Historic Preservation: Curatorial Management of the Built World Book

I am soon embarking on a journey to obtain a Master's degree in Historic Preservation and thoutght before I begin my program that I should read up on various aspects of historic preservation. James M. Fitch tamed my curiousity as well as taught me a great deal about what historic preservation entails.

What I found was escpecially interesting was Fitch's capability to identify the different historic preservation tasks in different countires. One of the main differences is the types of architecture. For example, the United States east coast incorporated mason work into all the buildings.This is exhibited in Independence Hall, George Washington's home in Williamsburg Virginia, and but not limited to museums, schools, and libraries.

Another intersting point that Fitch brought up was the process of preservign the Sweedish navel vessel Vasa. A state of the art war ship commissioned in the 17th century for Gustavus Aldophus's war in the Baltic. It sunk soon after it departed from harbor. It was rasided in the 60's as that was the time certain chemicals and technology was available that would allow for the presevation of the ship.

Fitch also shedded some light on the environmental road blocks that arise from preserving something. Environmental roadblocks in this book encompass the use of chemicals both ones that preserve and ones that deteriorate, industrial and private waste and the steps to dispose of it so as to not effect the preserved building in the future. He outlines these issues succintly and provides relevant responses to all preservation issues.


It was an interesting beginning book for me into the field of historic preservation. I enjoyed the countless issues that accompany historic preservation, money being the most important and on a lesser scale, how to save something from the elements. Increasingly, the answer to this question is to construct a museum around it. That was the response from museums worldwide as a section of a house or specific room was salvaged and displayed.

A good read for the preservationist if they want to understand the curatoral management of the built world. It alludes to the issues with the city of Venice and the detioration of the Sistine Chapel because of countless visitors that bring in body heat beacuse it is a confined area as well as dust and or dirt particles. Just one of the many components of historic preservation.