| Abstrakt: |
Fiske Kimball (1888-1955) & well-recognized as one of the founders of American architectural history. His Thomas Jefferson, Architect (1916); Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic (:1922? and, American Architecture (1928) remain landmarks in the history of American architecture. From 1924 until 1955, he was the director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art where he was widely acknowledged as a highly skilled curator and administrator. Kimball is equally significant in the story of American historic preservation. His 1941 essay in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians defined the "The Preservation Movement" during the period prior to World War II. Kimball served as one of the founding members of the National Park System Advisory Board, which was created by the Historic Sites Act of 1935 to advise the Secretary of the Interior regarding the identification and evaluation of nationally significant historic properties. As such, he played a highly important role in the establishment of National Park Service historic preservation policy. During World War II, Kimball drafted an essay entitled "Historic Monuments, " which outlined his reminiscences regarding the wide range of historic preservation projects and personalities he had known through his career. Comprising one chapter of his proposed memoirs, the manuscript is maintained among Kimball's voluminous records at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The following excerpt from Kimball's memoirs describes his involvement with the National Park Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
