Peer Reviewed

Title: Fixing Historic Preservation: A Constructive Critique of "Significance" [Research and Debate]

Journal Issue: Places, 16(1)

Author: Mason, Randall

Publication Date: 2004

Publication Info: Places

Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/74q0j4j2

Acknowledgements: This article was originally produced in Places Journal. To subscribe, visit www.places-journal.org. For reprint information, contact [email protected].

Keywords: places, placemaking, architecture, environment, landscape, urban design, public realm, planning, design, research, debate, historic, preservation, contructive, critique, significance, Randall Mason

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eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Fixing Historic Preservation: A Constructive Critique of “Significance”

Randall Mason

The idea of “significance” is exceed- Second, once judgments are made projects that tell their particular sto- ingly important to the practice of about a site, its significance is regarded ries. The broadening of preservation historic preservation. In significance, as largely fixed. Such inertia needs to from its curatorial roots has been a pack all their theory, be overcome, and each site’s signifi- very important and salutary develop- ideology and politics—and their cance needs to be seen as time bound ment—these other goals increase the wonder at the capacity to use and in need of periodic revision. diversity, inclusiveness and robustness historic fabric to reflect on the past. Third, many decisions about sig- of historic preservation as a social A “statement of significance” gathers nificance are made by experts, whose movement—but it has also led to together all the reasons why a mindsets are often quite unreflective some confusion about core purposes building or place should be preserved, and uncritical. By contrast, the and methods. why it is meaningful or useful, and imperative of preservation—as in the Conceptually, the heart of historic what aspects require most urgent rest of society—should be to allow preservation lies in the intellectual protection. Once defined, significance more voices to be heard. and emotional connections we make is used as a basis for policy, planning Recently, more critical and between memory and environment— and design decisions. progressive uses of the concept of what I’ll call the “memory/fabric con- There are problems, though, with significance have begun to appear. nection.”2 The connection is what the use and conceptualization of This has corresponded with a shift in allows old buildings to be seen as significance. The overriding one is the core purpose of the field from sources of wonder, documents about that the preservation field fails to fully simply preserving material fabric to the past, or ways to reform wayward appreciate its contingent nature. the more complicated tasks of citizens and advance political causes. By making the fixing of places and preserving the significance of fabric The rich relationship between their meaning the primary emphasis and places. In this regard, the point of memory and built fabric has con- of preservation, we have unduly objec- this essay is not just to noodle around cerned such diverse scholars, designers tified and scientized our understanding with the significance concept, but to and practitioners as Bachelard, Boyer, of memory and historicity. Since revisit the questions of why we Halbwachs, Hayden, J.B. Jackson, significance is the field’s primary tool preserve and what theories inform Lowenthal, Lynch, Nora, Rossi, for doing this, it is worthwhile to our decisions. As such, it may serve Ruskin, and dozens of other anthro- break down the problem. as the prelude to proposing ways to pologists, geographers, sociologists, First, significance has too often retool this important concept. historians, architects and planners. been used as a blunt instrument— These writers have celebrated the or worse, a black box. Judgments Why We Preserve wonder we find in old buildings, and about significance are narrowly At the nineteenth-century roots of also mapped society’s uses of the drawn, pegged closely to the archi- the field, the goals of historic preser- material past. But the preservation tectural history canons and historical vation were curatorial and memorial: field has not always availed itself of associations validated by academics. to represent aspects of the past for continuing scholarship on the subject, As a field, preservation has shown contemporary society through often simply looking to find validation little appetite for thinking critically the preservation of physical remains. in it, and too rarely opening itself to about significance, or theorizing a Today, however, historic preservation self-critique. The question we should way of handling significance.1 has expanded to encompass a number ask more aggressively concerns the Instead, it has tended to rely on a of different agendas: developers proper balance between two standard of self-evidence similar to seeking profits in adaptive-reuse approaches: shaping buildings and that used by U.S. Supreme Court projects; community advocates places in the physical sense (protecting, Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 to (wealthy or disadvantaged) attempting restoring, reconstructing, tearing define pornography and obscenity: to block undesirable development; down, etc.), and assuming these mate- “I know it when I see it.” anti-sprawl advocates lobbying for a rial efforts tacitly shape memory; and more sustainable world; seeking concerning ourselves with reshaping Top: Pueblo Bonita at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. new heritage tourism attractions to memory, and using buildings and Photo by author. promote economic development; and, places as a means to this end. Bottom: Fajada Butte at Chaco Canyon. of course, myriad social groups pursu- As the preservation field became Photo by author. ing specific historical and memorial professionalized over the twentieth

