People around the globe have created some remarkable historical landmarks. NPS safeguards these locations while telling their tales.
Amphitheater where gladiatorial contests and public spectacles took place; now designated a National Historic Landmark.
The National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of America’s historic places worthy of preservation, including districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant for American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture. Nominations for inclusion on this register are handled at state historic preservation offices across the country.
Registers of historic properties provide invaluable resources for property owners and researchers, while offering important tax benefits. Furthermore, federal agencies must consider how their actions impact historic properties when making decisions that could alter them.
The National Register has more than 96,000 listings covering over 1.8 million sites, buildings and objects such as Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Brooklyn Bridge and American Legation in Tangier Morocco. Listings may either be general (which covers most properties) or specific (which focuses more specifically). Furthermore, more specialized categories exist where properties may be nominated.
National Heritage Areas
National Heritage Areas promote responsible management of American culture, natural, and historic resources by offering long-term funding through public-private partnerships for communities. NHAs encourage historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation tourism, heritage tourism and educational projects as part of their mandate.
NPS facilitates these partnerships by coordinating federal resources, allocating funds and offering technical support through local national heritage area coordinating entities. NPS does not assume ownership or impose land use controls within any heritage area boundaries.
The Department of the Interior recommends six bills that would extend existing authorities for 23 national heritage areas: S. 336, S. 635, 1318, 1224 and 2482. They also support H.R 1925 which authorizes studies to ascertain whether an area meets certain criteria for designating itself as a national heritage area – more on this program can be found here. In addition, NPS Heritage Documentation Programs record historic buildings, engineering sites and landscapes throughout the U.S. through large format black-and-white photographs and measured drawings which reside within their HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at Library of Congress.
Heritage Documentation Programs
Heritage Documentation Programs of the National Park Service are used to record historic architectural, engineering and landscape sites. They comprise four surveys: Historic American Buildings Survey; Historic American Engineering Record (HAER); Historical American Landscapes Survey (HALS); and Cultural Resources Geographic Information Systems (CRGIS). Documents produced through these programs are archived at Library of Congress where it can be freely accessed by all.
HABS/HAER/HALS has developed standard procedures for producing measured drawings and large format photographs as well as written histories for buildings, sites, structures, and objects as outlined by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Architectural and Engineering Documentation; in addition to technical information provided in HABS/HAER/HALS procedure manuals.
These programs enable students to expand their research abilities while gaining hands-on experience with various digital heritage recording, monitoring, and information management tools in diverse settings. Students also learn to interpret the significance of places through research, fieldwork, data presentation in multiple formats and overall interpretation.
National Historic Preservation Office
The National Historic Preservation Office (NHPO) oversees the national program through the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs). Other functions of the NHPO include reviewing federal undertakings that may impact historic properties, such as CORPS permits, FCC cell tower licenses or HUD funding; in such instances consultation with SHPOs under Section 106 of NHPA is mandatory.
In 1965, Congress convened a special committee which determined that historic American buildings documented by HABS represented “a death mask of America.” To combat this dire scenario, they passed the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA). NHPA established state and local preservation offices, heritage areas, grant programs and national register of historic places as a way of supporting America’s history. Furthermore, it established federal undertakings which might impact historic places through Section 106 review processes; through this mechanism the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation and SHPOs require agencies consider their effects on historic properties before taking measures to avoid or minimize them.
