The Historian as Preservationist: A Missouri Case Study

Abstract

ONE OF the very important trends of public history has been the increased interest of historians in buildings as silent testimonials of our cultural past. Members of our profession are discovering, as a past president of the Southern Historical Association noted not long ago, that Americans can become excited about and interested in tangible artifacts such as buildings and that historians can use the skills peculiar to their training to nurture that excitement and interest.' Americans may not turn out in large numbers to hear eloquent lectures or wait in long lines to buy the latest monographs, but they will wage war against those who threaten to destroy buildings that tie them to their past. Equally important, they are receptive to learning more about that past, if the lessons of history can be told around the central figures who have used the buildings they seek to preserve. And, after all, illuminating the past is our avowed goal. It was our desire to find an alternative way to illuminate the past that prompted us to begin the Lincoln University Black Historic Sites Project in 1978. We began with a grant from the Mis-