As a 501(3)(c) Nonprofit Organization including all of our state websites (AL, AR, FL, GA, IN, KS, MO, OK) we are dedicated to making sure all the abandoned buildings are being lost each and every day are not forgotten. Through photography, research and documentation, we are able to capture the history and stories of these once favored buildings. Our Mission Statement has been split up into three different sections of action.
Our first step is to photograph as much of a building as possible and write an extensive and credible historical research article using reliable sources and state archives. This then gets published on the website of the corresponding state and shared with our followers educating people on the history of the building and that it is endangered. Occasionally there is a building that is in a more dire situation and is announced that it may be demolished soon. For instances like this, we work to immediately take action by reaching out to state entities, putting together proposals of the building to present to our growing list of developers, striving to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places and occasionally putting together a call to action video such as the one seen at right.
Our second course of action is to support historic renovation projects that are ongoing. This includes drawing further attention to the project and advocating for donations to the cause. In addition, we make our own donations to promising projects as well as volunteering our time to them. We have created the History Rescue Program and gathered a growing list of volunteers that are more than happy to help with lawn maintenance, boarding up windows/doorways, sweeping and cleaning inside buildings, painting and more. When a building is completely restored we find this to be a huge accomplishment for saving history and occasionally put together an informative and visually captivating video showcasing the restoration work and history such as the one at left.
Unfortunately, our efforts do not always beat the wrecking ball. While it deeply pains us to see history lost at the hands of humans we feel as if it is our duty to notify our supporters of these events when they happen. This is one of the biggest reasons why our photo documentation is vital. We try our best to also document the destruction of these videos when demolition is inevitable to really show that history is being destroyed every day right before our eyes.
In partnership with Preservation Alliances, we also nominate some of the buildings we think are the biggest risk of being demolished for the annual Most Endangered List.
At the Abandoned Atlas Foundation (AAF) our main goals are preservation and education. Through historical research articles, endangered nominations, call-to-action videos, and public outreach we pool together resources.