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century, it has overemphasized the fabric side of the memory/fabric con- nection.3 The reasons for this focus are clear: the scientific methods and objective standards used to treat fabric gave legitimacy. Specialized knowledge about materials and decay gave the new profession an area of activity distinct from that of architects, plan- ners, historians, and others concerned with the built environment. The result has been a dominant preserva- tionist mentality of fixing things, liter- ally and metaphorically: fixing broken buildings and deteriorating structures, gentrifying downcast historic districts, standing in the path of bulldozers, and (not least) fixing the meaning of preserved buildings and sites. In the last decade or so, an alterna- tive view has started to gain ascen- dancy. It considers the raison d’être of historic preservation to be the cultiva- tion of memory, and it argues that techniques to protect fabric are simply one means to achieve this. Whatever additional benefits flow from preser- vation, the new thinking goes— significance—which is that as an in explaining how society’s contemp- well-preserved buildings and artifacts, expression of cultural meaning, it must orary use of historic preservation profits to investors, a healthier be expected to change, involve multi- is related to contemporary social downtown, a beautiful landscape, an valence and contention, and be contin- issues—for instance, the burgeoning ecologically more sustainable — gent on time, place, and other factors.5 presence of African-American the core benefit is the cultivation of Preservation theory traditionally histories in U.S. public memory of the society’s collective memory. Fabric is doesn’t deal with this reality. It needs post-Civil-Rights-era generation. essential to sustaining memory. to be re-“fixed” to embrace cultural According to sociologist Maurice change and social process (the driving Trouble-Shooting “Significance” Halbwachs: “[I]t is the spatial image forces behind significance), and this is Significance is shorthand for the alone that, by reason of its stability, a whole lot different from arresting meanings of a place, and the ways a gives us an illusion of not having decay. We can predict that collective place is made useful—a sort of mission changed through time and of retriev- memory will change, though we can’t statement about why a place should be ing the past in the present.”4 But to predict how it will change. preserved. “Statements of significance” the alternative view, material matters Contrast this with the theories occupy the central position in have now become the tail that is underlying fabric-centered planning and decision-making models wagging the dog. preservation: physical scientific laws widely used in the preservation field.6 In other worlds, preservation’s documenting unidirectional change Like all definitions useful in policy- “fixing” mentality, rooted in the fabric- (things fall apart) and enabling making, significance reduces the centered traditions of the field, has prediction of outcomes. The fixing complexity of a situation so that logical gotten transferred to how we think mentality, though it works very well decisions can be made and defended. about significance. This has led us to for theorizing change vis-à-vis stone Significance reduces many shades of ignore the essential nature of or wood deterioration, falls short gray to fewer lines of black and white.7

