SAMPLE DOCUMENT Type of Document: Preservation Policies Museum Name: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Date: unknown Type: Historic Site/Landscape Budget Size: Over $25 million Budget Year: 2006 Governance Type: Private, Nonprofit Organization Accredited: Yes Notes on strengths or special features: The document addresses the following issues: Preservation of: Objects Structures Landscapes Philosophy Priorities Roles & Responsibilities Preventive Care Security Conservation/Preservation Treatment Access Exhibition Loans Documentation Definitions Other: Research USE STATEMENT & COPYRIGHT NOTICE The AAM Information Center has provided this sample document. It serves as an example of how one museum addresses a particular issue. Museums should compose original materials based on their unique circumstances. Any document produced by the recipient should not substantially use the contents of this sample as the basis. Materials in the AAM Information Center are provided "as is," without any guarantee or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. NOTICE CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS Under certain conditions specified in the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), libraries and archives may furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. The photocopy or reproduction may not be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION Guidelines for Architectural and Landscape Preservation Colonial Williamsburg has been a leader in the historic preservation movement in the United States from its beginning. However, its activities differ from those of the current mainstream of preservation practice in that the Foundation s primary goal is educational-- to teach about eighteenth-century life in all its aspects. These guidelines address the preservation and enhancement of the environment in which this history is taught. The town of Williamsburg, including its structures, fences, street furniture, landscaping, paving, etc., is the backdrop for teaching, but is also an important statement in and of itself. Its buildings and their surroundings not only serve as a proper setting, but are themselves significant artifacts and teaching tools. As such, it is important to refine and augment the townscape of eighteenth-century Williamsburg as authentically as possible through the continued reconstruction of eighteenth-century structures on their original sites and reevaluation of extant reconstructions and restorations as new documentation is uncovered. I. PREVIOUS PRACTICE, ARCHITECTURAL PRESERVATION In 1928, the Advisory Committee of Architects met and passed twenty resolutions to guide the restoration of Williamsburg, which William G. Perry then condensed into ten guiding principles that governed the original restoration of Williamsburg. They were: 1. That all buildings or parts of buildings in which Colonial Tradition persists should be retained irrespective of their actual date. 2. That where the Classic Tradition persists in buildings or parts of buildings great discretion should be exercised before destroying them. 3. That within the Restoration Area all work which no longer represents Colonial or Classical tradition should be demolished or removed. 4. That old buildings in Williamsburg outside the Restoration Area wherever possible should be left and if possible preserved on their original sites and restored there rather than moved within the Area. 5. That no surviving old work should be rebuilt for structural reasons if any reasonable additional trouble and expense will suffice to preserve it. 6. That there should be held in the mid of the architects and in the marking of buildings the distinction between preservation where the object is scrupulous retention of the surviving work by ordinary repair, and restoration where the
object is the recovery of the old form by new work; and that the largest practicable number of buildings should be preserved rather than restored. 7. That such preservation and restoration work requires a slower pace than ordinary modern construction work and that in our opinion a superior result should be preferred to more rapid progress. 8. That in restoration the use of old materials and details of the period and character, properly marked, is commendable when they can be secured. 9. That in securing of old materials there should be no demolition or removal of buildings where there seems a reasonable prospect that they will persist intact on their original sites. 10. That where new materials must be used, they should be of a character approximating the old as closely as possible, but that no attempt should be made to antique them by theatrical means. These became known as the Decalogue and governed the Restoration for sixty-two years. Although there has been some straying from time to time, they have generally been followed. Today, however, some of these principles are no longer relevant. II. CURRENT PRESERVATION GUIDELINES, HISTORIC AREA BUILDINGS The following broad guidelines are adopted to assist future generations in their mission to preserve the Historic Area: 1. That all structures within the Historic Area shall be maintained and preserved to the fullest degree possible. No architectural change shall be made in an Historic Area building unless the evidence supporting the change, when due consideration is given to research, expense, and interpretive program, is deemed to justify significant architectural alterations. The new evidence must be of the following order of magnitude: A. discovery of original documentation whose authenticity is convincing and whose information is specific and unambiguous. B. as assessment of cumulative evidence which in pattern and volume leads to an authoritatively consensual view regarding the most probable expression of the architectural features in question. C. a reevaluation of the original evidence with minor or modest additions from current scholarship which depends on a carefully integrated deductive line of argument to arrive at an alternative conclusion. 2
