The 60th Anniversary of the APTA - What Is Our Future?

On November 8, 1951, a group of very far-sighted women formed the APTA in order to preserve and maintain Tennessee’s rich cultural heritage. We are one of the oldest historic preservation organizations in the United States. The goals of this initial group are further described in the APTA’s charter and by-laws. Sixty years later the APTA continues to carry out these goals. I wish I had known these women so that I could have absorbed some of their vision for the future. As I look back upon my years as a board member and then President of the APTA I think we have accomplished much. We have a stable organization, we have helped to preserve our sites, and I believe we have become a “preservation player” in this state. We have and are reaching out to other historic and preservation organizations.

But we can’t rest on our laurels and past successes. The APTA has to continue to reinvent itself. As our organization has aged so has our membership. We have lost so many fine and valuable members in recent years. To survive, this organization and the chapters must seek new members constantly. Not only must we sign up new members, we must get them involved in our programs. In line with this goal, we must attract young members. We must embrace the new technologies that come with younger members. The youth are our future.

I am probably preaching something I have brought up before. I don’t want to sound like a broken record. We must set goals for new membership and achieve these goals. I urge our board and all the chapters to start membership campaigns immediately. To accomplish what we need to do in this state we need, in my opinion, at least 3500 members. We are far short of that number. But we need active members who want to participate in the preservation of our history and its structures.
Money is tight and the economy is in a heavy recession. Having said this I believe the APTA is not only a “survivor’ but it is also a necessity. We are a necessary element in the preservation movement in this state. My challenge to each of you is to extend the opportunity to join the APTA to everyone you know. We need them and the preservation movement needs them. With their help the APTA will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2051!

Spring has arrived and so has the busy season for our sites, the APTA staff and the Board of Directors. Several sites have begun their calendar of events and the board just completed a good working session at the Spring APTA Board meeting. We had a nice turnout for the APTA annual membership meeting at Belle Meade Plantation on May 10th. Many thanks to all who attended these meetings and to our speaker, Doug Jones. Special thanks are in order too for Alton Kelly our “resident auctioneer”. Again this year Alton conducted a fast moving auction that produced a considerable amount of revenue for the APTA. I saw many new faces at the annual membership meeting and hope many more new faces appear at future meetings. The strength of our organization is the membership and we constantly seek new members to become involved in our programs.

As I have mentioned before this year marks the 60th anniversary of the APTA. We have accomplished many things over those years. The APTA has preserved or played a role in the preservation of over 50 historic structures or sites during this time. It is a safe bet to say that some, if not many, of these historic structures or sites would have been lost without APTA involvement. We have run the course and we have done well in the preservation race. We plan to keep on this course.

At the same time, it is my belief that we can do so many other things in the future to help preserve Tennessee‘s past. Over the last couple of years I have promoted improving our organization by 1) networking with other preservation organizations to achieve common goals and 2) look for alternative ways to preserve historic sites to complement ownership of sites and the operation of house museums. I am not saying we should stop doing what we have done by any means. I am submitting that we need to increase the arsenal of options we use to preserve historic sites. I am using this message to briefly set forth several measures we need to explore and utilize to accomplish our organizational goals for the future.

The following preservation measures and techniques are followed by a brief explanation. The purpose of this article is not to provide an exhaustive treatment of all preservation alternatives, but to give our members a checklist of tools for consideration in preserving historic properties.

1. Conservation easements-a written agreement that protects use and conveys a measure of control over use without acquiring title to the property.

2. Life Estate- a form of legal ownership that allows the owner to keep property for life with the title to vest in a person or agency upon his or her death.

3.Options or rights of first refusal-a legally binding agreement that allows a person or organization some rights to purchase property at a future date or upon a future occurrence.

4. Donation of land- a donation of land to a non-profit with 501 (c) (3) tax status, like the APTA, can have beneficial tax treatment for the donor.

5. Property tax exchanges- in some instances an owner of historic property might be willing to exchange the historic property for another type of property or land. If properties exchanged are of equal value capital gains can be avoided under the tax code.

6. Historic covenants and restrictions- these are private restrictions that can be placed on properties by owners to preserve and protect the property. The APTA is already the benefited entity and enforcement entity on one property in West Tennessee.

7. Fee simple ownership- this is the transfer of title of property by purchase or gift.

Feel free to contact me or Elliott McNiel for additional information on this subject. I am urging all members and chapters to look at properties in your area with historic significance to see if any of these tools can be utilized to preserve these properties. Several of these options require significant expenditures while others do not. The APTA is in a position to provide some level of technical assistance free of charge to our chapters and members if you need help in using these tools to protect historic properties. I look forward to serving you in 2011-2012. Please let us know how we can help.

I Invite You To Take The Pledge With Me

Fall is finally here! It has been a long hot summer, but a productive one for our chapters. There has been a flurry of activity at our sites - just take a look at the Events site on our website. Among noteworthy events were the antique wedding dress exhibit at the Woodruff-Fontaine House, the Candle-lit Evening in the Garden at the Buchanan Log Home, the Athenaeum Girl's School, the 25th Annual Fall Fest at Belle Meade Plantation and the Civil War Living History Program at Ramsey House. The Hardeman and Rutherford County chapters sponsored numerous events, a summer market was held at Glenmore, and summer tours educated travelers at the Crockett Tavern and Arlington. This activity clearly demonstrates that we are vigorously carrying out our mission. I always keep reminding others when I talk about APTA, that we are doing something very few others are doing in this state. We are operating historic sites to give the public a feel for and a glimpse into Tennessee's past. I want to thank all our members for continuing to support these important efforts.

As I have been saying for several years, many people like to talk about historic preservation, but very few people contribute time, money and their talents to it. The APTA membership has declined for several years as have memberships in several nonprofit organizations. As I go into my second term as APTA president, it is my intention to reverse this trend in APTA. To continue to carry our our mission, we need to constantly recruit members and get these members involved in our organization. My goal is to double our membership statewide over the next four years. I would like for you to consider making this your goal too. In this spirit I urge each APTA member to recruit at least one new member, either as a chapter member or as an APTA associate member, each year for the next four years. I pledge that I will do the same. Once we recruit new members we must get them involved in our programs to keep their interest. I would very much appreciate it if you will join me in this pledge to increase the strength and visibility of APTA.

A final note, and on that I don't want to overlook, is that in order to be a "player" in the preservation field, the APTA has reached out to other historic preservation organizations in Tennessee and outside the state. I urge our members to participate in other historic preservation organizations as well. The exchange of information and the additional knowledge our members will obtain by joining with others will serve to make the APTA stronger. We are very fortunate in that members of our organization operate their own historic sites and programs that compliment APTA sites and programs. I don't want to exclude anyone, but the Victorian Village project in Memphis, Fiddler's Grove in Lebanon and Falls Mill in Belvidere come to mind. I can't stress enough that everyone involved in the preservation of our state's history is a vital asset if we intend to make an impact in the 21st century.