•  National Park Service and Heritage Preservation Services. Read the National Act for Historic Preservation of 1966 as amended through 2000, The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring,   and Reconstructing Historic Buildings as well as the technical Preservation Briefs and Preservation Tech Notes online. Because even projects with the best intentions may do more harm than good, every property owner and their contractor should be well aware of the standards of treatments to historic structures.

•  National Trust for Historic Preservation. In addition to publishing Preservation magazine, the National Trust sponsors an annual preservation month, week, and conference; maintains the national Main Street program; creates the 11 Most Endangered Places list; distributes Preservation Honor Awards annually; and co-sponsors with the National Park Service a program called Save America’s Treasures; and co-sponsors with HGTV a program called Restore America. The National Trust is the primary organization which enables communication between the federal, state, and local governments regarding preservation activities and issues. Though it lost all of its federal funding in 1998, today the National Trust maintains a $40 million annual budget through corporate sponsors and over 250,000 members.

•  Old House Journal. In addition to its namesake publication, OHJ online offers a virtual clearinghouse of information with links to vendors providing traditional products and services via their Restoration Directory. They also annually publish the highly sought after Preservation Sourcebook .

•  Among others, www.epreservation.net and www.preservenet.cornell.edu offer a host of preservation resources at your fingertips.

Books:

•  With Heritage So Rich published by the Preservation Press by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Written by members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, this epic collection sparked the creation of the National Act for Historic Preservation in 1966.

•  Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice by Norman Tyler (2000). This is an easy to absorb yet comprehensive textbook regarding the history and theory of historic preservation.

•  A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester. This is the classic text used by persons interested in identifying architectural styles.

Caring for Your Historic House published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (1998). Available from Heritage Preservation Services of the National Park Service. This is an illustrated collection of technical advice with respect to the preservation and maintenance of   structural systems, roofs, masonry, plaster, wallpaper, paint, mechanical and electrical systems, windows, woodwork, flooring, and landscapes.