General

[Slideshow] Instagram Tour: Don Draper’s Modernist Mecca in Palm Springs, Calif.

Posted on: April 7th, 2013 by Roberta Lane

 

The Edris House (1954) was carefully designed and sited to blend with its desert environment.
The Edris House (1954) was carefully designed and sited to blend with its desert environment.

Last weekend, I escaped the chill of the Northeast to travel to Palm Springs, Calif. for a friend’s wedding. My trip from NYC to Palm Springs followed the path of Don Draper in Season 2 of the AMC series Mad Men, when some drama unfolded in a great Modernist house in the desert. For a preservationist like me, the house was the star of that episode.... Read More →

Roberta Lane

Roberta Lane

Roberta Lane is the Senior Field Officer and Attorney for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Boston Field Office. She has been with the Trust since 2006, delivering preservation technical assistance and legal guidance in the field. In early 2013, Roberta is transferring to New York City to staff the Trust’s new field office there.

America’s Antiquities Act Makes History with Five New National Monuments

Posted on: March 26th, 2013 by National Trust for Historic Preservation

 

Written by Denise Ryan, Director, Public Lands Policy

Rio Grande del Norte (Ute Mtn.) Credit: Adriel Heisey
Río Grande del Norte National Monument

Just a few days out from the beginning of the baseball season in Washington, D.C., President Obama batted in a Grand Slam with the establishment of five new national monuments. This is the first time the President has designated more than one national monument in a day, and every single one of them is rich in historic or cultural resources.... Read More →

National Trust for Historic Preservation

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

Checking in to Some Little-Known Hotel History in Bedford Springs, Pa.

Posted on: March 13th, 2013 by Gwendolyn Purdom 8 Comments

 

Bedford Springs Resort & Spa in 1930. Photo courtesy Mary Dorner
Bedford Springs Resort & Spa in 1930

When we spoke to George Takei for Preservation magazine’s winter issue, the actor shared his own harrowing experience of being interned in an Arkansas camp with his family and other Japanese-Americans during WWII. The article, along with an online follow-up about the courageous Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd regimental unit, drew the attention of Mary Dorner, executive assistant at the historic Bedford Springs Resort & Spa in Bedford, Pa., who reached out to share the hotel’s own little-known connection to the same tense period in American history.

Already historic in its own right -- from having been visited by 11 U.S. presidents to its lobby being on the receiving end of the first transatlantic cable in 1858 -- the National Historic Landmark (now owned in part by Omni Hotels & Resorts, and one of our Historic Hotels of America) was also the surprising site of containment for nearly 200 Japanese diplomats, embassy staff, and their families in 1945.... Read More →

Gwendolyn Purdom

Gwendolyn Purdom

Gwendolyn Purdom is an associate editor at Preservation magazine. A Chicago native, Gwendolyn is passionate about the people and stories behind historic places – the quirkier the better.

Women in Preservation: Helen Pitts Douglass and the Frederick Douglass Memorial

Posted on: March 11th, 2013 by Emily Potter 1 Comment

 

blog_photo_Frederick Douglass House
The Frederick Douglass House in Washington, D.C.

There are many inspiring and extraordinary tales of passionate women to tell during Women’s History Month. Preservation has our own influential set of female advocates who are paving the way in protecting our county’s heritage, past and present, and we’re excited to highlight some of them this month.

Helen Pitts Douglass was one of the very first of these passionate women in preservation. As the daughter of parents who were both active in abolitionist and suffragist movements, Helen developed early on a determination to stand up for what she believed in. She became a teacher at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, a school founded for the education of black men and women, and was involved with the feminist newspaper, Alpha, before she went to work for Frederick Douglass in 1882.... Read More →

Emily Potter

Emily Potter is a copywriter at the National Trust. She enjoys writing about places of all kinds, the stories that make them special, and the people who love them enough to save them.

History for All Seasons: Activities to Take You From Winter to Spring

Posted on: March 8th, 2013 by Priya Chhaya

 

New York Hall of Science. Credit: bondidwhat, flickr
New York Hall of Science

February is an admirable month. Long past the tinkle of holiday cheer, it encourages gatherings near the hearth, warm drinks in hand, with vistas of hibernating landscapes and stillness. Yet it can feel hum-drum, too; long past the eagerness of a New Year, it becomes a revolving door of sleep, work, eat, sleep.

Thankfully, my February wasn’t completely devoid of historical inspiration:... Read More →

Priya Chhaya

Priya Chhaya

Priya Chhaya is an Online Content Coordinator in the Preservation Division at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A public historian at heart, she sees history wherever she goes and believes that it is an important part of the American identity.