ABSTRACT 
 
 
 
 
Title of Final Project: UNDERSTANDING MILLENNIALS AND 
HISTORIC PRESERVATION 
  
 Kelly Elizabeth Schindler, Master of Historic 
Preservation, 2019 
  
Director of Final Project: Dennis J. Pogue, PhD 
Interim Director, Historic Preservation Program 
 
 
A 2017 study of millennials conducted by American Express and the National Trust for Historic 
Preservation shows that 97% of millennials “feel it’s important to preserve and conserve 
buildings, architecture, neighborhoods, and communities.” As the preservation movement seeks 
to replace an aging and financially dwindling supporter base, leaders in the field must consider 
ways to expand and change what defines a “preservationist” and how to capitalize on 
millennials’ high value for preservation while responding to the unique conditions that shape this 
generation. This project provides strategies for preservation professionals to engage millennials 
and make the preservation movement more inclusive and financially sustainable in the future. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               UNDERSTANDING MILLENNIALS AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION  
 
 
 
by 
 
 
                Kelly Elizabeth Schindler 
 
 
 
 
 
Final Project submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the  
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment 
of the requirements for the degree of 
Master of Historic 
Preservation 
2019 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Advisory Committee: 
Dennis J. Pogue, Adjunct Associate Professor 
Jeremy C. Wells, Assistant Professor 
Brent C. Leggs, Assistant Clinical Professor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Copyright by 
Kelly Elizabeth Schindler 
2019 
  
 
Acknowledgements 
I am so very grateful to have had tremendous support and encouragement from my 
colleagues at the National Trust for Historic Preservation on this project and my graduate studies 
in general, particularly from Katherine Malone-France and the Historic Sites department. I truly 
appreciate all the generous advice, wisdom, and patience you have shared with me over the past 
two years.  
I would also like to thank my fellow graduate students and the School of Architecture, 
Planning, and Preservation faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park for creating such 
a collegial and compelling educational experience. I especially would like to thank Professor 
Dennis Pogue for his assistance in shaping this project and helping me realize its potential. 
Finally, I absolutely could not have pursued this without love and support from my 
forever people: Beth and Bill Schindler, Samantha and Nathan Reaves, William Schindler,  
Danny Henkelman, Drs. Stephanie Jensen and Jessica Makofske (always inspirations of 
brilliance and academic fortitude), and so many friends who visited sites with me, helped me test 
assumptions, and listened to me talk a lot about millennials. Thank you for everything. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
i 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ i 
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... ii 
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. iii 
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 
Chapter 2: Background and Literature Review ............................................................ 8 
Chapter 3: Methodology and Analysis ....................................................................... 17 
Chapter 4: Millennials and Housing: A Case Study ................................................... 39 
Chapter 5:  Conclusion and Recommendations .......................................................... 48 
Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 54 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
ii 
 
List of Figures 
Figure 1: Generational spread in the United States, 2019.......................................10 
Figure 2: Millennials and educational achievement................................................13 
Figure 3: Average annual earnings by generation...................................................14 
Figure 4: Millennial historic preservation word/phrase preference.........................21 
Figure 5: Percentage of interviewees identifying as “preservationist”....................23 
Figure 6: Sample definition of “historic preservationist”........................................25 
Figure 7: Word cloud of common preservation vocabulary....................................26 
Figure 8: Millennials living at home compared with other generations..................40 
Figure 9: Total millennial student loan debt accumulation.....................................41 
Figure 10: Sample event flyer.................................................................................50 
Figure 11: Sample event flyer.................................................................................50 
Figure 12: Sample crowdfunding campaign...........................................................52 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
iii 
 
Chapter 1: Introduction 
Historic preservation in the United States is at an inflection point. The 50th anniversary of 
the groundbreaking National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the 100th anniversary of the 
National Park Service were celebrated in 2016 with countless commemorations, reflections, and 
calls to action, many of which directed audiences to consider the future of preservation and what 
it means to be a preservationist in the 21st century. The National Trust for Historic Preservation 
and other leading preservation groups declared “preservation is for people” and looked to 
community-centered preservationists like Jane Jacobs as role models for where the preservation 
movement should proceed from here.1 This project is an extension of that directive and examines 
critical benefits and challenges that come with professionalization of the preservation field as 
well as the strength of its origins as a social movement.2  
A national study of millennials (people born approximately 1981-1996) conducted by 
American Express and the National Trust in 2017 shows that 97% of millennials “feel it’s 
important to preserve and conserve buildings, architecture, neighborhoods, and communities.” 
As the preservation movement seeks to replace an aging and financially dwindling supporter 
base, leaders in the field must consider ways to expand and change what characteristics define a 
                                                
1 “Preservation for People: A Vision for the Future,” National Trust for Historic Preservation, May 2017, 
https://forum.savingplaces.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=57
133684-4c32-4863-5965-96476f7b4dab&forceDialog=0. 
2 Norman Tyler, Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice, New 
York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. 
1 
 
preservationist and what strategies professionals can employ to capitalize on preservation-
friendly millennial lifestyle preferences for the sustainability of their organizations and the field.3 
This project addresses these core issues and provides a set of recommendations for 
professional organizations to consider in how they attract millennial supporters and staff. I chose 
to focus the scope of this project solely on the millennial generation for primarily two reasons. 
First and foremost, I am a millennial (b. 1989), so naturally, I have some self-interest in 
researching how my own generation is faring in my chosen professional field. Secondly, much 
emphasis has already been placed on the importance of engaging children in preservation, 
evident in the host of school programs generated by thousands of historic sites and museum 
across the country every year. While school programs are a critical engagement tool for many 
organizations, I found looking at millennial trends far more compelling simply for the fact that 
millennials are adults with purchasing power; there is money (and therefore greater significance 
and consequences) behind their actions and preferences. Adjacent generations (“Generation Z” 
immediately following millennials and “Generation X” preceding them) were initially considered 
for further research in this project but were ultimately excluded from focus for several reasons, 
namely that having three distinct generations broadened the scope of the project considerably 
and demanded more study than the time constraints of this project allowed. For more reading on 
Generation Z and historic preservation, I suggest the work of Katie Rispoli Keaotamai and her 
organization, We Are the Next, based in Long Beach, California. More research on Generation X 
is desperately needed. 
                                                
3 Nicholas Fandos, “Connections to a Cause: The Millennial Way of Charity,” New York Times, 
November 3, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/giving/connections-to-a-cause-the-millennial-
way-of-charity.html. 
2 
 
The remainder of this chapter outlines the methods and research areas of this project, 
which will be discussed in further detail in the ensuing chapters. The final chapter will include 
the set of recommendations developed over the course of the project. 
 
Methods 
Survey Analysis 
 The survey that was conducted in 2017 did not include a deep analysis of the data, aside 
from a brief summary of key findings publicly provided by the National Trust. Several 
organizations, including American Express, released pieces online that referenced the survey and 
its findings shortly after it was published but did not delve into why the survey may have yielded 
those results. In order to determine the motivations for millennial preferences expressed in the 
survey, further analysis was needed and is the main focus of this project. 
 This analysis includes background information on the design and structure of the survey 
as well as an examination of some of the demographic and cultural factors that may account for 
these results. A number of external studies, including several conducted by organizations such as 
the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center, are used to help anchor the survey results 
and provide additional context for the underlying causes of millennial preferences towards 
historic preservation. 
 
Interviews 
 To complement the survey analysis, I conducted a series of interviews with preservation 
professionals who either are millennials or work closely with them. The interviews serve as a 
qualitative complement to the quantitative data provided in the survey and addressed some of the 
key research questions (discussed below) that were either left out of the survey or were only 
3 
 
summarily covered. Interviewees were asked to react to several key findings from the survey and 
estimate how these findings might impact their work in the future, as well as questions about 
historic preservation in general (such as how they define a “preservationist”). 
 Over the course of January and February 2019, I interviewed 20 people individually. The 
conversations were held mostly over the phone (largely due to the geographic dispersion of 
interviewees) but several were conducted in person when available or via email due to time 
constraints. I felt it was important to hear from a wide swath of the preservation community on 
important questions relating to the future of the preservation movement and young people, so I 
reached out to architects, real estate agents, planners, state historic preservation office staff, 
historic homeowners, museum directors, and more to contribute to this project. While the median 
age of interviewees skewed younger (most were within the defined range of the millennial 
generation), a concerted effort was made to achieve racial and geographic diversity that mirrored 
the makeup of the American millennial generation, as well as the professional diversity 
mentioned above. The interviews were each approximately 30 minutes in length (aside from the 
few that emailed written responses) and comprised of six open-ended questions and general 
discussion. The open discussion was particularly important, since each interviewee had a 
different area of expertise that I hoped to capture. 
 The interviews with preservation professionals were crucial in shaping the 
recommendations provided in this project. A full list of questions is included in Chapter 4 of this 
document for reference. 
 
