Contact:
Jere Gibber
Executive Director
Address: P.O. Box 1702 
Alexandria, VA 22313-1702
Phone: 703-765-0100
Fax: 703-768-9350
E-mail: info@npi.org
Web: www.npi.org

Membership Information
NPI is not a membership organization, but maintains a mailing list for purposes of distributing a brochure twice annually describing upcoming seminars.

Brief Summary of the Organization and Its Mission
The National Preservation Institute (NPI) is a nonprofit organization that educates those involved in the management, preservation, and stewardship of our cultural heritage.

NPI holds approximately 40 seminars each year around the United States. NPI seminars fall into the following basic categories: Identification and Evaluation; Laws and Regulations; Cultural and Natural Resource Management; Native American Cultural Resources; Property Management and Design Issues; and Curation, Conservation, and Stewardship. Information about seminars are available through NPI’s brochure and Web site,or through AIA/CES Web access. Agendas are available online at www.npi.org. 

Although most seminars are listed well in advance in the brochure that is distributed twice annually, there is a growing interest in providing on-site and customized training programs. Scheduled seminars are held in large metropolitan areas with easy access to airports, restaurants, and hotels. On-site training and customized seminars have been given to clients as varied as state historic preservation office staff, military base personnel, cultural resource management consultants, and state departments of transportation staff. Seminars generally range in size from 10 to 40 participants.

Initiatives in the Past Year Illustrating the Focus and Direction of the Organization
Each spring NPI works with its board of directors, advisers, and instructors to plan for the following year’s seminar schedule. Ideas for seminars for 2007 and beyond are welcome, as are possibilities for working cooperatively with other organizations. We look forward to hearing from you. To be put on our mailing list, please contact us at 703-765-0100 or info@npi.org.

In 2007, NPI is offering 29 different seminars, some more than once during the year. Eleven of these seminars carry AIA/CES credit. These seminars are one to three days in length and usually are taught by a single instructor. The seminar format encourages discussion and allows time to focus on issues of particular interest to the group. Architects seeking AIA/CES credit also are able to self-report to receive credit for a seminar not officially designated as having AIA/CES credit.

NPI is able to offer both National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and its own NPI scholarships during 2007. NEA-funded tuition scholarship opportunities for NEA-designated NPI seminars support training of staff, board members, and community members to benefit historic sites and properties. NPI offers scholarships for tuition only to participants to attend any of its seminars. Applications are available on-line at www.npi.org or by contacting NPI at 703-765-0100 or info@npi.org and must be received at least six weeks prior to the seminar.

* These seminars are not currently scheduled, but are available as on-site or customized seminars or may be scheduled in the future.

• Accessibility and Historic Integrity*
Learning how to preserve the significance and integrity of historic structures, while making them accessible to people with mobility, hearing, sight, cognitive, motor, or other disabilities, is a major challenge of the Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility guidelines. Participants will examine these issues through case studies and discussion. Faculty: William Lebovich

• Digital and Traditional Photography of Cultural Resources
Understanding subject matter, composition, technique, and equipment are critical to a successful photodocumentation project. Review the use of digital and traditional 35 mm photography techniques for National Register nomination packages, with an emphasis on survey work; presentations; publications; and the web. Compare camera formats and traditional vs. digital output options. Discuss requirements for reviewing agencies and archival processes. Explore issues involved in contracting and supervising photographic projects. Faculty: William Lebovich

• Emergency Action Planning for Historic Properties*
Every historic property faces the possibility of an emergency situation, with fires and floods among the greatest threats. Explore the order of control during an emergency, including prevention techniques, early warning systems, and what to do when it’s too late. Review the contents of an emergency action plan and the quick response actions that can be taken—from preventative techniques and training, to recovery programs. Faculty: Ernest A. Conrad, PE, LEED AP, and guest speaker

• Green Strategies for Historic Buildings
Discuss practical applications of using green building strategies for historic structures. The environmental goal of “reduce, reuse, recycle” can enhance the capital cost competitiveness of preservation projects. Review the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards used to assess building performance. Focus on preservation challenges relating to energy efficiency, windows, lighting, indoor air quality, HVAC, and local and national codes and regulations. Faculty: Jean Carroon, AIA

