Save America’s Treasures' mission is to protect and preserve historic sites, artifacts, and collections that define us as a nation. Started in 1998, the program is led by Honorary Chair First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and co-chairs Richard Moe, President of the National Trust, and Susan Eisenhower, noted author and granddaughter of the late president. With the Howard Theatre, the program has designated 500 Official Projects. In 1999 and 2000, $60 million in federal Save America's Treasures challenge matching grants were authorized by Congress at the President's request. In addition, the private Save America's Treasures initiative has generated more than $44 million in private funds for preservation efforts across the country. This money has only begun to address the more than $2 billion in preservation and conservation work needed by these 500 projects.

Richard Moe commented, "The millennium is a time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going. It calls us to celebrate the link between past and future and challenges us to plan for the issues that will confront us in the years to come."

Save America's Treasures' latest Official Project is the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. Designed by the architect J. Edward Storck, the Howard opened on August 22, 1910 and was the first legitimate theater constructed in the country for African-American audiences and artists. A first stop on the "Chitlin' Circuit," the Howard Theatre belonged to a group of prominent Black theaters that included the Royal in Baltimore, the Uptown in Philadelphia, the Apollo in Harlem; and the Regal in Chicago.

At the Wednesday, May 17 ceremony, the neighboring Dunbar Theatre was also designated as a Save America's Treasures Official Project.

The Official Projects represent America's great diversity and cultural wealth. Examples include: Angel Island Immigration Center in San Francisco, Ca.; the Star-Spangled Banner at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.; the Anti-Slavery Pamphlet collection at Cornell University, New York; the Revolutionary War buildings at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania and George Washington's tents at Yorktown, Va., San Esteban del Rey in the Pueblo of Acoma, N. M.; Ellis Island, New Jersey and the Chess Record studio in Chicago, Ill.

Grouped thematically, the official projects reflect tremendous variety. In addition to the Howard and Dunbar, 24 theaters are included on the list such as the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Ma., the Orpheum Theatre in Champaign, Ill., and the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Conn. Other interesting theater-related projects are the American Ballet Theatre Choreography Preservation Project in New York City, Lexington, Ky.’s Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ, and the hand-painted theatre curtains in theatres across the state of Vermont. Twenty-eight religious sites are represented including the Breed Street Shul in Los Angeles, the original Old Rugged Cross Church in Pokagon, Mich., and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.