addition to preservation literature."--APT Bulletin

"This impressive work is a detailed look at the state of historic preservation in America. It has been assembled by one of the longtime leading figures in the field and includes entries by some of the most important and knowledgeable practitioners. This new volume is fascinating reading for anyone interested in preservation and its history."--William R. Chapman, University of Hawaii at Manoa

"Stipe and his colleagues have succeeded in an immensely challenging task--unraveling the complex field of historic preservation, and, in doing so, examining its strategies, values, and future directions. A Richer Heritage will serve as an invaluable guide for those entering or working in the field, as well as an important source of thought for future generations of preservationists."--Paul W. Edmondson, National Trust for Historic Preservation