Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has approved a policy statement for federal, state, and local government entities facing decisions about the management or disposition of controversial commemorative works, such as memorials, statues, markers, or other landscape features honoring divisive historical figures or events.

The ACHP voted at its March 22 business meeting in Washington, D.C. to approve the policy statement to assist these entities in achieving a balance between the past, present, and future in the case of these commemorative works. This includes federal agencies complying with the review requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

By Katherine Slick, historic preservation consultant, ACHP Foundation President

It may be hard to imagine in an election year with a record number of women running for local, state, and national offices that 170 years ago women did not have the right to vote. In July 1848, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and a small group of women launched a peaceful revolution that has changed the world–the Women’s Rights Movement. At a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, 68 women and 32 men signed a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions that included women’s suffrage. However, that same year in a narrowly defeated bill, the Washington Territorial legislators denied women the right to cast a ballot.

Take a trip through New York to sites of famous abolitionist Harriet Tubman and learn about her later years as an activist for women’s issues.

Members of the ACHP met March 22 in Washington, DC for their spring business meeting. They discussed the pending transition to a full-time chairman following the President’s announcement of his intent to nominate Aimee Jorjani to that position. Members will need to renegotiate the agency’s strategic plan and revisit the operating procedures and office structure. Chairman Milford Wayne Donaldson will be appointing a member task force to work on these issues in the near term.

The ACHP celebrates Women’s History Month this March by recognizing the important contributions women have made to our nation. Learn about the history of these women by exploring their stories through research and by visiting the historic sites where they spent their lives.