State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation’s 20-member board of trustees, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office announced Wednesday.

The trust is a nonprofit organization established by special acts of the state legislature in 1975 and 1985 "to preserve, protect, and promote the buildings, sites, and landscapes that contribute to the heritage and vitality of Connecticut communities." Since 1989, it has been headquartered at the Eli Whitney Boarding House in Hamden.

Osten, who lives in a house built in 1875, is first selectwoman of Sprague. Her Senate district includes such historic sites as the Leffingwell Inn in Norwich, which was built in 1675 and is one of Connectcut’s oldest buildings; the Buckingham House in Norwich, built in 1847 by William A. Buckingham, who was the mayor of Norwich and governor of Connecticut; and the Huntington Homestead in Scotland, birthplace of Samuel Huntington, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

“You can’t really understand how our country came to be without understanding our past, and that’s what these buildings teach us and that’s why we need to preserve these sites,” Osten said in a statement.

Her term on the board of trustees will extend to July 1, 2021.