Report on SAH Grant to San Antonio Conservation Society

In 2018 the SAH American Architecture and Landscape Field Trip Program made a grant to the San Antonio Conservation Society to partially fund their Heritage Education tours. This annual, custom-designed field trip offers more than 2,000 fourth-grade students the opportunity to experience the historic architecture of San Antonio and the unique landscape of the San Antonio Missions, which were declared a World Heritage site in 2015. The San Antonio field trip program was established in 1960 as a cost-free opportunity for Bexar County Elementary School students. 

The heritage education program includes a mandatory teacher workshop prior to the field trip, where all participating teachers receive educational materials for the students. Every class has the choice to visit two historical sites in San Antonio including the Alamo, Mission Concepción, Mission San José, Mission San Juan, Casa Navarro State Historical Site, the Spanish Governor’s Palace, the Steves Homestead House Museum, or the Yturri-Edmunds Historic Site. 

For many of the students and some of the teachers, San Antonio Conservation Society tours are their first experience at the selected historic sites. Part of the Conservation Society’s mission is to educate the youth of today and tomorrow with knowledge of their regional historic sites. 

The Society of Architectural Historians’ goal with our Field Trip Program is to provide opportunities for underserved students to experience great architecture, with a kind of wow factor, so students can carry that memory with them for a lifetime. Jointly, the two organizations have successfully collaborated to provide young people with knowledge and experiences that will help them understand the built world around them and be future advocates for historic places.



Mission Concepcion at San Antonio, Texas. Photo credit: Travis Witt via Wikimedia Commons