From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been impassioned pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving artifacts and documents of historical significance. A Passion to Preserve explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men’s lives by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout the United States, highlighting contributions to the larger culture that gays are exceptionally inclined to make.

Today, Newport is renowned as one of the most historically significant and architecturally intact cities in America. In the years following World War II, this heritage was under siege; the city's rich collection of colonial buildings and Gilded Age mansions was threatened by demolition and redevelopment. Katherine Warren, California-born and New Orleans-bred, intervened by galvanizing her adopted community around the protection of its architectural heritage and, in doing so, contributed greatly to the city's revitalization. Warren's passion for preservation was complemented by an equally fervent interest in modernist art; her collection of works by such artists as Picasso and Mondrian rivaled that of the nation's leading patrons of twentieth-century art. Warren's story stretches far beyond her pivotal role in founding and leading The Preservation Society of Newport County; her pursuit of community engagement, creative adaptive uses for historic structures, and economic development through preservation proved avant-garde, earning Newport national recognition and revealing Warren as a thought leader in preservation nationwide.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Prologue: Todos por la vida-Everything for Life -- one: Not Your Grandmother's Preservation Movement -- two: Why We Preserve -- three: How Americans Preserve -- four: Preservation and Economic Justice -- five: Preservation and Sustainability -- six: Preserving and Interpreting Difficult Places -- seven: Beauty and Justice -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z

A definitive biography traces the life of John Muir from his boyhood in Scotland up to his death on the eve of World War I and offers important insights into the passionate nature of America's first great conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club.

For both the preservation professional and urban planner, this book shows how preservation is a key to the creation of livable cities. The author Eric Allison, the founder and coordinated of the graduate historic preservation program at Pratt Institute in New York City, offers tools and case studies that preservationists and planners can learn from in implementing preservation projects or plans in cities large and small. This book is a must read for anyone working in or interested in these fields and the creation and maintenance of livable cities.

Over the past twenty years, there has been a fundamental shift in the institutional organization of historic preservation education. Historic preservation is the most recent arrival in the collection of built environment disciplines and therefore lacks the pedagogical depth and breadth found in allied endeavors such as architecture and planning. As the first degree programs in preservation only date to the 1970s and the first doctoral programs to the 1990s, new faculty are confronted with pedagogical challenges that are unique to this relatively nascent field. Based on a conference that included educators from around the world, Barry L. Stiefel and Jeremy C. Wells now present a collection that seeks to address fundamental issues of preservation pedagogy, outcome-based education and assessment, and global issues of authenticity and significance in historic preservation. The editors argue that the subject of the analysis has shifted from, "What is the best way to fix a historic building?" to, "What are the best ways for teaching people how to preserve historic properties (and why) according to the various standards that have been established?" This important reconsideration of the state of the field in historic preservation education will appeal to a broad audience across numerous disciplines.

Significant historic and archaeological sites affiliated with two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history in the United States are examined in this unique volume. The importance of the preservation process in documenting and interpreting the lives and experiences of queer Americans is emphasized. The book features chapters on archaeology and interpretation, as well as several case studies focusing on queer preservation projects. The accessible text and associated activities create an interactive and collaborative process that encourages readers to apply the material in a hands-on setting.