Preservation League Launches "Seven to Save" Exhibit

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ALBANY, NY (09/26/2017) (readMedia)-- The Preservation League draws statewide attention to New York's most important and at-risk historic places through its biennial Seven to Save list of endangered places.

This fall, the League will present an exhibition of photographs of the 2016-2017 Seven to Save designees, taken by Bruce Harvey, a consulting professional historian and documentation photographer based in Syracuse.

The exhibition will open with a Meet the Artist Reception on Friday, October 6, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the League's National Register-listed headquarters at 44 Central Avenue in Albany. The reception is free and open to the public as part of the League's participation in 1st Friday, the arts walk that showcases the lively art scene in downtown Albany, and refreshments will be served.

The exhibit is presented by M&T Bank and sponsored by Mesick Cohen Wilson Baker Architects, LLP with additional support from PBDW Architects.

The 2016-2017 Seven to Save list includes: the Rapp Road Historic District in Albany; Gould Memorial Library in the Bronx; Wildroot in Buffalo; the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, which runs through several municipalities in Essex and Franklin Counties; the Dutch Reformed Church in Newburgh; the Stockade Historic District in Schenectady; and the Dennis-Newton House in Ithaca.

Through the Seven to Save program, the League has worked with local stakeholders to avert demolition, develop plans for reuse, secure landmark designation, and foster greater public awareness of the value of New York's unique and irreplaceable historic resources. Press conferences, tours, grants and new legislation are among the strategies the Preservation League uses to secure the future of historic places at risk. The League also collaborates with advocates, elected officials and other stakeholders to craft preservation strategies and put these plans to work.

Bruce Harvey holds a Ph.D.in History from Vanderbilt University, and traveled around the state to photograph the League's most recent Seven to Save designees. He produces all of his photographs in accordance with the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historian American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER). HABS was a New Deal program from the 1930s that employed out-of-work architects and historians in the documentation of major historical landmarks, while HAER was an addition in the late 1960s that drew from a growing interest in America's industrial history.

"I am an experienced journeyman historian, very familiar with the range of sources that allow me to tell the stories of the variety of places where I have worked," said Harvey. "From cities and towns in southeastern Alabama to the northernmost reaches of Maine, to military bases for nearly all of the branches, and hydroelectric facilities throughout the nation, I love to tell the stories of places, to recapture and represent the continuities from past to present."

Local and regional preservation organizations, advocacy groups, municipalities and others are encouraged to submit nominations for the 2018-2019 Seven to Save list of New York State's most endangered places. Guidelines are posted on the League's website.

The Preservation League invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth, and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. It leads advocacy, economic development and education programs across New York State.

For more information on the League and its Seven to Save program, please call 518-462-5658 x10 or visit www.preservenys.org.