4Culture is pleased to have just received the American Association for State and Local History’s prestigious Award of Merit for our Destination Heritage program. The Award of Merit is presented for projects demonstrating the best in the field nationwide. Since 1945, the AASLH has sponsored a national awards program to encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history. Last week, I was honored to accept the award on behalf of 4Culture and our partners in Destination Heritage at the Leadership in History Awards Banquet during the AASLH annual meeting in Oklahoma City.

4CultureDestination Heritage, a collaboration of 4Culture’s Preservation and Heritage programs, was acknowledged for creating an interactive guide to historic places and heritage sites around King County, which includes a website, printed brochures, cell phone tours, and video produced for 4CTV. AASLH recognized Destination Heritage’s organization along the three themes of Agriculture, Industry, and Maritime, as a model for combining history and tourism.

As the AASLH Awards Committee chair noted, “The Awards Program is truly a national grassroots effort. Each nomination is reviewed at the state level by a team of museum professionals and historians, and at the regional level by a regional chair. If the nomination is judged favorably, the regional chair brings the nomination to Nashville for consideration by the national review committee.” 4Culture appreciates the work of the committee and its public recognition of Destination Heritage as an outstanding achievement, worthy of a national award.

4CulturePartnership support for this project was provided by the King County Historic Preservation Program,

the Eldridge Campbell Stockton Memorial Preservation Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Preserve America Program of the National Park Service.

Images: 4Culture, Holly Taylor