Exhibit Traces History of New England Preservation Movement

Boston,MA—On February 21, 2012, the West End Museum, in partnership with Historic New England, will present The Preservation Movement Then and Now. The exhibit, which runs through May 12, 2012, outlines the story of the preservation movement in New England from its inception in 1863 through the present day. The show will be held in the Main Exhibit Hall of the West End Museum and will feature text and image panels along with related artifacts. The opening reception takes place on February 29 and is open to the public. Concurrent exhibit programs bring the preservation movement to life with film screenings, talks and walking tours. (Reception and program details appear on the following pages.)

Beyond its earliest efforts and advocates, The Preservation Movement Then and Now explores how the movement has evolved over more than 100 years. It has grown to focus not only on saving historic sites but also on downtown revitalization, environmental conservation, land and shoreline protection, and the preservation of whole neighborhoods.

The Preservation Movement Then and Now highlights the fight to prevent the demolition of the John Hancock House in 1863, which spurred the preservation movement in New England. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the campaign became a battle cry for many subsequent efforts as people cautioned, “Remember the Hancock House.”

The exhibit also features a section about William Sumner Appleton, one of America’s first preservationists and the founder of what is now Historic New England. In the 1900s, Appleton began bringing attention to the alarming trend of the destruction of historically significant buildings throughout the region, and he worked tirelessly for decades to  reserve many of those that remained.

“Our partnership with Historic New England is fundamental to preserving the history and the culture of the West End and, as such, is vital to the Museum’s mission,” said West End Museum Executive Director Duane Lucia. “Our organizations are closely tied together with shared purpose and history. The Otis House on Cambridge Street, which serves as Historic New England’s headquarters, was built by West Ender Charles Bulfinch and remains a highly visible symbol of historic preservation locally and throughout the country.”

About the West End Museum:
The West End Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation and interpretation of the history and culture of the West End neighborhood. The Museum’s permanent exhibit, “The&Last&Tenement,” highlights the immigrant history of the neighborhood  through its decimation under Urban Renewal in 1959; two additional galleries feature rotating exhibits. The Museum is located near North Station at 150 Staniford St. Suite 7. Hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00pm-O5:00pm; Saturday 11:00am-O4:00pm. Admission is free.

Reception: “The Preservation Movement Then and Now” 
Wednesday,”February”29,”2012;”6:00pm-8:00pm @”West”End”Museum
Cost: FREE

Lorna Condon, Senior Curator of Library and Archives for Historic New England, will lead guided tours of the exhibit. Refreshments will be served.

Museum Talk: “The Rescue of Guy Lowell’s Ensemble: The Landscape and Structures of the Charles River Dam, 1910”
Tuesday, March 6; 6:30pm-8:00pm ​@ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

Karl Haglund, Project Manager for the New Charles River Basin at the Metropolitan District Commission  and author of Inventing the Charles River, will speak about the campaign for the Charles River Dam and how  its design evolved into a park of five functionally important and carefully designed structures (the Upper  and Lower Lock Gate Houses, the Pavilion, the Boat House and the Stable). As a researcher and author, Haglund has explored the balance between transportation planning and stewardship of the public realm.

Tour: “The West End at Historic New England, A Tour of the Library and Archives”
Saturday, March 10, 2012; 11:00am-12:30pm
​@ The Otis House, 141 Cambridge Street, Boston
Limited to 20 participants
Cost: $15 ($7 members)

Join Senior Curator of Library and Archives Lorna Condon for an exclusive look at Historic New England s  Library and Archives. The archival collections include photographs, prints and engravings, architectural drawings, books, manuscripts and ephemera. For this special tour, Condon will highlight material  associated with the West End. Historic New England manages one of the region’s most important archival resources, with more than one million archival items documenting New England’s cultural and architectural history.

Museum Talk: “The Life and Legacy of William Sumner Appleton”
Monday, March 12; 6:30pm-8:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

Ken Turino, Manager of Community Engagement and Exhibitions for Historic New England, will present a  lecture exploring the life and work of William Sumner Appleton, founder of the Society for the Preservation  of New England Antiquities (SPNEA; now Historic New England). In 1910 when Appleton founded SPNEA, the United States preservation movement was in its infancy. Using materials from Historic New England s  extensive collections, this presentation explores Appleton s role in the context of early 20th century preservation efforts and traces his legacy and influence on the modern preservation movement.

​Film Night: “Historic Preservation Is All Around”
Thursday, March 15; 7:00pm-9:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

​Jess Phelps, Team Leader of Historic Preservation for Historic New England, will host an evening featuring  the screening of the following three films:

Boston’s Dazzling Cliff: John W. McCormack US Post Office and Courthouse profiles the renovation of this notable Boston building, a project that integrated historic preservation with sustainability.

