HomeMy WebLinkAbout03 HPC Progress Report 03.2003 City of College Station
" Historic Preservation Committee
March 2003 Progress Report
I. Committee Background
A. Historic Preservation Committee Members (Appendix A)
B. Sub - Committees
1.) Organizational Sub - Committee
Marsha Sanford, Bill Lancaster, Sherlei Dannhaeuser & Robert
McGee
2.) Historic Marker Sub - Committee
JP Grom and David K. Chester
C. Creation in 1993 by City Ordinance Section 23 (Appendix C)
D. Support Department: Development Services
E. Staff Support
1.) Katie Elrod, Committee Staff Liaison
Neighborhood Services
2.) Molly Hitchcock, Historic Plaque Program
Development Review
3.) Lauren Harrell, Organizational Support
Development Services Intern
II. Recent Past Projects
A. Contributed to the neighborhood preservation aspects of the Unified
Development Ordinance (UDO).
B. Contributed to the Southside and Eastgate Historic Street Light Program.
III. Current Projects
A. Upgrading the Historic Marker Program
1.) Application Revision (Appendix C & D)
The historic marker application, both for buildings and subjects, has
been improved in order to request specific pertinent information that
will be useful to researchers.
2.) Application Guide & Glossary
An application guide will be created to assist the applicant in
completing the Historic Marker Application as fully as resources
allow.
3.) Resource Guide (Appendix E)
A resource guide booklet will be printed to provide historic property
owners with a collection of resources regarding the care of historic
buildings. This resource booklet is intended as a starting point for
historic preservation research and will assist property owners tackling
preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration projects.
4.) Additional Marker Design
A new design for Historic Subject Markers commemorating people,
topics, objects, or events is being developed.
5.) Public Relations Initiative
The Historic Marker Sub - committee will work to promote the
Historic Marker Program to property owners in a proactive manner
through speaking engagements, door hangers, and the media.
B. College Station Project HOLD: Historic Online Library Database
1.) Goal: HOLDing on to College Station history through preservation of
historical documents by means of Laserfiche digital imaging records
archival system.
2.) Laserfiche Archival Records System
Description
Laserfiche software is an imaging system that converts hard copy
material into digital images. Once scanned and in digital form, the
image is organized into file folders on a single storage server, which is
backed up regularly. The Laserfiche software is complete with
security features to prevent unauthorized changes and prevent the
accidental lost of documents. When paired with scanning procedures
established by the Texas Local Government Records Act, Title 6,
Local Government Code and the 13 Texas Administration Code 6.91-
6.96, Texas State Library Electronic Record Standards and Procedures
Laserfiche provides an archival storage that is approved for permanent
document storage retention.
Documents that are scanned into the system can be retrieved by the
following ways:
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR),
• a search for any word that has been entered into the images
template, and
• browsing by topic through folders.
When searching by OCR Laserfiche will pull up and highlight any
document containing the word for which you are searching. If the
image's text is not legible, for example a handwritten letter or a photo,
a template is created containing pertinent keywords. These keywords
can then be found during a search.
The Office of Technology and Information Systems (OTIS) is
currently determining what equipment will be placed in Development
Services to accommodate this project and that of the department as a
whole. A Laserfiche workstation will be set up in the Development
Services workroom.
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3.) Access to HOLD
Information archived in Laserfiche will be available for retrieval on
the City's intranet as soon as the documents are scanned. In
approximately one year, OTIS estimates that HOLD will be available
to the public from the City's web site.
4.) HOLD Clients
The potential clients of the History Online Library Database (HOLD)
are endless: students, historic property owners, architects, writers,
genealogists, and history buffs in College Station and around the
world.
5.) Method of Collection
HPC is implementing a campaign to invite College Station residents to
contribute to Project: HOLD. The PR campaign will include:
• presentations by Committee members and/or staff to local clubs,
churches and organizations,
• issuing PSA's and press releases to the media and channel 19,
• presentation at the May 4th Neighborhood Partnership Seminar
Supper, and
• observing National Preservation Week in May.
(See Appendix F for scheduled speaking engagements and contact list)
HPC will be asking participants to lend or donate items to be scanned
into the Laserfiche system on specified "Project HOLD Scan Days."
