Preservation Worcester Wins 2012 AASLH Award of Merit

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has named Preservation Worcester a recipient of a 2012 Leadership in History Award of Merit in recognition of its By the Canal self-guided tour of Worcester’s Canal District.  Launched in November of 2011, the tour includes eleven historic sites, each identified by a historical tour marker, reflecting the history of both the city and the neighborhood.  Available as an audio tour accessible by smart phone or iPod, it can also be downloaded as a printout from Preservation Worcester’s website (www.preservationworcester.org ) or may be picked up in printed form at the organization’s office on Cedar Street.

Historical, architectural, and cultural information offered by the tour brings alive the nearly forgotten story of the Blackstone Canal and its key role in the 19th century development of Worcester as a major industrial city with a burgeoning immigrant population.  A wide variety of buildings, ranging in date from 1845 to 1911, are included along the tour route.  Among them are Union Station, St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, the former Ash Street School, and the old Crompton Loom Works, the lesser known Walker Shoe and Hill Envelope factories and others.  According to John B. Anderson, associate professor of history emeritus, College of the Holy Cross, the By the Canal tour helps us experience what life was like in this 19th century Worcester neighborhood: “A , tour taker… can “see” someone living above a shop, sending their children walking to a neighborhood school, working in a nearby multistory factory, socializing in a local organization, skirting a disused canal, hearing different and varied languages, and so on.”  He also notes that “By the Canal does a tremendous service for local history in using local landscape and structures to provide an effective window to the past and [to] the forces which shaped Worcester in the Nineteenth Century.”

Funded by grants from the John H. Chafee Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor and the Canal District Alliance, the By the Canal project included preparation of the tour, handsome historical markers placed on buildings along the tour route, tour brochures, brochure dispensers on display in Union Station, and informational A-frame signs used for a variety of area events and school programs.

The AASLH Leadership in History Award, now in its 67th year, is the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.

This year, AASLH is proud to confer fifty-nine national awards honoring people, projects, exhibits, books, and organizations. The winners represent the best in the field and provide leadership for the future of state and local history. Presentation of the awards will be made at a special banquet during the 2012 AASLH Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday, October 5, 2012. The banquet is supported by a generous contribution from the History Channel.

The AASLH awards program was initiated in 1945 to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history throughout the United States.  The AASLH Leadership in History Awards not only honor significant achievement in the field of state and local history, but also brings public recognition of the opportunities for small and large organizations, institutions, and programs to make contributions in this arena.  For more information about the Leadership in History Awards, contact AASLH at 615-320-3203, or go to www.aaslh.org.

The American Association for State and Local History is a not-for-profit professional organization of individuals and institutions working to preserve and promote history.  From its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, AASLH provides leadership, service, and support for its members who preserve and interpret state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful in American society.  AASLH publishes books, technical publications, a quarterly magazine, and monthly newsletter.  The association also sponsors regional and national training workshops and an annual meeting.

Preservation Worcester is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1969 whose mission is to maintain for future generations the sites and structures which are significant to the culture, history, and architecture of the city and to encourage excellence in future design.