Historic Real Estate: Market Morality and the Politics of Preservation in the Early United States

In her book Historic Real Estate: Market Morality and the Politics of Preservation in the Early United States, Dr. Whitney Martinko takes a look at how historic preservation played out following the Revolutionary War. She discusses the ways in which people debated whether and what to save of their built environment, and how preservation balanced (or tried to) the relationship between the public good and private profit.

Many historians point to the establishment of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association (MVLA) and their campaign to save George Washington’s home as the start of the historic preservation movement in the United States. This book upends that notion, contextualizing the work of the MVLA is being a direct continuation of efforts and conversations that had been happening for decades prior to their work in the 1850s. Examples range from commercial storefronts whose owners touted the location’s connection to the past as a way to sell more goods to the demolition and subsequent rebuilding of family homes.

One particularly interesting example is the establishment Marietta, Ohio in the late 1700s. The town plan was designed around ancient Indigenous earthworks, which the town founder called out as relics of antiquity and were set to remain as monuments of the past. A claim is being made that they are working for the public good by saving and protecting these earthworks. But they are also using this as a selling point — a way to lure residents and sell more plots, thereby gaining more money and political power. Because while some of these mounds were saved, others were leveled, and in both cases native lands are being appropriated. As moderator Sarah Marsom pointed out during their conversation following Whitney’s presentation, the issues being brought up in this example from the 1780s is a mirror image of conversations happening today as these same Ohio earthworks are being nominated to become UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Historic Real Estate makes it clear that preservation has been a part of the American conversation from the very beginning — and the field has been evolving and experimenting constantly along the way.

Dr. Whitney Martinko is an associate professor of History at Villanova University, where she teaches about the early United States, environmental and urban history, material culture, and public history. She earned her AB in History from Harvard College and her MA and PhD in History from the University of Virginia. She co-hosts "The Professor and the Practitioner" series on the PreserveCast podcast with Nicholas Redding. You can learn more about her and her work at www.whitneymartinko.com.

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This author talk was presented in partnership with our colleagues at Preservation Pennsylvania. Thank you to our sponsors, the Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust.