Preservation is a dynamic and multifaceted professional field encompassing archaeologists, landscape architects, historians, curators, architects, educators, interpreters, and environmental scientists. Activities in the preservation process include investigation, surveys, documentation, protection, treatment, maintenance, preventive care, presentation, training and management. Through preservation we look after places, study and evaluate significance, and collaborate with communities to care for and safeguard cultural heritage. Preservation requires careful reflection on cultural values, place and identity, underrepresented heritage, community, social and political narratives, meaning and memory, adaptive reuse, and global trends.
Preservation Studies at BU
Graduating its first student in 1975, the Preservation Studies MA Program has trained hundreds of professionals in historic preservation for nearly five decades. At Boston University, a living legacy of adapting and reusing buildings stretches back nearly 150 years. When chartered in 1869, the University occupied two converted residential townhouses on Beacon Hill. Over time, former car dealerships became classrooms (read about the history of the automobile row on BU Today), brownstones became academic departments and residences, and a major league baseball field was transformed into an athletic stadium. The mix of old and new gives character to our campus-and creates an ideal setting for our preservation studies students.
At Boston University, you can reap the benefits of studying at a diverse, dynamic university in a city envied for its history, culture, innovation, and high technology. Our statistics? More than 32,000 undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and 130+ countries. Nearly 10,000 faculty and staff, 17 schools and colleges, and 250 programs of study. Our faculty members have won recognition in virtually every field of endeavor. And among our alumni, you’ll find some of the world’s most celebrated thinkers, writers, scientists, and civil rights leaders. An added plus: you’ll be surrounded by countless examples of outstanding historical preservation in Boston.
