HARRISBURG, PA.- The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has been honored with a national award for its initiative to preserve historic schools in the commonwealth. The award, from the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, is for PHMC's 2006 Preserving Pennsylvania's Historic Schools Program and recognizes the commission's exemplary role in creating a statewide project that benefits historic preservation.

"The initiative to preserve historic schools and find new uses for them has been extremely successful and has received great public attention as PHMC continues to try to preserve these important community structures," said PHMC Executive Director Barbara Franco.

Educate Yourself About Preservation: Preserving Pennsylvania's Historic Schools resulted in a survey of historic schools, the development of a comprehensive Web site and the creation of a "multiple property documentation form" with guidelines for evaluating historic schools and listing them in the National Register. For more information on the initiative visit http://www.phmc.state.pa.us.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.