The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) is a not-for-profit, multidisciplinary, membership organization dedicated to promoting the best technology for conserving and preserving historic structures and their settings. Founded in 1968 by preservationists from Canada and the United States, it now has 1,500 members from 30 countries, with headquarters in Springfield, Illinois. APT’s activities include conferences, training and education programs, and publications on the technical aspects of preservation. APT members include architects, engineers, conservators, consultants, contractors, craftspeople, curators, administrators, program managers, developers, educators, historians, landscape architects, materials suppliers, students, technicians, and others involved in historic preservation. History Professionals in the field of historic preservation from Canada and the United States met in Canada in 1968 to form an organization that would promote the exchange of information and ideas pertaining to work on the constructed manifestation of cultural heritage, including not only buildings and landscapes, but also objects and collections. The organization’s first four aims and objectives, as published in the first Newsletter in April 1969, were: To provide a useful forum to promote the quality of professional practice in the field of historic preservation in Canada and the United States. To encourage the research, collection and publication of technical information in all aspects of historic preservation. To encourage the training of professionals in preservation and restoration technology. To encourage the training of craftsmen in the traditional techniques and skills required for historic preservation. The founding members were Alice Allison, David Bartlett, Gerald Budner, Jacques Dalibard, Oliver Torrey Fuller, George MacBeath, Pierre Mayrand, Jeanne Minhinnick, Lee Nelson, William Patterson, Charles E. Peterson, Jack Richardson, and Peter John Stokes. The first president was Charles E. Peterson. Early members, including Martin E. Weaver, the organization’s fifth president, and Morgan W. Phillips, were instrumental in establishing the field of architectural conservation. Mission APT’s mission is “to advance appropriate traditional and new technologies to care for, protect, and promote the longevity of the built environment and to cultivate the exchange of knowledge throughout the international community.” Activities Events The initial impetus of the founders to combine the dissemination of scholarly studies of the history of building with discussions about the application of the philosophy and practice of heritage conservation technology resulted in a conference at the Pine Brook Conference Center in Upper Saranac Lake, New York, in 1969. The APT conference then became an annual event. Since 1975, training courses (now called workshops) were presented