Books recommended by the National Park Service
Historic Preservation : An Introduction to Its History, Principles & Practice by 
Historic Preservation : Collective Memory and Historical Identity by Barthel, Diane. Historic Preservation: Collective Memory and Historial Identity. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996.
Bruegmann, Robert. "What Price Preservation?" In Planning (June 1980): 12-16.
Chidester, David and Edward T. Linenthal, eds. American Sacred Space. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Fitch, James Marston. Historic Preservation: Curatorial Management of the Built World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.
Gardner, James B. and Peter LaPaglia, eds. Public History: Essays from the Field. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Co., 1999.
Hosmer, Jr. Charles B. The Presence of the Past: A History of the Preservation Movement in the United States Before Williamsburg.New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1965.
---. Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949. 2 volumes. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989.
Kaufman, Ned. "Speaking of Places: Heritage and the Cultural Politics of Preservation." In Places:"Images that Motivate" (11:3)(Winter 1998): 58-65.
King, Thomas F. Federal Planning and Historical Places: The Section 106 Process. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2000.
King, Thomas F. Cultural Resource Laws and Practice: An Introductory Guide. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1998.
Lee, Antoinette J., ed. Past Meets Future: Saving America's Historic Environments. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1992.
Longstreth, Richard. "Taste Versus History." In Historic Preservation Forum (May-June 1994): 40-45.
Lowenthal, David. The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Lowenthal, David. The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Murtagh, William J. Keeping Time: The History and Theory of Preservation in America. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
National Trust for Historic Preservation, ed. With Heritage So Rich: Special Commitee on Historic Preservation, United States Conference of Mayors. Washington, DC: Preservation Press, 1996.
Rypkema, Donovan D. "Economics and Historic Preservation." InHistoric Preservation Forum (Winter 1995): 39-45.
---. "Preservation in the New Century: Risk, Relevance, and Reward." In Forum Journal (Spring 2001): 5-10.
Schlereth, Thomas J. Artifacts and the American Past. Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History, 1980.
Schlereth, Thomas J., ed. Material Culture Studies in America: An Anthology. Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History, 1982.
Stipe, Robert E. and Antoinette J. Lee, eds. The American Mosaic: Preserving a Nation's Heritage. Washington, DC: US/ICOMOS, 1987.
Tyler, Norman. Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999.
The two major philosophies of historic preservation are Scrape and Anti-scrape. Both methods, though opposite in their means, are justifiable when knowledgeably exercised (they preserve). They differ, however, in what is preserved.
The Scrape philosophy, as first practiced by Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and his school before it came to be called Scrape philosophy, removed later construction from an architectural object to restore it to its original conception. The term Anti-scrape originated in references to William Morris’ Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in the late 19th century (earlier restorers had scraped plaster from historic buildings - Scrape). Morris, in his 1877 Manifesto for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings opposed stripping a building "of its life" and urged "Protection in place of Restoration." Two decades before Morris had started his society, Victorian art critic John Ruskin in The Seven Lamps of Architecture had voiced opposition to some of the restoration efforts of his age (particularly those undertaken in France).
Scrape and Anti-scrape philosophies are the extreme ends of preservation theory and today both are practiced. However, it appears to be that present thought tends toward an anti-scrape approach as the definition of what is deemed to be significant. Also, the nature of preservation has become more defined since the time of Viollet-le-Duc and Ruskin. The International Council on Monuments and Sites has established categories for intervention that include preservation, period restoration, period reconstruction, rehabilitation, and redevelopment for the Appleton Charter that was ratified by the U.S. and other world governments in Canada in 1983. The charter recognizes the importance of preserving the "existing fabric" as one of the primary goals of preservation efforts.
Downloadable text files pertaining to the antibellum history of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Corridor.