Many people assume that their own communities are devoid of historically and culturally significant properties. This assumption is most often mistaken. Others assume that all the significant properties in the community were demolished years ago. This may be an excuse for inactivity. It is usually mistaken, too. Almost every community in New Mexico is of historic age. Remember, the rule of thumb regarding eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places is that the property be at least fifty years old, but younger properties are sometimes accepted. Every county in New Mexico contains thousands of significant archaeological properties.

There is a common belief that "someone" must be taking care of the significant historic properties. It is especially easy to assume this in the West, where typically high percentages of land area are in federal ownership. But again, this assumption is often wrong. No one can take responsibility for a historic property until its historic character becomes known, and that never happens automatically. Federal agencies all have the same responsibility under Section I 10 of the National Historic Preservation Act to identify historic properties under their control, but some do this job well, while others pretty much ignore it. State agencies do not have a general responsibility to identify the historic properties that they own or control, nor do localities, although both are prohibited by State law from using public funds to damage or destroy historic properties that are on the State Register of Cultural Properties or National Register of Historic Places.

Responsibility for historic properties and places depends heavily on private owners of such properties, but most of them have more immediate practical concerns and cannot always be relied on to understand the historic character of a site or place and to give it consideration.

For these reasons, private historic preservation entities, specifically nonprofit groups that have both federal government recognition and close and specific associations with a community, county or region, are an essential element in historic preservation.

What a Historic Preservation Organization Does

Obviously, it creates support for historic preservation in a community or a region. In practical terms, this means that the organization may undertake:

• public relations and educational projects - Examples of such projects are:
• a series of newspaper articles describing the history and architecture of significant structures,
• sites and places in the community or region
• a newsletter published by the organization containing items on preservation projects in the community, letters to the editor about preservation issues, articles about opportunities for preservation or threats to historic resources
• a lecture, slide show or film for presentation to other organizations, clubs or business groups
• an educational program or unit for use in the local schools
• a public event, for example an awards ceremony honoring people active in preservation, a reenactment of a historic event, a living history presentation designed to educate the public about a period or periods in local or regional history
• a tour or tours of historically significant sites and places
• a brochure or leaflet about historic sites and places that can be distributed during a tour or independently
• workshops on preservation law
• workshops on preservation techniques
• a visiting lecturer series


• a historic sites survey
• community service projects - Community service projects are another means of fostering preservation ideas and objectives locally or regionally. Some examples of such projects are:
• the collection and distribution of reference materials relating to preservation
• the creation and maintenance of a list of architects, contractors, painters, etc., who are oriented to or skilled in preservation
• the creation of a preservation reference section in your college, university or local library
• the creation of a conservation easement program
• the creation of a revolving fund for preservation.
• Special Events
• Special events, including events designed to raise funds, are appropriate activities for a private nonprofit organization. They may include sales of volunteer services (such as speakers' bureaus), auctions, history pageants, living history programs, historic house tours and other similar activities.