Evening star., 1948-11-04
Historic Site Council
Asks National Trust
To Preserve HERITAGE e

A proposal of the National Coun-
Gil for Historical Sites and Buildings
to create q national trust for the
preservation of "the American
heritage of freedom and culture
received support today at the
second annual meeting of the Coun-
Gil in the National Gallery of Art.
Sounding the keynote of the
two-day session, David E. Finley,
chairman Of the Executive Board,
declared the movement is vitality
important now when ''the American
way of life" is under attack by ma
tions which do not believe in our
institutions. Mr.. Finley is director
of the National Gallery of Art.
Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant III, presi-
dent Of the council, presided at the
opening morning session at which
Newton B. Drury, director of the
National Park Service endorsed the
recommendation. About 100 his
'torians, archaeologists, architects,
city planners. museum executives
and archivists are attending the
meetings.
To Ask Congress for Charter.
Creation of a national trust ''for
the preservation and Interpretation
of sites and structures significant in
American history and culture" was
recommended in a-report by COM
mittee headed by H. Alexander
Smith, jr., of Baltimore. A national
charter will be sought from Con-
gress similar, it was said, to those
granted the Smithsonian 1nstitu-
ton, the National Gallery of Art
and similar institutions.
Should Congress approve the rec
ommendation, it would be asked to
enact legislation making the Or
ganization the first congressionally
chartered national trust created in
the United States. In that way it
would be authorized to receive his
torical property which might be in
danger of destruction.
Mr.. Finley told the audience much
still remains to be done in the
historical field. 'Mr. Rockefeller, !"
he said, has provided at Williams
burg an object lesson for all of US
as to how it should be done; and
this is true also in the case of many
other architectural and historical
monuments that have been pre-
served and opened to the public
throughout the country. But these
monuments are few and far apart,
while Americans, in fast-moving
motor cars, with time on their hands
and nowhere to go, crowd the roads
and look eagerly for instruction as
well as entertainment"
Defend Right to Choose.
Comparing American standards of
art and culture with those of other
nations, Mr.. Finley made this dis
tinction: I'VE shall defend a mans
right to choose, even to choose bad
ly." On the other hand, he pointed
out, totalitarian rule in many parts
of the world tells the artist, the
the architect what to do.
His work is judged not by its
excellence according to world stand
ards, but by its value in building
up a consuming nationalism that
admits of no equality elsewhere" I"
Mr.. Finley said. Certainly we want
no such nationalistic point of view
here in our arts or in our architec-
ture."
Mr.. Drury who told of the work
of the National Park Service in pre-
serving so many historical shrines,
said 100000 people visit them an
nrfally. But there is a limit beyond
which the Federal Government cam
not go, the park director warned.
To Hear Ambassador.
what the central Government
should do is, of course, debatable," +"
he added, but the growth of a ma
tional organization to encourage
local effort to preserve historical
sites not primarily of national con-
Germ, in my opinion, not only takes
a load off the Federal Government
but it puts responsibility where it
belongs"
At the National Councils dinner
tonight in the Statler Hotel, French
Ambassador Henri Bonnet will
speak on Historical Preservation in
France"