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header/winter
National Historic Landmarks

Winter/2010
In This Issue
Updates: Photo Contest
Workshops & Trainings
Mapping History
Waterford mapping
Learning to use Web 2.0
Youth produce history
Grants & Resources
Small org alerts
Olympia list
Quick Links
Take a break -- you deserve it!

We know. You do it all. You were busy all summer with visitors and events. At the moment, you may be up to your ears in evergreens prepping for an annual holiday fair. Yet it's important to take a break every now and then to learn something new that may make your life easier or help you reach new audiences.

It's possible you're already making the most of new technologies to reach potential visitors or to make your historic stories relevant to curious students. In our experience, it's common to feel overwhelmed by the number of smart gizmos and clever apps out there.

Below we've suggested a few resources that illustrate how some of these tools might be useful for owners or managers of public NHLs to apply to your site and its stories. Private NHL owners may find the preservation or funding sources of interest.
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Flickr Boathouse Row Updates & Info
Did you enter a photo of your NHL in the 2010 NHL Photo Contest?  We had a record-breaking number of entries with this year's contest featured on Flickr (nearly 500!).  It was a challenge to select only 13 images for the annual event planner.  The NHLs from the northeast that will be featured in the 2011 edition are Boathouse Row in Philadelphia, PA, taken by Glenys Gustin; Eastern State Penitentiary, also in Philadelphia, taken by Amber Clausi, and the Lewis R. French of Camden, ME, taken by Arlene K. Harris.  To view all 13 NHL images, click here for the Flickr gallery.  

To order the 2011 NHL Event Planner, visit bookstore.gpo.gov or call 866/512-1800

And don't forget to take winter wonderland pictures of your NHL to enter in next year's contest!

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Workshops & Trainingswomen's history
The National Park Service and the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites (NCWHS) have planned a two-and-a-half day workshop to kick off the 2011 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, a very special event held only every three years. 

Designed for people who work in or with parks, National Historic Landmarks, and other historic sites, the workshop will provide an overview of women's history -- why it's important and why its incorporation into existing educational programming is advantageous.  

The course is designed to help sites and parks "find" the women in their histories, research and interpret them and preserve their tangible resources.  Participants will hear from specialists as well as interpreters/site managers who have successfully incorporated women's stories into regular educational programming.  

Breakout sessions will encourage attendees to explore and brainstorm possibilities for one another's sites.  Pre-workshop self-assessments will be provided to ensure that time will be spent most effectively. 

 The workshop will conclude with a bus tour of local historic sites and culminates with the kickoff of the Berkshire Conference, creating a tremendous opportunity for attendees to hear the latest scholarship and to meet and network with leading historians, other sites and NCWHS members.  Each workshop participant will return home with resources on women's history and historic sites and a toolkit of ideas for telling a more inclusive story. 

Workshop registration fee of $100 is separate from Berkshire Conference registration.  For more information or to register, contact Catherine Turton via email.
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National Trust for Historic Preservation maps African American historic sites of the Northeast with Google Earth
 
screenshot of NAAHPMThe National Trust's Northeast Regional Office looked to Google Earth as a resource for creating a map showing sites related to African American history.  Google Earth and Google Maps are just two of the many programs available for those with little-to-no-training that can be used to create engaging and informative maps for educational, research, and promotional purposes.

The Northeast African American Historic Places Map (NAAHPM) is part of a broader regional program supporting efforts to commemorate and preserve African American history in the region (including public sites as well as heritage trails and privately-owned sites).   The mapping component serves as a resource for preservationists, planners, historians, and students.  The map is also an educational tool for the general public, a means of raising awareness of African American history in the Northeast, a tool for promoting visitation, and a link that connects sites on a local and regional basis.

At present, the NAAHPM features 109 public historic sites and active preservation projects, and includes the location of over 300 individual sites in total, located in all ten of the region's states, from Maine to Delaware. Featured sites, whose themes range from slavery in the North to the origins of jazz, are accompanied by a brief statement about their significance and history, a link to the site's website, and, in most instances, an image of the resource. Google apps also offer the option to visit virtually via "street view" or plan a visit with customized driving directions.

