from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_preservation 03/30/09

History

In England, Antiquarian interests were a familiar gentleman's pursuit since the mid 17th century, developing in tandem with the rise in scientific curiosity. Fellows of the Royal Society were often also Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries^{[citation needed]}. The UK's Ancient Monuments Act of 1913 officially preserved certain decayed and obsolete structures of intrinsic historical and associative interest, just as Modernism was lending moral authority to destruction of the built heritage in the name of progress.^{[citation needed]} The UK's National Trust began with the preservation of historic houses and has steadily increased its scope. In the UK's subsequent Town and Country Planning Act 1944, and the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, steps were taken toward historic preservation on an unprecedented scale.^{[citation needed]} Concern about the demolition of historic buildings arose in institutions such as the pressure group The Society for the Preservation of Historic Buildings, which appealed against demolition and neglect on a case by case basis.^[1]

Mount Vernon plantation, near Alexandria, Virginia

In The United States one of the first historic preservation efforts was the Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site, in Newburgh, New York. It was the first-ever property designated as a historic site by a U.S. state. Another early Historic Preservation undertaking was that of George Washington's Mount Vernon in 1858.^[2] Founded in 1889, the Richmond, Virginia-based Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group.^{[citation needed][3]} The architectural firm of Simons & Lapham (Albert Simons and Samuel Lapham) was influential in creating the first historic presrvation ordinance in Charleston, South Carolina in 1930. The Vieux Carre (French Quarter in New Orleans was the second historic preservation ordinance.^[4]

The US National Trust for Historic Preservation, another privately funded non-profit organization, began in 1949 with a handful of privileged structures and has developed goals that provide "leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to save America's diverse historic places and revitalize our communities" according to the Trust's mission statement. In 1951 the Trust assumed responsibility for its first museum property, Woodlawn Plantation in northern Virginia. Twenty-eight sites in all have subsequently become part of the National Trust, representing the cultural diversity of American history. In New York City, the destruction of Pennsylvania Station in 1964 shocked many in that city into supporting preservation. On an international level, the New York-based World Monuments Fund was founded in 1965 to preserve historic sites all over the world.

Under the direction of James Marston Fitch, the first advanced-degree historic preservation program began at Columbia University in 1964.^[5] It became the model on which most other graduate historic preservation programs were created.^[6] Many other programs were to follow before 1980: M.A. in Preservation Planning from Cornell (1975); M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont (1975); M.S. in Historic Preservation Studies from Boston University (1976); M.S. in Historic Preservation from Eastern Michigan University (1979) and M.F.A. in Historic Preservation was one of the original programs at Savannah College of Art & Design^[7]. The M.Sc. in Building Conservation degree program is offered by the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The first undergraduate programs (B.A.) appeared in 1977 from Goucher College and Roger Williams College, followed by Mary Washington College in 1979.^[8]