 
 
4 
 
Case Study: Millennials and Housing 
 This report also includes a case study on millennials and housing. A closer examination 
of millennials and housing highlights how economic and cultural factors compound on one 
another and influence each other to create millennials’ current socioeconomic conditions, and 
how preservation can play a role in both alleviating some of the housing challenges millennials 
face and positioning older buildings as attractive, sustainable housing options. Much has already 
been written on millennial housing preferences, including that they are purchasing homes later, 
renting longer, and not moving as frequently as previous generations. Several preservation 
organizations have already developed programs that helps mitigate the challenges and seize the 
opportunities that come with these circumstances, including new financing tools, ownership 
programs, and hands-on training opportunities. Solutions have also been proposed from outside 
of the traditional preservation field, including Kate Wagner’s piece in Curbed titled “We Need a 
New HGTV,” which calls for re-thinking how preservation and renovation are positioned in the 
public eye and how these challenges are being met with on-the-ground efforts by city historic 
preservation officers, historic homeowners, and other local organizations reviewed in the case 
study. 
 
Literature Analysis 
 In order to understand why millennials value historic preservation, more research was 
required to understand the cultural factors shaping the millennial generation. Books and articles 
on millennial policy preferences, socioeconomic statistics, and other critical information were 
consulted to better analyze and contextualize the survey data and provide the basis for several 
interview questions. Studies and other academic research projects related to the current and 
future state of historic preservation, millennial engagement, and communication styles were also 
5 
 
collected. A full list of the literature consulted can be found in later chapters and in the 
bibliography. 
 One of the primary benefits of choosing millennials for this study is that a wealth of data 
exists for this generation. The Pew Research Center is a foundational source of data for this 
project, with dozens of articles and analyses written on millennials, but hardly any on preceding 
generations like Generation X and baby boomers – unless they are being compared to millennials 
and Generation Z. More data on these groups would have been included if more comprehensive 
research existed. 
 
Research Questions 
 The following research questions were developed to guide the survey analysis, 
interviews, and literature review and shaped the recommendations provided in the conclusion of 
this document. 
1. How is the term “preservationist” defined by people who self-identify as one (and those 
who do not)? 
2. Why might millennials (or others who value preservation) define or not define 
themselves this way? 
3. What language is being used, by both professionals and the public, to discuss historic 
preservation? Is there a common vocabulary between these two groups? 
4. Given these findings, should professional preservationists change how they define 
“preservationists”? 
5. How do millennials’ demographic patterns and opportunities for social and geographic 
mobility affect how they value and/or connect to cultural heritage? 
6 
 
6. How does preservation’s presentation in the media affect how it is perceived as a national 
movement? Does the media representation accurately reflect what is happening in 
historic preservation, both in professional organizations and at the grassroots level? 
7. What engagement strategies should preservation professionals pursue to increase mission 
support, in light of these findings? 
 
Hypothesis 
 The overall hypothesis for this project was that there would be a consensus from the 
professional preservation community regarding the definition of a “preservationist” and an 
expression of general optimism for the attitudes expressed by millennials who participated in the 
2017 survey. As the interviews and other research demonstrate, there are clearly many 
interpretations of what being a “preservationist” means and what the implications for the survey 
are for historic preservation in the future. 
  
7 
 
Chapter 2: Background and Literature Review 
Why does studying millennials matter for historic preservation? For one, millennials are 
currently in a “sweet spot” – between ages 23 and 38, they represent possibly the first generation 
of Americans that will not acquire significantly more time and money for leisure or charitable 
activities as they grow older, impacting the reserves of volunteers and donors on which 
preservation organizations have grown dependent. The current breadth of this generation 
includes new college graduates to families with young children, meaning millennials cannot be 
approached as a monolith; organizations should employ a variety of engagement tactics and 
programs to connect with these individuals. Even now, preservation organizations are finding 
that traditional methods of engagement (historic house tours, annual giving, etc.) are not bringing 
in younger audiences at the same rate as older generations when they were of comparable age. 
While numerous studies have been conducted on the importance of connecting children and 
youth with history and historic preservation from an early age, professional preservationists need 
to understand what is happening with young adults to better prepare for change ahead.  
A significant portion of the current body of historic preservation research focuses on 
engagement of young children and young adults, general preferences and affinities Americans 
have for historic places, and the charitable activities of older Americans. However, very little 
data exists for younger adults. In 2017, American Express and the National Trust for Historic 
Preservation hired Edge Research to conduct a national survey of millennials to determine how 
(or if) they value historic preservation. While the development and results of this survey will be 
explored further in Chapter 3, the survey itself demonstrates that data exists for studying 
millennials in ways that we simply do not yet have available (but desperately need) for other 
groups.  
8 
 
 The most succinct and convenient definition of millennials is provided by the Pew 
Research Center, which determines a millennial to be “anyone born between 1981 and 1996.”4 
Of course, there are many factors that contribute to what defines a generation beyond a simple 
timeframe. In the case of millennials, demographic composition, economics, and educational 
achievement have shaped their generation in ways that set them apart from their predecessors 
and the life-cycle effect. Millennials are, so far, the best-educated, largest, and most diverse 
generation ever seen in American history; simultaneously, they face significant economic and 
environmental circumstances impacting both their present and future and uniquely setting them 
apart from the rest of American society.5 
 Millennials comprise the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in the history of 
the United States. In just 50 years, the percentage of white non-Hispanic people has shrunk from 
88.6% of the population in the country in 1960 to just 72.4% in 2010.6 During this same 
timeframe, the population of Latinx and Hispanic people in the United States soared from just 
4% in 1960 to more than 16% in 2010, more than quadrupling in size, primarily thanks to a surge 
in immigration from Central and South American countries in the late 20th century. African 
American and Asian American populations also increased during this time, creating a 
significantly more diverse generation within just a few decades.7 With these trends anticipated to 
                                                
4 Michael Dimock, “Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins,” Pew  
Research Center, January 17, 2019, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-
end-and-generation-z-begins/. 
5 Richard Fry, Ruth Igielnik and Eileen Patten, “How Millennials today compare with their  
grandparents 50 years ago,” Pew Research Center, published March 16, 2018, 
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/16/how-millennials-compare-with-their-grandparents/. 
6 Stella M. Rouse and Ashley D. Ross, The Politics of Millennials: Political Beliefs and Policy  
Preferences of America’s Most Diverse Generation, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan  
Press, 2018), 6. 
7 Ibid. 
9 
 
continue at least through 2060, American millennials will spend their lives in the highest level of 
demographic plurality than any generation that came before them.8  
 
Figure 1: Pew Research Center chart showing generational spread in 2019.9 
 
 This highly diverse generational composition has also created a greater sense of 
cosmopolitanism, civic responsibility, and collectivist worldview shared by most millennials. 
This trend towards cosmopolitanism is likely driven by millennials’ near-constant 
interconnectedness. As the first generation to experience the internet in childhood, millennials 
have both experienced and helped shape the instantaneous communication and constant mobile 
connection now ubiquitous across the United States. With 92% of American millennials owning 
a smartphone, many researchers consider them to be the first generation of true “digital natives” 
and possibly even surpassing their Generation Z counterparts in adeptness for learning new 
                                                
8 Sandra L. Colby and Jennifer M. Ortman, “Projections of the Size and Composition of the U.S. 
Population: 2014-2060,” Current Population Reports, United States Census Bureau, published March 
2015, https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf. 
9 “Millennials,” Pew Research Center, January 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/millennials/. 
10 
 
technologies, as many millennials (particularly older millennials) came of age in the transition of 
analog to digital; technological adaptation and increasing connectivity has always been the norm 
for them.10 This ever-present access to information has provided many opportunities for most 
millennials, who experienced this digital environment during critical periods of social 
development, to “develop understanding and empathy of cultures, traditions, and ideas from 
around the world, and, perhaps, adopt certain aspects into...[their] personal outlooks and 
lifestyles,” according to millennial scholars Stella M. Rouse and Ashley D. Ross.11 As many as 
one-third of millennials worldwide report that they are more likely to identify as “citizens of 
Earth” rather than citizens of a particular nation. In the United States, this cosmopolitan identity 
is preferred just behind “citizen of the United States” but above all other religious and similar 
group identities.12 A sense of civic responsibility and collectivism are the natural partners to 
cosmopolitan beliefs, and millennials particularly express these ideals through social justice. 
American millennials are generally more supportive of issues such as immigration, rights for 
LGBTQ+ people, and climate crisis action than older Americans, especially as the first 
generation for whom climate change was always a reality instead of a theoretical exercise.13 
Support for taking equitable action on issues like these demonstrates a more cohesive sentiment 
of “we’re all in this together” for millennials that older Americans seem to lack.14 This has 
particularly strong implications for preservation in terms of connecting preservation to larger 
sustainability causes and building a more inclusive professional field and supporter base. 
                                                
10 Iliana Morton, “Engaging Millennials in the Historic House Museum,” Report, Harvard University, 
2018, 
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/ilianamorton/files/muse_102-_iliana_morton-_final_paper-_copy.pdf. 
11 Rouse, The Politics of Millennials, 11. 
12 Ibid, 12. 
13 Rouse, 171. 
14 Ibid. 
11 
 
