Archive note — September 2026: This August 2008 program is where Preservation Today begins as a recognizable public experiment. It brought preservation news, archaeology, museums, emerging web culture, technology, interviews, and practical resources into a single digital format at a moment when those worlds were only beginning to converge online. Looking back, the production is unmistakably of its time, but the underlying question is the one that would continue through Voices of the Past and into later work: how can technology help connect cultural knowledge, practitioners, institutions, and the public without losing the context that makes that knowledge meaningful? This is the first confirmed Preservation Today netcast in the surviving archive — and, in that sense, one of the places where the larger trajectory starts.
August 2008 Contents
George Washington’s Boyhood Home
Archeologists confirmed that Ferry Farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia is the site of President George Washington’s boyhood home. The site was found after a seven year search and more than 500,000 artifacts from 11 time periods have been found.
Sources: National Geographic · Fox News · New York Times
Charity Hospital in New Orleans
RMJM Hiller has been hired to complete an independent evaluation of Charity Hospital in New Orleans. The report should play a major role in decisions concerning the construction of new hospitals in the area. Charity Hospital is the most prominent example of art deco architecture in in New Orleans and it has a history that goes back more than 250 years.
Sources: The Foundation for Historical Louisiana · Building Design and Construction · Next American City Magazine
Cedar Creek Battlefield
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation has acquired 189 acres of one of the nation’s most endangered battlefields. The acquisition will protect Cedar Creek Battlefield for the controversial expansion of a nearby limestone quarry.
Sources: Shenandoah Stories · Washington Times · National Park Service Digest
Midwest Floods and Cultural Heritage
Record-breaking floods across the Midwest have destroyed or damaged numerous cultural institutions, public buildings, rural landscapes and historic districts. Brucemore, a site owned by the National Trust, has become a hub for recovery efforts. Several organizations are heading up recovery efforts including Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area and The American Institute of Conservation.
Sources: Iowa Floods · The National Trust Weblog
Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
The 9th annual VAST International Symposium on virtual reality, archeology and cultural heritage will take place in Portugal this December. The symposium will present a dialogue on the present and future of archeology in the 21st century.
Source: VAST Symposium
Russia’s Gingerbread Houses
Only 1,800 gingerbread houses remain in Russia as the country struggles to balance preservation with the demands of development. In Tomsk, Russia, $3 million from the city treasury is being used to restore these buildings.
Sources: International Herald Tribune · The New York Times
Preservation Technology Grants
More than $165,000 have been awarded to fund research projects that use technology to advance preservation. Four projects were funded as part of a grants program administered by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. Those receiving funding include The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Tulane University.
David Morgan: NCPTT Grants and Prospection in Depth
David Morgan, Chief of Archeology and Collections at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, gives information on what the center looks for in a grant proposal and how to apply.
Morgan also speaks about the upcoming “Prospection in Depth” workshop in San Francisco.
Resource: Prospection in Depth Archaeology Workshop
Nina Simon and Museum 2.0
Museum 2.0 is a blog by Nina Simon on heritage issues. The site explores how museums can apply social media principles to become more engaging, community-based and vital to society.
Resource: Museum 2.0
Jonathan Bailey: Protecting Content Online
Jonathan Bailey, creator of Plagiarism Today, one of the web’s top resources for content and privacy issues, talks about how to protect your content online. Bailey discusses the importance of monitoring your content and how to license your work under Creative Commons.
Jonathan Bailey on the web
Online content and identity protection resources
- Creative Commons
- Copyscape
- Bitscan and CopyAlerts
- U.S. Copyright Office
- DomainTools
- Science Commons
- Wikipedia
- Internet Archive
Cast and Crew
- Jeffery K. Guin, executive producer
- Brittany Byrd, producer
- David Antilley, director
- Adam Caldwell, assistant director
- Farrah Reyna, anchor
- Lane Luckie, anchor
Partners in this Production
- City of Natchitoches, La.
- Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area
- National Center for Preservation Technology & Training
- Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Project Catalog Card
View the first confirmed Preservation Today netcast as an early digital-publication experiment
| Project | Preservation Today video netcast |
|---|---|
| Date | August 2008 |
| Role | Executive producer |
| Problem | How could preservation news, research, emerging web culture, interviews, and practical resources be brought together in a more immediate public format? |
| Practice | Magazine-style video program combining reporting, interviews, partner contributions, and links to primary resources. |
| What happened | The format became an early public experiment connecting preservation practice with emerging social and digital media. |
| What survives | The complete video, detailed segment notes, cast and crew list, and source links preserved on this page. |
| Trajectory | Institutional communications → Preservation Today → Voices of the Past → later digital-heritage publishing and field-mapping work. |
| Status | First confirmed Preservation Today netcast in the surviving archive. |
Supporting Documents & Sources
View the surviving program, segment references & production context
- The surviving YouTube program at the top of this page is the primary media artifact.
- The segment-by-segment source links preserved below the video document the news and resources incorporated into the program.
- The cast, crew, and partner lists preserve the collaborative production context.
Archive Note / Provenance
View why this 2008 program matters in the larger trajectory
This August 2008 program is where Preservation Today begins as a recognizable public experiment. It brought preservation news, archaeology, museums, emerging web culture, technology, interviews, and practical resources into a single digital format at a moment when those worlds were only beginning to converge online.
The production is unmistakably of its time. The durable question is not the video format itself but the attempt to connect cultural knowledge, practitioners, institutions, and the public without losing the context that makes that knowledge useful.
Critical Questions + Add to the Record
- How do we make knowledge more accessible without losing its meaning?
- What happens when useful tools become systems we depend on?
- What should technology strengthen in us—and what should it never replace?
Application here: the experiment treated emerging media as a way to connect people with preservation knowledge rather than as a novelty in itself. That distinction became central to later work.
Did you work on Preservation Today, appear in this program, or preserve production material from the series? Add firsthand context, corrections, or surviving artifacts.
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