on historic preservation

i'm writing this paper on the politics of historic preservation and thought this was a great summarizing quote...

"writing history and preserving buildings clearly reinforce particular histories while ignoring others. however unlike academic historians, preservationists work in a world in which the traces of histories that they choose to ignore often disappear...this process of devaluation leads to destruction and fosters a historic landscape that increasingly confirms the priveleged narrative. as a result of this process, people interested in exploring alternate versions of social and architectural experience find it difficult to harness the power of actual buildings to make their histories palpable"

-daniel bluestone
May 1994 Journal of Architectural Education Preservation and Renewal in Post-World War II Chicago