Does This Place Matter?

For the month of May the National Trust for Historic Places has promoted National Preservation Month through a campaign known as This Place Matters. The site invites normal Joes (and Joe-ettes) to submit photos or videos with their story of a place that matters.

I scanned the list of submissions for submissions from Tulsa, Bartlesville or Oklahoma City. None. What about Norman? Hmmm... maybe Ponca City? Okay, I'm desperate- what about Muskogee? Nothing from Oklahoma at all! So no place in the Sooner State matters?

It's Easy!

1. Register on the National Trust's website, www.preservationnation.org
2. Download and print out a “This Place Matters” sign from the National Trust website.
3. Snap a photo of people holding the sign and standing in front of a building or place of particular personal significance.
4. Then, upload the photo (or photos) to the National Trust's This Place Matters website, and post a brief story about the place and why it matters.

Alternatively, upload a video to You Tube and include the keywords "preservationnation" and "thisplacematters" to magically align them with other submissions from preservation-happy videophiles.Not even I am that cynical. I assumed this was an oversight, considering the fact the National Preservation Conference will be held October 21-25 here in T-Town. So I dug a little deeper. Fiona Lawless with the NTHP confirmed it- as of May 27 there are no places in Oklahoma that matter.

Well, at least not any place that someone cared enough to list.

So let's get it in gear people!

Get out your camera or fire up the video. Let's share some of these great buildings we have here in Oklahoma. We need to let them know about the NBT Building, ORU, the Marland Mansion, Boston Avenue Methodist, Price Tower, the Round Barn, Philbrook, the Gold Dome... you get the idea.

Some of the video submissions to This Place Matters...