Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) is celebrating National Historic Preservation Month throughout May and asking Pennsylvanians to share their communities’ “Preservation Success Stories.”
National Historic Preservation Month was started in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to draw attention to older and historic places across the country and to highlight the benefits of historic preservation in the nation’s communities.
Pennsylvanians are encouraged to share Preservation Success Stories through PA-SHARE (Pennsylvania's State Historic and Archaeological Resource Exchange), PA SHPO's new online data management and cultural resources GIS tool. A PA-SHARE account is not required to submit your story.
Pennsylvanians who share their Preservation Success Stories between May 1 and May 31 will be entered to win a three-month Pro subscription to PA-SHARE. PA SHPO will select three winners by June 4, 2021. Preservation Success Stories can be an event, activity, organization, person or place that embodies the goals and objectives of the statewide historic preservation plan and can be submitted by anyone.
The statewide historic preservation plan has four goals:
- Implement the statewide historic preservation plan as a resource that provides solution-oriented steps for preservation outcomes.
- Use the power of planning to transform Pennsylvania’s historic places into vibrant and diverse communities.
- Position Pennsylvania to better respond to new preservation challenges and opportunities in the 21st century with proactive planning and education.
- Invest in the future of Pennsylvania through the commonwealth’s historic places and the people and programs that protect and celebrate them.
Detailed information on Pennsylvania’s Statewide Historic Preservation Plan is available online.
For submission guidelines and more information on Preservation Month activities, visit our blog.
All entries will also be automatically entered to win a 2021 PA SHPO Community Initiative Award, which is typically given each year in late fall.
Interviews with last year’s award winners – Old Erie on Foot, Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka, and Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc. – will be published each Wednesday in May as examples of Preservation Success Stories. More information about the Community Initiative Awards and past winners is available online.
The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office, a bureau of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, coordinates state and federal historic preservation programs including the National Register of Historic Places, state and federal tax credits, and review of state and federal projects for their impact on historic resources.
The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission is the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Learn more by visiting PHMC online or following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.