D. there appears a single piece of evidence, or architectural judgment, which so contradicts the use of the features in question that the appropriateness of its use must be denied. 2. The interpretation of an Historic Area structure should always reflect the current knowledge we have of the building and its features. In the event that current research clearly reveals some past feature as no longer supportable, we are obligated to take that face into account in the interpretation offered the public. 3. That structures important to the recreation of the Historic environment shall be preserved, restored and/or reconstructed through thorough and intensive scholarly research, with a minimum of conjecture. 4. That where feasible, features of the eighteenth-century urban landscape of Williamsburg, including streets, gardens and topography, greens, fences, and other physical evidence of life in the capital, shall be preserved. 5. That no structure shall be erected in the Historic Area for which no physical evidence exists, except where research strongly suggests that such structure might typically have existed on that site in the eighteenth century and enough evidence exists for an historically-acceptable design. Amenities necessary for visitors comfort (such as trash receptacles, water fountains, etc.) shall be kept as unobtrusive as possible. 6. That old buildings on Colonial Williamsburg property within and without the Historic Area shall, whenever possible, be left and preserved on their original sites, that no surviving old work shall be rebuilt for any reason if additional trouble and expense will suffice to preserve it, and that every effort shall be made to protect the historical integrity of all structures. 7. That it shall be understood that reconstruction and restoration work requires a slower pace than ordinary modern construction work and that a superior result should be preferred to more rapid progress. 8. That the Foundation shall not encourage the demolition of old buildings for the securing of old materials. Old materials shall be used only where new materials will not suffice, such as patching original floors, and these materials shall not be removed from a standing structure. 9. That where new materials are used, they shall be of a character approximating the old techniques as closely as possible. When new material is installed in original buildings, it shall have the year it was installed inscribed on an unexposed surface. 3
10. That post-colonial buildings not owned by Colonial Williamsburg within the Historic Area are, by their very nature, representatives of their periods. At such time that any of these buildings come into the possession of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a determination shall be made regarding the value of their contribution to the streetscape. 11. That all reconstructions, restorations and changes, to both buildings and sites, shall be documented with drawings, photographs and written accounts and that all architectural conservation activities shall also be recorded. III. CURRENT PRESERVATION GUIDELINES FOR BUILDINGS OUTSIDE THE HISTORIC AREA. 1. The preservation practices that apply to eighteenth century structures inside the Historic Area shall apply to eighteenth century structures outside the Historic Area. A high level of maintenance shall be performed to avoid deterioration of these buildings, and special consideration shall be given to preserving early fabric. 2. Preservation practices applicable to non-eighteenth century structures outside the Historic Area shall depend upon each structure s architectural significance, historical significance, and contextual contribution to the neighborhood. The Foundation Architect shall be included in the process of determining each structure s value. However, cost/benefit analyses may be of greater importance in making decisions about those structures deemed not of special value for architectural, historical, or contextual reasons. 3. All structures shall be documented prior to demolition, the extend of documentation to be based on the importance of the structure. 4. Where a well-defined, desirable neighborhood character exists, consideration shall be given to retaining and enhancing that character through a combination of preservation and compatible new construction, balanced against the economic viability of the established pattern and the needs of the community at large. IV. CURRENT LANDSCAPE GUIDELINES FOR THE HISTORIC AREA 1. All present landscape features, including garden layouts and physical elements contained therein, will be retained as originally designed by the Foundation s landscape architects, unless more authentic interpretation of the site is undertaken. 2. When additional research leads to original documentation, cumulative evidence in pattern and volume, or other positive evidence of a convincing character concerning lost landscape or garden features, recreation of those features will be considered on a site-by-site basis. In all such cases, before any changes or revisions are made, all existing site conditions and features must be 4
photographically and graphically recorded for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives. 3. Only those plants native to tidewater Virginia and those plants known to have been available to and/or planted by the colonists in the eighteenth century will be used in the gardens. These plants will be grown according to cultural practices known to have been in use in the eighteenth century. Where the original plantings of a recreated garden have since become seriously threatened by disease or other natural disaster, replacements may be made using different plants in accordance with these guidelines. 4. Landscape plant material, having a transitory and evolutionary cycle according to its genus and/or species, will be replaced individually as each specimen visibly enters decline, so that the total garden or site in question will evolve naturally never having all of its planting components completely new or old. 5. As additional buildings or sites are reconstructed, or where extant gardens are redesigned for interpretive purposes, landscape and site development will derive from study of all available research materials, and will recreate all known features as closely as possible to currently-accepted ideas about eighteenth-century appearances. Where hypothetical landscapes are developed, features should reflect known socio-economic circumstances associated with the occupants of that site at the period in which it is being interpreted and be based on comparable eighteenth-century precedents in the tidewater area. 5