Places 16.1 65 Some Examples Indeed, newer thinking about preservation recognizes that significance is made, not found. It is socially constructed and situational, and it recognizes that appraisals of significance may have as much to do with the people and society making them as with any actual site.8 On reflection, such views reveal how problems with significance may crop up when meanings become overly narrow; when they stress the assessments of experts and ignore alternative and popular views; and when they fail to acknowledge change over time. Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, in New Mexico, provides an excellent example of the changing significance of a heritage site. Chaco is an extensive National Monument, centered on the impressive ruins of a complex Native American culture, abandoned about 700 years ago. However, since the nineteenth century, white archaeolo- gists have defined the official signifi- A statement of significance considers of significance presumes that a build- cance of the site as consisting largely all the meanings of a place, and ing will always mean the same thing, of the historic ruins of indigenous winnows out the few most important that all of society views the building Chaco culture and their value for ones. The way significance has in the same way, and that there is scientific research. By contrast, Native traditionally been used and talked only one kind of significance. But American groups ascribe sacred and about makes it seem clear and objec- overemphasizing (and even fetishiz- symbolic value to the place, which tive—in keeping with the “fixing” ing) preservation of fabric in this way they believe to have been created by mentality, and sticking to the experts reflects an underlying assumption their ancestors. And, more recently, who “know it when they see it.” Once that culture can be treated as a static New Age tourists have begun using “found,” significance is taken mostly set of artifacts. And the methods and the site for their own purposes, invok- as a matter of faith, and a priesthood epistemology aligned with such an ing their own version of sacred value. (historians, architects and preserva- assumption lead us away from a As each stakeholder group has tion professionals) and group of the real understanding of cultural and asserted a different notion of signifi- faithful (preservationists) interpret individual attitudes toward place. cance—some of which are clearly the results for the public. Such a view The traditional conception is incommensurable (New Agers focused on architectural and burying crystals in kivas transgresses Above top: City Hall Park, in the early twentieth historical canons; it is succinct, clear the values of both Indians and century; City Hall in middle right. Photo courtesy of and definitive. The more progressive archaeologists)—conflicts have arisen. Library, University of Maryland. notion seeks to be more extensive, In relation to such conflict, the Above bottom: The site of the African Burial detailed, and complicated; it suggests “fixing” culture can only remove Ground, just north of Chambers Street, lower that there may be multiple valid preservationists further from the needs . Photo by author. arguments about the meaning and desires of contemporary culture Opposite: McSorley’s Old Ale House. Photo by author. of a place. and society, and further into their

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shells of professional expertise. The corrective to this is greater trans- parency and participation in the decision-making and significance- defining processes—particularly, participation by nonexperts and other outsider stakeholders. The issues of changing significance of a place, and the assertion of new stakeholder groups, converged power- Africans’ graves on the site of a new to vital communities, and sustain what fully around City Hall Park in New federal office building just north of is distinctive about New York.” Their York City in the early 1990s. This was City Hall resulted in the designation pioneering work centers on identify- when traditionally narrow conceptions of a municipal historic district called ing places that clearly function to of the significance of the City Hall area “The Commons and African Burial New Yorkers as “cultural landmarks,” were forcefully broadened by the “dis- Ground Historic District.” Though yet which fall outside (or in addition covery” of the African Burial Ground. the location of the burial ground had to) the canons of architectural style As the seat of civic government and been known to professionals, it was and historical association that dominate a remainder from the city’s colonial assumed that the seventeenth- and decisions on city landmarks. One landscape, City Hall Park has long eighteenth-century graves had long outcome of Place Matters’ work is an held historical value: it was the since been destroyed. The sudden alternative of cultural Commons of the colonial town; it has “discovery” of hundreds upon landmarks, places important to con- served as the focal point of govern- hundreds of intact graves stirred a temporary citizens and communities, ment for two centuries; and it has broad community of stakeholders to without architectural criteria attached. been the site of innumerable protests, action.9 Powerful African-American The list includes such places as celebrations and commemorative politicians such as U.S. Representative unmarked sites of civil unrest, an audi- events. In addition, City Hall, itself, Gus Savage and New York City torium where Tito Puente and friends has long been appraised as a fine Mayor David Dinkins mobilized these played their pioneering Latin music, historic building, a product of New stakeholders to demand the rewriting and a forgotten Revolutionary War York’s most accomplished early- of the significance of lower Manhattan battleground (long since built over). nineteenth-century architect, John as an historic site. The inclusion of This list—and the extensive public McComb. For at least 125 years, African-American narratives reflected outreach and programming Place threats to this canonical significance the cultural politics of the day as well Matters does—are a memory- have arisen from the park’s other as the abiding recognition that City centered complement to the City’s obvious values: the economic value it Hall Park is a richly layered historical extensive inventory and regulatory adds to surrounding properties; the landscape with many values. regime for more traditional historical utility value of the transportation The City Hall Park/African Burial and architectural landmarks.10 infrastructure for which it serves as a Ground story epitomizes the changing McSorley’s Old Ale House, on East hub; and its value as a social space— significance of a particular place, and 8th Street in Manhattan, is one of a place to walk, sit, picnic, protest, how the interpretation of site signifi- hundreds of sites in the Place Matters watch a parade, etc. cance often reflects broader cultural Census. A bar housed in a typical Preservation efforts over the years politics. Another, longer-term effort East Village building, McSorley’s is have linked the official significance of in New York City embodies the broad significant in terms of social history the park to its historical and architec- desire to acknowledge and preserve through its long, continuous life as a tural values, while limiting its economic landmarks across the city representing neighborhood saloon, and its notorious and social values to secondary status. new, alternative, and changing con- exclusion of women until 1970. However, in the early 1990s the ceptions of significance. Place Matters significance of the whole area of lower is a partnership of City Lore and the Values-Centered Manhattan centered on the park Municipal Art Society, formed in Theories of Preservation became hotly contested. Public outcry 1998, to “promote and protect places If one of the obstacles to renovat- over excavations of free and enslaved that connect us to the past, contribute ing significance is the fabric-centered

