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Whether you go to a national park or the Second Street Warehouse District, you've been exposed to the work of historical preservationists.
"Historic preservation is primarily concerned with the management of the built environment," said Melissa Huber, Student Historic Preservation Association President. This includes everything from historic structures to historic landscapes.
The purpose of preservation is to protect portions of the built environment that have historical or cultural significance, whether it is the home of a famous person or an area that exemplifies a particular architectural style.
At UT, historic preservation is offered as a graduate degree. Students do many different kinds of work, from measured drawings of an historic site to research into new methods of restoration of historic structures.
"Preservation is a very interdisciplinary field," Huber said. "We work with architects, planners and sustainable design. There is also a history component and a business component, with real estate."
The association acts as the voice of historic preservation majors at UT and maintains contact with alumni in the field. The association's officers organize students and help them find local service projects, with the goal of connecting to the local community. Huber said the association seeks to "increase [preservation students'] presence in general and to be able to possibly find funding to help students go to conferences."
"SHPA keeps people informed and organized with preservation events," said Lauren Vienne, historic preservation graduate student.
On Friday, association members and historic preservation graduate students finished a set of measured drawings for a course of the same title.
Anyone can register for the measured drawings course, which is offered in the department of architecture. Class members submitted these drawings to the Historic American Buildings Survey, for the Peterson Prize competition.
The survey was created in 1937 to accumulate designs and schematics of important American historical sites. The Peterson Prize is named after survey founder Charles E. Peterson and according to the survey's Web site "is intended to increase awareness and knowledge about historic buildings throughout the United States while adding to the permanent survey collection of measured drawings at the Library of Congress."
For this year's competition, the students chose the Zilker Clubhouse as their historic site. To create the set of drawings, they went to the clubhouse and made sketches. Then they measured the entire building and came back to the studio and made scale drawings. Students also included medium format photographs, a site plan and a longer written history of the site in their entry to the Peterson Prize.
Preservation is more than making drawings. Students also research new materials and methods of preservation. According to the association Web site, students study "history, research techniques, materials conservation, interpretation and documentation of historic resources, restoration methodologies, and sensitive design for adaptive use."
The preservation program has been involved in numerous projects in Austin. Drawings have previously been submitted to HABS for the Oakwood Cemetery, Camp Mabry, Point Bolivar Lighthouse and Laguna Gloria. Work done by preservation students has also received nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, for projects on the McDonald Observatory, Deep Eddy Bathhouse and Oakwood Cemetery Annex.
Although most of its members are in the preservation program, the association president Melissa Huber said the association is not limited to preservation students.
"If you're interested in the historic built environment in general, even if you think you should tear it down, you should come and discuss preservation," Huber said.
The association normally meets the fourth week of the month, but Huber said interested students should check the association's Web site on the School of Architecture home page for future meeting times and more information.
Next year, historic preservation's enrollment will more than double from 10 to 20 students.
According to SHPA secretary Dana Serovy, "a large incoming class means we need to organize people."
Asked what the association might organize for next year, interim director of the historic preservation program and associate professor of architecture Chris Long said that the association hopes to "do some pro-bono preservation work generally, probably somewhere around the state, especially the Port Arthur and Beaumont area."
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