Preservation

“ Let us determine that what we do leave shall be as well pre- served as the remains of the trilobites of fifty million years ago, and that our mode of preservation shall contain less of accident and more of thoughtful design. Looking forward, can we see this as a portion of our duty to the future? If we can, let us set about the fulfilment of our duty, as becomes true Americans. ”

“ Their preservation—which involves their assemblage in one place for the sake of accessibility and of comparison with each other and with books—is a momentous trust, neglect of which would strike a heavy blow at historical, archæological, and sociological research, and inflict a grievous injury upon the ages to come. ”

“ And unless the few treasures that yet remain, in a state of more or less perfect preservation, be gathered and saved, they will before long disappear completely, and with them the last traces of the high civilization, the artistic and scientific culture attained by the architects and other artists that worked and raised them, under the protection of enlightened potentates, lovers of all that was grand, and of everything that could glorify their country. ”

“ Those structures which have resisted the effects of time and remain entire, owe their preservation, in many instances, to their remote distance from the haunts of man, or to that superstition which has in after ages paralyzed the hand of wanton destruction. ”

“ Others permitted their lands to lie waste, and their homes to decay; or betook themselves in hasty flight to the shelter of rocks and caverns, as if the temples of nature were destined to preservation amidst the wreck of man and his works.—Boone. ”

“ Article 34 The State and society seek to preserve and develop the national cultural heritage; they take good care of preservation and museum work; they look after the repair and maintenance of, and seek to obtain the best effects from, historical vestiges, revolutionary relics, items of the national heritage, artistic works, and places with beautiful scenery. ”

“ Where the Commissioners of Works are of opinion that the preservation of any ancient or mediæval structure, erection, or monument, or of any remains thereof, is a matter of public interest by reason of the historic, traditional, or artistic interest attaching thereto, they may at the request of the owner consent to become the guardians thereof ”

“ Under such circumstances it is apparent how the American Continent could have become an isolated area of preservation where archaic and primitive forms of civilization, religious cult, symbolism and industries, drawn at different epochs, from various, more or less important centres or from the outposts of Old World culture, would be handed down, transformed through the active and increasing influence of the native elements. ”

“ At first the preservation of the gens, the tribe, the protection and service of the village community, the handing on of tradition and folk-lore, until, with conquest and extension and consolidation into a nation, settled industries, and religious faith and ritual, the desire arises to clothe the mythical and spiritual 353 ideas of a people in permanent monumental form and colour. ”

“ Still, the sentiment that leads to the preservation and embellishment of an ancestral mansion, especially in these times, when the fashion is that "all things should be made new," seems to me to possess great filial as well as moral beauty. ”

“ I viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these beings training to be sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity throughout the whole of Nature. ”

“ Loss of the essential evidence of our heritage in the name of progress continues to occur. However, the counteracting effect of the historic preservation effort is increasingly evident and effective in both the public and private sector. National Historic Preservation Week offers a timely opportunity to illustrate what has been done and what can be accomplished in the future to carry out our national resolve to preserve this heritage. ”

“ Second, the process of " survival in culture " has caused the preservation in each stage of society of phenomena belonging to an earlier period, but kept up by force of custom into the later, thus supplying evidence of the modern condition being derived from the ancient. ”

“ More real good might at present be effected by any wealthy person who would devote his resources to the preservation of such monuments wherever they exist, by freehold purchase of the entire ruin, and afterwards by taking proper charge of it, and forming a garden round it, than by any other mode of protecting or encouraging art. ”

“ To procure careful observation and preservation of antiquities discovered in the progress of works, such as Railways, Foundations of Buildings, &c.
3. To encourage individuals or public bodies in making researches and excavations, and afford them suggestions and co-operation. ”

“ The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; ”

“ This axiom, in my humble opinion, translates better the decline and disappearance of some nations that figured in antiquity than any explanation given by the modern philosophy for the fact; and forethought advises to profit by the practical lesson contained within it, preserving our natural resources in order not to sacrifice to a temporary greatness the best means of preserving life, which means are represented by the forest. ”

“ Such uses of our historic man-made resources reflect our commitment to the enrichment of present and future generations of Americans, to preserve our historic past and to assure its enhancement and appreciation and to thus significantly contribute to the revitalization of rural, community and urban development. ”

“ Americans history lives throughout the Nation by the surviving examples of our man-made heritage-not only along the streets of our cities and towns but also in our rural areas. An indispensable element of the strength, the freedom and the constructive world leadership of this Nation is the knowledge and appreciation of our history, of who we are, where we are, and how we arrived here. ”

“ But of what do our fleets and armies, nay, the 50whole human species consist, but of individuals? To preserve, therefore, individuals, is virtually to preserve and perpetuate the species, and consequently to obey the dictates of nature, in completing the grand system of the creation. ”

“ The whole is depicted and for the time preserved in bronze and granite; and as generations of the future stand before this consecrated record, it will extort thoughts of the pioneer—his pleasures and his sufferings—with venerated admiration for those whose lives marked out the pathway of our civilization.
Every nation, every country, and every town has historic trees. They are not without influence on the destiny of individuals, societies, and nations. They are objects of reverence—works of time—homes of generations—and the manifest wisdom of creation. ”

