The National Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to announce the ten recipients of this year’s National Preservation Awards (winners are bullet-pointed below). The National Preservation Awards include several of the industry’s highest honors, highlighting distinguished individuals, nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and corporations that give new meaning to their communities through skillful and determined preservation work.

A formal awards ceremony, with video presentations about each winner, will take place on the morning of Monday, October 28 to kick off the start of the 2024 PastForward Conference, held this year in New Orleans from October 28-30.
“In our continued effort to celebrate the power of place, we gather at this PastForward Conference to honor some of the most effective leaders in the field of preservation,” said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Whether preserving and honoring African American burial grounds, or repurposing a former newspaper headquarters into a thriving downtown center, the efforts of our 2024 awardees have activated meaningful sites to serve the public good.”

This year’s awards program traces its roots back more than six decades. The National Trust for Historic Preservation first established its marquee Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award in 1960 to focus public attention on superlative achievements and to create incentives for preservation. That honor has expanded over the decades into the National Preservation Awards, which are now bestowed annually in six categories. The awards program has since 2012 included a sub-set of honors named for the late preservationist Richard H. Driehaus, and the eponymous Driehaus Foundation.

“We are excited and proud to support the National Trust for Historic Preservation in celebrating the organizations and people that have gone above-and-beyond to preserve the places most special to our communities,” said Anne Lazar, executive director of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. “The three winners this year showcase how preservation can harmonize with change and adaptation to both honor the compelling history of the sites and push for a more inclusive present use.”

The 2024 National Preservation Awards recipients include: 

Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award: Thomas K. Butt (Richmond, CA). For over 50 years, Tom Butt, the founding principal and president of Interactive Resources, has made a significant national impact on historic preservation through his work as a legislator, mayor, architect, author, volunteer, developer, and activist. His pioneering success in lighthouse preservation became the basis for a new nationwide Coast Guard policy. For his role in founding Rosie the Riveter Trust, the nonprofit partner of Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Park, Butt brought national recognition to American WWII workers, significantly including women and minorities. He transformed Richmond from a town in decline with no preservation agenda, to a recognized national leader in preservation that has revitalized the city. 

President’s Award: Camille & Duncan Strachan (New Orleans, LA). For more than 50 years, Camille and Duncan Strachan have been tireless advocates for the preservation of New Orleans' culture, architecture, livability, and diversity. Their activism has shaped national programs and policies that further investment in historic properties and bring equity to underserved communities. Through the years, they executed proactive and defensive neighborhood tactics to fight demolitions, renavigate "urban clearing," interstate plans, and pioneer the revolving fund model in New Orleans. They were also crucial partners through their contributions as National Trust representatives following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Camille's work as a founding member of the National Trust Community Investment Corporation, and role as the ground person for the 2024 PastForward conference, is a testament to her lifelong passion for preservation. The President's Award has been given out four times prior to this year and is only bestowed on rare occasions at the discretion of the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award: Journal Square Block (Milwaukee, WI). The Milwaukee Journal newspaper complex in the center of Milwaukee's downtown has been transformed through community-centered development that honors the historic buildings, their former use, and original elements. Three buildings now serve a new purpose through an "educational eco-system" featuring 141 accessible apartments for a young workforce, the first student housing for the nearby technical college, and a high school that bridges the gap between K-12 and post-secondary learning. 

Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award: Hinchliffe Stadium (Paterson, NJ). Hinchliffe Stadium is one of two remaining Negro League ballparks that has faced multiple threats against its preservation. Through an overall $100 million redevelopment project within the Great Falls National Historic Park, the stadium was revitalized using multiple sources of funding to not only preserve the site, but also transform it into a vibrant community space and economic driver. 
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award: Barton Academy of Advanced World Studies (Mobile, AL). The Barton Academy Foundation, Mobile County Public Schools, and Downtown Mobile Alliance came together to accomplish the renovation of Barton Academy with three key goals. They were to rehabilitate the oldest public school building in Alabama into a world-class school; to open its doors to students of all races for the first time in its history; and to spur redevelopment. Achieving this took a ten-year odyssey of planning and fundraising to reap huge community dividends. 

Emerging Leaders Award: Dolly Marshall (Lawnside, NJ). Dolly Marshall is a historian and preservationist committed to interpreting hidden African American history through education, community engagement, and partnerships across the State of New Jersey and nationally. Through her leadership to restore Mount Peace Cemetery, a place where African Americans in 1900 could be buried with dignity as they were not allowed in Whites-only cemeteries, Dolly has uncovered important untold stories, including its connection to the Underground Railroad, as well as the location of her own ancestors. She currently serves as the historic preservation specialist for the city of Camden, NJ. 

NTHP / ACHP Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation: Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument Designations (Chicago, IL and Sumner, MS and Glendora, MS). In 2020, the Till Institute and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) formed a coalition to lead a Till National Park Campaign featuring Roberts Temple (Chicago, IL), the Tallahatchie County Courthouse (Sumner, MS), and Graball Landing (Glendora, MS). Secretary Deb Haaland visited both sites in 2022 and was moved to action. Working closely with the Department of Interior, the Till Institute and ETIC supported the designation of the Till National Monument on July 25, 2023 to preserve these sites in perpetuity. The monument is also an important educational resource that engages visitors with a pivotal chapter of American history. 

Trustees’ Award for Organizational Excellence: Historic Columbia (Columbia, SC). Historic Columbia is a private, non-profit preservation advocacy organization founded in 1961. Since then, it has evolved into a community leader with world-class facilities and programming. Through strategic partnerships, they engage previously underrepresented people and communities in preservation initiatives that range from bricks-and-mortar rehabilitation and restoration, to the recording of lost buildings and people. In addition to stewarding five historic sites, Historic Columbia has successfully submitted the Columbia Historic Commercial District and Melrose Heights-Fairview-Oaklawn district in the National Register, and established the Columbia Jewish Heritage Initiative, the LGBTQ Columbia History Initiative, and the Columbia City of Women Initiative. Its commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in its Board of Trustees; seven of the fifteen members are persons of color, and eight identify as women. Historic Columbia's membership has grown from 400 in 2004 to more than 900 today. 

Trustees’ Emeritus Award for Historic Site Stewardship: Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (Birmingham, AL). Sixteenth Street Baptist Church has successfully restored its buildings and become a shining example of preservation, cultural revitalization, and social activism. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the church served as the organizational headquarters, site of mass meetings, and rallying point for African Americans protesting widespread institutionalized racism in Birmingham, Alabama. The Ku Klux Klan bombing of the church in 1963 was followed by President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law. Today, the church remains committed to serving the community, as well as the more than 100,000 tourists who visit annually to tour the redesigned educational spaces and multi-media museum experiences that focus not only on the bombing and its aftermath, but also on the aesthetic significance of the church's design by African American architect W. A. Rayfield. 

John H. Chafee Trustees’ Award for Excellence in Public Policy: Former U.S. Senator
Patrick Leahy(Montpelier, VT). Patrick Leahy served as a U.S. Senator from Vermont from 1975 to 2023, making him one of the longest-serving senators in American history. Throughout his career, Senator Leahy has been a profound and vocal advocate for historic preservation, recognizing the value of protecting America's cultural and historical heritage. His impact on historic preservation is particularly highlighted by his fiscal support of the Historic Preservation Fund while chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and his efforts to rename a national grant program in honor of the late Vermonter Paul Bruhn. This grant program provides crucial funding for the rehabilitation of historic properties in small, rural communities. By securing the highest funding level ever for the program at $7.5 million in fiscal year 2020, Leahy demonstrated his commitment to preserving the past as a wise investment in the future.

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