About National Trust For Historic Preservation

In the late 1940s, leaders of the growing American preservation movement recognized a need for a national organization to provide support and encouragement for grassroots preservation efforts.  To address this need, a group of interested citizens set to work on the establishment of a National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Their efforts came to fruition when President Truman signed legislation creating the National Trust on October 26, 1949.

The founders envisioned an organization whose primary purpose would be the acquisition and administration of historic sites.  True to this vision, in 1951 the Trust assumed responsibility for its first museum property: Woodlawn Plantation in northern Virginia.  Other historic sites, ranging from the 18th-century Drayton Hall in South Carolina to three houses designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, have come into National Trust ownership over the years.

Outreach programs assumed increased importance as the organization grew and matured.  The Preservation Services Fund was created in 1969 to provide financial assistance to local preservation projects.  To give timely hands-on assistance to grassroots preservationists, the Trust opened its first field office in San Francisco in 1971.  Demonstration projects soon followed: the National Main Street Center, which emphasizes preservation as a tool for revitalizing traditional business districts, was established in 1980; Community Partners, which employs a similar approach in historic residential neighborhoods, began its work in 1994.  Other special programs focus on rural preservation (1979), heritage tourism (1989) and statewide organization development (1994).

Education has always been at the core of the Trust’s work.  Publication of Historic Preservation magazine (now retitled Preservation) began in 1952.  The first Preservation Honor Awards, recognizing individuals, organizations, and projects that represent the best in preservation, were presented in 1971.  The Trust has sponsored the annual nationwide celebration of Preservation Week (now Preservation Month) since 1973.  The yearly list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, first issued in 1988, has become a highly effective means of spotlighting treasures in trouble and rallying efforts to save them.

Both the National Trust and the preservation movement entered a new phase with the 1966 passage of the National Historic Preservation Act.  Among other important provisions, the Act provided federal funding for the Trust’s work.  After 30 years, the federal appropriation was terminated by mutual agreement in 1998.  Since then the Trust has relied on private-sector contributions for its support.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting the irreplaceable. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the Trust was founded in 1949 and provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to save America’s diverse historic places and revitalize communities. Its Washington, DC headquarters staff, six regional offices and 28 historic sites work with the Trust’s 270,000 members and thousands of local community groups in all 50 states.