Technical Help

Contact our Program Manager Susanna Prull via email or at 401-272-5101 x204 for technical assistance, she'll be happy to help you with your preservation inquiry!

Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission

The Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission (RIHPHC) is the state agency for historical preservation and heritage programs. The RIHPHC operates a statewide historical preservation program that identifies and protects historic buildings, districts, structures, and archaeological sites. The National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island is managed by the RIHPHC in conjunction with the National Parks Service. The RIHPHC also develops and carries out programs to document and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Rhode Island's people.

Several state preservation programs are administered by the RIHPHC including:

• an annual Statewide Preservation Conference in April
• the State Preservation Grants that fund capital preservation projects for public historic sites, museums, and cultural art centers located in historic structures.
• the Certified Local Government Grants for communities with Historic District Zoning.
• the Homeowner Tax Credit where property owners can earn significant income tax credits when they rehabilitate their properties according to preservation guidelines.
• the Historic Preservation Loan Program provides low-interest loans to public, non-profit, or private owners. Loan money may be used for needed restoration work, or for acquiring and rehabilitating an endangered historic property.
• the Preservation Easement Program which protects a historic property from destruction by future owners and may qualify the current property owner for tax benefits.

Please visit the RIHPHC website for information on preservation, archaeology, and heritage programs in Rhode Island. http://www.preservation.ri.gov/

National Park Service

Technical Preservation Services

Technical Preservation Services is the nation's leading provider of information and guidance on the care of historic buildings. Technical Preservation Services provides the tools and information necessary to take effective measures to protect and preserve historic buildings, ranging from historic masonry and window repairs to lead paint abatement to accessibility for people with disabilities. 

Preservation Briefs

For over 25 years, Technical Preservation Services has helped home owners, preservation professionals, organizations, and government agencies by publishing easy-to read guidance on preserving, rehabilitating and restoring historic buildings. More than 2 million copies of the Preservation Briefs are in print and the illustrated Preservation Briefs 1-43 are now available online as an integral part of our 25th anniversary celebration.

National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT)

NCPTT protects America's historic legacy by equipping preservation professionals with progressive technology-based research and training.  NCPTT advances the application of science and technology to historic preservation. Working in the fields of archeology, architecture, landscape architecture and materials conservation, the Center accomplishes its mission through training, education, research, technology transfer and partnerships.

Non-Profits

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to save America's diverse historic places and revitalize our communities. 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the Trust was founded in 1949 and provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to protect the irreplaceable places that tell America's story. Staff at the Washington, DC, headquarters, six regional offices and 29 historic sites work with the Trust's 270,000 members and thousands of preservation groups in all 50 states.

The need for the National Trust for Historic Preservation has increased since its founding in 1949. When historic buildings and neighborhoods are torn down or allowed to deteriorate, a part of our past disappears forever. When that happens, we lose history that helps us know who we are, and we lose opportunities to live and work in the kinds of interesting and attractive surroundings that older buildings can provide.

Preservation Trades Network

The International Preservation Trades Workshop (IPTW) is the only annual event in North America which brings the foremost practitioners of the traditional trades together in a single venue dedicated to sharing the skills and knowledge of all of the traditional trades through interactive "hands on" demonstrations and educational sessions. Since 1997, masons, timber framers, carpenters, painters, plasterers, roofers, metal workers and practitioners of other traditional trades have come together with tools in hand to share their knowledge and demonstrate their skills at the annual "gathering of the trades". The IPTW is an interdisciplinary event designed to attract participants of many backgrounds, ages and skill levels including tradespeople, contractors, architects, engineers, conservators, educators, preservationists, students and interested members of the public.

IPTW 2008 was the first in New England, and was held in partnership with the Vermont Granite Museum and Stone Arts School, and the Preservation Education Institute and Historic Windsor. More than forty demonstrators shared their skills in the immense historic timber framed granite shed of the former Jones Brothers Granite Company.