Millennials are presently the largest generation in the United States, comprising over 75 
million people as of January 2019.15 High immigration rates, contributing to the diversity figures 
referenced earlier, are also responsible for millennials surpassing the baby boomers as the largest 
generation in 2019. Demographers estimate that millennials make up 30% of today’s voting 
population and about 20% of the working-age population.16 While millennials are gaining a 
larger share of the labor market, they also face significant challenges there, including 
underemployment and stagnated wages resulting from the Great Recession in the mid-2000s and 
its aftereffects when many millennials were first entering the workforce, meaning they did not 
benefit from the salary bump that baby boomers and many Generation X workers experienced in 
the late 20th century.17 Part of what makes wage stagnation and underemployment particularly 
challenging for millennials is that they hold more degrees (and more student loan debt), have 
worked more unpaid internships, and achieved more academic success than any previous 
generation. Decades of longer school hours, more standardized testing, and increased 
competition all around have led millennials to be incredibly productive workers, but job markets 
no longer reward workers simply for productivity. The deunionization of labor has meant that the 
stable jobs of preceding generations have become scarce; younger workers today are expected to 
produce more without the benefits, security, and income that older workers once received.18 
These changes in labor practices and income also mean that millennials spend money 
differently than their predecessors. Fewer spare dollars to spend coupled with a high degree of 
                                                
15 “Millennials,” Pew Research Center. 
16 William H. Frey, “The millennial generation: A demographic bridge to America’s diverse future,” 
Brookings Institution, January 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2018-
jan_brookings-metro_mille 
nnials-a-demographic-bridge-to-americas-diverse-future.pdf. 
17 Malcolm Harris, Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials, (New York: Hachette Book Group,  
2017), 70. 
18 Ibid. 
12 
 
educational achievement and institutional distrust means that millennials are savvy and 
passionate donors who want to connect with a specific project or cause, ensuring their hard-won 
dollars are going to something that will make an impact and complies with their values.19 This 
shift towards a more investment-like approach to financial support is critically important for 
preservation organizations, many of which rely on unrestricted donations for revenue, to 
recognize and means they will likely have to change their methods and messaging to catch the 
eye (and wallet) of millennials. 
 
Figure 2: Chart showing millennials’ high degree of educational achievement.  
 
The impact of the 2008 economic crisis on millennials’ financial futures should really not 
be underestimated. Many millennials were making their first forays into the workforce around 
this time and were quickly confronted with the reality that their degrees, internships, and other 
merits would not spare them from the wave of un- and underemployment that quickly spread 
                                                
19 Fandos, “Connections to a Cause.” 
13 
 
across the country. Many of these young people had also taken out significant student loans to 
fund their higher education, with total student loan debt totaling over $1.5 trillion in 2019 and the 
average millennial carrying over $30,000 in debt.20 This major accumulation of debt is not 
without consequences. Studies show homeownership rates for people age 24-32 dropped from 
45% to 36% between 2005 and 2014 alone, with only a 4% drop for the overall population. 
While the past two years have yielded a 2% uptick in homeownership for this age group, most of 
the first-time purchasers were a full decade older than their baby boomer parents, who were 25 
years old, on average, when making their first home purchase.21 Should these economic trends 
continue as expected, millennials will likely be the first generation in American history to earn 
less income and have less long-term financial security than their parents.22  
Of course, this isn’t to say that there aren’t any millennials with money to spend. 
However, much of this project is focused on the majority of millennials who face challenging 
economic circumstances because they belong to more diverse audiences that preservation has 
often struggled to reach – younger adults, people of color, and people outside the top-tier 
economic groups. 
                                                
20 Yuki Noguchi, “Heavy Student Loan Debt Forces Millennials to Delay Buying Homes,” National 
Public Radio, February 1, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/02/01/689660957/heavy-student-loan-debt-
forces-many-millennials-to-delay-buying-homes. 
21 Federal Reserve, “Consumer & Community Context,” vol. 1, no. 1, January 2019, 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/consumer-community-context-
201901.pdf?mod=article_inline. 
22 Rouse, 47. 
14 
 
 
Figure 3: Earnings of millennials have not increased across the board, nor have they increased 
significantly over time, from the Pew Research Center. 
 
The overall generation-defining characteristics of millennials, like their diversity and 
educational achievement, have serious implications for historic preservation. As the first 
generation to come of age with the internet and to be simultaneously conditioned for intense 
educational pressure and competition, millennials are extremely savvy consumers of both 
products and information. As one professional preservationist put it, “we don’t need to explain 
[the ideas behind] historic preservation to them; they already get it.” The collectivist worldview 
of millennials also plays a role here. The idea of preserving and reusing buildings and adapting 
older places to new uses is easily recognized as something that has universal benefit to both 
people and the environment and preservationists should emphasize the sustainability benefits of 
historic preservation to strengthen their appeal to millennials.  
Millennials’ generational conditions have also resulted in a high degree of institutional 
mistrust, however. This is not specifically directed at preservation (or preservationists) but means 
that millennials often respond well to the philosophy or ethos of historic preservation but not 
15 
 
necessarily to its traditional methods and practice. This is especially significant given its history 
as an exclusive, restrictive movement practiced primarily by wealthy white people. As a group, 
most millennials are already skeptical of belonging to large, established institutions, including 
political parties and advocacy organizations, so the idea of membership or other formal ties lacks 
appeal. Coupled with a dearth of spending money due to diminishing incomes and high student 
loan debt, this means that millennials will be less inclined to participate in traditional donation 
programs than their predecessors, which has significant budgetary impacts for donor-funded 
preservation organizations. But despite this overall institutional detachment, millennials have 
proven to be very engaged and willing to participate in causes they believe in, and organizations 
must make these deeper connections to resonate with younger audiences to ensure they remain 
financially sustainable. 
  
16 
 
Chapter 3: Methodology and Analysis 
Survey 
In June 2017, the National Trust for Historic Preservation published the results of the 
online survey titled Millennials and Historic Preservation: A Deep Dive Into Attitudes and 
Values. Conducted by Edge Research with funding from American Express, the survey aimed to 
explore how millennials connect with historic preservation.23  
There was a strong interest from both American Express and the National Trust for 
examining millennial behaviors with regards to historic preservation. The National Trust, the 
only national nonprofit organization dedicated to historic preservation in the United States, has 
been challenged by a dwindling membership fundraising model and an aging donor base, a 
common struggle for many nonprofits and especially those focused on historic preservation and 
similar causes. For American Express, which develops place-based consumer programs such as 
Shop Small, understanding how millennials spend money in historic places is pertinent to their 
financial interests.24 The two organizations hired Washington, DC-based firm Edge Research to 
develop and distribute the online survey from February 7-15, 2017. 
In total, 636 people completed the survey. Per Edge Research’s guidelines, the survey 
sample was balanced to be representative of American millennials with regards to race, gender, 
age, geography, and other key demographic factors. The average response time was 
approximately 10 minutes to complete the survey.25 
                                                
23 American Express & National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Millennials and Historic Preservation: 
A Deep Dive Into Attitudes and Values,” June 2017, https://nthp-
savingplaces.s3.amazonaws.com/2017/06/27/09/02/25/407/Millennial%20Research%20Report.pdf. 
24 American Express, “About Shop Small,” accessed March 6, 2019, 
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/. 
25 American Express & National Trust, “Millennials and Historic Preservation.” 
17 
 
The survey results were analyzed by Edge Research and published in a public report to 
highlight major trends and themes. The headline and most startling statistic was the fact that 97% 
of survey respondents felt “it’s important to preserve, conserve, and protect buildings, 
architecture, neighborhoods, and communities.”26 Other major findings included: 
● 95% of surveyed millennials “feel the work that historic preservation organizations are 
doing is important”; 
● 78% “enjoy travel experiences which explore the natural beauty or wonders of the area, 
such as to national or local parks”; 
● 72% “enjoy dining at restaurants or shopping at markets that sell local and sustainable 
foods”; and, 
● 71% “value authentically crafted products, e.g. local, handcrafted, unique items”; 
The survey questions seemed primarily focused around activities that would generate 
positive economic benefits for cities and Main Streets. While it’s unclear if this was intentional 
or not, it is not surprising given the philanthropic interests of American Express and their role as 
a primary funder of this survey. It did not include questions regarding gentrification, 
displacement, or other negative factors that often are associated with historic preservation.27 
On the surface, these numbers are highly encouraging for the future of preservation, 
although it is difficult to put them in context without similar data for other generations. To date, 
surveys of baby boomers, Generation X, or other generations and their affinity for historic 
preservation have not been conducted by the National Trust or other organizations. While the 
results therefore cannot be directly compared to the historic preservation attitudes of other 
                                                