Taken as a whole, the map paints a compelling and conveniently accessible portrait of the Northeast's African American history as revealed through its many landmarks. To read more about the mapping project or find out how to be added, click here.

Also see:

Pin in the Map is a free service that lets you easily share maps of locations with your friends via email or your website.

History Pin merges maps, photos and narrative in a user-friendly interface.  See sample screen shot below.
History Pin
VOP Tutorial: Creating interactive Google Map tours  The Voices of the Past website features a number of useful tutorials.  This one explains how to promote local heritage using Google Maps.  See screen shot below.
Voices of the Past mapping tutorial
Voices of the Past tutorial screenshot

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Waterford -- Creating a virtual village experience

The Waterford Foundation

Screen shot of Waterford's African American History Experience
Screenshot from Waterford's new African American history module

manages the National Historic Landmark District of Waterford, Virginia, working to preserve the historic buildings and open spaces of this early American rural community.  Using grant funding, they recently launched an interactive educational module on the website that explores the rich African American history of the site.  Video mini-documentaries, text and slideshows enhance the virtual visitor experience and supplement the living history program at the Second Street School (1867-1957).  Interactive elements for the school, church, and mill include quizzes and clickable historic images with in-depth history of the people who once lived in Waterford, connecting past to present.

VOP logoVoices of the Past -- Lessons in using new media to promote heritage
The purpose of the website Voices of the Past is to demonstrate how to use the social web to effectively advocate for heritage resources.  As VOP's founder Jeff Guin puts it, "social media...is rooted in bringing together people of like interests and values to better one another and the societies in which they live, regardless of their location in the world.  Instant, unfiltered access to information is its hallmark as is interactivity and freedom of expression."

The site regularly features profiles of bloggers, podcasters and social network enthusiasts making a difference in the heritage community and these serve as case studies for how historic sites can use these techniques for their own goals.  Visit the site and learn about Blip.tv, Past Horizons, or how to use group pages and social networking sites.   Follow VOP on twitter for a feed of all the latest heritage news.  Use on-line tutorials to learn about Google maps, photosharing, strategic planning and social media, or take consultant Nina Simon's armchair tour of innovative museums using social media to connect with visitors or her tutorial on participatory museums and "the social space."  Explore the site here and consider promoting your own Web 2.0 case study by contacting Jeff Guin, or 318/527-0709
Journey Through Hallowed Ground -- new media and the youth perspective
Manassas students video history
Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student

JTHG is a National Heritage Area stretching 180 miles from Gettysburg to Monticello, though a landscape fertile with history.  In an award-winning program, the organization has created dynamic partnerships with local schools to engage students in researching and producing media content based on local history.  The student-created videos or vodcasts are wonderful peer-to-peer teaching tools and an intriguing insight into what aspects of historic stories "hook" the attention of youth.  For more information about the Of the Student, By the Student, For the StudentTM program and to view some of the student-generated videos, click here 

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National Endangered List, Grants, and other resources....

Free online toolkit:  The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers an online Cultural Heritage Tourism Toolkit to help struggling historic sites and organizations survive this difficult economy.  Based on input from national and state leaders in cultural and heritage tourism, the toolkit offers 11 key survival strategies, more than 80 real-life survival stories, plus links to other online resources.  Click here for more information.


Free online preservation guides: Using the expertise of its property care team, Historic New England offers white papers on Preservation Best Practices in the following areas: Building Preservation & Maintenance,  Condition Assessments,  Documentation,  Environmental Conditions in Historic House Museums, In Kind Replacement, Landscape Preservation & Maintenance, Mechanical Systems, Roofing, and Tree Care. Click here for more information.  


Also note that Historic New England offers special benefits for private owners of old or historic homes.  Learn more about their Preservation Programs here, Old House Maintenance Advisor Service here, and A-Z in Your Old House Primer here.

Free NHL art/artist brochure:  Are you an art or artist-related NHL?  Contact us to request copies of our NHL Art & Artist Guide, featuring nearly 40 NHLs across the country, from museums to artists' homes and studios.   215/597-1578 or email us. 


dollar bills

$Delaware Preservation Fund:  Deadline December 10, 2010 - Applications for the next round of grants from the Delaware Preservation Fund. Grants are available for buildings which are on, or eligible for listing on the National Register, or which are located in a designated historic district. Historic resources, such as ships, railroad items, fountains, cemeteries or statuary that may be listed individually, or which contribute to local or National Register historic districts, also qualify for consideration. For more information and an application, click here.  