Courthouse Girls of Farmland chronicles the creative and provocative path that seven elderly women took  to fight for the preservation of the historic courthouse in Indiana s Randolph County.

Ideas Worth Sharing: Re-Framing Historic Preservation features a talk by preservationist Rhonda Sincavage  in which she asserts that preserving buildings and neighborhoods is not a luxury, but an economic necessity that creates jobs, boosts the local economy and creates a more sustainable future.

​Film Night: “Historic Preservation is a Battle”
Tuesday, March 20; 7:00pm-8:30pm @ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

​​Director/Producer Michael Galinsky hosts a screening and discussion of his film, Battle for Brooklyn, which  tells the story of reluctant activist Daniel Goldstein as he struggles to save his home and community from being demolished to make way for a professional basketball arena and the densest real estate development  in U.S. history. For seven years, Goldstein spearheaded this fight to stop the abuse of eminent domain and reveal the corruption at the heart of the plan.

Family Day: “Hands-on Historic Preservation”
Saturday, March 24; 1:00pm-3:00pm @ Otis House and West End Museum
Cost: FREE

Families are invited to get hands-on with this historic preservation program for youth ages 8-12 and their parents. Come to the Otis House and learn what it takes to restore old buildings as you create your own architectural plaster cast. Follow this up with a visit to the West End Museum just around the corner. There you will learn how collectors preserve all kinds of history, and try your hand as a paper conservator working with old postage stamps.

Museum Talk: “Saving Shirley Place”
​Tuesday, March 27, 2012; 6:30pm-8:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

​Fredric Detwiller, Architect and Preservation Planner, will speak about the preservation of Shirley Place in Roxbury and the Shirley-Eustis House Association. Highlights include the initial effort to save the mansion (the only remaining country house built by a British Royal Colonial Governor), emergency repairs between 1919 and 1924, stagnation during the Depression and WWII, the 1960s fight to prevent relocating the house, and the 70s and 80s heyday that led to a Boston Preservation Alliance Award for the Association.

Detwiller will also address more recent projects, like the relocation and restoration of The Ingersollb Gardner Carriage House and collaboration with community organizations such as the Ralph Waldo Emerson School, YouthBuild Boston and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative.

​Museum Talk: “Citybuilding in the 21st Century”
​Thursday, April 5, 2012; 6:30pm-8:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

​Anthony Flint, Author of Wrestling With Moses and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Fellow, will speak about the challenges of urban development in the 21st century. Flint asserts the lessons learned from the battle between writer/activist Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, New York’s mid-20th century master builder, are the key, providing a vision that recognizes the value of citizen participation, historic preservation and human-scaled neighborhoods alongside the need for modernization.

Walking Tour: “Remnants of Urban Renewal”
Saturday, April 14, 2012; 11:00amb1:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: $15 ($7 members)

The term urban renewal has become synonymous with Boston’s West End. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than 50 acres of tenement housing were demolished and more than 10,000 low to middle income residents were relocated. Fortunately, some key architectural buildings were left intact. West End Museum Executive Director Duane Lucia will lead a walking tour focusing on some of the remaining notable buildings and their significance to the people of the West End. The tour will begin at the West End Museum and end at the Otis House on Cambridge Street.

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Museum Talk: “A Longer Journey Than I Ever Imagined”
Wednesday, April 25, 2012; 6:30pm-8:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

When Thomas Raphael became aware of Federal money available for canal restoration and preservation, he accepted Chairmanship of the Middlesex Canal Commission. Under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), 10 percent of all highway construction money is appropriated for beautification along highways and restoration of lighthouses, railroads and canals. This has been a 15-year effort for which Tom deserves enormous credit.

Walking Tour: “In Search of Boston’s Historic West End”
Saturday, April 28; 1:00pm-3:00pm @ Otis House, 141 Cambridge Street, Boston
Cost: $15 ($7 members)

Boston’s West End was a thriving neighborhood until redevelopment through urban renewal razed the area, leaving few remnants of its past behind. Joseph Cornish, Senior Stewardship Manager for Historic New England, will lead tours of three surviving buildings—Otis House, Old West Church and St. Joseph’s Church—that provide a glimpse into this lost neighborhood of Boston.

​Walking Tour: “The West End Then and Now”
​Saturday, May 12; 11:00am-1:00pm @ West End Museum
Cost: $15 ($7 members)

Led by West End Museum Founder Jim Campano and Executive Director Duane Lucia, this event will begin  at the West End Museum with a short presentation showing what the neighborhood looked like before urban renewal and will conclude with a walk through today’s West End. Campano was born and raised in  the West End, and has always remained connected to the neighborhood. As founder of the West End Museum and publisher of the West Ender Newsletter, he has spent much of his life preserving the community’s history and culture from first person accounts.