Utah Heritage Foundation

For the past twelve years, Save America’s Treasures has been one of the country’s most important and effective historic preservation efforts, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars for restoration to nationally significant historic sites and special collections in all parts of the U.S.  The National Trust is proud of our role in establishing SAT and our subsequent work with three administrations.  We have been pleased to serve as the program’s principal private partner since its inception.   SAT is a program that has demonstrated its value many times over, as a generator of economic activity and as a symbol of our country’s commitment to ensuring that future generations understand the foundations on which our institutions and freedoms rest.

In the current difficult fiscal environment we face as a country, the federal SAT program was not included in the Administration’s FY11 budget request.  Despite strong and consistent support from preservationists, local government officials, historic site administrators, and many others, Congress is not reinstating any programs that the Administration did not include in its 2011 budget.  Likewise, SAT was not a part of the Administration’s FY12 budget request.  At the National Trust, we have had extensive conversations with Congressional leadership on the future of the program.  While many on the Hill remain supportive of the program, given the political landscape and the budget process now in place, it is clear that Congress will not restore the program’s funding in 2012.

With this conclusion, we have made the reluctant decision to close the Save America’s Treasures office at the National Trust.  SAT at the National Trust has been devoted to assisting sites with applications for the SAT program and helping successful applicants raise the required match. It has worked extensively and creatively with the country’s premier historic places and collections to raise public awareness and shine a bright spotlight on the importance of our cultural resources and the need for their conscientious stewardship. Among the more than 1,200 prestigious projects in which SAT at the Trust has played a critical role are: the restoration of the Star Spangled Banner, San Francisco’s Conservatory of Flowers, Martin Luther King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the Acoma Pueblo. Other beneficiaries have been the homes of such literary icons as Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder. It also is responsible for supporting the restoration of the last architectural model of the World Trade Center and the related exhibits and interpretation. In addition to the model, when the National Memorial Museum at Ground Zero opens on Sept. 11, 2012, the Last Column – the last structural element removed from the site that contains signatures and graffiti from the families, workers and public officials – will have a prominent place thanks to support from SAT.

One of the few opportunities you have to tour Utah's fabulous pioneer era structures is coming up on Memorial Day weekend.  The Friends of Spring City is hosting their annual weekend event full of art, antiques, and great architecture that is worth the trip to Sanpete County.  It's a centerpiece of the county's Scandinavian Days Festival so its an occasion  rich with Utah history passed down to generations that you can pass down as well.