26 Ibid. 
27 Donovan Rypkema, “Gentrification, Displacement, and Affordable Housing: Historic Preservation is 
the solution, not the problem,” Preservation Virginia, October 2018, https://preservationvirginia.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/10/Preservation-Virginia-2018_Don.pdf. 
18 
 
generations, therefore, they can be analyzed in the context of millennial generational 
demographic trends discussed in Chapter 2.  
It is rather astounding to have 97% of a group of people agree on anything in 2019, but 
the fact that millennials value preserving and conserving old places is actually fairly 
unsurprising. The first generation to feel the effects of climate crisis during their childhood and 
early adulthood expresses a stronger pro-environmentalist attitude than generations preceding 
them and the notion of conserving rather than destroying fits well in with that ethos, whether that 
conservation is taking place in the built or natural environments.28 The collectivist worldview of 
a majority of millennials means that they value shared experiences, ethics, and perspectives more 
than those of individuals.29 That 95% of millennials view the work of preservation organizations 
favorably is also remarkable, since the majority of millennials profess a notable distrust of large 
institutions, largely stemming from major events and institutional failures of the 2000s like the 
aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the still-diminishing social safety net.30 Millennials 
showing such a strong, positive response to preservation organizations in spite of this trend 
underscores the value this generation place on preservation and its role in our society. 
Economics is another factor that can help explain millennials’ preferences for traveling, 
dining, and shopping in places that value preservation. Consistently overworked with less 
spending money, millennials want “one-stop shopping” to make the most of their limited 
recreation time and dollars. As the highest-educated generation in history and with the habit as 
digital natives to almost instantly locate and utilize information, they are able to seek out and 
prioritize specific locations, business practices, and people that match their cultural values and 
                                                
28 Rouse, 157. 
29 Rouse, 171. 
30 Rouse, 29. 
19 
 
ideals. This means that locations such as Charleston, South Carolina, recently voted the number-
one travel destination in the United States and number-two in the world by Travel + Leisure, that 
have farm-to-table restaurants with sustainable agriculture practices, walkable neighborhoods, 
and lots of adaptively reused historic buildings, are increasingly attractive to a generation 
seeking prime leisure locations for their scarce resources.31 
 
Interview Process 
 While the survey was useful in providing numerical data for millennial trends and 
preferences related to historic preservation, it was not the appropriate instrument to shed light on 
why these trends might be happening. Longer, more anecdotal investigations were necessary to 
provide context and give greater meaning to the quantitative data presented in the survey. To that 
end, a number of professional preservationists representing a wide range of professions 
(including architectural historians, state government employees, historic homeowners, and more) 
as well as other experiences, perspectives, and geographic locations were contacted to participate 
in a series of interviews. In total, 20 people participated in the interview process from January to 
March 2019.  
Participants were contacted about the project via email and scheduled a time for a 30-
minute interview over the telephone, if possible. The interviews were recorded and notes were 
taken by the interviewer electronically during each session. Two interviews were conducted via 
email due to time constraints. The list of participants was developed through outreach on the 
Forum Connect professional networking platform, LinkedIn, and through personal networks. 
                                                
31 Dave Munday, “Charleston ranked #1 US city by Travel + Leisure readers for 6th year in a row,”  
The Post and Courier, July 10, 2018, https://www.postandcourier.com/business/charleston-ranked-no-us-
city-by-travel-leisure-readers-for/article_f1ead056-83ac-11e8-9176-cbf9af4b2c16.html. 
20 
 
While not all participants were millennials, a conscious effort was made to seek out younger 
preservationists (or people who work to engage younger people in preservation) to share their 
views.  
Six questions were posed to the interviewees and provided in advance upon request. The 
questions were developed to cover broad topics and establish baseline definitions such as “how 
do you define a preservationist?” as well as to expand on some of the specific survey data points. 
For example, the survey asked respondents about specific words and phrases they prefer, as 
shown in the chart below, so it was important to ask how professional preservationists are 
communicating with different audiences and compare the answers to the survey results. 
 
Figure 4: Chart from the National Trust’s 2017 survey comparing millennials’ preferences for words and 
phrases that best describe historic preservation. The “n=” indicates the number of people (out of the 631 
total respondents) who fell into the category listed in the row above. 
 
Asking open-ended questions that built on the survey results allowed for a greater level of 
interaction and led to specific follow-up questions, depending upon the response, in each 
21 
 
interview. Asking broad questions about what kind of words professional preservationists use to 
communicate with different audiences allows for many different responses, such as the language 
used to talk to students, recruit for boards, and write posts on social media, etc. The open-ended 
questions generated greater discussion and captured a much broader range of subjects than I 
could have developed on my own as the sole researcher. 
Questions were not provided to interviewees prior to the interviews unless specifically 
requested in order to yield spontaneous responses to queries such as “how do you define a 
preservationist?” In this way, these terms were defined on-the-spot, without lengthy, complex 
written definitions. One of the most common anecdotal complaints about preservationists is that 
they frequently use “jargon” when talking about preservation, so a secondary purpose of this 
exercise was hearing preservationists speak extemporaneously and observing if jargon was used 
extensively. As the following interview analysis shows, the results are mixed: preservationists 
interviewed in this project occasionally used field-specific terms, but overwhelmingly realized 
the importance of adapting language to external audiences and frequently opted for colloquial 
terms over technical ones during the interviews. 
 The questions also aimed to address an overarching concern: is preservation truly 
something millennials “get,” and if, so, why? This question and its significance crystallized 
through the interview process. While I had initially been inspired to conduct interviews using six 
questions to restrict the focus on gaining deeper meaning from the survey data, the conversations 
quickly shed light on this larger issue. While millennials expressed an enthusiasm for 
preservation in many of their lifestyle choices, shown in both the survey and the interviews, why 
aren’t they participating in historic preservation in the same way as earlier generations? The 
demographic analysis in Chapter 2 identifies a number of external factors that play a role in their 
22 
 
capacity to be involved, but the interviews highlighted specific issues within the field that may 
be causing millennials, supportive as they may be of preservation as a philosophy or a “way of 
living,” to feel isolated from the actual practice and from professional practitioners the field.  
The following analysis of the six questions includes quotations and anecdotes from each 
interview that particularly relate to answering this overarching question. After concluding the 
interview portion of this research project, it became clear that millennials really do support and 
value historic preservation in their lives, but there are several key barriers in place that prevent 
them from participating fully in the movement. The “Recommendations for Further Research” 
section at the end of this chapter addresses some of these issues, as does Chapter 5 at the 
conclusion of this work. 
 
Interview Analysis: Question-by-Question 
 The responses to each of the six interview questions are summarized below. 
1. Do you identify as a preservationist, and if so, why? 
 
Figure 5: Graphic representation of interviewees who self-identified as preservationists. 
 
23 
 
Surprisingly, two respondents said that they did not identify as preservationists. As one 
interviewee who works as an architectural historian put it, “I don’t [define myself that 
way]...when asked what I do, I usually never use the word ‘preservation’ because people don’t 
often know what it means,” regardless of their generation. Several interviewees also commented 
on how experiencing preservation in their early lives and/or childhoods influenced their self-
identification as preservationists as adults. One interviewee enthusiastically responded, “Yes! I 
think it’s in my blood,” and another explained, “I absolutely do. I've known that I wanted to be a 
professional preservationist since around 8th grade, when I found out that preservation was a 
career option that existed.” Others commented on the uniqueness of using the term 
“preservationist” as opposed to something more specific like “historic preservationist” or 
“preservation planner.” This was further discussed when interviewees were asked to define 
“preservationists” in the second question. 
2. How do you define a "preservationist"? 
 Many interviewees defined “preservationists” broadly and spoke to the need for the field 
to have an “open arms” approach to who is considered a preservationist. One interviewee, who 
works at an arts-focused nonprofit organization that participates in preservation projects, stated 
that “a lot of people don’t understand what a preservationist is [so] we push it as a community-
building piece.” Others from the technical preservation sector seconded this sentiment, with 
responses like “I think that anyone who has an interest in and an appreciation for historic 
buildings is a preservationist, whether they know it or not!” and that it applies to “Anyone, 
whether consciously or subconsciously, that appreciates old buildings.” One of the interviewees 
who did not consider themselves a preservationist said that the “idea of being a preservationist is 
that anyone can be a preservationist [but there is a] very distinct definition between professionals 
24 
 
(architects, developers) who can say they’re preservationists but are not really unless they meet 
the Secretary [of the Interior’s Historic Preservation Professional Qualification] Standards.” 
While others commented that they recognized a distinction between someone who practiced 
preservation professionally and someone who believed in or engaged in preservation, that did not 
seem to restrict their definition of a preservationist. As one interviewee described it, “I mean, you 
don’t have to be a sommelier to know or like wine.” 
 Interviewee Sarah Marsom offered her own definition of “preservationist,” which she 
previously published in an online zine and on her professional website:32 
 
Figure 6: Capture of Sarah Marsom’s tiered definition of “historic preservationist.” 
  While this definition is instructive for professionals defining their preservation audiences, 
the lack of general awareness around the word “preservation” and what it means to people 
without professional training was cited as a leading cause for why many interviewees don’t 
                                                
32 Sarah Marsom, “Historic Preservationist,” www.sarahmarsom.com. 
25 
 
necessarily use the term “preservationist” or describe themselves that way publicly. The use of 
language and techniques with different audiences was discussed extensively in the following 
question. 
3. How do you talk about old places in your work? What kinds of words or techniques do 
you find most effective? 
 
Figure 7: A word cloud showing the most commonly used words and phrases in answers to this question 
from the interviews. Top words and phrases included: people, historic, use, architecture, and vintage. 
 
