HOWARD KIRSCHENBAUM
HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROJECTS AND POSITIONS
1971-1976 Co-owner, Director, Co-Director, National Humanistic Education Center (formerly
Adirondack Mountain Humanistic Education Center), Upper Jay, NY, including:
Preserved historic farmhouse and barn and adaptively used for educational
conference center.
1976-1989 Executive Director, Co-Director, Sagamore Institute (formerly National Humanistic
Education Center), Raquette Lake, NY, including:
Preserved and steadily restored Sagamore Lodge and Conference Center, former
William West Durant/Vanderbilt family Adk. Great Camp. A National Historic
Landmark.
Initiated and co-led with Preservation League of New York State successful campaign
to amend NYS constitution to save endangered caretaking complex of buildings at
Sagamore.
1976-2017 Owner or Co-Owner, Camp Uncas, Raquette Lake, NY, including steady restoration of
this former William West Durant/ J.P. Morgan family Adk. Great Camp. A National
Historic Landmark.
1990-Pres. Founder (1990), President (1990-97), Board Member (all but three years from 1990-
present), Secretary (2008-2011), Adirondack Architectural Heritage, the non-profit,
historic preservation organization for Adirondack Park, including:
Led campaign to save Camp Santanoni, historic Adk. Great Camp; gradually stabilize
and preserve it, and have it classified as a National Historic Landmark. Continues to
work with AARCH, NY State and Town of Newcomb on Santanoni's preservation and
interpretation.
1992-95 Stabilized historic Warren Point Lodge on Tupper Lake and found compatible purchaser
to subsequently rehabilitate the lodge.
1993-Pres. Owner, Director or LLC Manager (1993-2008; 2012-14), Steering Committee
(2009-2020), Advisor, White Pine Camp, Paul Smiths, NY, a historic Adirondack Great
Camp and Summer White House of Pres. Calvin Coolidge, including purchasing
property, forming investment group to own and operate it, gradually stabilizing and
restoring 20 buildings, operating property for historic tours and lodging for the
public.
2005-09 Purchased, restored and resold classic 1900s home on Park Avenue, Saranac Lake, NY
CONSULTANT
Worked with many private owners and non-profit organizations to find solutions to insure the future of their historic properties. For example:
2014-2018 Co-led a four-year process in which the retiring owner and approx. 60 long-time guests
of the historic Hedges Resort, Blue Mt. Lake, NY, formed a company to purchase the
property, preserve it, and keep it open to the public.
BOOKS
White Pine Camp: The Saga of an Adirondack Great Camp and Summer White House. (Adirondack Architectural Heritage, 2018).
Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp. With Robert Engel and Paul Malo. (Adirondack Architectural Heritage, 2000. Second edition, 2009).
The Story of Sagamore. (Sagamore Institute, 1990).
The Adirondack Guide: An Almanac of Essential Information and Assorted Trivia. With Susan Schafstall and Jeanine Stuchin, co-editors. (Sagamore Institute, 1983).
The 1500 Most Interesting Inns, Lodges and Guest Houses in the United States. (National Travel Publishing Company, 1980).
ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS
Served as first historic preservation columnist for Adirondack Life magazine (1993-95). Wrote about a dozen articles on historic preservation in Adirondack Life magazine to date.
Introduction to F. Fitzgerald, Adirondack Style: Great and Rustic Camps of the Adirondacks. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2011.
TOURS, INTERPRETATION
Conducted numerous week-long, weekend, and day tours of Adirondack Great Camps Sagamore, Uncas, Pine Knot, Santanoni, White Pine, Topridge, Moss Ledge, Eagle Island, Eagle Nest, Kildare, Albador, Debar, Wenonah, William Distin camps of Big Wolf Lake, and others, for:
- Sagamore Institute
- Adirondack Architectural Heritage
- Smithsonian Institution
- National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Audubon
- National Geographic
- Society of Architectural Historians (national organization and many chapters)
- Many historical societies
Given numerous presentations around the Adirondacks, New York State and beyond on the Adirondack Great Camps.
HONORS
2011 Award for Individual Excellence in Historic Preservation, Preservation League of New York State,
Albany, NY.
2013 Feature article about HK's historic preservation work in the Adirondacks, Adirondack Life
magazine, March-April issue.
2015 Adirondack Architectural Heritage received award for Organizational Excellence from National
Trust for Historic Preservation.
2015 Adirondack Architectural Heritage, Town of Newcomb and DEC received award for preservation
of Camp Santanoni from New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Also: Featured in many documentaries on Adirondack history and architecture, including nationally
distributed PBS documentary on the Adirondacks.
CONSERVATION
1990-96 Board Member and Vice-President (2 years), Adirondack Nature Conservancy and
Adirondack Land Trust (dates approximate)
1995 With three partners, donated 52 acres and half-mile of shoreline on Tupper Lake to NYS
Forest Preserve, while placing an additional 401 acres under a conservation easement
insuring no further development.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
1971-83 While Director/Co-Director of National Humanistic Education Center and Sagamore
Institute sponsored a summer, Human Relations Youth Adventure Camp for boys and
girls, 11-14 years olds.
1972-89 While Director/Co-Director of National Humanistic Education Center and Sagamore
Institute sponsored numerous environmental education workshops, programs and
projects.
COMMITTEES
1992-93 Citizens' Advisory Committee on the Remsen Lake Placid Railroad Corridor (help draft plan
for preservation and revitalization of train service along the corridor.
1990s DEC advisory committee on Adirondack fire towers.
1990s DEC advisory committee on the Future of the Adirondack Park in the 21st Century.
2015-Pres. Co-chair, Trails Committee, Big Wolf Lake Association.
PERSONAL
2010 Finished climbing the 46 Adirondack peaks over 4000 feet in elevation. Became an
"Adirondack 46er".
2017 Completed the Adirondack 90-Miler in a four-person canoe, a three-day race following
the classic canoe route from Old Forge to Saranac Lake.