Celebrating Historic

Preservation 2023!

IIn May 1973, Richard Nixon was the U.S. President, the oil crisis was big news, as were the lines at gas pumps, and Diana Ross released her single “Touch Me in the Morning.”  For historic preservationists, May 1973 was also a landmark month since it marked the first National Historic Preservation Week. Supported by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a joint congressional resolution was introduced by Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D-Washington), chairman of the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, to designate the week of May 6-12, 1973, as National Preservation Week. The resolution was signed into law by President Nixon on May 5, 1973. Between 1973 and 2004 the week was celebrated annually. But, a week was just not long enough to squeeze in all the activities that supported historic preservation events. So, in 2005, National Preservation Week was expanded to last the entire month!

MHPN is celebrating Historic Preservation Month with our annual conference – this year on Mackinac Island from May 11-13 (walk-in and bike-in registration opens May 11 - tours or meals cannot be guaranteed). But there is so much more to do to celebrate historic preservation and many activities are opportunities for collaboration. Near the end of the month, on May 25, for example, our monthly webinar celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month that recognizes the contribution of this community to the history and culture of the United States. The webinar will be “Preserving Yamasaki’s Architecture,” presented by Dale Allen Gyure, PhD. Dr. Gyure is the interim chair of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University, board member of Docomomo US/Michigan, and the author of Minoru Yamasaki: Humanist Architecture for a Modernist World (Yale University Press, 2017).

And please check out the Calendar at the end of this newsletter for some of the preservation month activities. Nothing catch your eye? Contact your local historical society, historic district commission, or museum, to see what they may be doing! If you find activities please share them on our interactive Facebook page, Historic Preservation in Michigan or email the information to Elaine Robinson who will add them to all the MHPN social media channels.

News from Michigan SHPO