Preservation Long Island Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary

Preservation Long Island, a regional not-for-profit organization dedicated to historic preservation on geographic Long Island, is celebrating its 75th year in operation.

To help celebrate this 75th Anniversary milestone, special events are planned including a Diamond Anniversary Benefit Party on June 23rd, a new exhibition, and redesigned house tours and special programs at Preservation Long Island’s historic properties across Long Island.

Originally founded in 1948 as the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, the organization adopted Preservation Long Island as a new name in 2017 to communicate more plainly its commitment to advancing the importance of preserving all facets of the region’s history through advocacy, education, and stewardship of historic sites and collections.

Preservation Long Island’s approach to historic preservation on Long island includes:

• Interpreting three Preservation Long Island owned historic sites in Suffolk County.
• Providing free advisory services in communities across Long Island for individuals and groups engaged in local preservation efforts.
• Advocacy work includes the Endangered Historic Places Program and Preservation Awards.
• Maintaining exceptional examples of regional material culture. Preservation Long Island’s collections of over 8,000 objects and archival materials is considered one of the most significant regional assemblages of decorative arts and objects in New York State. Hundreds of images from the collection are now available to browse online.
• Developing exhibitions that explore Long Island’s material and cultural past at their headquarters Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor.
• Presenting innovative educational programs about local history and the built environment at Preservation Long Island owned historic properties as well as on-site programs for school groups.
• Publishing scholarly works and books. Preservation Long Island’s publications on Long Island history and decorative arts remain the go-to sources for studying Long Island’s heritage.

For more information, including a full list of scheduled events, visit the Preservation Long Island website.