Historic Preservation

International

Understanding the importance of historic preservation worldwide, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established the International World Heritage Programme in 1972. This program allows nations to identify and list historic places both natural and human made. This program is governed by a committee made up of members representing more than 180 nations. More than 900 sites have been listed as World Heritage Sites. Nominations are reviewed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. These committees make recommendations regarding the nominations to the World Heritage Committee. The World Heritage Committee meets annually to make determinations regarding the listing or inscription of these sites. To be listed, sites must meet 10 criteria (UNESCO, 2005, “The Criteria for Selection,” para. 4):

• 1.
  Represents a masterpiece of human creative genius.
• 2.
  Exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design.
• 3.
  Bears a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization, which is living or which has disappeared.
• 4.
  Is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble, or landscape, which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.
• 5.
  Is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land use, or sea use, which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.
• 6.
  Is directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria.)
• 7.
  Contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.
• 8.
  Is an outstanding example representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
• 9.
  Is an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological [Page 269]processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.
• 10.
  Contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

Federal

Informal efforts to engage in historic preservation date back to the rehabilitation of Mount Vernon in the 1850s. Preservation activities were first formalized in the United States with the passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906. This act empowered the secretary of the interior to consent to the removal of artifacts from public lands. The act also empowered the president to declare a structure a national monument. The first proclaimed monument was Devils Tower in Northeastern Wyoming. In 1916, the Department of Interior, the federal agency charged with enforcement of the Antiquities Act, created the National Park Service to alleviate the administrative burden associated with the implementation of the act.

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