THE
STATES THEIR
ACT
TO
CONSERVE
HERITAGE
By S. K. Stevens*
State action in the field of conservation of natural resources, including streams, forests, game and the land itself, has become a common feature of governmental policy in the last fifty years. It is only within the last decade or so that very much attention has been directed toward conservation of historical resources. These include letters, diaries and records, early newspaper files, archives of governments, both state and local, object materials such as tools, utensils and implements used by former generations, and historic sites and buildings which were the places with which notable persons had an association or where great events took place. The loss or destruction of such materials can be more permanent than the depletion of natural resources. The latter can be replaced. Forests can be replanted, streams purified and cleared, game supplies restocked, and land improved. Original historical resources, once lost or destroyed, can never be fully recovered. Historic * Dr. S. K. Stevens is executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This article, which originally appeared in State Government, published by the Council of State Governments, April, 1958, is reprinted by permission.
