Preservation Institute Nantucket (PlN) began as an inspired collaboration between two men, Walter Beinecke, Jr. and F. Blair Reeves. Reeves, a University of Florida Architecture Professor, traveled to Nantucket for the first time in 1969 to lead students in a Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation project that was sponsored by Beinecke, a visionary entrepreneur who had established the Nantucket Historical Trust.

Beinecke’s company Sherburne Associates, coupled with his many philanthropic initiatives on the island, helped preserve Nantucket’s built and natural environment and establish it as a highly desirable cultural tourism destination. Nantucket’s transformation became a model for marrying preservation and commercial interests. As described by Beinecke, ” … beautiful old buildings do cost money to keep up. Unless you have some government grant that says these are important enough to keep, you have to look to the private sector…”. Through his relationship with Reeves, Beinecke came to understand the value of having a research and education program to assist with community preservation efforts.

The initial collaboration between Reeves and Beinecke in 1969 led to the official establishment of the Preservation Institute Nantucket in 1972. This was the first year the University of Florida (UF) offered coursework for credit. According to Reeves, the concept was “… to create a symposium for students from a diversity of academic programs and locales to use Nantucket [a National Historic Landmark District] as a laboratory to study preservation and to document its historic architecture.” The benefit to Nantucket was explained in a 1976 UF publication: “Although its primary role is to educate … PlN serves as a catalyst for preservation on Nantucket itself.”

The distinct educational experience offered by PlN helped to fulfill a critical need for trained practitioners. The program’s launch occurred just six years after the passing of the 1966 U.S. National Historic Preservation Act, and coincided with the creation of UNESCO’s World Heritage List and Center. With the codification of the discipline and the growth of the preservation profession, there was a pronounced need for more “hands-on” learning opportunities. PlN offered students interdisciplinary, applied studies in the documentation, research, conservation, and management of heritage.

Over the last five decades, some 700 participants representing more than 110 institutions have attended the Preservation Institute Nantucket. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of historic preservation, these students came from a wide array of fields, including urban and regional planning, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, history, anthropology, and museum studies, among others. PlN graduates have researched and documented over 60 of the island’s historic structures, preparing and submitting much of this documentation to the HABS archive in the Library of Congress. The substantial archive generated by PlN has proven invaluable in restoring and stewarding some of the island’s most significant sites.