Let's Talk About Preservation Advocacy

The historic preservation field has adopted a specific advocacy approach, but as Brad White questioned - is it the right approach? Is this the approach we should continue to utilize as our peers are illegally fired, the National Environmental Policy Act’s regulations are gutted, research and work is erased, funding opportunities eliminated, and other threats to cultural heritage work emerge?

In 2020, when I asked us to Dismantle Preservation, I imagined it like a trained architectural historian would - as a building assessment. Together we took our imaginary Lustron apart and looked at everything from the foundation to the enameled steel roof panels. Where are the cracks? What nails have rusted? Is the insulation keeping us warm enough? Do we really want a combination dishwasher/clothes washer? We have assessed what to restore, what to replace in kind, and what needs to be fully updated to meet our modern needs. This was not just about the elements that make up the structure, but also about those who help put the pieces all together in whatever configuration serves those that turn a house into a home.

Together we imagined what historic preservation could look like if we support fair wages, acknowledge implicit bias within our work practices, confront the mental health toll of this work, etc.. We’ve continued those conversations in different ways and together we have increased salary transparency across different cultural heritage sectors. We’ve challenged the system of unpaid internships together. We’ve made the space to uplift our fellow colleagues and push for preservation to be better.

What we have witnessed across these conversations and others that challenged the relevancy of preservation is the desire to radically reconsider advocacy strategies within the preservation movement. We want advocacy and leadership like we see from Antonia Castañeda and Graciela Sánchez in San Antonio or Deborah Wei in Philadelphia - community elders who have been forcibly removed by police when peacefully protesting for their communities. Advocacy should show that preservation is worth taking risks for. As we navigate the tidal waves of news and misinformation, we cannot be paralyzed. We must stand our ground like our elders of today and of yesterday. 

Let’s Show Up: 

Let’s Share: 

Let’s Organize

Join me in amplifying the ways we can radically reimagine preservation advocacy, focus our support on the organizations who speak with urgency, and put pressure on politicians to protect cultural heritage. I am committed to sharing as many resources and calls to actions as I find on the Dismantle Preservation Discord and in the Historic Preservation Professional Facebook group to help you. History is worth fighting for. Preservation is worth sticking your neck out for. 


Featured In: Mentoring Up, Down, and Sideways: Reciprocity and Care in the Museum Education Field

Thank you Ashley Mask for interviewing me and Sierra Van Ryck deGroot about our peer mentorship relationship. Our interview alongside others, provide a wonderful reflection on what mentorship can look like to meet a variety of needs. Ashley’s article Mentoring Up, Down, and Sideways: Reciprocity and Care in the Museum Education Field can be found in the Journal of Museum Education, Volume 48, Issue 4 (2023).