Photo Credit: Courtesy of Carol Highsmith
Editor’s Note: This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions, and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues and ask the leaders among the readership to share their knowledge and experiences.
To an architect, historic preservation can mean upholding historically accurate designs and materials; to a building conservator, it might translate into securing period-correct furnishings and appointments; but to parks and rec professionals responsible for maintenance in historic facilities, it can mean adopting a whole new—or sometimes old—set of priorities.
At the national, state, and even metropolitan-community level, preservation organizations often emerge to protect historic resources. But in smaller communities across the country, by default, the task of caring for the resources falls to the parks and rec department because it is often the agency within the governmental administrative structure whose mission and structure most closely align with the need.
But many departments—especially those in small- to mid-sized communities—aren’t necessarily capable of the special care and maintenance that truly historic buildings and facilities require, or for that matter know whether or not a building or site should be considered for preservation. When this situation arises, information is the first order of business.