 Interviewees were almost unanimous in their agreement that they discuss old places and 
preservation differently depending on the audience, with one interviewee answering with an 
emphatic “Oh God, YES” (capitalization added) when asked in a follow-up question if they use 
different words with different groups. The rationale provided was “when speaking with [the] 
general public, you can’t cloud the conversation with a bunch of jargon.” Others agreed, 
26 
 
explaining that “words like ‘preservation’ and ‘landmarking’ can be scary to people that don’t 
understand the technical pieces, so we try to talk about things that doesn’t necessarily bring those 
terms into the conversation.”  
 Many interviewees commented on using a variety of terms to capture different entry 
points to preservation. An interviewee who works at a historic cemetery said that their visitors 
“don’t care about historic architecture, they care about their family,” meaning their relatives 
interred at the cemetery. A real estate agent described using words like “charm, character, old-
world appeal (even when it’s not)” during their interview to convey an apartment’s historic status 
to prospective buyers. However, another interviewee, an architectural historian, issued a word of 
caution against using words like “vintage,” instead preferring “character-defining” or “historic,” 
since “[words like vintage] can kind of denigrate what these places actually are” in terms of 
significance.  
Having the linguistic fluency to discuss preservation in non-technical terms to meet 
audiences where they are was consistently referenced by many interviewees as an important skill 
set. For one community artist, that means “the way we communicate is different; for example, at 
cleanups, we still talk about the history piece but we’re creative [about it]. We still [talk] about 
history, but we don’t beat you over the head with it, since you’re probably here because you care 
about the environment. We just put it on the literature, and then let you move around the site and 
interact at your own comfort level.” Another summarized their views by saying they simply 
“don’t want to feel people are left out of the club.” And finally, another interviewee mentioned 
“people feel there’s a bit of a barrier there, [that they] don’t fit in the ‘box’ of being a 
preservationist because of the restraints and restrictions within the ways that they’re able to work 
[in preservation] and so it tends to be a kind of an insular world.” The same interviewee went on 
27 
 
to say that “whether we like it or not, this is how people are communicating. If you want 
millennials, you won’t get anywhere writing like a white paper.” 
 This linguistic fluency was also cited as instrumental to getting people, especially 
millennials, to realize they already are preservationists. Again, this key difference between 
millennials philosophically valuing historic preservation while not fully participating in the 
practice was raised. One interviewee recalled that “the beginning of the movement was more 
organic, about empowering the community,” and another said “what matters is how we feel. That 
kind of plain language is there for us to use...even our founding documents have it,” referencing 
the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 that created much of today’s regulatory 
preservation infrastructure. Another cited the need for directness, claiming “there’s a time and a 
place for flowery language, which is usually more at home in academic journals where you have 
to be specific, but for popular appeal we have to use something clearly defined and everyone 
feels included.” 
   One interviewee described borrowing language from the environmental sustainability 
movement, which is quite resonant with many millennials as discussed in Chapter 2. The 
interviewee stated that their neighborhood has “totally usable houses that are getting torn down 
just because they’re targeted by developers and people don’t know how to do better...we should 
be focused on reuse of the materials and building deconstruction as a part of preservation 
outreach.” Another interviewee described the power of social media as a medium to 
communicate about historic places, particularly with young people, sharing that “it’s important to 
use new media and speak the ways that [millennials] speak. It’s not necessarily assuming they’re 
going to show up to a community board meeting or understand a historical survey of a place.” 
The interviewee went on to say, “Look out the window in ‘hipster-land’...everyone is wearing 
28 
 
vintage clothes and using vintage filters on their Instagram, what the heck is preservation getting 
wrong about this? Young people LOVE one-of-a-kind things. And yet we’re [preservation 
professionals] sitting here talking with them about windows?!” 
4. Have you been involved with any professional preservation organizations? Do they 
impact your work? 
This question had a wide range of answers. Some described a laundry list of professional 
memberships from prominent organizations like the National Center for Preservation 
Technology and Training, Association for Preservation Technology, and the National Alliance of 
Preservation Commissions. Others mentioned serving on or working with local historic 
preservation commissions or historical societies. A few spoke directly about the involvement of 
young people participating in those institutions, with mixed reviews. One interviewee described 
their personal experience by saying they were “asked to be on so many [historic preservation 
organization] boards...just because I was young, and just that mere presence is not going to mean 
that young people are going to really be a part of something.” Another interviewee who served 
on and even chaired their local board for several years mentioned that there was “no one else my 
age on the board; now there might be two or three people that are younger” and also cautioned 
that there are “many organizations where you have to be a donor to be on a board and that feels 
silly with high student loan debts and rents [to pay].” The interviewee also recognized that 
“nonprofits need donations, but I feel like saving seats [on a board] for younger generations gets 
you different neighborhood representation, more diversity.” While there was no clear consensus 
on the value of professional historic preservation organizations engaging millennials in 
preservation, there were no recommendations to stop pushing for these organizations to include 
young people in their membership or leadership either. One interviewee described their early 
29 
 
career experience working in a city with long-established preservation groups, sharing that many 
of these organizations are “not even engaging the millennial generation because they need to 
make money. I have felt very unwelcome sometimes and maybe not seen as an asset...it makes 
me think that maybe they don’t want millennials to be involved.” 
Some interviewees also discussed the importance of “young preservationists” groups, like 
the Rust Belt Preservation Coalition, recommending that “organizations need to be more 
thoughtful about how they integrate the young preservationists into their long-term planning and 
have it be more substantial than just a committee or seat on your board. How do you have them 
be part of your ethos?” Many of these young preservationist groups originated out of contention 
with established groups, with some splitting off due to conflicts over engagement strategies, lack 
of recognition and leadership opportunities, or disagreement over preservation principles 
altogether. Another interviewee discussed their leadership of a special young professionals 
council as part of membership in a statewide preservation organization and volunteering to be 
“involved with their pro bono easement monitoring [program],” a real-life example of 
millennials volunteering time instead of money. A lingering question remained regarding the 
future of young preservationist groups: when these members are no longer “young,” are they 
going to flock back to the traditional groups? What is their incentive for doing so? Several 
interviewees speculated that the differences were less about age and more about shifting 
priorities and expertise, but this will certainly be an issue to watch going forward. 
Other volunteer-based programs mentioned included the National Trust’s HOPE Crew 
program, which empowers young people (and particularly young people of color) who may not 
have the financial means or other opportunities to learn about preservation, to learn critical 
30 
 
preservation trade skills at historic sites across the country.33 The “hands-on preservation 
experience” model utilizes both community volunteers and paid trainees to assist in preservation 
projects. This model has been replicated by several other preservation groups and a key example 
will be discussed further in Chapter 4. 
5. Let’s discuss a couple of key stats from the results of the survey regarding millennials 
and historic preservation that the National Trust conducted in 2017, such as: 97% of 
millennials feel it’s important to preserve and conserve buildings, architecture, 
neighborhoods, and communities. What does that mean to you and your work? What kind 
of potential do you see there? 
 The most common response to this question was to express gratitude that this survey 
exists at all. As one interviewee said, “in the digital age, it benefits us to create statistics to show 
people on paper that it’s not just about the emotion” [emphasis added]. Another added that “more 
people should be doing this” [meaning collecting data], with a third sharing “it means I have a 
new stat to cite when communities tell me they can't find anyone to sit on their historic 
preservation commissions.” Many interviewees also noted that the results mirrored what they see 
in their own work, including: “This is a frequent topic of discussion in our house. The results of 
the survey align with what we see firsthand. Millennials come into our [historic] house and are 
awed by it. The scale, the craftsmanship etc. They are impressed. The disconnect, however, is in 
the way we’ve told millennials they should interact with historic spaces. The thought of going to 
a house museum to listen to an ancient tour guide drone on and on is not appealing. NOT EVEN 
TO US — and we are the most nerdy preservationists around! The entire industry needs a major 
shift to keep millennials engaged. The desire to experience these spaces is there, we just have to 
                                                
33 “HOPE Crew,” National Trust for Historic Preservation, accessed May 2019, 
https://savingplaces.org/hope-crew#.XNhqEY5KhPY. 
31 
 
do a better job about the experiences we present in these spaces” [emphasis theirs]. Another 
interviewee stated that even the questions in the survey were useful for demonstrating “that’s 
preservation, these places are there for you to flock to” [emphasis theirs] and that seeing all of 
the questions about locally made crafts, heritage travel, walkable cities, and historic sites all in 
one survey helps show the connections between all of these activities. 
6. Anything else you think would be helpful to include or factor into this project and its end 
product? 
 As predicted, this was another question with wide-ranging answers. Almost every 
interviewee mentioned the need for an increased (or improved) social media presence for 
preservation more generally, and for preservation organizations specifically. One interviewee 
said “a lot of these organizations aren’t really using social media that well. They could become 
stronger if they could just get someone in there that could engage with people where they are, in 
an accessible way.” Another interviewee said, “that is the crux of social media: not just how 
many likes you get in one post, but the build-up of trust in posts over time and when you ask for 
something, [your audience] will follow.” The same interviewee asserted that their organization 
has “been able to effect great change in a lot of ways by taking a more casual approach.” Finally, 
another interviewee shared that “a place needs a social media platform. Whenever you hear 
about a place, you go to their Instagram account and say ‘looks beautiful, let’s go’...just having it 
there is essential.” 
Other suggestions included: 
● The need for continuing education for both preservation advocates and professionals - 
“it’s not just about masters degrees.” 
32 
 
