Also In This Issue FROM THE EDITOR

Every May, with the National Trust leading the way, preservation groups, historical societies, and related businesses celebrate our country’s diverse and unique heritage with National Preservation Month. At a national level, the hoopla is often reserved for civic projects, for Main Street revitalization, for Congressional help with tax relief. Individual homeowners deserve a huge chunk of credit, however: It is the long-term, ongoing, privately financed rescue of millions of houses over many, many decades that preserves buildings, neighborhoods, and towns.

Since its first issue in 1973, OHJ’s coverage of DIY conservation and repair, historical design, and period-inspired interiors has fostered a steady but unrelenting praise of old houses—as embodied energy, as a tangible record of the past, and as an opportunity to live with history and maintain the local sense of place.

The need to spread the word never ends. In May, we step up coverage through social media and exclusive web content, with the participation of our like-minded sponsors: Abatron, Crown Point Cabinetry, Indow, Preservation Products, and Vintage Doors.

Walk around historic districts and tour house museums, stay at a historic hotel! Find out what’s happening in your own town and through your State Historic Preservation Office. Learn about the Trust at savingplaces.org

Long-time OHJ reader Dan Miller is also an indefatigable champion and hands-on participant in the preservation of Elgin, Illinois. Here’s something he passed along: “If we feel we have the right to do whatever we want with something that has been there before us and will be there long after we’re gone, we can do irreparable damage to our tangible history. We are not the owners of anything, we are temporary stewards. Historic preservation in our communities is a sort of insurance policy against the ownership mindset.”