History Professor Jere Daniell '55:

WHY WAS VERMONT, AND NOT NEW HAMPSHIRE, RECENTLY DESIGNATED AN "ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACE" BY THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION?

PART OF THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE A NEW TRUST president wanted something flashy to call attention to the organization. But his first endangered state was not chosen randomly. Since World War II Vermont has marketed itself as a curious mixture of progressiveness and quaintness. The public image, promoted by the press and magazines like the state-sponsored Vermont Life magazine, has immense appeal to a wide range of upper-middle-class professionals and retirees fond of skiing, telecommunications, white steepled churches, liberal politics, and preservation of both image and landscape.

: Now Wal Mart, the super symbol of undesired de velopment, has discovered New England. It's time, according to fans of the status quo, to man the barricades and keep Wal- Martout.

The current budgetary crisis in Vermont might weaken resolve to preserve its heritage. So why not declare the whole stare endangered? Good press and, possibly, a good fundraising gimmick.

New Hampshire's image is another thing altogether. Declaring it endangered and worthy of preservation would alienate many Trust members and, with a few exceptions like the Manchester Union Leader, the press. Why would one want to save New Hampshire? It's supposedly "conservative" (I think of it as the most radical state in the union, but that's another subject), unenlightened on environmental matters, stingy on public services, and eager for Wal-Marts. It has too many billboards and too few cows on hillsides. Its only saving graces are Portsmouth, the non-industrialized parts of the Connecticut River Valley, and Dartmouth College. The last two of these are pretty much an extension of Vermont anyway and could be annexed for purposes of preservation.

Prof.Daniell