In this post we take a look at one of the League’s major early victories. The campaign to save Great Camp Sagamore began in 1975 — just a year after the League was founded — with advocacy that saved the main camp complex, and continued in the early 1980s with a complicated legislative process that further protected the 11 historic outbuildings on the Sagamore campus.

With the official public announcement of the 2024 Preserving Black Churches Grants on January 15, the Friends of Thomas Memorial are proud to share that Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church has received $100,000 in funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“I’m very proud that the League has selected to honor Bridge to Crafts Careers with the Excellence in Historic Preservation Award,” said Ann Cuss, Regional Director of North America at World Monuments Fund (WMF), who oversees the program. “B2CC offers something incredibly unique and valuable: a paid opportunity for young people to get hands-on experience in craft skills. This award is a testament to the hard work of our partners and interns over the years.”

After her historic Owego home flooded in 2011, Julie Nucci embarked on a years-long project to elevate her house. It is the first National Register-listed home in NYS elevated for flood mitigation and is included in the Secretary’s Guidelines on Flood Adaptation for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to advocate for people and communities impacted by climate change by promoting resiliency and disaster preparedness. She recently formed J. Nucci Consulting, LLC and is working with the National Hazard Mitigation Association and FEMA on engagement and resilience strategies for under-served communities. Many historic communities are located along waterways, from coastal cities to canalside towns. And many of those places, across the state and country, are under-served – just like her Village of Owego, NY. As one of our 2023 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award winners, we wanted to find out more about how she thinks about preservation and why it matters.

Claudette Brady has been a staunch advocate for her Brooklyn community for decades. Spearheading the campaign for historic district designation of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Claudette rallied her neighbors and made historic preservation meaningful for the people of the neighborhood. In the years since that successful campaign, Claudette has continued advocating for historic preservation, uplifting the history of traditionally underrepresented people, and centering them in the conversation about what we preserve and for whom.

The yellow house at the intersection of 9H and NY-66 in the Town of Claverack has stood as a local landmark for over 200 years. When Quinn Levine and Simon Burstall first saw the building in 2020, it had been vacant and on the market for more than six years. The land was thought to be more valuable without the house, and potential buyers wanted to demolish it. Thankfully, the former owner wanted to see the house saved — and Quinn and Simon saw possibility where others saw a liability.

Valerie Jo Bradley is co-founder and President of Save Harlem Now! – an award-winning nonprofit advocacy organization formed to preserve historic buildings and landscapes reflecting important African American history from the late 19th and early 20th century. She is also a 2023 Pillar of New York.

When asked what he hopes his legacy will be, Steve Jordan said, “I hope my legacy will be of someone dedicated to historic preservation and its ability to lift and highlight worthy neighborhoods, districts, and properties for the betterment and education of future citizens. I hope my legacy endures through my books, magazine, and journal articles written over 40 years. And I hope I’ve passed a few skills to others who will carry on a preservation trade tradition.”

“This project has meant so much to Springville,” said Martin Timm, Springville Center for the Arts Board President. “This award celebrates the many years our team, along with so many dedicated volunteers, have contributed to preserving this piece of our history.”

“What once seemed like a lost treasure has become a wonderful community asset,” said Guy Garnsey, President of Howland Stone Store Museum and project manager. “The vision of those who conceived the building’s restoration and the enormous volunteer effort in management and construction labor has been extraordinary.”

In thinking about how to build a more sustainable future, the preservation of our historic buildings needs to be prioritized. But when buildings can't be saved, there is still room for preservation to play a role. Deconstruction and architectural salvage allows heritage building materials to be saved and repurposed, diverting material from the landfill and creating a circular economy in the process. As much as we might want to save all the old buildings, it is inevitable that we will lost some. The question is how those buildings will come down.

Presented in partnership with the Tenement Museum, this webinar explored the intersection of social justice and preservation. How can the act of preserving and stewarding a building tie directly into a broader social justice mission? We wanted to explore the idea that preserving, restoring, rehabilitating, and stewarding a physical place can be integral to social justice work. In this conversation, we dig into how different kinds of organizations can incorporate preservation practices, without necessarily being a “preservation” organization.

Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein followed their passion for old houses and sparked a movement. Their Instagram account @cheapoldhouses has amassed nearly 2 million followers and their HGTV show of the same name has exposed an even wider audience to the beauty of saving old houses.

Affectionately referred to as the Mother and Father of Brooklyn Heights, Nancy and Otis Pearsall have made the preservation of their neighborhood a lifelong mission.

This year, the League is proud to honor A’Lelia Bundles as a Pillar of New York. A’Lelia is an award-winning journalist, founder of the Madam Walker Family Archives, and Madam C.J. Walker’s biographer and great-great granddaughter.

The effort to save the Pyrrhus Concer Homestead demonstrates how interdisciplinary coalition-building can support historic preservation efforts, centered around issues of equity and social justice.

“I’m thankful for all those who have trusted me with their stories and those who have opened their doors to my following – allowing access into places we would never see otherwise,” said David Haas. “With an engaged following whose love for Syracuse matches mine, I can truly say we are making a difference.”

“The adaptive reuse of Whitcomb’s Garage shows that preservation, revitalization, and community involvement are intertwined,” said Andrew Buchanan, Vice President of Whallonsburg Grange Hall. “It is an example for rural New York and beyond.”

Steven Engelhart exemplifies the best qualities of a preservationist. He has been the most influential preservation advocate in New York’s Adirondack region in recent decades. With over 40 years of experience in the field of historic preservation, Steven has become a leading voice in preservation efforts throughout this underserved region and a readily identifiable leader in saving its treasured places.

A 2021 Preserve York grantee is restoring their historic bakery to help connect across cultures, with a focus on immigrant stories and fresh baked rolls.

For Pride Month, we hosted a panel to talk about the importance of preserving LGBTQ+ history.

A look at the recently restored Arthur’s 1795 in Schenectady, a neighborhood coffee shop and market with deep roots in the community.

As one of the League’s first events of 2021, our Excelsior Society was honored to welcome A’Lelia Bundles and Julie Seely to speak about their work in sharing the stories of their families and preserving their historic family homes.

The restoration of Dr. Ferguson’s Office on Culvert Street in Glens Falls was a labor of love for Darren and Lisa Tracy — it’s also one of this year’s Excellence in Historic Preservation Award winners. In this guest blog post, Darren recounts how he first became aware of the threat to this National Register-listed building and the process of bringing it back to life.

We reached out to River House Project Co-founder Melissa Auf der Maur to ask a few questions about that Award-winning project.

We’re closing out our Seven to Save spotlight on SANS with a roundup of content, including recommended reading and media coverage to help paint a more complete picture of this special place.

A 19,000 square-foot schoolhouse with Catskill Mountain and Hudson River views sat vacant and neglected for decades in the city of Hudson, NY. Built in 1903, it functioned as an elementary school until the 1960s, before a short-lived stint as a textile assembly site. Now, after years of meticulous restoration, it has been transformed into an anchor for the creative community.

During the Rapp Road community's 60th Family Reunion Weekend, members of the Rapp Road Historical Association unveiled a sign noting the significance of their neighborhood.