Places 16.1 67 bias of the preservation field, and its other values and uses of heritage, like the understanding of different accompanying myth of objectivity, economic and political values—takes values, and the nonexpert stakeholders what are some alternatives?11 Values- center stage in explaining the motiva- that advocate them, forces preserva- centered theories of preservation tions and outcomes of preservation. tionists to break out of their shells shift the balance, giving priority to the The idea of a values-centered and collaborate widely. A few essential memories, ideas, and other social theory of preservation as an alternative ideas underpin the values-centered motivations that drive the urge to to traditional, fabric-centered thinking approach. physically preserve the built environ- has several sources.12 To some extent, First, “values” are understood in ment. The basic idea is that decisions values- or memory-centered theory the sense of qualities, not morals about preservation are premised on has always been part of preservation— or ethics. Any particular building, site, the appraisals people, institutions, the idea of memorializing and shaping or place has many different values; and groups make of the built environ- culture lies at the roots of preservation. indeed, the multivalence of the ment’s values. Therefore, decisions But recently, the social complexities of historic built environment is one of its must be reached by prioritizing some globalization, migration, culture wars, fundamental qualities. The historical, values over others (say, the memorial economic shifts, armed conflict, and cultural and aesthetic values tradition- value of a great writer’s birthplace so on have provoked many of us ally at the center of preservation over the economic value of building a associated with the preservation field discourse, as well as economic, social, strip mall on the same spot). to question the traditional fabric- educational/research, ecological Obviously, knowing about the range centered approach and reconnect values, are equally present.13 These of different values, and who speaks preservation with the pressing social values, said collectively to be a place’s for them, becomes crucial for under- issues of the day. Research undertaken “heritage values,” are the source of the standing the preservation process. by the Getty Conservation Institute place’s significance (which can be Through the lens of a values-centered in the past several years has sought to defined as the most important, urgent theory, the role of memory—as well as pull together various threads and values at a given time). advance the field’s discussion along Second, heritage values are Above left and middle: St. Paul’s Chapel, exterior these lines. The abiding goals of acknowledged to be constructed and and interior. Photos courtesy of Historic American these research threads have been situational, not inherent. The assess- Buildings Survey/Library of Congress. (1) acknowledging the diverse and ment of values depends to a great Above right: Pews in St. Paul’s Chapel, showing socially constructed values of heritage; extent on who is assessing them, and conserved marks made by rescue workers. (2) doing something pragmatically on the historical-geographical Photo by author. that enables practitioners to deal with moment in which the value is articu- Opposite top: Aerial view of Mostar, Bosnia, looking all the values more robustly; and lated. Thus, an economist, historian, upstream toward the Old Bridge over the Neretva (3) making connections between architect, schoolchild, ordinary River (center). The predominantly Muslim Old Town preservation theory and practice that citizen, or elected official might have is to the right. Photo courtesy of Aga Khan Trust for are rigorous, analytical, transparent different views of the value of the City Culture , from the former Yugoslavian state and collaborative. Hall Park. Furthermore, some stake- news agency. Getting back to significance, per se, holders will have direct experience Opposite bottom:Recent view of the Old Town, what is useful about values-centered and association with a place, while on the left bank of the Neretva, including traditional theories of preservation is that they others will seldom if ever visit it, yet stones houses (some reused as shops and cafes) and can yield much more detailed, sensitive still value it highly. So a professional mosque. Photo by author. appraisals of significance. Additionally, study of values must be done in

