Heard a preservation guy say we're 'stealing history' by entering places

I used to think any abandoned building was fair game for exploring. Take pictures, grab a cool old sign, whatever. But last month I was poking around an old hotel in Scranton and this preservationist walked up. He wasn't mad, just talked about how every time we take something or even leave footprints, we erase clues for historians. He said one old ledger he found in a mill told him exactly when the town's economy shifted from textiles to coal. I realized I'd been treating these places like playgrounds instead of actual time capsules. Now I'm way more careful about what I touch and I never take anything. Has anyone else had a moment where they realized they were damaging the history they loved?

3 comments

3 Comments

torres.drew1mo ago

The thing that really got me was when a guy from a local historical society showed me how much info is in the dirt itself. Like the layers of paint chips and sawdust on a floor tell them when different machines were brought in or when a room changed use. If you drag a chair across that floor or kick dust around, those layers get mixed up and you lose that story forever. Started carrying a little brush now to sweep my footprints out behind me when I leave. Makes the whole experience feel more like I'm visiting a museum instead of just climbing through ruins.

nancys901mo ago

Aw man, I don't know about all that. @charlesj46 I get where you're coming from but let's be real, most of these places are gonna get demolished or collapse anyway, does it really matter if a rusty bottle moves two feet? I mean yeah sure it's cool for historians to have stuff exactly as-is but how many of them are actually digging through these places? Seems like we're just overthinking it sometimes.

charlesj461mo ago

I pulled a trashed 1910s cash register out of a warehouse in Paterson back in 2019, thought it was just junk. Then I saw a post on an archaeology forum about how even broken machines tell tech historians exact timelines of factory upgrades. That cash register probably sat on the same counter for 40 years, had all its gears and patina exactly as the last worker left them. Now I scuff my boots on the doorframe before I walk into any building to knock off mud and seeds from outside. I also leave all rusty tools and bottles exactly where they sit, even if they look like garbage.