● “It would be fun if they could just turn old houses into like a viral podcast – what sort of 
crap went down at the Biltmore? The underbelly of the Newport cottage scene? That 
takes a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of money, but wow, talk about engagement!” 
● “People view historic preservation as being a little bit frivolous, not a main issue that’s 
talked about with politicians, but because of the impact on the environment, it should 
have more of an emphasis and incentive for people.” 
● “There is a financial piece here. If the historic tax credit could be revived, other programs 
like revolving funds could allow for lower-income folks or first-time buyers to be able to 
get into historic buildings, but you need the funding to help facilitate that; you don’t want 
[preservation] becoming something where financial burden makes it a challenge to get in 
there.” 
● “There is a professional vocabulary and practice that’s still there - don’t lean on 
technology too much, because it will become antiquated more quickly.” 
● “Public events - we’re almost coming to the end of ‘just do a historic tour.’ We’re better 
than that now.” 
● “Get your disparate groups cross-listed in your email outreach – birders aren’t coming to 
art installations, art folks might only come once for an installation, but we can remind 
[them all] that they’re preservationists together.” 
● “When we really sit back and think about all the amazing places that we lost and that we 
still have...we’re in the process of passing the torch, and we need to make sure we’ve 
bridged the gap early enough so that this generation takes [preservation practice] 
seriously. Emphasize that no one is pushing anyone out but [rather] picking up the torch. 
How do we get them to interact and work towards the same goals?” 
33 
 
● “Traditional and nontraditional [preservationists] should be under one umbrella. We have 
to figure out how to bridge that gap.” 
● “I don’t know that a traditional membership model needs to be abandoned. I like the idea 
that anyone who wants to can give what they can afford. There are typically membership 
‘levels’ that range from $25 to $10,000+. That being said, I think a lot of historic sites 
should revisit what membership includes. I am a member of countless preservation 
organizations and couldn’t point to a single ‘benefit’ of any of them, outside of perhaps 
discounted admission to the site itself, which isn’t much of a perk since I’m obviously 
familiar with the site if I’ve decided to become a member.”  
● “I've been in my job about a year now and am seeing more and more younger folks in 
professional preservation positions, which I love! Typically they are engaged and excited 
about their jobs, which makes my job a lot easier. They make up for the lack of 
experience with that engagement. Of all the types of positions I'm seeing this in, the 
majority are Main Street positions, which makes sense to me. Millennials want to see the 
results of our hard work and Main Street jobs provide that opportunity, while connecting 
folks to their communities on a personal level.” 
●  “We hire a lot of new grads because frankly, our salaries are awful...we just did an 
agency-wide study about millennial retention. Basically, it said pay us more if you want 
us to stick around for a long time.” 
While these reactions are varied, some of the common themes from these suggestions and 
comments align with trends discussed earlier in this paper. They also help form the basis for 
recommendations for further study. 
 
34 
 
Reflection of Interview Process 
 After the interviews were completed in March 2019, I completed a reflection on the 
interview process. This reflection was composed of short assessments of several topics, 
including:  
a) Were the six questions successful in providing a qualitative component to the National 
Trust 2017 survey? 
b) Did the interviewees represent a diverse array of perspectives and professions? 
c) What other questions might be asked to better capture these perspectives and additional 
information? 
I concluded that the six questions succeeded in validating the survey results and 
providing a broader, deeper meaning to the data. Many anecdotes and examples were provided 
that concurred with the trends provided by the National Trust during the survey analysis and, 
more importantly, gave further insight into why these trends might be happening. 
While the pool of interviewees represented a wide swath of professions associated with 
historic preservation, from State Historic Preservation Offices to house museums to real estate, it 
was certainly not complete. More participation from sectors like planning, developers, 
environmental conservation, and other public-facing professions would have been useful in 
eliciting information on how those fields are engaging with millennials and whether the survey 
results are meaningful within those fields as well. The slight bent towards interviewing public 
history professionals and individuals/organizations with a strong social media presence was 
directly related to the fact that most young people engage with historic places (consciously) 
through historic sites and museums and that digital engagement was identified as a critically 
important method of communication by millennials in other studies. 
35 
 
As for other questions to ask, more time to ask questions would first have to be allotted 
for the interviews. The 30 minutes set aside for each interview was always filled with discussion 
but I was diligent about keeping the sessions strictly to 30 minutes to accommodate busy 
schedules. The first change to the process would actually not be a modification to the questions 
at all but rather allowing more time for deeper discussions on these topics, particularly around 
the use of the term “preservationist,” and if interviewees considered themselves to be 
“professional preservationists.” As one interviewee described it, “preservation is weird this way, 
no professional conservationist describes them self that way...it’s always ‘I’m a biologist’ or ‘I’m 
an arborist’ so this notion of ‘professional preservationists’ is very unique.” The term 
“professional preservationist” continued to be used in this work, but it is intriguing to consider 
how we use the word “preservationist” and the connotations it brings to mind, especially as the 
field continues its attempt to become more inclusive of people who practice preservation, the 
kinds of places worthy of preservation, and techniques employed to preserve these places. Entire 
interviews could easily be conducted on that topic alone given the level of interest and success in 
using (or not using) these terms. 
 
Recommendations for Further Research 
 More research is needed for professional preservationists to fully capitalize on 
millennials’ affinity for historic preservation. The National Trust’s 2017 survey and these 
interviews have yielded three primary areas of focus for further research: defining terms, using 
technology, and strengthening alignment with related causes. While more national surveys would 
be useful, it is important to consider that all three of these areas of focus are more specific at the 
local level. Organizations with a more local or regional focus should consider conducting 
36 
 
research within their targeted area for more specific results. Consideration of regional specifics 
will yield more detailed and useful results. Organizations that promote cultural heritage, heritage 
travel and tourism, conservation and the environment, local business, and other related areas 
could be considered as financial sponsors/partners for research projects that would be mutually 
beneficial for both audiences. Research that links preservation to sustainability efforts, climate 
change mitigation, and similar causes is critical to demonstrating the full breadth and impact of 
preservation to millennials and should be prioritized accordingly. 
 The use of technology is important to study not only in terms of how it can be used to 
promote historic preservation, but also in how we reach millennials to collect data. With 92% of 
American millennials owning a smartphone, researchers should continue studying the 
importance of social media and on which apps/sites millennials are spending their time. A 
February 2017 survey conducted by Harvard University graduate students determined that 75% 
of millennials were influenced by their personal networks online to determine which museums 
and cultural institutions to visit.34 Targeted research in these digital spaces is necessary to gain a 
better understanding of how millennials respond to historic preservation and how social media 
can be best used to engage with them. While social media alone isn’t the solution, its power is 
currently underutilized by the preservation field and merits further investigation. 
With the consequences of climate change already negatively affecting everyday life, 
preservation would be well-served to position itself as part of the climate change solution. While 
preservation has made some headway on this front, with organizations like the National Trust for 
Historic Preservation and the Urban Land Institute teaming up to publish studies on the 
environmental benefits of building reuse, more can be done to bring preservation to the forefront 
                                                
34 Morton, “Millennials.” 
37 
 
of the climate change and sustainability conversation. How knowledgeable are people about 
preservation and where it fits into climate change solutions or helping the environment in 
general? Further study on what people know and where they are getting their information will 
help preservationists improve how they market and communicate their findings.  
38 
 
Chapter 4: Millennials and Housing: A Case Study  
The state of millennial homeownership and its significance to this generation and the 
American economy has been the subject of much debate over the past few years, as millennials 
reach the peak age of homeownership of their baby boomer and Gen X predecessors. Housing 
makes a compelling case study for this project for several reasons. For one, the survey conducted 
by the National Trust and American Express in 2017 found that millennials prefer to live in 
walkable urban neighborhoods, “with greater urban amenities and job opportunities.”35 These 
areas are often also more expensive, leading to higher costs of living and real estate. Another 
compelling reason is that preservationists have a real opportunity to position preservation as a 
solution for both the abundance of millennial renters looking to improve their properties and 
homeowners who are seeking affordable homes in desirable urban areas. 
 
Background 
 Several factors are responsible for lower rates of millennial homeownership. The most 
critical factor is the number of millennials with high student loan debt, clocking in at over $1.5 
trillion in 2018, with the average millennial carrying around $30,000 of personal debt.36 High 
monthly payments (which cannot be defaulted on as discussed in Chapter 2) are a barrier to 
many millennials accruing enough wealth to save for a down payment, leading to high levels of 
renting and some millennials still living at home with parents or other family members. In 2016, 
                                                
35 Jung Hyun Choi, Jun Zu, and Laurie Goodman, “The state of millennial homeownership,” Urban  
Wire: Housing and Housing Finance, Urban Institute, published July 11, 2018, 
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/state-millennial-homeownership. 
36 Yuki Noguchi, “Heavy Student Loan Debt Forces Many Millennials to Delay Buying Homes,” All  
Things Considered, National Public Radio, published February 1, 2019, 
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/01/689660957/heavy-student-loan-debt-forces-many-millennials-to-delay-
buying-homes. 
 
