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J. RODNEY LITTLE RECEIVES NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICERS
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
 WASHINGTON, DC – On March 2, 2005, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) presented the NCSHPO Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation at their Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Among the honors was a Lifetime Achievement Award presented to J. Rodney Little, the Maryland State Historic Preservation Officer.
J. Rodney Little’s distinguished career in the field of historic preservation has spanned more than three decades. During that period, he has acted as Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for the State of Florida, SHPO for the State of Maryland, served a 5-year term as President of National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), functioned as a Congressionally-designated member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and served as member and advisor to many other national and state historic preservation councils, boards, and organizations. On the state level, he has succeeded in increasing the Maryland Historical Trust’s authority to review state undertakings on historic properties, broadening the Trust’s mission to include museum assistance, cultural conservation, underwater archeology, and heritage tourism activities, and expanding Trust facilities to include acquisition of the Jefferson Patterson Historical Park and Museum and construction of the award-winning Maryland Archeological Conservation Laboratory.
Rodney began his work in the Florida State Historic Preservation Office. Notably, he served a key role in organizing and leading a successful 3-year statewide effort to save and restore Florida’s Historic Capitol and conceived, drafted, and successfully lobbied for legislation that established the Florida Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
In 1978, Rodney was appointed as the Historic Preservation Officer for the State of Maryland. He reorganized Maryland’s preservation programs and, in 1981, his authority was broadened to include leadership of the Maryland Historical Trust.
One of Rodney’s most significant acts as Maryland SHPO came in 1985 when he succeeded in securing legislation that empowered the Maryland Historical Trust to protect historic properties under state law. Since this authority was granted, the Trust has reviewed more than 20,000 projects as part of this “State Section 106 Review” and now, twenty years after the legislation was first passed, Rodney is leading efforts to further refine and strengthen the law.
In 1988, Rodney set out to broaden the Maryland Historical Trust’s mission to meet the needs of Maryland history museums, underwater archeological resources, and intangible cultural resources which led to the creation of a Maryland Museum Assistance Program designed to support professional consultants, collections management, new exhibits, interpretive and strategic planning, and educational outreach for all of the state’s 200 history-related museums.
Rodney created the Maryland Maritime Archaeology Program (MMAP). One year prior to the 1989 passage of the Federal Abandoned Shipwrecks Act, Maryland created a program to inventory and manage the state's submerged cultural resources. In addition to survey work, the program is responsible for the administration of the Submerged Archaeological Historic Property Act.
More recently, Rodney spearheaded efforts to create a heritage tourism development program at the Maryland Historical Trust. The Maryland Heritage Preservation and Tourism Areas Program is designed to stimulate economic development through the creation of heritage tourism enterprise zones.
In 1983, Rodney led the effort for the state’s acceptance of the donation of the Patterson Archaeological District. Developed as the Jefferson Patterson Historical Park and Museum, the plan for this property included construction of the Maryland Archeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab), a state-of-the-art archeological research, conservation, and collections laboratory and curation facility which was built in 1998.
Rodney’s longevity as Maryland SHPO is extraordinary, as he has served under 5 Governors. During this time he has grown the Maryland preservation program from a staff of about 20 to a staff of 95 with responsibility for 11 agency-owned historic and museum properties including over 600 acres and 50 buildings and an annual budget of $7.6 million.
In addition to his accomplishments at the state level, Rodney’s successes at the federal level are also noteworthy. Mr. Little was involved in the development of federal tax credit legislation and participated in the conception and development of the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980, authoring significant sections of legislation (e.g., Certified Local Governments Program), and actively lobbying for sponsorship and passage of the amendments. Mr. Little also served as President of the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) during the period when the Secretary of the Interior and the NCSHPO was required to engage in a dramatic fight for the survival of historic preservation funding for the states and for the continued existence of the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation.
Rodney Little’s contribution to historic preservation at the state and federal level has been both significant and long-standing. He remains one of Maryland’s most important preservation policy- and play-makers – esteemed by the state’s leadership and admired by his staff.
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Last updated: August 5, 2005
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