• Historic Landscapes: Planning, Management, and Cultural Landscape Reports
Review the basics of scenic vistas and designed, cultural, rural, agricultural, and urban landscapes and applicable laws and regulations. Explore the development of the cultural landscape report—the principal tool used to document a site’s landscape—and its use in planning and managing historic and cultural landscapes. Assess realistic approaches to adaptive reuse, historic preservation, restoration, and accessibility and discuss recent preservation theory. Faculty: Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR

• Historic Property Management*
The physical treatment of a structure is the bottom line in keeping a building standing and in good repair. This nuts-and-bolts seminar addresses how to read your historic structure, search for solutions, and then care for the building envelope. Topics discussed include how to meet basic maintenance requirements; how to replace HVAC, fire, and security systems; and the role of pest management. Learn the fundamentals of hiring contractors, training custodial personnel, and understanding the role of other professionals who work in, on, and around the building. Review the significance of maintenance and disaster plans. Faculty: Ernest A. Conrad, PE, LEED, AP, and Alfonso A. Narvaez

• Historic Structures Reports: A Management Tool for Historic Properties (NEA)
The core of any historic property management program is accurate information about the building. This seminar will explore the historic structures report—the principal tool used to document a site’s history, condition, and maintenance—and emerging technologies, such as computer-aided facilities management programs. Faculty: Alfonso A. Narvaez

• Identification and Evaluation of Mid-20th-Century Buildings
In post-World War II America, buildings, suburbs, and towns sprang up like lawn weeds. Discuss how these structures fit into today’s and tomorrow’s historic preservation patterns. With an emphasis on the 1950s, examine the era-specific factors that help to identify and evaluate post-war buildings in terms of their significance for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Faculty: James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell

• Preservation Maintenance: Understanding and Preserving Historic Buildings (NEA)
Performing—or not performing—minor maintenance often can have unintended consequences. Learn how to read your building and understand the effects of daily, monthly, and annual maintenance activities between larger capital projects. Identifying, caring for, and maintaining historic materials is critical to this process. Discuss the nature of building materials, how they age, and how they fail. Learn when to bring in a specialist to help identify the problem or a contractor to handle a specific task. Faculty: Alfonso A. Narvaez

• Standards: Review Guidelines for Boards and Commissions*
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties can assist architectural review board and commission members with effective preservation planning in historic districts and with landmarks. Learn how the standards can serve as a practical guide to rehabilitation practices. Discuss how to achieve local and regional preservation goals through the use of state and federal tax credits. Faculty: James C. Massey and Shirley Maxwell

• The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards: Treatment Considerations
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties form the basis for historic property rehabilitation for federal tax benefits, and often for state, local, and private rehabilitation projects. Explore the standards in detail with particular attention to character-defining features, preservation of historic fabric, and use of replacement materials. Review application procedures for the federal tax act certification. Faculty: John J. Cullinane, AIA

Preservation Issues that are of Particular Concern to Your Organization
NPI works mostly within the field of professional training to educate those involved in the management, preservation, and stewardship of our cultural heritage. Knowing about training opportunities in the field of historic preservation helps NPI serve as a resource to the preservation community. NPI publishes Web links to other established training and conference opportunities to help people access information about both hand-on and more management-oriented training programs.

Preservation Trends/ Opportunities that Your Organization Views as Advancements or Potential Advancements in the Field of Historic Preservation at Large and/or Advancements in Historic Preservation within Your Organization
Within its seminars, NPI instructors seek to address advances, trends, and changes in the preservation field so that participants return to their jobs able to handle current and new challenges. Listening to others participants’ questions and hearing different options during seminars allows for a time of study not often available during the busy work week. Developing and talking with a new network of contacts, including the instructor and other seminar participants, allows for some “outside-the-box” thinking when it comes to working through issues that come up on the job.

Ways the AIA/HRC and Its Members Can Be Supportive of Your Organization
NPI works with approximately 30 cooperating organizations. Seminars are scheduled in conjunction with conferences or programs, such as the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, the Chicora Foundation, and the Cultural Landscape Foundation. NPI has held seminars at the AIA, the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Hawaii, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and with the National Park Service and in conjunction with many other organizations as a way to offer staff and students valuable training opportunities.

NPI actively seeks partners to creatively encourage seminars. Cooperating organizations work with NPI on seminars of joint interest by providing help in one or more of the following areas—seminar space; use of audiovisual equipment; cost and revenue sharing; promotion through shared mailing and email lists, and Web listings.