Preserve America

Preserve America
Name	Preserve America
Formation	2003
Founder	George W. Bush
Type	Federal cultural initiative
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Parent organization	National Park Service

Preserve America is a federal initiative launched to encourage the identification, protection, and celebration of heritage assets across the United States. It links historic places, cultural landscapes, and communities with tourism, economic development, and stewardship strategies. The initiative operates through partnerships among federal agencies, state historic preservation offices, tribal governments, local governments, and nonprofit organizations.

History

Preserve America was announced by George W. Bush in 2003 as part of a broader cultural stewardship agenda tied to national heritage policy. Early implementation involved coordination with the National Park Service, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Department of the Interior. The program built upon precedents set by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the creation of the National Register of Historic Places to expand emphasis on heritage tourism and community revitalization. In the 2000s and 2010s, partnerships extended to organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and state-level State Historic Preservation Offices to align local projects with federal technical assistance. Key milestones include the establishment of a designation process for communities, the launch of grant competitions, and interagency memoranda of understanding with agencies like the General Services Administration and the Department of Transportation to integrate preservation into broader policy areas.

Program Overview

The initiative frames preservation as a tool for cultural continuity and economic opportunity by promoting historic sites, districts, and cultural resources. Core elements include recognition of communities that demonstrate stewardship, provision of federal recognition badges, and support for visitor-oriented interpretation that connects sites to narratives recognized by organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Preserve America encourages collaboration among municipal governments, tribal nations including the Cherokee Nation and Pueblo peoples, and nonprofit stewards like the American Battlefield Trust and the Historic New England network. Operationally, the program emphasizes technical assistance from federal agencies, marketing partnerships with entities such as Visit USA and state tourism offices, and cross-sector engagement with philanthropic organizations including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Eligibility and Designation Process

Communities, federally recognized tribes, and designated nonprofit organizations may apply for recognition through an application demonstrating historic assets, planning capacity, and public engagement. The process involves review by panels drawing on expertise from institutions such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and academic departments at the University of Virginia and Columbia University. Criteria typically require evidence of listing in the National Register of Historic Places or equivalent documentation, demonstrated preservation plans like those modeled after the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, and strategies linking heritage to visitation, education, and local revitalization. Designation confers recognition that communities can use in promotional materials alongside partners such as Main Street America and state historical societies, and it often serves as a prerequisite for competitive grant applications administered through the National Park Service.

Funding and Grants

Although the initiative itself does not always provide direct mandatory appropriations, it has administered competitive grants funded through congressionally appropriated programs and pass-through agreements with agencies like the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant categories have included community heritage tourism planning, interpretation projects, and documentation efforts coordinated with the Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record. Recipients have ranged from municipal governments to tribal organizations and nonprofit stewards such as the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Conservancy. Funding rounds often leverage matching requirements that engage local economic development entities, chambers of commerce, and regional planning commissions. In addition, philanthropic partnerships and in-kind contributions from corporations and foundations such as the Ford Foundation have supplemented federal awards.

Preservation Activities and Initiatives

Activities supported through the initiative include heritage tourism development, interpretive planning, cultural landscape conservation, and educational programming. Projects frequently involve collaboration with museums like the American Museum of Natural History, archival partners such as the National Archives and Records Administration, and academic centers of preservation theory at institutions like Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Technical assistance covers survey work, historic structure reports, archaeological assessment in coordination with the Society for American Archaeology, and adaptive reuse projects connected to programs like Main Street USA. Initiatives have highlighted battlefield preservation in partnership with the Civil War Trust (now part of the American Battlefield Trust), downtown revitalization efforts in former industrial communities tied to organizations like the Industrial Heritage Association, and indigenous cultural resource protection coordinated with tribal historic preservation offices.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics have questioned the balance between heritage tourism promotion and rigorous conservation standards, citing tensions observed in cases involving large-scale adaptive reuse versus strict restoration advocated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Some scholars and advocates from institutions such as the Public History Association and the Society for Historical Archaeology argue that economic development framing can marginalize intangible cultural values associated with communities like the Gullah/Geechee and result in uneven benefit distribution. Controversies have also arisen over grant allocation transparency, the role of private-sector tourism marketing partners, and the adequacy of federal oversight when projects intersect with regulatory frameworks established by the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Legal challenges and public debates have taken place in jurisdictions where redevelopment pressures involve sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places or subject to tribal sovereignty considerations.

Category:Historic preservation in the United States