The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, is announcing that May is National Historic Preservation Month. The theme for 2008 is This Place Matters.
The SHPO has compiled a list of things to do to celebrate historic preservation in communities throughout the Mountain State. Interested participants can visit a historic site or museum in their area. There are more than 20,000 historic resources listed in the National Register of Historic Places and they can be accessed at the SHPO’s website at www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/nr.html.
Other activities include visiting a local historical society and library to learn more about the history of your hometown; volunteering with a local historic preservation group to help restore and rehabilitate a nearby historic site; conducting a walking tour through a historic district; and hosting a historic block party or period fashion show.
Participants also can hold a photograph or architectural trivia contest; exhibit “then and now” photos in a public space such as a school, library or storefront; host an open house in a historic building; hold an art or coloring contest for children dedicated to historic preservation; or conduct and record oral history interviews with longtime residents of your community.
For more information about National Historic Preservation Month, contact Bryan Ward, planning and education coordinator for the SHPO, at (304) 558-0240, ext. 723.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Cultural Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Cultural Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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