June 20, 2025

For the 22nd time in the New York Preservation Archive Project’s history, a chilly morning began with warm camaraderie and a celebration of preservation at the annual Bard Birthday Breakfast Benefit. The event—known unofficially as preservation’s kickoff to the holiday season—commenced with breakfast, coffee, and casual conversation among friends and colleagues in the preservation field.

This year’s program featured a number of familiar faces. The Archive Project’s Executive Director Emily Kahn welcomed the room and highlighted organizational accomplishments over the past year, including achieving a long-awaited goal of hiring a second full-time employee. Continuing the tradition of honoring the legacies of late preservation luminaries, Archive Project founder and Chair Emeritus Anthony C. Wood introduced the table names—featuring for the first time historian David Lowe and LPC commissioner Stephen Raphael who both passed away in 2024. We heard thoughtful remarks from Peg Breen, President of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, about her friend, former Archive Project board member, and this year’s honoree, Richard Moylan. Breen championed his leadership as president of The Green-Wood Cemetery since 1986 which has made preservation, archives, and documentation a visible feature of the site.

Moylan then offered brief remarks about receiving the 2024 Preservation Award and his continued alignment and involvement with the Archive Project’s mission to make historic preservation education and resources accessible to all. His long and impactful service to Green-Wood has transformed one of the country’s most storied urban cemeteries into a public art venue that invites people to experience the site in creative ways, all while reminding visitors of the rich history discoverable through research into those buried at Green-Wood, the changes to Brooklyn over time, and the incomparable preservation story of making this historic cemetery so relevant today. His leadership at Green-Wood and beyond will be missed upon his retirement in June 2025.

A face less recognizable to attendees of the Bard Breakfast was this year’s featured speaker, poet David Mills. An award-winning poet and author of four poetry collections, Mills shared thought-provoking poems from Boneyarn, the first known book of poetry about slavery in New York City featuring the human stories revealed through archival research about the African Burial Ground. In his speech, Mills challenged the audience to think about the inspiration landmarks can provide for telling lesser known stories.

The literary theme did not end with Mills’ remarks. Throughout the morning, the Archive Project showcased Wood’s new book on the event’s namesake Albert S. Bard, Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Secret Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero, published in May 2025. Featuring espionage, hidden love, and preservation battles, the book highlights the uncelebrated and little-known private life and public legacy of Bard, the grandfather of New York City’s Landmarks Law. Guests were seen across The Players wearing pins of Bard’s portrait distributed at past Bard Breakfasts as well as new pins featuring the book’s cover. Attendees could also access a surprise video message from Wood about the book by scanning Near Field Communication (NFC) tags on souvenir postcards—possibly the first usage of this new technology in an archival context!

We look forward to again offering opportunities for catching up with old friends, meeting new faces in preservation, and celebrating achievement in preserving the history of New York City’s preservation movement.

Save the Date: 2025 Bard Birthday Breakfast Benefit | December 9, 2025 – 8:00-10:00 a.m. Information about venue, honoree, and speaker to follow.