Heritage is what the present chooses to make…

Heritage is what the present chooses to make of the past. That means that heritage is dynamic. It's a challenging concept. And it also means that it tends to be confined in opposition to much that is going on in the present. It's endangered. Where there is heritage, there is often a sense of identity , you know, whether it's a building that's about to be bull-dozed, or a way of life that is dying out because of prolific change. The heritage that we speak about in this country in terms of conservation tends to be a term that becomes very central—or more central in new ways—as the state becomes involved in this field of administering conservation.