Friday, April 16, 2010

Save America's Historic Funding

Don't worry - I won't get too political on you. However, as a museum professional and a preservationist, I pay attention to funding sources for historic preservation and how they are doing. And at the moment, Save America's Treasures is not doing well.

It's on the chopping block for the FY 2011 proposed federal budget. You can read more about it at the National Trust's page (biased view, naturally) or read the actual proposed budget on the White House's website.

Wherever you decide you come down on the issue, I found the above map really interesting. As you can guess, it shows all of the locations across the country where Save America's Treasures (as well as Preserve America and the National Heritage Area program) has helped preserve and restore historic buildings and sites (you can see a bigger version here). Food for thought.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Spoiled for a Desk Job . . .

I spent my Thursday afternoon on the grounds of one of the museums where I work, burying reproduction artifacts in our mock archaeology pit for an upcoming program. It was tiring, heavy work, but it was glorious to be outside in the sun, with a cool breeze off the river. I came in about halfway through and the curator said, "You're spoiled for any desk job now, aren't you?"

And I suppose it's true.