The houses and historic sites shown here (in the stunning photographs of Kvalsvik) are all museum properties owned by or associated with the Colonial Dames. They range from grand mansions to plain houses constructed for comfortable shelter, and reflect life from the Spanish era in the West to 20th-century New York City. The text by Seale discusses the place of these properties in the history of their regions and in the development of the American preservation movement. -- Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.