39 
 
Pew Research reported that 15% of young adults ages 25-34 were still living with their parents, a 
5% increase from their Gen X predecessors and almost twice as much as the 8% of late Silent 
generation/early baby boomers who lived at home in the same age bracket in 1964.37 Millennials 
who have purchased homes on par with earlier generations have often received assistance from 
parents or other sources to fund their down payments. While this behavior is not specific to 
millennials, economists predict that this is buoying numbers of millennial homeownership at 
greater rates than previous generations practicing the same behavior.38 This circumstance is most 
commonly observed in white families, as many families of color (particularly black and African 
American) are still constrained by the legacies of exclusionary housing practices like redlining 
that depressed homeownership rates throughout the 20th century and continues to affect 
communities of color today.39  
 
Figure 8: Chart comparing the rates of millennials living with their parents with previous generations at 
roughly the same age (25-37), from the Pew Research Center. 
                                                
37 Richard Fry, “It’s becoming more common for young adults to live at home – and for longer  
stretches,” Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, published May 5, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/05/05/its-becoming-more-common-for-young-adults-to-live-at-home-and-for-longer-stretches/. 
38 Ibid. 
39 Choi, “The state of millennial homeownership.” 
40 
 
 
Education further contributes to millennial homeownership trends, and not just in terms 
of student loans. As the most educated generation in American history (again, see Chapter 2), 
millennials are staying in school longer than the generations that came before. This is causing 
many millennials to delay marriage and higher-earning jobs, two factors that heavily influence 
homeownership rates, until their degrees are complete. Researchers estimate that this delay in 
other life milestones may be true for homeownership as well, meaning we may begin to see this 
trend swing upward as millennials get older. However, millennials that do not finish school and 
are burdened by heavy debt without the higher wages that reportedly follow a degree are not 
expected to follow this trend. With an estimated 40% of students who start college leaving 
without a degree within six years, that leaves a significant portion of the population in economic 
doubt.40 
 
Figure 9: Graph showing dramatic increase in overall national student loan debt, 2006-2018.41 
                                                
40 Noguchi, “Heavy Student Loan Debt.” 
41 Ibid. 
41 
 
 For millennials not living with their families, delaying the purchase of a home means 
spending more years renting. Renting provides this frequently-mobile generation with more 
opportunities to find housing that meets their needs (often walkable, transit and amenity-oriented 
locations, as mentioned earlier) and allows them to follow whatever employment or other 
opportunity comes their way.42 Even poorer millennials without this mobility will spend many 
years as renters as well. The prevalence of renting for young people provides a crucial outreach 
opportunity for preservationists. With much of today’s consumer audience (millennials included) 
heavily exposed to newly-built, “open concept” construction and material acquisition generally 
incompatible with apartment living, preservationists who promote smaller living and an 
emphasis on craftsmanship and authenticity will resonate deeply with a generation who largely 
shares these values, by choice or by circumstance. This chapter will highlight several examples 
of preservationists who are leveraging these opportunities and some of the challenges of 
operating in this space. 
 
“We Need a New Kind of HGTV” 
 In 2018, architecture critic and founder of the blog, McMansion Hell, Kate Wagner 
authored a piece for the online outlet, Curbed, titled “We Need a New Kind of HGTV.” 
Wagner’s piece takes a critical look at the television network’s extremely popular shows like 
Fixer Upper, which star Texan couple Chip and Joanna Gaines in a seemingly never-ending 
pattern of helping couples purchase “fixer uppers” (usually, modest midcentury ranches) and  
altering their character while tossing around catchy designer buzzwords like “shiplap” and 
                                                
42 Derek Thompson, “Millennials: The Mobile and The Stuck,” The Atlantic, published May 24,  
2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/millennials-the-mobile-and-the-
stuck/497255/. 
42 
 
“rustic charm.”43 While these buzzwords might sound a bit like some of the non-jargon phrases 
discussed in Chapter 3, Wagner argues that shows like these actively contribute to Americans’ 
ideas of consumerism and the sense that renovation is necessary for satisfactory homeownership. 
With homeownership currently out of reach for many millennials, these shows do not serve as 
“realistic” reality shows in any sense of the word. Wagner satirically encourages HGTV to 
consider more practical shows that would actually be useful to their (primarily younger and 
middle-aged) audiences: 
Here’s an even simpler idea: instead of House Hunters, I’d like to see Reasonably 
Priced Apartment Hunters. I can picture it now: Colleen (24) is a graduate student in 
Global History at a private university, has to live on a puny stipend, and is $60,000 in 
student loan debt. Her roommates are Nicole (23), who is currently job searching, and 
Jared (25), a line cook at a local bistro. They’re looking for a three-bedroom apartment 
close to public transit, and their rent budget is an absolute maximum of $700 per 
person. Colleen wants an apartment with a dishwasher. Nicole has a cat, so the 
apartment must accept pets. Jared insists on a second bathroom. Can [they] find a 
compromise? 
Other examples include “a relaunch of Decorating Cents, with its budget of a mere $500, 
which would be the perfect fit for young adults and college students. If HGTV is wondering 
about corporate sponsorships for shows peddling to people looking to style on a budget, I’m sure 
Ikea would love to lend a hand,” and the directive to “forget tiny houses—teach me how to make 
a 400-square-foot studio a place I can actually invite friends to without them having to complete 
                                                
43 Kate Wagner, “We Need a New Kind of HGTV,” Curbed, published May 2018,  
https://www.curbed.com/2018/5/30/17390302/hgtv-fixer-upper-renovation-shows-house- 
hunters. 
43 
 
an obstacle course of tightly packed pieces of furniture. (Oh, I also can’t paint anything, and 
everything has to be hung with Command strips.)”44 
While it’s difficult to say if a show meeting the conditions Wagner describes would ever 
make the airwaves on HGTV, her pitch does offer ideas for scalable, mission-driven engagement 
strategies for preservationists seeking to engage younger audiences and an opportunity for 
preservation to be leveraged as a reasonable solution to a societal problem. Many people, even 
those who support or work in historic preservation, often position preservation as a “secondary” 
cause, seen as a lesser-priority than solving world hunger or other societal ills. This is a chance 
for preservation to be the solution to a societal problem and it is one that preservationists should 
strongly consider addressing in their work. Wagner’s pitches also touch on a key 
communications strategy for preservationists. Her jargon-free verbiage chock-full of references 
like “Command strips” and “tiny houses” is far more relatable and intuitive to younger audiences 
as an initial engagement strategy. Preservationists should consider how they might emulate 
Wagner’s casual approach in communicating with new, younger audiences. 
 
How Preservation Can Help 
 Preservation organizations and businesses across the country are returning to their roots 
of helping people maintain their historic properties, from offering trainings on restoring historic 
windows, to hiring appropriately skilled repair persons, to practicing incremental development in 
cities, to providing affordable housing in rehabilitated historic and older buildings through 
revolving funds. These kinds of outreach programs also usually involve partnerships with other 
organizations or businesses in the community, providing opportunities to connect with new 
                                                
44 Ibid. 
44 
 
audiences through their networks and leverage resources for greater benefit. Social media also 
plays a key role in communicating and marketing these programs to their intended audiences. 
 One example is the Rehabber Club, an initiative of the city of San Antonio’s Office of 
Historic Preservation. Formed in 2016, the Rehabber Club’s mission is “to build and support a 
network of do-it-yourselfers, craftsmen, contractors, historic homeowners, realtors, and everyday 
citizens to revitalize San Antonio’s historic buildings. We accomplish this through networking, 
training, certification, and plain ole encouragement.”45 The organization offers a number of 
programs primarily aimed at historic homeowners, including an annual Historic Homeowner 
Fair, workshops and certification courses, and the S.T.A.R. (Students Together Achieving 
Revitalization) Program. A combined effort of the Office of Historic Preservation, the University 
of Texas at San Antonio College of Architecture, San Antonio College, the Historic Preservation 
Association (HPA), and local contractors, the S.T.A.R Program provides complimentary “minor 
exterior home repairs and maintenance to homeowners within local historic districts” and 
“assist[ing] property owners with repairs to windows and screens, siding, and porches, as well as 
provide general yard maintenance and exterior painting.”46 Other community events include 
“Donuts & DIY,” monthly workshops geared towards homeowners, Historic House Specialist 
certification programs, and “Power of Preservation” On the Rocks happy hours, which occur in 
conjunction with the city’s First Friday community events and are designed to “engage young 
professionals and students to become the next generation of preservationists,” although 
preservationists of all ages are welcome to join.47 
                                                
45 “What We Do,” Rehabber Club, City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation, 
https://www.sarehabberclub.com/what-we-do. 
46 Ibid. 
47 Ibid. 
45 
 
 While the program has been successful in engaging and connecting preservationists 
throughout the city and could serve as a model for other communities, renters are still being left 
out. What about workshops for renters to help them learn how to properly hang something on a 
plaster and lath wall? Or learning techniques for reversible cosmetic changes that won’t damage 
character-defining features? Given the success and prevalence of the “historic homeowner” 
engagement model, organizations should consider adapting this to fit a younger, more rental-
prone demographic. Social media, again, can play a key role here. With the popularity of the 
sustainable living and “tiny house” movements to reduce waste and environmental impacts 
amongst younger people, initiatives like these could have real traction. Advertising on Instagram, 
Twitter, Pinterest, and other visual platforms could be especially transformative. Instagram 
accounts like @cheapoldhouses and @thecraftsmanblog have attracted hundreds of thousands of 
preservation-minded followers by featuring preservation projects and techniques on their 
channels. Even if their followers cannot or do not wish to participate in person, the opportunity 
for professionals to show that preservation is a part of these housing solutions can be 
transformative. As one of the interviewees for this project stated, “It’s a simple, easy way to 
reach a huge audience and they’re all addicted to it – use it.” 
 
