Saving Our Past: Alaska's Historic Preservation Plan, 2011-2017

From introduction: "Alaska’s historic preservation community seeks to record and interpret human history through the physical evidence of the past. This is accomplished through a variety of activities. One is to preserve the sites, structures, buildings and objects—the real estate--of the past. Another is the acquisition and preservation of a record of the past that encompasses programs in oral history and moving images along with books, documents, and photographs. Yet another activity is to enhance knowledge of the past through research, ranging from archaeological excavations to archival investigations, and appreciation of the past through interpretation and education. These written, oral, and material records of times past are public wealth. With care and attention, Alaska’s heritage can promote the general welfare of all of the state’s people. Many people and entities make up Alaska’s historic preservation community. This plan is for that community, broadly defined, to help achieve supportive public policy and sustainable funding for historic preservation. The plan also is to guide preservation activities throughout the state. The agenda to accomplish these goals must include working for wider recognition and appreciation of the state’s cultural resources. It calls on the historic preservation community to seek and enlist new partners... This third edition of Saving Our Past is intended to guide preservation activities in Alaska through 2017, the sesquicentennial of the U.S. acquisition of Alaska. In that year, 2017, Alaskans will be invited to revisit the goals and objectives and write a new plan. The plan’s success rests on its use by citizens, organizations, government agencies, elected officials, and preservation professionals, working together to carry out a shared preservation agenda. The participants involved in creating the plan in 1995, and reaffirmed by those involved in the two revisions, identified three principal needs for historic preservation in Alaska: need for a statewide agenda; need for greater public awareness and understanding of historic preservation; need to make connections between economics and historic preservation. To meet these needs, Alaskans established six goals for historic preservation: 1. Foster respect and understanding of Alaska’s archaeological and historic resources and promote a preservation ethic. 2. Continue existing partnerships and seek new ones to expand and strengthen the historic preservation community. 3. Expand efforts to identify, study, designate, interpret, and protect or treat significant archaeological and historic resources. 4. Encourage consideration of archaeological and historic resources in the planning and decision making processes of the public and private sectors. 5. Promote historic preservation as an economic development tool and provide incentives to encourage it. 6. Encourage appropriate treatment of historic resources." Funding was provided in part by a 2011 Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the Alaska State Historic Preservation Office (project number AK-11-012, grant number 02-11-31908) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Saving Our Past: Alaska's Historic Preservation Plan, 2011-2017

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