News Release

March 11, 1999

Save America’s Treasures to Build on First-Year Success:
$30 Million in Private Support Raised for
Historic Preservation in 1998

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Communities and donors across the country are answering the call to honor the past and imagine the future by saving our nation’s historic and cultural heritage. That has been the response to Save America’s Treasures, a public — private partnership between the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Save America's Treasures was created to celebrate and preserve our nation’s irreplaceable cultural legacy. The program garnered significant success in 1998, with more than $30 million raised by the program’s private-sector partners that will go toward grant programs and special preservation projects in communities across the country. Details on the national preservation program can be found at www.saveamericastreasures.org.

"This program has the potential to be the most significant effort of its kind ever undertaken," said Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "It offers us a great opportunity to make enormous strides in saving the special places, objects and works of art that tell America’s story. It’s the most appropriate way to mark the beginning of a new millennium — by celebrating the achievements that have brought us this far, and ensuring that future generations will be able to enjoy, appreciate and learn from them as well."

Save America’s Treasures undertook a series of visits in 1998 to diverse historic sites on the East and West Coasts with the program’s Honorary Chair, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The purpose was to raise awareness of the dire conservation needs of many of America’s most important and endangered historic sites, artifacts, documents and monuments.

The tour kicked off in July at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum in Washington, D.C., with the announcement of $13 million donated by Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation for the restoration and conservation of the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner" and for the Save America’s Treasures public awareness campaign. The First Lady also visited such sites as Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, NJ, Harriet Tubman’s home in Auburn, NY, and the Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor, NY, an important site in Iroquois history.

Save America’s Treasures took to the road again in December, visiting sites in the Northeast such as the Louis Armstrong House and Archives in Queens, NY. Days later, in California, major grant programs were announced. The Save America’s Treasures Preservation Planning Fund, made possible by a $1.1 million gift to the National Trust from the J. Paul Getty Trust, was announced at the Breed Street Shul, a historic synagogue in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

At the Los Angeles Theater, Warner Bros. Records announced plans for the spring release of Sing America: A Celebration of America and Its Music. The net profits from the commemorative CD will establish the Fund to Save America’s Treasures to be administered by the National Trust, to provide grants for preservation-related activities. At the last stop, the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, more than $9 million in public and private gifts were announced to save the 1870s-era greenhouse that has been closed since 1995.

"We are grateful for the generosity of those who have stepped up to the challenge to support the protection and preservation of America’s cultural legacy, and I salute the ingenuity of organizations like Warner Bros. Records Inc. in creating new and innovative ways to meet the most pressing preservation needs in communities across the county," said Moe. "Without sufficient financial support, we risk losing many of the irreplaceable icons of our national heritage. Once they’re lost, they’re lost forever."

Major support for Save America’s Treasures includes a $5 million donation from General Electric Company for restoration at the Edison State Historic Site laboratory; $1.05 million from Lyn and Norman Lear for conservation of our Founding Fathers papers and general program support; and a series of gifts and grants for the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco: a $5 million challenge grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund; a $1.24 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and a $1 million gift from the Madeleine H. Russell Fund and the Columbia Foundation.

According to Moe, the countdown to the millennium looks promising as the program builds on its 1998 successes to continue raising public awareness and directing desperately needed funds to preservation projects throughout 1999. Plans include additional visits to endangered sites as well as the launch of the official Save America’s Treasures Website and increased public and educational outreach. In addition, the National Trust — which marks 50 years of protecting the irreplaceable this year — has set "Saving America’s Treasures" as the theme of its year-long golden anniversary celebration.

Save America’s Treasures is a public-private partnership between the White House Millenium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, dedicated to the celebration and preservation our nation’s threatened cultural treasures, including significant historic structures, monuments, documents, objects and collections that document and illuminate the history and culture of the United States. The Millennium Committee to Save America’s Treasures provides guidance and expertise to the historic effort, and is led by Honorary Chair Hillary Rodham Clinton and co-chairs Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. As a private-sector partner to the White House Millennium Council, the National Trust coordinates the Save America’s Treasures public awareness and education campaigns and works with two associate partners, Heritage Preservation and the National Park Foundation to raise funds for the most urgent preservation needs identified at the state and national levels.

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