Challenges 
 While there are many opportunities for growth in this area, there are also challenges. 
Programs like these require investments of time, money, and expertise, and interestingly, it may 
be the expertise piece that presents the greatest challenge for preservation organizations in this 
case. One consequence of the broadening of the preservation field is that there are preservation 
organizations today that don’t necessarily have any building conservation or materials experts on 
46 
 
staff. Rather, these organizations would have to fill the role of organizers and facilitators and 
understand how to contact the professionals who could actually provide these trainings.  
47 
 
Chapter 5:  Conclusion and Recommendations 
This project was developed to provide a practical overview of American millennials and 
how they engage with historic preservation. Through a deeper analysis of a survey of millennials 
conducted by the National Trust and American Express in 2017, a series of interviews with 
professional preservationists (many of them millennials themselves), and a case study examining 
how preservation can offer solutions for millennials and housing, the project determined multiple 
methods and levels of engagement that could be applied by preservation organizations of various 
size and programmatic scope. 
 Professional preservationists know that the preservation field is changing; the clarion call 
was sounded as recently as 2016 with the 50th anniversary commemorations of the NHPA. 
Millennials, and likely Generation Z, will be the generations to shape preservation to perhaps its 
greatest extent since the professionalization of the field in the 1960s. The generation-defining 
characteristics of millennials – their demographic diversity, their economic predicament, their 
use of technology, and their unifying cultural practices and beliefs – make them well-suited to 
value and practice preservation in their lives. Professional preservationists have a real 
opportunity to transform and truly embody inclusive, “big-tent” preservation and capitalize on 
millennials’ capacity and interests in preservation for the long-term sustainability and growth of 
the field. 
 The following recommendations serve as the culmination of this project and provide a 
starting point for future investigations. Chapter 3 includes suggestions for areas of further 
scholarly research, but the following recommendations are intended to serve as scalable, short-
term ideas that could be tailored and implemented quickly for different preservation 
organizations. 
48 
 
A Toolkit for Understanding Millennials and Historic Preservation 
1. Meet millennials where they are: social media. 
Whether we like it or not, social media is how millennials connect with one another and with 
what they care about. Maintaining an active social media presence is essential for demonstrating 
the relevance of preservation. A February 2018 survey of millennials showed that 45% of 
millennials “were influenced to visit [house museums] by what historic house museums were 
posting on social media,” meaning that social media was responsible for attracting almost half of 
millennial visitors to those sites.48 Beautiful images on Instagram are what get people to want to 
go and experience historic places (we can save the event postings for Facebook) and building an 
audience that finds your cause attractive is the first step in garnering buy-in that you can cash in 
later when you need fundraising or advocacy asks. Social media (and Instagram in particular) 
doesn’t have to always be used for an “ask.” Before you can ask, you need to build momentum 
so you can then “flip the switch” to crowdsource participation when needed after that brand trust 
and recognition has been established. Younger audiences are already active online and 
organizations should have a meaningful, substantial presence in order to connect with them. 
2. Accommodating changes in visitation and fundraising to allow for individual experiences 
and varied (often lower) financial giving capacities. 
The nature of visitation and fundraising are changing. Hour-long guided house tours are far 
less appealing to a generation of people who have already looked up your site or city on 
Wikipedia on the way over. For a generation short on time and money, visitation is more likely 
to take place in the form of unique special events and programs, or coupled with routine, “non-
mission” visits like walking a dog or having a picnic. Tailoring your organization’s programming 
                                                
48 Morton, Millennials. 
49 
 
around this shift in preferences can help ensure relevancy with younger audiences and financial 
sustainability. Examining the new membership and subscription models that have become 
increasingly popular with millennials in other areas of public life – think Netflix and Uber – and 
how those can be applied to preservation organizations is also useful. Do you offer a programs-
only membership package? What about an annual dog-walking pass? Thinking about other ways 
to monetize visitation and get people to your property in ways other than tours and membership 
fees will be necessary to get millennials’ dollars. 
 Traditional fundraising methods are especially challenging for a generation expected to 
be the first in American history to fail to out-earn their parents. Because millennials are more 
guarded with their spending money, they require a higher level of certainty that their money is 
going where they feel it should. Crowdsourced, cause-based, and project-specific fundraising 
models like GoFundMe and Kickstarter are likely to become the norm, with these kinds of 
targeted, small-dollar amounts helping to close fundraising gaps. Organizations will likely have 
to look towards corporate or other large philanthropic donors to fill larger fundraising gaps if 
millennials’ capacity for charitable giving maintains its current trajectory.  
 
50 
 
Figure 10 and 11: Two flyers at The Grove Museum in Tallahassee, Florida successfully implement some 
of the strategies described above, including: leveraging to align preservation with an allied cause 
(transportation), an “after hours” event, a note to help The Grove “go green” and take a picture of the 
flyer to share with their networks, and providing relevant hashtags and social media information. 
 
3. “Preservation is cool,” but how (and where) you talk about it matters. 
Preservation also doesn’t always need to be educational. It’s okay that not everyone who is a 
“preservationist” knows all of the “correct” terms for something. It’s fine if people come to an 
event at your site, have a good time, and learn nothing about it. They may connect in another 
way, or simply have a good time at the event and hopefully return for more of the same kind of 
events. They may eventually convert to your mission, or they may just remain engaged in 
peripheral activities without preservation being their main focus. Using common language – 
“old,” “beautiful,” “character” – as opposed to technical terms can be best way to communicate 
and build interest about preservation and historic places with these audiences. 
As for defining a “preservationist,” it’s truly only professional preservationists who are 
having that conversation. No one outside of the field seems to be wringing their hands about who 
gets to be a preservationist and what it might mean, so perhaps we don’t have to dedicate as 
much time and energy to debating this moving forward. Current definitions, like Sarah Marsom’s 
mentioned in Chapter 4, are useful for an organization’s marketing and audience segmentation 
purposes, but defining who “gets” to be a preservationist is not a fruitful exercise. 
4. Take advantage of the “service generation”. 
Millennials are more likely to donate their time than their money. Board seats, leadership 
roles, volunteer programs, and other action-oriented opportunities are more likely to appeal to 
this generation. The challenging economic conditions reshaping fundraising are creating new 
opportunities for preservationists to position preservation as a solution to other societal 
problems. Creating programs that address millennials’ housing challenges and assist renters or 
51 
 
first-time home buyers like revolving funds, incremental development, and renter/steward 
training programs can be extremely lucrative for preservation organizations. Renter training 
programs in particular merit further experimentation, especially due to the high value millennials 
place on craftsmanship and authenticity and the impact these programs can have on renters. 
Many young renters in the United States are disproportionately economically disadvantaged and 
people of color, and these are two groups that are foundational for preservationists to engage 
with to build a truly inclusive and sustainable preservation movement. The popular resurgence of 
historic homeowner workshops can serve as a model for how these trainings might be designed, 
implemented, and monetized. 
Millennials also bring perspectives, skill sets, and fresh vision that is increasingly valuable 
and different from older generations. Expertise beyond technical skills is often necessary to 
communicate to new audiences or bring different ideas to the table. Preservation organizations 
will need to invest in millennials to thrive, and not just by saving a board seat or two. One person 
does not make “diversity” and preservationists should seek ways to make deep, meaningful 
connections with younger people to ensure the sustainability of their organizations in new ways, 
particularly given the vitality of the separatist “young preservationists” movement. 
 
52 
 
Figure 12: A screenshot of an Instagram post from Historic Charleston Foundation’s fundraising 
campaign for a preservation project at the Nathaniel Russell House. The foundation piloted a social-
media based campaign to crowdfund $5,000 from small-dollar donors to provide financial support for the 
project in 2019. 
 
Final Thoughts 
Where does this leave us? I would like to think that this project is simply the tip of the 
iceberg – as preservation grows more data-driven, sophisticated, and further embeds itself with 
other causes like environmentalism and social justice to broaden its scope and impact, we will 
hopefully see more targeted research projects to help position preservation as a solution to 
societal problems. One of the most inspiring findings in this project was seeing that in the right 
hands, preservation can be an engine of social change and there is a meaningful commitment 
from many of the millennial preservationists that I interviewed to ensure preservation is 
practiced in that way. Given the high value millennials expressed for historic preservation in the 
National Trust survey and echoed again by the preservationists interviewed in this project, I 
predict we will see a resurgence and evolution of preservation practice in the near future. 
  
53 
 
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57