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Historic Preservation

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Penn milestone heralds more expansive approach to preservation
Researchers at the Wupatki National Monument.

Through Weitzman’s Center for Architectural Conservation, preservation faculty and students are working with the National Park Service and the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps to preserve Wupatki National Monument, where people first gathered in the 1100s.

(Image: Ha Leem)

Penn milestone heralds more expansive approach to preservation

For 40 years, Penn’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation has expanded its purview and explores how to become more of a public design practice.

From the Weitzman School of Design

The Mancos Commons rises
Person holding a printing type at an old-fashioned printing press.

Printing type at the Mancos Common Press.

(Image: Courtesy of the Weitzman School of Design)

The Mancos Commons rises

A historic preservation project in the Colorado town of Mancos led by Weitzman professors Frank Matero and Matt Neff includes a printing press inspired by Penn’s Common Press and an affordable mixed-use housing space.

From the Weitzman School of Design

Weitzman’s Amber Wiley: Illuminating the Black freedom struggle in the built environment
Amber Wiley.

Amber Wiley, Matt and Erika Nord director of Weitzman’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites.

nocred

Weitzman’s Amber Wiley: Illuminating the Black freedom struggle in the built environment

The inaugural Matt and Erika Nord Director of Weitzman’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites discusses her new role.

From the Weitzman School of Design

Tuskegee-Penn partnership advances Black preservation
Weitzman students standing outside the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church and The Armstrong School.

Tuskegee’s Kwesi Daniels leads a visit to St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church and The Armstrong School. (Image: Courtesy of Weitzman News)

Tuskegee-Penn partnership advances Black preservation

Architecture students at Tuskegee University are studying historic preservation through explorations of buildings on and near the historic HBCU campus, in part through a collaboration with the Weitzman School of Design.

From the Weitzman School of Design

Keepers of the cultural memory
An old and large book upside down on a table, being held by two sets of hands, one gloved, the other not. There are boxes and other materials all around.

Workers at the rare manuscripts and old printed books department of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum store them in cardboard boxes to reduce the risk of damage in the event of an attack in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Friday, March 4, 2022. (Image: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

Keepers of the cultural memory

In wartime, saving human lives is a top priority. But secondary considerations often include preserving the cultural heritage also under siege. Penn experts offer their thoughts as the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold.

Michele W. Berger

Protecting and celebrating civil rights heritage and Black histories
armstrong house

The two-acre site of the Armstrong School, which has been out of use since the mid-1950’s, includes a church, burial ground, and school house. Researchers at Penn’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites and Tuskegee University are collaborating on stabilizing the structure and developing an interpretation plan for the historic site. (Image: Kwesi Daniels)

Protecting and celebrating civil rights heritage and Black histories

Launched last fall, Penn’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights sites is fostering new and ongoing partnerships while preserving the legacy of civil rights in the U.S.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Historic preservation of Black Philadelphia
Woman in a fur coat sings before several microphones; one says 'NBC'

Martin Luther King, Jr. was in attendance at Marian Anderson's Lincoln Memorial performance on Easter Sunday, 1939. This location served as the inspiration for King's March on Washington address, says Jillian Patricia Pirtle, CEO of the Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society. (Image: University of Pennsylvania/Marian Anderson Collection of Photographs)

Historic preservation of Black Philadelphia

Preserving Black history in Philadelphia is an evolving dynamic of the city’s legacy.

Kristina García

A new initiative to preserve African American civil rights heritage sites
A building at Tuskegee University on a green hill in daylight.

A view of Tuskegee University’s historic campus. (Image: The Weitzman School)

A new initiative to preserve African American civil rights heritage sites

The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites will be led by Faculty Director Randall Mason, an associate professor in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, alongside renowned preservationist Brent Leggs, who is named senior adviser and adjunct associate professor.

From the Weitzman School of Design

Weitzman team takes on preservation work at Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial illuminated at dusk overlooking the Potomac River.

Weitzman team takes on preservation work at Lincoln Memorial

PennPraxis is continuing its partnership with the National Park Service on a cultural inventory and landscape project at the Lincoln Memorial, its most high-profile project to date.

From the Weitzman School of Design