A little one-room country schoolhouse in Waubeka, Wisconsin is on the National Register of Historic Places for its connection to the origins of Flag Day. It was there that a 19-year-old teacher and his students held the first known observance of Flag Birth Day on June 14, 1885, using a 10-inch 38-star flag propped up in a glass bottle. Teacher Bernard Cigrand had his students, mostly descendants of Luxembourger immigrants, honor Old Glory by “reading essays they had written and discussing the flag’s history and meaning,” according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
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In May, we celebrate the rich cultures and heritage that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have contributed to the history of the United States.
The ACHP continues to honor those who volunteer their time for historic preservation during April, National Volunteer Month. The Museum at Eldridge Street is a Preserve America Steward for demonstrating a successful use of volunteer time and commitment in order to help care for our nation’s historic heritage.
Roberta Berken has spent the last 18 years as a docent at the Museum at Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and she says it has been a great gift to her.
Berken moved to New York City in 2002 and was looking for something interesting to do. While attending a program at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, someone approached her and suggested she look into becoming a docent there.
World Heritage Day, the International Day for Monuments and Sites, is being celebrated today--April 18. This year’s theme is Heritage for Generations to encourage intergenerational transfer of knowledge and celebrate youth leadership in cultural heritage.
Additionally, April is National Volunteer Month and the ACHP is honoring those who volunteer their time for historic preservation.
HistoriCorps, an organization that engages volunteers in historic preservation projects on public lands throughout the U.S., was designated as a Preserve America Steward for demonstrating a successful use of volunteer time and commitment in order to help care for the nation’s historic heritage.
A volunteer effort in Colorado has brought into focus the plight of Japanese Americans during World War II. Granada High School principal John Hopper was a social studies teacher in 1993 when he and his students embarked on a mission to preserve and interpret the remains of the Granada Relocation Center, better known as Amache. The National Historic Landmark is the most intact of the 10 camps for the incarceration of Japanese Americans. More than 7,000 Japanese, mostly American citizens, were imprisoned there from 1942 to 1945.