Trained volunteers will scan the items under the direction of
Development Services staff. A HPC member has also volunteered to
provide a door -to -door delivery services on scan days.
6.) Donations
It is the decision of the Historic Preservation Committee to
recommend the transference of donated items to the Carnegie Center
of Brazos Valley History or to the African American National Heritage
Society for use in the African American Museum. (Appendix G: JP
Grom email, December, January, February HPC minutes)
a.) Carnegie Center of Brazos Valley History
The Historic Preservation Committee took a tour of the
Carnegie Center of Brazos Valley History on November 19,
2002 to discern the suitability of the Center for serving as a
depository for College Station materials. The HPC members
have noted the following points:
• Courteous, well trained staff knowledgeable of historic
research who are committed to superior customer service.
• Guest book at the front entry documents that the Center is
used by individuals from College Station, Bryan, the
Brazos Valley, throughout Texas, from out of State, and
from other countries.
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• Established operating schedule includes night and
weekend hours to accommodate the working person.
• Environment of the Center is conducive to research: ample
workspace, computers, genealogy aids and staff support.
• The collection at the Center is truly a depository for
records and artifacts from the whole of Brazos Valley
including College Station. Accepted collections range
from City of Bryan, Bryan ISD and Brazos County
District Clerks Office and many private collections from
organizations and families throughout Brazos Valley.
• Meticulous encapsulation methods used to preserve
historic materials in the safest means possible.
b.) African American National Heritage Society for the African
American Museum
The African American National Heritage Society (AANHS) is
currently in the collection process for items to be donated to
the African American Museum. City staff attended the
African American National Heritage Society board meeting
on the evening of March 4 to offer a partnership in the
collection of historical material originating from College
Station. We offered to relinquish any pertinent material that
we collect to the museum in exchange for the opportunity to
scan material that they collect from College Station. The
board accepted our offer and directed staff to work out the
logistics with AANHS board member Bill Paige, TAMU
Library Program Coordinator.
7.) Donation Release Form
Items donated will require a release form
C. National Historic Preservation Week
1.) Description
The National Trust for Historic Preservation created National Historic
Preservation Week in 1971 to recognize grassroots preservation efforts
across the United States. It has grown into an annual celebration
observed from small towns to large cities with a wide range of events.
"Cities, Suburbs, and Countryside" is the theme of this year's
nationwide celebration that will take place May 5 th - 12 th
2.) Proclamation
Staff has requested a proclamation on April 24
3.) Neighborhood Partnership Seminar Supper
HPC will invite local historic partners to assist them in making a
presentation to neighborhood leaders regarding Project: HOLD and
other area historic initiatives.
4.) Door hangers promoting the Historic Marker Program
HPC members will canvass neighborhoods with historic properties and
place door hangers on properties that are marker candidates.
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5.) Utility Billing
Notice of National Preservation Week will be submitted for the utility
bill insert newsletter.
D. HPC's lends support local historic initiatives
1.) Star of the Republic Museum
A committee member volunteered at the Star of the Republic Museum
to assist with the inventory of the archeological collection of the
1850's Stagecoach Inn, detached kitchen.
2.) Former Black School at Houston and 20 Streets in Bryan
Archeological digs are underway at the site of the Former Black
School in preparation for the construction of the African American
Museum. Two committee members assisted with these efforts.
3.) HPC toured the Carnegie Center of Brazos Valley History.
4.) Staff attended fundraiser banquet for the African American Museum
5.) Partnership with African American National Heritage Society
established.
6.) Staff made a presentation at the Senior Advisory Committee; they
were very supportive of our project!
7.) IV Historic Preservation Symposium
Two committee members and two staff members will attend the
upcoming Texas A &M University Historic Preservation Symposium
sponsored by the Historic Resources Imaging Laboratory. The
symposium will take place at the Washington on the Brazos State
Historic Site and will address the topic of Culture, Landscapes, and
Buildings: The Meaning and Use of Historic Cultural Resources on
March 22
8.) Texas Historical Commission Workshop
HPC members are currently signing up to attend the Texas Historical
Commission all -day regional workshop at the Sam Houston Memorial
Museum in Huntsville, Texas on April 7 Community leaders and
preservationists will share information about promoting preservation
within their communities.
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