Save America's Treasures


Save America's Treasures is a United States federal government initiative to preserve and protect historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public–private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The National Endowment for the Arts, Heritage Preservation, and the National Park Foundation also are allied.

History

Save America's Treasures was established by Executive Order 13072 in February 1998 by President Bill Clinton, in conjunction with the White House Millennium Council's activities. Instrumental in its founding was then First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton. Its Honorary Chair is traditionally the First Lady as designated by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities "Selection criteria require that each project be of national significance, demonstrate an urgent preservation need, have an educational or otherwise clear public benefit, and demonstrate the likely availability of non-federal matching funds. Each grant requires non-federal matching funds, which has stimulated contributions from states, localities, corporations, foundations and individuals who value our shared heritage."
On December 9, 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama said “Save America’s Treasures invests in our nation’s irreplaceable legacy of buildings, documents, collections and artistic works. These awards empower communities all over the country to rescue and restore this priceless heritage, and ensure that future generations continue to learn from the voices, ideas, events and people represented by these projects.” Despite this initial endorsement, both the Save America's Treasures and the Preserve America grant programs were later eliminated by the Obama Administration. On January 30, 2010, President Barack Obama in his "Tough Choices" FY 2011 Budget proposed eliminating the Save America's Treasures and Preserve America grant programs, stating that "both programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear." The National Trust for Historic Preservation eliminated its Save America's Treasures office in 2011 during a reorganization.
From 1999 - 2010, over $318 million were awarded and matched by over $400 million from other sources, resulting in the preservation of over 1200 significant historic structures and repositories of cultural heritage. As of 2012, the program had been responsible for the creation of about 16,000 jobs. This corresponds to a cost of about $13,000 to create each job. In 2010, according to the American Architectural Foundation, there were 175 ongoing SAT projects.
Funding ceased after 2010 because of concerns about adequate "performance metrics and evaluation efforts” yet resumed in 2017.
Monies for the program come from the Historic Preservation Fund, a source of revenue from federal oil leases that does not expend taxpayer dollars.

List of Official Projects and Awardees Chronologically and By Honorary Chairman

Hillary Clinton, Honorary Chair

1999 ($13 million awarded, 22 projects)

Katherine Dunham Archives, East St. Louis, IL
Hulla Huhm Dance Collection, Honolulu, HI
Gertrude Kurath, Eleanor King, and Kealiinohomoku Collections, Flagstaff, AZ

2003 ($14.4 million awarded)

2009 ($9.5 million awarded)

2017 ($5 million awarded)

2018 ($13 million awarded)