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parallel with understanding and con- sulting with the stakeholders—i.e., the people and groups doing the valuing. St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City illustrates these two principles about values superbly. The values of St. Paul’s are many and changing, and they yield a shifting sense of why the building has been significant. Situated on Lower Broadway, the chapel has long been treasured as an architectural and historical landmark remembering “Old New York.” Completed in 1766, the chapel is one of the oldest and finest buildings in Manhattan, its colonial beauty enhanced by the presence of its surrounding graveyard in the midst of ultra-dense lower Manhattan. Today the value of the building is further guaranteed by the fact that worshipped there immediately after his inauguration (his pew is clearly marked). Less vaunted, but equally valuable has been the chapel’s ongoing use for worship and community service, a value not really represented in its attached to them, as well as the tradi- the values of some stakeholders preserved physical fabric. And in the tional architectural distinctions and because we may disagree ideologi- aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, St. historical associations, as well as other cally. Preservation as practiced is not a Paul’s took on a new kind of signifi- factors such as the economic values zero-sum game; it is full of compro- cance. Located very near the World tied up in the land and buildings. mises (like most planning and design Trade Center but miraculously A third idea underpinning the work). Real estate developers keenly unharmed by the destruction all values-centered approach is that it is perceive the economic values of the around, the chapel became a shelter understood that heritage values historic built environment, for for relief and rescue workers, a place sometimes conflict. One cannot maxi- instance. And indigenous peoples for them to rest, eat, and recover in mize all kinds of value at once—for have asserted their interpretation of every sense. This function left its instance, a battlefield’s historical and history in stark contrast to traditional, marks on the building, and in deciding aesthetic values would be destroyed by great-white-man notions. (Consider how to repair and renew the building maximizing its economic value as a how the Custer Battlefield National after service as a shelter, it was shopping center. Why consider all the Monument in Montana is now known decided to retain the scuff marks made values of the historic built environ- as the Little Bighorn Battlefield on the pews by sleeping rescue workers ment, and not just the historical and National Monument, de-emphasizing and their tool belts, thus preserving cultural values at the core of preserva- the importance of the Custer story in this important memory in the fabric of tion’s memorial project? that landscape). the building. Appreciating the values Empirically, what this means is that We cannot and should not wish of the chapel as they stand today, all the values of heritage should enter these alternative views of value away; then, would require acknowledging into decisions about the management nor should we ignore them. Why these most recent marks and the and fate of the historic built environ- adopt a theory of significance that enormous social and symbolic value ment. It is untenable to simply ignore purposely excludes influential factors

