2022 May Preservation ePost

May is Preservation Month!

May is Preservation Month, a chance to celebrate the mission, value, and work of historic preservation! Preservation is about active, sensitive stewardship of the places, buildings, cultures, and traditions that are the foundation and strength of our shared heritage. It has been about sustainability and making our communities and world “green” long before such concepts were timely and critical.

We invite you to explore the pages of the OHP website to discover the what, why, and how of historic preservation. Visit our California Preservation Month page to learn about preservation events taking place in many of California's communities, and add your events to the list.

This year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's theme for Preservation Month is "People Saving Places." Throughout this month on the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) Facebook page, we'll be highlighting just a few of California's many preservation successes that had strong involvement from individuals and communities. Take a look around and no doubt you'll find similar successes taking place within your own community. Celebrate the good work going on to preserve our treasured California heritage!

Thank You and Bon Voyage to Twila Willis-Hunter

This month the Office of Historic Preservation is saying farewell to a long-time member of the OHP staff. Twila Willis-Hunter began her career with the OHP in September 2006, in the position of Executive Secretary to the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), working with three SHPOs during her sixteen years at the OHP. Twila also provided support to the State Historical Resources Commission taking on everything from nomination notification letters to Commissioner travel reservations to setting up and keeping time at in-person meetings. She was a fearless van driver, transporting meeting materials and staff to meeting sites throughout California. Twila’s husband Lester was frequently at her side, helping with meeting prep, navigating on long drives, and loading and unloading meeting materials.

Twila has been an active, valued presence in the daily life of our office, from snapping photos at office gatherings, to assisting staff with the ins and outs of office forms and procedures, providing support as a union representative, sharing a bit of laughter or commiseration, and determinedly keeping the office breakroom clean despite her colleagues’ efforts to do otherwise.

As she looks forward to more time for traveling and visiting with family and friends, we wish Twila “Bon Voyage,” and thank her for her time with us at the OHP and her dedicated service to California!

Accepting Applications for Grant Funding

Applications are now being accepted for the next funding cycles of two important grant programs:

National Trust Preservation Funds Grant Program: Provides grants ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 to support preservation planning and educational projects at the local level.

Application Deadline: June 1, 2022.

NPS Underrepresented Communities Grant Program: Provides grants to support the survey, inventory, and designation of historic properties that are associated with communities currently underrepresented in the National Register of Historic Places and among National Historic Landmarks.

Application Deadline: August 10, 2022.

Designating California!

One of the more recent California listings on the National Register of Historic Places is the Royal Theater, located in the former Japanese enclave in the town of Guadalupe, Santa Barbara County. Built in 1940, the theater features a blend of modernistic design elements, which include an Art Moderne curved corner and smooth stucco wall surface, paired with Art Deco geometric design elements on the triangular-shaped ornate marquee. The Royal was one of several theaters owned by Arthur Shogo Fukuda, who was forced to sell the building in 1942 prior to internment at the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas during World War II.

In the decades following the war, the theater went by the name Cine Royal and was known to show a variety of films including in English, Spanish, Filipino, and by the mid-1960s, technicolor. The building regained the name Royal Theater in the mid-1990s, and is today regarded by residents as one of Guadalupe’s treasured historic buildings.

In addition to its notable architecture, the Royal Theater is significant as a property type located in the Japanese enclave of Guadalupe—owned, built, and managed by Japanese Americans for both their immediate community and their neighbors. The Royal Theater achieved listing on the National Register on March 10, 2022, under the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California, 1850-1970 Multiple Property Submission, for property types associated with Community Serving Organizations.

Photo: Courtesy of Ken C. McIntyre.

State Historical Resources Commission

The SHRC meets quarterly each year. Commission meetings are open to the public and live-streamed through the Cal-Span network. Meeting dates, times, and agendas are posted to the SHRC Meeting Schedule and Notices page of the OHP website.

For upcoming nominations, visit the Pending Nominations page. Nominations already heard by the Commission are listed on the Actions Taken page, and video recordings of SHRC meetings are posted to the Meeting Recordings & Summaries page.

Learn more about the responsibilities and role of the SHRC.

News, Education, & More

CPF Webinars, Awards, and Conference

Coming up in the weeks and mon ahead from the California Preservation Foundation:

May 12 (webinar): A Realtor and Homeowner's Toolkit for Historic Homes

May 26 (free webinar): Book Club: Queer Spaces

CPF 2022 Preservation Design Awards - Nominations still being accepted! Deadline is May 23.

CPF 2022 Annual Conference: Opening Doors, online June 7-12. Registration is now open. The conference will include the first ever statewide Doors Open event, giving access and behind-the-scene tours to participating historic properties throughout California.

Sacramento Hosts 2022 National Genealogical Conference

The National Genealogical Society is holding their 2022 Family History Conference in Sacramento, May 24-28. Participants have the option to attend online, in-person, or on-demand. The conference provides the opportunity to learn about and share the latest in genealogical practices and technology.

Honored Elders Day at California State Indian Museum

Taking place June 4 on the grounds of the California State Indian Museum, Honored Elders Day honors Native Elders who pass down to future generations the traditions, languages, and stories that are central to tribal life. The event is free to the public and features traditional Indian foods, dances, and arts.

Nominations Still Being Accepted for Landslide 2022

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is accepting nominations for Landslide 2022, the TCLF's annual program to spotlight historic and culturally important landscapes that are threatened or at risk. This year's Landslide theme is "The Olmsted Design," focusing on landscapes designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., and his successor firms.

Nomination Deadline: June 17.

Still Time to Apply - NPS Heritage Documentation Programs

There is still time to submit drawings and documentation for the prize competitions and survey challenge of the Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) of the National Park Service. The HDP includes the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS), and Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS).

2022 Charles E. Peterson Prize Competition recognizes the best sets of architectural measured drawings produced by college students for the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress.

Submission Deadline: June 30.

2022 Historic American Landscapes Survey Challenge is a HALS short format historical report competition documenting historically significant landscapes. This year's theme: Olmstead Landscapes.

Submission Deadline: July 31.

2022 Leicester B. Holland Prize Competition recognizing the best single sheet drawing of a site appropriate for inclusion in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress. The competition is open to students and professionals.

Submission Deadline: September 1.

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