Since 1986, the Historic Preservation Education Foundation has been a leader in providing education opportunities and materials for the historic preservation community. We have hosted and sponsored over 40 conferences, workshops, publications, and tours with local, national, and international partners. 

OUR MISSION

The Historic Preservation Education Foundation enhances public awareness and understanding of historic buildings and sites and encourages their appropriate preservation.

Below are some highlights of HPEF’s past and present initiatives.

Preserving the Recent Past 3

With the March 2019 Preserving the Recent Past 3 conference in Los Angeles, HPEF continued its leadership in developing programs for conserving post-World War II architecture. Original organizers of PRP (1995) and PRP2 (2000), HPEF and the National Park Service, partnered with conference host the University of Southern California School of Architecture/Heritage Conservation Program and Closing Plenary host the Getty Conservation Institute for three days of presentations, workshops and tours.

Partners in Training

Established in 2014, HPEF's Partners in Training program has provided essential funding to projects based in the United States that offer training opportunities on technical topics associated with preservation technology.

Documenting Modern Architecture Project

In 2013 HPEF initiated a project with the dual purpose of increasing the representation of modern architecture in the Historic American Buildings Survey and provide preservation students with training in HABS-level documentation. Measured drawings and a narrative history of the Charles and Ray Eames House in Pacific Palisades, California have been accepted by HABS and the Library of Congress. A second Modern Documentation Project in 2016 produced measured drawings of the Schweikher-Langsdorf House in Schaumburg, Illinois.

12th International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone

HPEF co-sponsored the 12th International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone in New York City in October 2012 . More than 300 conservationists, material scientists, and scholars from 30 different countries in North and South America, Europe, North Africa, and Asia attended. A fund established in honor of Norman Weiss’s thirty-five years of teaching in the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University provided twenty-two scholarships to help students traveling to the conference. 

SELECt Chronological List of HPEF Activities

2019

• Principal Sponsor, Preserving the Recent Past 3 Conference, Los Angeles, California

• Principal Sponsor, Historic Tax Credits for Rehabilitation: Challenges in Developing Mid-Twentieth Century Buildings Conference, Los Angeles, California

2018

• Expanded AIA Continuing Education NPS Preservation Briefs Program

• Partners in Training Sponsor, Docomomo US – ISC-T Concrete Technology Seminar Publication

• Partners in Training Sponsor, US/ICOMOS, Symposium: Smarter Together: Activating Shared Cultural and Natural Heritage Conservation Practices, San Francisco, California

• Partners in Training Sponsor, APT Building Technology Heritage Library, Association for Preservation Technology

• Partners in Training Sponsor, “Greening Measures for Hawaii’s Heritage Homes” Workshop Series, Historic Hawaii Foundation, Honolulu, Hawaii

2017

• Partners in Training Sponsor, Windows to the Future: Hands-on Restoration Training for a Young Audience, Montana Preservation Alliance, Helena Montana

• Partners in Training Sponsor, New Technologies for Historic Preservation of Earthen Structures in the State of New Mexico Workshop, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

2016

• Documenting Modern Architecture Project: Paul Schweikher House, Schaumburg, Illinois

• Partners in Training Sponsor, Training Enjarradores, Cornerstones Community Partnerships, Galisteo, New Mexico

• Partners in Training Sponsor, Approaching Water: A Symposium on Strategies for Adapting Historic Buildings to Coastal Flooding, Galveston Historical Foundation, Galveston, Texas

2015

• Partners in Training Sponsor, OSCAR, the Online Sustainable Conservation Assistance Resource an online energy-efficiency and sustainability decision-making tool, Association for Preservation Technology

• Partners in Training Sponsor, Traditional Millwork Conference, Historic Ithaca, Ithaca, New York

2014

• Documenting Modern Architecture Project: Eames House, Pacific Palisades, California

• Partners in Training Sponsor, Adobe Preservation Workshop, Lamar Community College and HistoriCorps, Otero County, Colorado

• Partners in Training Sponsor, AIA Historic Resources Committee Masonry Cleaning Symposium at Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona

2013

• Sponsor, APT-PTN Preservation Craft Skills Summit, Washington, DC

• Sponsor, Preserving Religious Properties: A Practical Workshop for Caretakers of Older Churches and Synagogues, New Bedford, Massachusetts

• Lee H. Nelson Papers Annotated Bibliography Project

• Carpenter Rule and Price Book Web Feature

• Initiated AIA Continuing Education NPS Preservation Briefs Program

2012

• 12th International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, New York, New York

• Sponsor, APT Building Technology Heritage Library

2011

• Symposium on the Restoration of Cast and Wrought Iron, New York, New York

• Sponsor, APT Building Technology Heritage Library

2006

• Tax Incentives Workshop, Georgia

• Preserve and Play Conference Proceedings

2005

• Preserve and Play Conference, Chicago, Illinois

2004

• Special issue of APT Bulletin with Codes Conference papers

• Building Codes and Historic Rehabilitation Conference, San Francisco, California

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, Boston, Massachusetts

2003

• Building Codes and Historic Rehabilitation Conference, Washington, DC

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, Miami, Florida

2002

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, New Orleans, Louisiana

2001

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, Chicago, Illinois

2000

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, New York, New York

• Preserving the Recent Past 2 Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Preserving the Recent Past 2 Conference Proceedings

• Curtain Wall Symposium plus workshops

1999

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, Washington, DC

• Roofing Conference and Exposition for Historic Buildings, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Roofing Handbook for Historic Buildings

1998

• Historic Window Exhibit, Albany, New York

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, San Francisco, California

1997

• Window Rehabilitation Guide for Historic Buildings

• Historic Window Exhibit, Washington, DC

• Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties, Washington, DC

1996

• Window Conference & Expositions for Historic Buildings II, Washington, DC

1995

• Preserving the Recent Past Conference, Chicago, Illinois

• Curtain Wall Symposium, Chicago, Illinois

• Preserving the Recent Past Conference Proceedings

1990s

• Windows Through Time Exhibit, Washington, DC

• Historic Window Workshop, Washington, DC

• National Historic Landmarks Stewards Conferences (successive years)

• Windows Through Time Exhibit, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Historic Window Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1993

• Interior Conference and Exposition for Historic Buildings II, Washington, DC

• Interiors Handbook for Historic Buildings II

• Historic Interiors Workshops, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Care of the Historic Site Workshop Series, Atlanta, Georgia; Bethel, Maine; and Austin, Texas

1992

• White House Stone Carvers lecture series, Washington, DC

• Historic Masonry Symposium, New York, New York

• Special issue of APT Bulletin with masonry symposium papers

1980s

• Windows Through Time Exhibit, New York, New York

• Window Workshop, New York, New York

1989

• Interiors Handbook for Historic Buildings

• Historic Interior Workshops, Washington, DC

1988

• Interior Conference & Exposition for Historic Buildings, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1987

• Preservation Challenges Conference, Washington, DC

1986

• Secretary of the Interior’s Standards Symposium, Washington, DC

• Window Conference and Exposition for Historic Building, Boston, Massachusetts

• Window Workbook for Historic Buildings