Places 16.1 69 shaping how society values the starkly played out in responses to an Today, the fabric/memory balance historic built environment? Why resist historic urban place deeply damaged in preservation is shifting as younger change in appraisals of value? Even and socially divided during the Balkan preservationists are more compelled though preservationists advocate wars of 1992-95. Mostar’s Old Town by Dolores Hayden’s work than long-term views of the value of suffered considerable damage during Bernard Feilden’s (though we all the historic built environment, this this time, including destruction of the recognize that the technical ability to shouldn’t be taken to mean that iconic Old Bridge (Stari Most) by diagnose a building and arrest its decay values are timeless. Croatian forces. is what enables us to remember.) The challenge of preservation In recovering from the war, and Values-centered theory is a useful way planning and policy, therefore, is to dealing with the reality of a city divided for the preservation field to engage strike and sustain a reasonable balance between Croatian and Bosnian “sides,” these challenges. It acknowledges the of values. Preservationists do not have there is an ongoing debate about the dynamics of preservation and allows us to advocate all the values of a heritage value and significance of iconic struc- to model (if not solve) the reality of the site, but they should have to under- tures such as the Old Bridge, versus multiple, contested, and shifting values stand them, and this requires not only the reconstruction and preservation of ascribed to historic preservation sites collaboration among professionals more “everyday” buildings. To those and projects. It is a body of theory that and laypeople but familiarity with the in the international community leads, in practice, to a significance valuation methods of many disciplines (whether E.U. politicrats or potential concept that is flexible and multivalent, (economics, anthropology, architec- tourists), Mostar is significant instead of an older model that suc- ture, history). Without this broad because the bridge was destroyed, ceeded best in placing buildings and understanding, preservationists will then repaired—metaphorically sites “under glass,” segregated from only act on what is valuable to them, stitching together a city and region society like objects. not why the environment does or does horribly divided by war. To Bosnian One can see such ideas about a not have meaning for society at large. Mostarians, the significance of postwar more encompassing, flexible notion Will significance always be reconstruction and preservation lies of significance being implemented, anchored by traditional canons of as much in the schools, houses, for instance, in the management of the architectural and historical value? mosques, streets and shops that Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site No doubt, events will continue to support their everyday life and long- in . Consisting of remains of push preservationists to revise standing roots in the Old Town. an 80-mile-long Roman defensive traditional notions of value and wall, built in the first to the fourth significance. Otherwise, their work Process and Product centuries AD, the site has been desig- will become irrelevant to the daily Historic preservation theories and nated since 1986. Its management challenges and long-term concerns tools need to reflect the notion that through a complex partnership led by of ordinary citizens. culture is an ongoing process, at once and other public In the city of Mostar, in Bosnia and evolutionary and inventive—not a agencies involves myriad local juris- Herzegovina, the preservation field’s static set of practices and things. As dictions and landowners to care for struggle over divergent and changing a field, we need to be more rigorous, this extensive place as both a working notions of significance is today being analytical, and transparent with landscape of towns, farms and pastures, our decisions.14 The significance as well as a remarkable archaeological Hadrian’s Wall and the excavated ruins of Housesteads concept needs rethinking to meet site long attractive to tourists. The Roman fort. Photos by author. these challenges. management and planning regime for

