Traditional Cultural Properties: Putting Concept

spoke broadly to the area of cultural significance relating to all properties that may be found eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, and explicitly defined a type of significance, traditional cultural significance, founded in the cultural traditions and ongo-ing practices of the community or group for which the property is important (Parker and King 1990). What distinguishes this type of significance is the historical and ongoing rela-tionship between the property and the cultural practices, values, and beliefs of the people for whom the property has importance. In this collection of papers, we begin to take a look back at the concept of the traditional cultural property (TCP) and how it has worked as a means to identify and preserve properties of historical and cultural importance to communities in this country. Has the implementation of the guidelines been successful in identifying and protecting historic properties of traditional cultural importance? Have any elements worked better than others, or are there issues that need to be adjusted? Do we need to incorporate greater flexibility in the guidelines ’ application? Has the process been of value to local com-munities seeking to preserve their cultural resources? The George Wright Forum provides an opportunity to review the lessons learned from applying the guidelines and to present dis