Columbia University offered the nation's first degree in historic preservation in the early 1970s. Almost overnight, similar programs began springing up from coast to coast. This was one factor that led the National Trust for Historic Preservation to sponsor a higher education study group to examine preservation academics and make suggestions to the National Trust. The group recommended the formation of an association of preservation educators. This was the birth of the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) and the development of guidelines for minimum standards in preservation education degree programs. Today, the NCPE has more than 50 member institutions across the nation offering academic programs in historic preservation. In this article, two technical schools with training in the preservation trades, Belmont Technical College (St. Clairsville, Ohio) and Bucks County Community College (Bucks County, Pennsylvania), are profiled.