Recovered newspaper submission dated 2009-04-16; print publication date not independently verified. This archival republication preserves original reporting and points historical Preservation Network URLs to its revived Ning address.
This week marks the one year anniversary of the Natchitoches Preservation Network. So, what have we accomplished?
A Growing Community Archive
Currently we have 123 active members, 22 groups and 57 discussion forums. The site has members from Natchitoches, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., the United Kingdom and from states across the South.
Of course, you don’t have to be a member to view content on the Natchitoches Preservation Network. We have an about 40 new visitors per day. On a monthly average, visitors represent almost every state and 16 foreign countries. Average visit time is about five minutes, which means these folks are viewing the content and hopefully thinking about it a little. It’s gratifying that these people value the heritage of our small town enough to give it a bit of their time during the day.
I thank everyone who participates on the site and contributes to the “doing” of heritage preservation in the Cane River region. There are too many to name, but if you contributed via blog posts, forums or media in the past year, I’m sincerely grateful to you.
The goal of the Natchitoches Preservation Network is to help people realize that the cause of heritage belongs to all of us and that it’s easier than ever to explore their heritage through advancements on the World Wide Web. For example, the NPN site is fed to Twitter. We have a Friendfeed room to discuss the latest articles on Natchitoches heritage on the web. We use RSS technology to bring relevant news from across the web to the site’s front page. We have used the Delicious social bookmarking tool to aggregate over 100 websites related to the history of our area, resulting in a virtual library of Natchitoches heritage.
Photographs, Video, and Participation
The site is media rich as well. Members have contributed well over 700 photographs. Additionally, I’ve produced nearly 20 YouTube videos, including spots for one of the most aggressive community-wide contributions to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “This Place Matters” social media campaign. We also have our very own podcast on iTunes.
Are we “there” yet? No, definitely not. In fact, the site is just now developing the sense of conversation and openness indicative of a successful social network. My approach has been hands off, allowing the site to grow organically along with its membership’s comfort level with web technologies. I keep up with some of the admin, but the site is truly about people helping each other connect to their heritage and giving them the tools to explore it.
The approach seems to have worked and not just in Natchitoches. NPN was the first regionally focused Ning heritage site on the web and I know that its existence has inspired the creation of at least two other successful sites in other states.
Whether you’re active on the site or simply a reader of this column, I thank you for your interest. I look forward to spreading the word about our town and its exquisite heritage in year two! So what new directions should we explore next? Visit www.natchitochespreservation.ning.com and give us your opinion.
What Remains
The Natchitoches Preservation Network’s 2009 anniversary now marks an early phase of an ambitious local digital heritage experiment. Its Ning community, oral histories, photographs, videos, and discussions became records in their own right. The work of recovering the platform and connecting its surviving material to the Network history on Voices of the Past makes that original year newly significant. The challenge is to document what was actually preserved, distinguish surviving content from missing material, and properly credit the people who contributed to it. Natchitoches Preservation Network.
Updated October 2026
Article Catalog CardView the manuscript record, provenance & surviving materials
| Artifact | Original Natchitoches newspaper manuscript. |
|---|---|
| Period | 2009-04-16 submission. |
| Institution | Natchitoches Times and local cultural heritage organizations. |
| Role | Columnist and community heritage practitioner. |
| Evidence | Original dated email manuscript. |
| Status | Archival restoration; print edition not independently verified. |
Critical Questions + Add to the Record
Application here: The Network’s first anniversary offers an early measure of what a community-built digital heritage platform could accomplish and what preservation responsibilities it created.
Know something that adds context, documentation, correction, or firsthand knowledge to this record? Keep this page open and copy its URL into the contribution form.
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