Jenrette Foundation Releases Landmark Report on the State of American Historical and Cultural Landscapes

New report calls for stewarding the cultural, ecological, and historical significance of landscapes by embracing change.

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation today announced the release of its new report, The State of American Cultural and Historic Landscapes, examining the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of landscape preservation, education, and stewardship across the United States.

The report argues that the future of landscape preservation depends on moving beyond the goal of maintaining places in a single historical condition. Instead, it calls for a more adaptive, interdisciplinary approach that sustains the cultural, historical, ecological, and social significance of landscapes as they evolve. It also emphasizes the importance of recognizing intangible heritage, including oral histories, traditional practices, collective memory, and community knowledge, alongside physical features and archival evidence.

Drawing on original survey responses and discussions of the Foundation's Historic and Cultural Landscapes Advisory Committee, the report points to a field at a pivotal moment, as environmental change, evolving cultural values, and gaps in professional education challenge conventional approaches to preserving historic landscapes.

"Landscapes are at the center of public debate," says Jenrette Foundation President Benjamin Prosky, " and when landscapes are excluded or destroyed, their power to inspire is diminished if not lost. When landscapes are misunderstood, the lessons they hold are obscured or forgotten. The Jenrette Foundation recognizes this is time for testing assumptions to make sure our frameworks are adequate to the realities we face."

Key findings from the report include:

• Stewardship must account for change. The report calls for context-specific, adaptive approaches that sustain significance while allowing landscapes to evolve.
• Cultural significance extends beyond physical features. The report recommends incorporating oral histories, sacred practices, traditional ecological knowledge, collective memory, and community attachment of knowledge into research, interpretation, and management.
• Communities must be partners in stewardship. Indigenous communities, descendant communities, local residents, and other groups with longstanding relationships to a landscape can offer knowledge that conventional documentation alone may not capture; meaningful participation requires sustained relationships and shared authority.
• Education and professional practice need stronger connections. The report identifies a need for more accessible training, stronger interdisciplinary frameworks, and practical guidance to help practitioners translate research and documentation into long-term stewardship.

The report concludes with four calls to action:

1. Redefine preservation as the stewardship of significance through responsible change. Move beyond maintaining landscapes in a single historical condition and develop context-specific strategies that balance historical integrity, contemporary use, and ecological resilience.
2. Expand the definition of significance to include living cultural knowledge and community memory. Recognize oral histories, traditional practices, Indigenous and local knowledge, spiritual associations, and collective memory as legitimate forms of evidence alongside archival records and physical resources.
3. Make community participation and interdisciplinary knowledge fundamental to landscape stewardship. Bring communities, historians, archaeologists, ecologists, landscape architects, preservation professionals, and land managers into decision-making from the beginning.
4. Connect interdisciplinary expertise through unified practices. Develop shared frameworks for research, documentation, decision-making, and management that allow distinct disciplines to contribute to a coherent approach to stewardship.

Download the full report at jenrette.org/reports

About the Jenrette Foundation

The Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation is dedicated to the stewardship of historic preservation, decorative arts, and cultural education. With a commitment to convening leaders, supporting emerging professionals, and fostering inclusive scholarship, the Foundation continues the legacy of its founder by championing the living history of American material culture. Follow the conversation at @jenrettefoundation

Contact:

William Richards

Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation

wrichards@jenrette.org

www.jenrette.org

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SOURCE Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation