-----Original Message-----
From:   Ken Follett [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Saturday, April 18, 1998 10:01 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: FROM AN ANTIOPDEAN CO-RESPONDENT

Jeremy,

Shared consideration, passion, and compassion are what keep all us preservationeers going.
Thanks for your sharing.

On another question. I'm very curious of your perceptions of the relative value of the preservation organizations, ie. APT and ICOMOS. As a board member of APT, and participant on the Partnering and Outreach committee, it is my interest to understand what can be done better to serve the needs of working preservationists on an international basis. There have been discussions, of which I was not involved, regarding APT and US/ICOMOS working together on international outreach. I think BP goes a ways in this direction without support from any formal organization, though the list is sponsored on a server by the psychology department at St. John's University in Queens County, NYC.

][<en Follett

Ken,

(Sorry about the spelling of Antipodean - I wrong-footed myself)

I see APT and ICOMOS as quite different in their scope, and relevance to what I do.  They're both international, but APT is (or has been) distinctively North American, with a few hangers-on like me.  

I joined APT before ICOMOS, and its great value has been the access to technical information, both through personal contacts with colleagues, and through the excellent Bulletin.  Going to Montreal and New Orleans was exhilerating (Boston less so - no real collegial atmosphere there), and the training courses were great for a conservation tyro.  At the Montreal stone training course, I got a round of applause just for being there (I think).

ICOMOS is more clearly international in its activity, with a much wider disciplinary mixture, but is rather less to do with technique and more to do with polemics (or is that being unkind).  In spite of its international emphasis, there is a perception also that it is culturally rooted in Europe.  I visited Paris last November and paid my respects at the Secretariat.  I was (and still am) deeply concerned at the relationship between ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre.  We had a poke in the eye over this last year, and my personal perception is that there is lot of petty personal politicking getting in the way of achieving some things.

The idea of APT and US/ICOMOS working together on international outreach is excellent, even if this reinforces the north American emphasis in APT.  I love them both dearly and we are, after all, part of the same world.

New Zealand is, of course, the hub of the universe, and it's nice to be able to include those of you who live in remote locations in the day-to-day delights of trying to inflect the direction taken by those who came before.

Thanks for your response - this and other replies I've received precisely validate the PIN mission statement.  Good to talk to you.

Jeremy Salmond
Salmond Architects
5a Victoria Road
Devonport
AUCKLAND 1309
NEW ZEALAND

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