With the news that Governor Baker has extended Massachusetts’ stay at home order to May 18, you may be looking for more ways to fill your time. Luckily, May is National Preservation Month, and there are many preservation-related activities you can undertake while you stay home!
The Society of Architectural Historians maintains SAH Archipedia, a nation-wide collection of peer-reviewed resources to learn more about architectural styles in the US, and specific buildings.
Archipedia New England was founded to be a resource of 400 years of New England architecture. Archipedia New England’s founding editor is Brian Pfeiffer, a longtime partner of NPT, and the site features contributions from many other members of the Nantucket preservation community.
Looking for something to listen to? Podcast fans will appreciate this list of 11 Podcasts Great for Fans of Historic Preservation Fans put together by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
For families, the National Trust also published this list of 13 Virtual Ways to Edutain Kids about History and Preservation, which features resources from historic sites and museums from across the United States.
If you would like to research the history of your own home, there are resources online that can help you. Although the Town of Nantucket’s Registry of Deeds is currently closed to the public, records from the registry are digitized dating back to 1931, or Book 106. These records can be accessed at masslandrecords.com/Nantucket. Deeds are searchable by name, street name, or book and page number.
Searching in the registry of deeds to reveal the former owners of a house opens up possibilities for searching beyond the registry. The Nantucket Atheneum’s Digital Historic Newspaper Archive allows users to search issues of more than twenty island newspapers, including the Inquirer and Mirror dating back to 1821. Consider searching past owner’s names to reveal their occupations or family members. Searching by street name or house name can also turn up results. The archives of the Nantucket Historical Association are also online, including thousands of historic photos and maps, like Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Nantucket Town and ‘Sconset, from 1889 to 1949. A new search interface makes it easy to search across the NHA’s various collections, from images, to letters and historic documents, to material culture objects.
If you are considering a undertaking a preservation project on Nantucket, why not use this time to familiarize yourself with the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits in Massachusetts, or the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation? These are the guidelines that must be followed for projects to qualify for rehabilitation tax credits in Massachusetts.
As always, though we may not be working from our usual offices, Nantucket Preservation Trust is here as a resource for your preservation-related questions and concerns. Contact us at info@nantucketpreservation.org for more information.