$Connecticut Barn Grants:  Deadline January 2, 2011 - for pre-applications for Barn Grants from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation with funding from the Connecticut General Assembly.  The grants support efforts to preserve the iconic historic barns of Connecticut and are available for non-profit 501(c)3 organizations and municipalities and to private owners of significant barns.  For more information and an application click here.

$NPS Battlefield Protection Grants: Deadline January 13, 2011 - The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) of the National Park Service invites non-profit groups, academic institutions, local, regional, state, or tribal governments, and private sector organizations to submit applications for grants. ABPP grants provide seed money for projects that lead directly to the identification, preservation and interpretation of battlefield land and/or historic sites associated with battlefields. Project funding has ranged from $5,000 to $80,000.  ABPP encourages potential applicants to discuss proposed projects before preparing an application.  Click here for webpage. For more information call 202/354-2037 or email the program manager.
 
NTHP 2011 Most Endangered List: Deadline January 14, 2011 - Applications due for the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2011 listing of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.  This annual listing has identified more than 200 one-of-a-kind historic treasures since 1988 that ranged from urban districts and rural landscapes to Native American landmarks and 20th-century sports arenas.  The list spotlights and promotes advocacy for places across America that are threatened by neglect, insufficient funds, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy.  For more information or a nomination form click here.

$African American History: Deadline January 18, 2011 - Applications due for the Institute of Museum and Library Services Museum Grants for African American History and Culture.  Grants are intended to enhance institutional capacity and sustainability through professional training, technical assistance, internships, outside expertise, and other tools. For more information, click here.

$NTHP Grants/Planning and Education: Deadline February 1, 2011 - Applications due for the National Trust's next grant round for preservation planning and educational efforts. Applications will be accepted in February for the National Preservation Fund, the Hart Family Fund for Small Towns, the Battlefield Preservation Fund, the Johanna Favrot Fund, and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors. For more information and applications, click here. 
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Alerts for Small Organizations & Nonprofits 
IRS Changes: Are you sure you're still a tax-exempt non-profit?
Small non-profits have not traditionally been required to file tax returns with the IRS. Under new regulations passed as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, even non-profits with gross annual income of less than $25,000 are required to file the Form 990. Organizations that didn't file the necessary paperwork in October may have to re-apply for tax-exempt status. For more information and to find out your organization's status, click here for the IRS webpage.

Strategic planning help for small organizations from the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH)
StEPS is the first national standards program designed for small and medium-sized history organizations.  With StEPs, organizations can clearly identify and document strengths and areas needing improvement, and begin taking strategic action.

No Application -- There are no eligibility requirements for organizations wishing to participate in StEPs.  Whether your organization is all-volunteer, a staff of one, has multiple departments, recently opened, or has been in existence for decades, you can participate in StEPs and receive the benefits of guided strategic planning and assessment.

No Timeline -- Using self-assessment questions, participants rate their policies and practices in six standards sections along three performance levels.  Work at your own pace to achieve Basic, Good, and Better levels.   Once an organization achieves each level, they will receive a certificate if they are an AASLH institutional member.

No Deadline -- Whether your organization is in the StEPs program for two years or ten years, StEPs is a solid, self-study program that helps organizations build sustainability.   With enrollment and the one-time fee, the StEPs program is yours for life.

Learn more about StEPs and how it can help your organization or contact Cherie Cook, AASLH Senior Program Manager, for more information.
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Olympia underway

National Historic Landmark:  Olympia
The Northeast Regional Office is currently working with Philadelphia's Independence Seaport Museum on preservation strategies for the NHL vessel Olympia.  (There are numerous recent articles about the historic ship's current status; click here to read a recent Associated Press story)  To be added to a mailing list for the results of ISM's upcoming planning summit, please email and include "Olympia" in your subject line.
Has this newsletter been helpful?  What topics would you like to see in future newsletters?   Have a case study you'd like to share?  Need to update your contact information?  Drop us a line and let us know!  Call 215/597-1578 or email us
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