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Framing legacy business programs for historic preservation.
Whether you work in the field or are simply interested in the topic, you may wonder how legacy business programs fit into the practice of historic preservation. Legacy businesses often fall outside the conventional preservation frameworks outlined by the National Park Service (NPS). In the book Crafting Preservation Criteria, John H. Sprinkle discusses how the early 20th-century roots of historic preservation focused on the preservation of historic sites. In the 1950s, the focus was expanded to include significant American architecture. This created the foundation for current policy and application used by the National Register of Historic Places centered on historical or architectural significance for tangible assets, such as buildings or monuments. The significance of legacy businesses could come from the building it is housed in, but given that they are often not located in historically or architecturally significant buildings, it could just as easily come from intangible assets. This means that their significance could stem from their connection to their communities, their role in shaping community character and sense of place, and their function as an anchor for cultural heritage.
Legacy businesses are more closely aligned with intangible cultural heritage, a framework for preservation introduced by UNESCO. This framework extends beyond the tangible to encompass intangible elements, such as traditions, social interactions, culture, and skills passed down through generations within a community. Legacy businesses offer generational continuity by preserving collective history and memory, fostering social interaction and tradition, and passing down skills, art, cuisine, and crafts.
Big Idea
Intangible Cultural Heritage
Intangible cultural heritage refers to the living traditions, knowledge, practices, and interactions that communities recognize as part of their cultural identity. These often include languages, oral histories, rituals, foodways, arts and crafts, music, skills and social customs. The concept of intangible cultural heritage gained international recognition in the late 20th century as scholars and policymakers realized that culture is not only embodied in buildings, monuments, and objects, but also in the everyday practices that give places meaning. The concept and definition were formally established by UNESCO as part of its work to safeguard living cultural traditions worldwide. Today, intangible cultural heritage is used in fields such as cultural policy, historic preservation, planning, and community development to value living cultures, support cultural continuity, and ensure that traditions carried by people—not just physical sites—are recognized, protected, and passed on to future generations.
Historic preservation scholars and practitioners are recognizing the importance of legacy businesses and are beginning to push the bounds of historic preservation practice in the US. New frameworks are emerging in the field, such as people-centered preservation and living heritage, that expand the definition of significance and the limits of what should be preserved. These frameworks shift our focus from preserving objects in time to a more sustainable preservation model that supports evolving cultural heritage. People-centered preservation emphasizes the cultural practices of people and communities, while living heritage focuses on empowering local communities. Both approaches would make legacy businesses a prime target for preservation.
Additionally, historic preservation scholars and practitioners are recognizing that our current practices are inequitable. Despite the National Trust for Historic Preservation making equitable preservation one of its top goals, there have been few policy or process changes addressing issues such as the unequal distribution of preservation efforts or community self-determination for preservation. Legacy business programs expand the practice to include both. Through their economic support tools and policies, legacy business programs also address economic inequality issues, like unfair access to capital, which are not easily addressed through the financial incentives associated with historic preservation. By breaking down interdisciplinary walls between historic preservation, urban planning, and economic development, legacy business programs can provide real-world preservation solutions through preservation, economic and sustainability assistance (see linked sections for more information). They can help make each practice more approachable, equitable, and relevant to the communities they serve.
Resource.
Relevancy Guidebook: Building a More Relevant Preservation Movement
Bonnie McDonald’s Relevancy Guidebook: Building a More Relevant Preservation Movement, published by Landmark Illinois, is a compilation of interviews, research and resources that provide ideas and guidelines for making preservation a “more relevant, just, and accessible solution” for the challenges facing our modern communities. This is a good resource for helping you shape your arguments and discussions for integrating legacy business programs with historic preservation initiatives.
Yet, these theoretical frameworks are far from integrated with federal and even state preservation policy, allowing little room for legacy businesses despite their obvious benefits to cultural heritage. Because of this, most groundbreaking preservation policies and practices are happening at the local, grassroots level.
If you are working in historic preservation at the local or regional level, you may still need to demonstrate precedent or discuss how legacy business programs fit into historic preservation policy and practice. The following sections outline examples for viewing legacy business programs through existing or emerging historic preservation frameworks.