MACRIS
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| MACRIS | |
|---|---|
| Name | MACRIS |
| Established | 1978 |
| Type | "Cultural heritage inventory" |
| Headquarters | "Boston, Massachusetts" |
| Jurisdiction | "Massachusetts" |
| Parent organization | "Massachusetts Historical Commission" |
MACRIS is an online cultural resource inventory maintained by the Massachusetts Historical Commission that documents historic properties, archaeological sites, districts, and landscapes across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The inventory aggregates preservation surveys, architectural descriptions, historical narratives, and bibliographic citations to support historic preservation, planning, and research related to buildings, neighborhoods, and sites in municipalities such as Boston, Springfield, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts, Salem, Massachusetts, and Plymouth, Massachusetts. Users consulting the inventory frequently cross-reference primary sources and regulatory frameworks maintained by institutions such as the National Park Service, the Library of Congress, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Overview
MACRIS provides a centralized, searchable repository that links field survey records, inventory forms, and photographic documentation for properties associated with notable figures and events tied to places like John Adams, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Frederick Law Olmsted, H.H. Richardson, and Isabella Stewart Gardner. Records often cite connections to events including the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution in the United States, and the Great Boston Fire of 1872. MACRIS entries support preservation tools used by agencies and organizations such as the National Register of Historic Places, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, and the Historic New England preservation nonprofit.
History and Development
MACRIS originated in state-level preservation initiatives influenced by federal programs like the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and expanded when the Massachusetts Historical Commission formalized statewide survey standards under guidance from partners including the National Park Service and the Historic American Buildings Survey. Early development involved collaboration with municipal historic commissions in cities such as Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts, New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Brookline, Massachusetts. Funding, methodology, and training were periodically supported by grants and technical assistance from foundations and agencies like the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Foundation, and state-level planners in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (Massachusetts). Over time the project incorporated geographic information systems used by agencies such as the United States Geological Survey and regional planning authorities including the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
Database Content and Structure
The inventory organizes records by municipality and resource type—residential, commercial, industrial, religious, civic, landscape, and archaeological—documenting properties linked to architects and designers such as Charles Bulfinch, Alexander Parris, Ira Rakatansky, and Peabody and Stearns. Each file typically contains an identification form, narrative description, architectural style attribution (e.g., Federal architecture, Greek Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architecture), period of significance, construction dates, and bibliographic citations referencing repositories like the Massachusetts State Archives and the Boston Athenaeum. Photographic collections often reference images analogous to holdings at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division or the Historic American Engineering Record. Archaeological entries note associations with groups and cultures documented by scholars at institutions such as Harvard University, Boston University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Access and Search Tools
The online interface supports keyword queries, map-based browsing that ties into mapping systems like Esri, and filters for municipality, architectural style, period, and resource type, enabling users to locate sites connected to persons and organizations such as Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Eli Whitney, Samuel Slater, and industrial firms like Lowell Machine Shop affiliates. Researchers combine MACRIS queries with catalog searches at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and digitized primary sources from the Digital Commonwealth. Preservation planners integrate MACRIS outputs with regulatory review workflows used by agencies including local historic commissions in Newton, Massachusetts and Concord, Massachusetts and federal compliance procedures administered by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Uses and Applications
Practitioners employ the inventory for National Register nominations prepared for the National Park Service and local designation studies commissioned by municipal bodies in communities such as Brockton, Massachusetts and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Academics use MACRIS as a starting point for theses and dissertations at universities like MIT, Boston College, and Tufts University that investigate topics spanning architectural history, urban development, industrial archaeology, and landscape design related to figures including Calvert Vaux and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Preservation consultants and developers consult entries during environmental review processes under statutes and regulations enforced by agencies like the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and federal infrastructure programs administered by the Federal Highway Administration.
Governance and Maintenance
Oversight of the inventory resides with the Massachusetts Historical Commission, which sets survey standards, data entry protocols, and public access policies in coordination with local historical commissions, municipal planning departments, and state agencies such as the Massachusetts Historical Commission's parent network and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Maintenance, updates, and digitization efforts involve partnerships with academic archives at institutions including Northeastern University and digitization labs supported by funders like the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Periodic audits align MACRIS content with the documentation practices recommended by federal bodies such as the National Park Service and professional organizations like the Society of Architectural Historians.