Alone in a room with these guys

What do you think it would be like to be alone in a room with these guys? Yesterday I found myself in just that situation - almost. It was me, a few others, and them.

So who are these people who call themselves SACHP and SHPO?

Well it turns out if you or anyone else wants to nominate anything in Oregon to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, you have to go into a room with these guys and plead your case. They will have read your nomination weeks before you meet, and you can bet they've gone over it with a fine tooth comb. A few of them may have even visited the place you are nominating.

When it's your turn, you may say a few words, the SHPO staff person will have said a few words, and then you sit silently while the SACHP member chosen to be the lead on your nomination proceeds to offer their assessment. Page by page, line by line, it becomes clear they have read every single word. And you can bet they have suggestions to make it better.

In our case, there were extensive suggestions. So many in fact that our nomination was tabled. That means we have to go back to the drawing board - well not a blank drawing board, but we certainly have a lot of erasures, research and rewriting to do. Then we can try again.

Now I will be honest with you. I do not relish the prospect of going back to the drawing board on our nomination. We've been working on it with varying degrees of intensity over the past 3 years. We will need professional help – again – and we will need money to pay for it.

But I will say this. Despite the fact that the outcome was not at all what I'd hoped for, sitting in a room with these guys, even though they were dissecting our nomination, made me feel good about people.

Why? Because here they were, all alone in this room, charged with an obscure mission that no one but us knew or cared about - and not one corner was cut. Each member of this board did their utmost to fulfill their mission. They could have taken the easy way out - been less than rigorous and no one would have known.

But they weren't. They took their job seriously and did it as though it were the most important thing on earth. And actually, right then and there, it was.

State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (SACHP)

(updated 10/13/2009)

Appointed Members

Dr. William Willingham, Chair

Architectural Historian, Portland

Term(s): 5/1/2002 – 4/30/2010

5/1/2006 – 4/30/2010

Mr. John Goodenberger, Co-Chair

Architect, Astoria

Term(s): 5/1/2006 – 4/30/2010

Mr. Robert Hadlow

Industrial Historian, Portland

Term(s): 8/1/2008 – 7/30/2012

Mr. Jeffrey LaLande

Historical Archaeologist, Ashland

Term(s): 12/6/2008 – 12/5/2012

12/6/2004 – 12/5/2008

Mr. David Liberty

Cultural Anthropologist, Hood River

Term(s): 2/1/2009 – 2/2/2013

2/1/2005 – 1/31/2009

10/11/2004 – 1/31/2005

Ms. Judith Rees

Community Historian, Portland

Term(s): 5/1/2006 – 4/30/2010

Ms. Gail Sargent, AIA

Architect, Hermiston

Term(s): 5/10/2008 – 5/9/2012

11/1/2007 – 5/9/2008

*Two positions are currently vacant

State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)

Ian Johnson - National Register / Survey Coordinator

Cara Kaser - National Register / Survey Coordinator

Roger Roper - OPRD Assistant Director, Heritage Programs/Deputy SHPO

Christine Curran - Associate Deputy SHPO