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the site (updated every five years) settlements, landscapes, objects and collections. objectivity in the historical profession, provides an sensitively takes these different 3. For example, Bernard Feilden cemented the notion excellent base for critique of preservation. significances into account. that preservation was about “arresting decay” of 12. The Getty Conservation Institute has produced The arguments in this article are historical fabric. In the U.S., James Marston Fitch, several reports on values-centered theories, including not simply seeking a better result for the pioneering preservation educator, subtitled his Avrami, Mason, and de la Torre, eds., Values and preservation—i.e., more perfectly major work on preservation “The Curatorial Heritage Conservation: Research Report (Los Angeles: preserved buildings, or more accurate Management of the Built Environment.” Getty Conservation Institute, 2000). and eloquent statements of signifi- 4. Maurice Halbwachs, The Collective Memory, (see www.getty.edu/conservation/resources/). For a cance. The process of articulating and Francis J. Ditter, Jr., and Vida Yazdi Ditter, trans. summary, see Randall Mason and Erica Avrami, assessing values is salutary in itself, (New York: Harper & Row, 1980; original, “Heritage Values and Challenges of Conservation and it can lead to more relevant and La Mémoire collective, 1950), p.157. Planning,” in Teutonico and Palumbo, eds., useful ways to understand and manage 5. The pioneering work on collective memory as a Management Planning for Archaeological Sites. the built environment as a connected social process was by Maurice Halbwachs. 13. There is little agreement on what constitutes a landscape, instead of a disconnected See On Collective Memory, Lewis Coser, ed. and trans. universal typology of heritage values. Many different of historic buildings. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992). Other schemes have been proposed, each with its strengths In order to accomplish any of this, interesting works include M. Christine Boyer, and weaknesses. See Avrami, Mason, and de la Torre, the historic preservation field must The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and eds., Values and Heritage Conservation. stop seeing itself so hermetically. Architectural Entertainments (Cambridge, MA: MIT 14. My occasional use of the first-person in this essay Where are the anthropologists and Press, 1994); Paul Connerton, How Societies Remember reflects the idea that I see myself as both outsider and economists working on preservation? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989); insider to the preservation field. Though my teaching Where are the foundations carrying Pierre Nora, Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French and research are intimately concerned with historic the flag for collective memory? Who Past, Lawrence Kritzman, ed., Arthur Goldhammer, preservation practice, my graduate training is in geog- is pushing preservationists to think trans. (New York: Press, 1996- raphy and urban planning, not historic preservation. creatively and critically about the role 98, three volumes); and Iwona Irwin-Zarecka, Frames of preservation in the society of the of Remembrance: The Dynamics of Collective Memory future? Not all these answers are right (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1994). at hand, but perhaps we’ll know them 6. Martha Demas, “Planning for Conservation and when we see them. Management of Archaeological Sites,” in Teutonico and Palumbo, eds., Management Planning for Notes and Acknowledgement Archaeological Sites (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation The author wishes to thank Laura Hansen and Marci Institute, 2002); and Sharon Sullivan and Michael Reaven, of Place Matters, for inviting the lecture that Pearson, Looking After Heritage Places (: was the basis for this article, as well as anonymous Melbourne University Press, 1995). reviewers and the journal’s editors for a number of 7. As my U.K. colleague Kate Clark puts it, a statement insightful and constructive critiques. of significance is only useful if it helps a site manager say “no” to some proposals. It should define the 1. There are two very notable exceptions to the dearth meaning and use of a place such that it excludes some of critical thinking about significance: a collection possibilities (personal communication). of papers from a 1997 conference and a 1984 article 8. Howard L. Green, “The Social Construction of by Tainter and Lucas questioning the theoretical Historical Significance,” in Tomlan, ed., Preservation of assumptions behind significance. See Michael Tomlan, What, For Whom? ed., Preservation of What, For Whom? A Critical Look at 9. The fate of the African Burial Ground site, Significance (Ithaca, NY: National Council for Preser- including long-debated plans for memorials and other vation Education, 1998); and Joseph Tainter and John historical interpretation, is still in question as of this Lucas, “Epistemology of the Significance Concept,” writing. A reinterrment ceremony for some of the American Antiquity, vol. 48, no. 4 (1983), pp.707-19. human remains is scheduled for October 2003. Both of these works have strongly informed this article. See http://www.africanburialground.com/. 2. “Environment” and “historic built environment” 10. Place Matters’ web site is www.placematters.net. are used here as catch-all terms referring to material 11. Peter Novick’s That Noble Dream (New York: culture at a variety of scales: buildings, sites, districts, Cambridge University Press, 1988), on the notion of

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