A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
The National Park Service—Professionalizing the Conservation of America's Historic Landscapes
The United States National Park Service, established by an Act of Congress in 1916 and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, has traditionally focused on the designation, protection and development of landscapes for their scenic and recreational values. In 1990, the NPS began to progressively expand its purview to embrace the importance to the Nation of cultural landscapes, defined broadly as natural spaces shaped by human intentions. During the last ten years, the Park Service's many programs for cultural landscapes have established the agency as a professionalizing force for the evaluation of this heritage. Its efforts have themselves become models to emulate for other stewards of historic landscapes.
This paper describes the intentions, scope, successes, lessons learned and plans for the future of the NPS cultural landscape activities. It assesses the Park Service's landscape programs and their impacts on selected properties within the National Park system, evaluates the intellectual rigor of its application of methodology and practice in landscape preservation, and explores its dual mandate as owner of significant cultural landscapes and as the preservation agency of the federal government. The paper concludes with a description of the newly created Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont, the NPS's only site devoted exclusively to conservation history and the changing nature of land stewardship in America.
The National Park Service—Professionalizing the Conservation of America's Historic Landscapes
The United States National Park Service, established by an Act of Congress in 1916 and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, has traditionally focused on the designation, protection and development of landscapes for their scenic and recreational values. In 1990, the NPS began to progressively expand its purview to embrace the importance to the Nation of cultural landscapes, defined broadly as natural spaces shaped by human intentions. During the last ten years, the Park Service's many programs for cultural landscapes have established the agency as a professionalizing force for the evaluation of this heritage. Its efforts have themselves become models to emulate for other stewards of historic landscapes.
This paper describes the intentions, scope, successes, lessons learned and plans for the future of the NPS cultural landscape activities. It assesses the Park Service's landscape programs and their impacts on selected properties within the National Park system, evaluates the intellectual rigor of its application of methodology and practice in landscape preservation, and explores its dual mandate as owner of significant cultural landscapes and as the preservation agency of the federal government. The paper concludes with a description of the newly created Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont, the NPS's only site devoted exclusively to conservation history and the changing nature of land stewardship in America.
The National Park Service—Professionalizing the Conservation of America's Historic Landscapes
Jessup, Karen L. (author)
Journal of Architectural Conservation ; 5 ; 24-42
1999-01-01
19 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
The National Park Service - Professionalizing 'the Conservation of America's Historic landscapes
| British Library Online Contents | 1999
Conservation and Historic Designed Landscapes
| Wiley | 2007