Preservation was a 4-H project category – as in food preservation and canning. I recall making jams for this project many decades ago. More recently I helped a friend with an abundance of apples make applesauce, lots of applesauce.
Preservation in our nesting practices can also include photo albums in all formats because they are preserving memories of people, places, and experiences. My brother-in-law recently saved from the trash a slide we had never seen of our dad in the 1950s standing on the trunk of an elephant in a place we don’t recognize. We’re hoping dad remembers the story and place so we can preserve a new memory from something that happened before we were born.
Preservation is important for buildings too. We can preserve our homes – some of which are newly built and others which have stood since before the civil war these nearly 250 years ago. Our store, school, office, religious, and government buildings benefit from preservation and restoration too. In Idaho, the longest continuously operating synagogue west of the Mississippi River was moved more than a decade ago because of its historic value and because it had outgrown its downtown location and no longer could parking be easily found. Idaho’s Capitol building is 110 years old and 10 years ago underwent a multimillion-dollar restoration and addition project that required moving all people and offices out of the building for the two-year project to occur. The beautiful Idaho Capitol building is included in the book Ken Baker and I wrote about the importance of buildings and their structures, design, and usefulness: Building Community in Buildings.
Historic preservation councils and organizations exist in most states and many countries. Our built environments matter. They tell the story of who we’ve been, what design was popular in various eras, and who we hoped we’d become. Buildings and structures create places for us to live, work, learn, shop, and play. State and National park organizations protect structures and landscapes. City parks preserve play spaces, monuments, and landscapes.
Veranda magazine’s current issue introduces a series produced in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They will share stories of places that have stood the tests of time and held historic events or activities. Places tell us about who we are and who we hope we will become.
NestingCards®, as a business and a website, searches for and shares objects and experiences that create a sense of home. Preservation of home, its memories, experiences, and objects happens when we take care of houses, yards, and things that mean something to us. Some objects are passed from generation to generation along with the stories of why each item has meaning. Families in many countries sometimes live in the same house for multiple generations over hundreds of years – living daily in preserved buildings.
Because of my belief in the importance of the built environment and its preservation, as well as my passion for creating a sense of home, when establishing the website for NestingCards, I searched for a non-profit that could benefit from the sales of our cards, products, and custom projects. This search led me to select a national non-profit that saves historic buildings: the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Learn more about our support!
What preservation projects inspire you?
What preservation projects have you participated in?
Photo note: NestingCards® founder Jana Kemp co-wrote Building Community in Buildings with Ken Baker. Buy the book.
Nesting (the blog and NestingCards® the product line) is about the objects and experiences that create a sense of home. Without home, it is difficult to maintain health, find joy, or to be productive. Enjoy the NestingCards series of blogs on your search for and creation of a deep sense of home. Also, enjoy browsing www.NestingCards.com for fun, for gifts, and for joy-spreading possibilities. ~ Jana
NestingCards® is a registered Trademark, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Jana Kemp