“ At this stage in the history of earth's conservation, when so much is waiting to be done, if each family, each village and town, each city state and nation will do its bit to conserve, plan, shape, utilize, beautify, improve what remains of the natural environment, the results will be impressive enough to justify the time and means devoted to the enterprise. ”

“ We are certain, from numerous figures and expressions of the ancients, that they judged the conservation, and in some degree the renovation, of natural bodies to be no desperate or impossible thing, but rather abstruse and out of the common road than wholly impracticable. ”

“ The conservation of historic buildings, whenever possible, the planting of trees along our streets, the laying out of gardens, the insistence upon a proportional amount of air and open space to new buildings would go a long way towards making our bricks-and-mortar joyless wildernesses into something human and habitable. ”

“ I regard the forests as a heritage given us by Nature, not for spoil or to devastate, but to be wisely used, reverently honored, and carefully maintained, I regard the forests as a gift intrusted to any of us only for transient care during a short space of time, to be surrendered to posterity again as an unimpaired property, with the increased riches and augmented blessings, to pass, as a sacred patrimony, from generation to generation. ”

“ The intense value of such a faithful record is worthy of careful consideration by the authorities, either as a national undertaking or under the auspices of one of the learned societies, such as the Society of Antiquaries, or the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and Monuments, interested in the safeguarding of the national heritage bequeathed us by our forefathers. ”

“ We see the earth covered with ruins, with remains of the splendid edifices and works left by the finest nations whose ends we recognise as having a substantial value. Great natural objects and human works do indeed endure and defy time, but all that splendid national life has irrecoverably perished. ”

“ Conservation is a fine, rich-sounding, round word, agreeable to the ear and eye, and much more aristocratic than the word "Reform," which seems to carry with it the unpleasant suggestion of something that needs to be changed. ”

“ Clear as was the insight and sagacious the inferences of these great masters in regard to the history of the globe, their vision was necessarily limited by the comparatively narrow range of ascertained fact which up to their time had been established. They taught men to recognise that the present world is built of the ruins of an earlier one, and they explained with admirable perspicacity the operation of the processes whereby the degradation and renovation of land are brought about. ”

“ This book surveys seven thousand years of world history to show how each place where civilization developed was turned into an impoverished, scantily-inhabited semi-desert by neglecting soil conservation. Will ours' survive any better? ”

“ Buildings are being restored, plant life is being recorded, historic events are being dramatised for schoolchildren. And all of this has implications not just for our past heritage, but for our most important heritage-in-the-making: our young people. ”

“ We should not be content, however, with the beauty that comes only from the conservation of our other resources, but should have a definite plan for the conservation of beauty as a valuable resource in itself. ”

“ Once lost, they can't be replaced. That is why I proposed an historic lands legacy initiative to open the new century with an unprecedented commitment to preserving our most precious lands for all time. ”

“ These wonderful resources provide opportunities for people of all ages and from all walks of life, and from cities, suburbs, and the rural heartland, to learn about and participate in the effort to preserve the places and wildlife that contribute so much to our Nation's heritage and natural wealth. ”

“ Such to preserve, with all their winning beauties, Is surely Civilisation's first of duties,— Preserve from ravage of the rash cheap-tripper, Or wanton blade of 'Arry the cheek-chipper And nose-disfigurer, with his Poll or 'Tilder, Or wreckage of the Speculative Builder. ”

“ We put ourselves into the place and state of the builder. We remember the forest-dwellers, the first temples, the adherence to the first type, and the decoration of it as the wealth of the nation increased ”

“ They have all a regional environment of their own which determined their origin and growth. They have all a rich past, the monuments of which, generally to be found in abundance by careful, reverent inquirers, ought to be preserved ”

“ It is in these quiet, provincial places, where existence goes on in the old-fashioned, humdrum way, that people take care of their household property, and respect the sentiment that years lay up in it: they hand it down to the next generation as they received it. Little objects of common ornament, of religious or intellectual pleasure, thus preserved, throw in course of time a vivid light on human changes. ”

“ The present generation is but a trustee. Unless conservation becomes a conscious policy, rreparable waste and sacrifice of their heritage of the future s nevitable,—as witness the conditions in Spain and throughout southern Europe and southwestern Asia. ”

“ Was the earth made for to preserve a few covetous, proud men to live at ease, and for them to bag and barn up the treasures of the earth from others, that these may beg or starve in a fruitful land: or was it made to preserve all her children? ”

“ We, who pay dearly for every breath of pure, fresh air, must guard against the tendency to fetter the future. If we succeed in clearing the soil from the rubbish of the past and present, we will leave to posterity the greatest and safest heritage of all ages. ”

“ They lived in security and comfort, and were industrious and intelligent; and it is interesting to record, from the relics which the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the kind of life which they must have lived in the ages which existed before the dawn of history. ”

“ And the question of conservation is a great deal bigger than the question of saving our forests and our mineral resources and our waters; it is as big as the life and happiness and strength and elasticity and hope of our people. ”

“ Just as the skilful geologist or palæontologist can reconstruct from an inspection of the strata of a quarry the animal and vegetable life of past ages, so can the historian reconstruct out of modern forms, rites, and ceremonies, often now but very shadowy and unreal, the essential and vigorous life of society as it existed ten centuries ago. ”

“ It is well, too, that an authentic record should be preserved of the life that has been lived in our country villages year in year out for centuries before its last vestiges—and they are all that now remain—have been completely submerged in the oncoming tide of modern civilisation and progress. ”