Preservation Maryland

Broadly defined, field services provided by Preservation Maryland include:

• Technical Assistance: Working with organizations and individuals to address threatened historic resources and developing strategies to address physical deterioration, often provided via our Six-to-Fix program
• Providing Grants: The Heritage Fund, a joint program of Preservation Maryland and the Maryland Historical Trust, provides direct assistance for the protection of historical and cultural resources and promotes innovative demonstration projects that can be successfully replicated to meet Maryland’s historic preservation needs.
• Increasing Capacity: Assisting organizations with efforts aimed at improving their capacity to oversee complex projects.
• Engagement in planning issues: Commenting and consulting on a variety of regulatory-driven planning processes, including Section 106 consultations, Section 4(f) disputes, local planning discussions, demolition-by-neglect cases and more.
• Assisting Grassroots Efforts: When local groups are poised for a fight, Preservation Maryland often works to assist their local partners with resources, strategies and behind-the-scenes assistance to make a difference.
• Supporting Government Agencies: Working with federal, state and local agencies is a key role we play to protect historic resources. Assisting and engaging with agencies to help be a more informed and powerful advocate is an ongoing effort.
• Fostering Dialogue: Often one of the most important roles we can play in the field is working to generate and create a dialogue between different organizations, agencies and even adversaries. Preservation is no longer just the movement of no – and our job is often helping different groups find the path to yes.

View our list of resources for Maryland Preservationists

Preservation Contractors

One of the most frequent calls received by Preservation Maryland, and many other preservation groups, are property owners and stewards looking specific and skilled assistance. To address this need, we launched PreserveList in April 2017. PreserveList connects preservation service providers with customers that are looking to properly care for their historic building. Whether it’s federal, Victorian or Mid-Century, PreserveList is the one stop shop for all things preservation.

Funding Resources

State of Maryland

The Maryland Historical Trust administers the state’s traditional preservation grant, rehab tax credits and loan programs. Current information on the availability of grants and deadlines are available on their website.

Maryland’s Office of the Governor maintains a comprehensive listing of all state grants, many of which apply to the work of the preservation community.

Maryland Humanities also provides grant funding for provides grants to nonprofit organizations that use the humanities (literature, philosophy, history, etc.) to engage Marylanders.

National funding programs

The National Park Service oversees many preservation related grant programs. Park Service grants help protect the nation’s significant historic and cultural sites and preserve diverse cultural heritage.

The National Endowment for the Humanities hosts a wide range of grant programs. NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars.

The Federal government also maintains a comprehensive grants database of all agencies that can be searched for current opportunities.

Preservation Ethics & Standards

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards: The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties are common sense historic preservation principles in non-technical language.

Historic Preservation Laws: A comprehensive collection of the laws which govern historic preservation work and regulatory compliance in the United States.