National Register Bulletin
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| National Register Bulletin | |
|---|---|
| Title | National Register Bulletin |
| Publisher | National Park Service |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English language |
| Subject | Historic preservation |
| Genre | Manual |
| Firstdate | 1960s |
National Register Bulletin The National Register Bulletin is a series of guidance publications produced to support implementation of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and administration of the National Register of Historic Places. The Bulletins provide technical standards, procedural guidance, and thematic frameworks used by State Historic Preservation Officers, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, National Park Service, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and preservation professionals engaged with Department of the Interior programs. They intersect with federal policies, landmark designations, and cultural resource management activities across sites such as Independence Hall, Monticello, Statue of Liberty National Monument, Gettysburg National Military Park, and other registered properties.
Overview
The Bulletins function as practical manuals for applying criteria and procedures established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register of Historic Places, the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, the National Historic Landmarks Program, and related federal initiatives. They are used by preservationists conducting surveys for sites like Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Alcatraz Island, Ellis Island, and by agencies such as the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, General Services Administration, and Federal Highway Administration. The Bulletins address evaluation of architectural resources linked to figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frederick Law Olmsted, Louis Sullivan, and contexts including Harlem Renaissance, Great Migration, Lewis and Clark Expedition, California Gold Rush, and Industrial Revolution in the United States.
History and Development
Originating in the aftermath of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Bulletins developed alongside programs administered by the National Park Service, State Historic Preservation Offices, and the Historic American Buildings Survey. Early guidance paralleled major preservation milestones like the designation of Independence Hall as a National Historic Landmark and the passage of the Antiquities Act’s later applications. Prominent preservation figures and institutions—Alda Wilson, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, John Ruskin-inspired advocates, and scholars at Columbia University, University of Virginia, Yale University, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation—influenced Bulletin content. The Bulletins evolved in response to federal cases such as Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City and policy developments involving the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and environmental review requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
Purpose and Content
Bulletins provide interpretive guidance on applying the National Register of Historic Places criteria for evaluation, preparing nominations for properties like Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Mesa Verde National Park, and documenting cultural landscapes related to Pueblo Revolt, Trail of Tears, Lewis and Clark Trail, and Transcontinental Railroad. Topics include significance statements for resources associated with Civil Rights Movement, Women’s suffrage in the United States, Labor Movement in the United States, and artistic movements tied to Hudson River School, Armory Show, Ashcan School, and American Modernism. Technical content covers integrity analysis, period of significance, and documentation standards used by professionals associated with National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic American Engineering Record, Preservation Action, and state preservation commissions.
Publication and Distribution
The Bulletins are published by the National Park Service and disseminated to State Historic Preservation Offices, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, certified local governments, academic programs at institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Design, University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and to practitioners affiliated with organizations like American Institute of Architects, Association for Preservation Technology International, American Planning Association, and International Council on Monuments and Sites. Distribution channels have included printed manuals, circulars shared at conferences such as National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference, and digital releases accessed via agency portals used by the Department of the Interior and partners like Library of Congress Digital Collections.
Impact on Historic Preservation Practice
The Bulletins have shaped nomination practices for landmarks such as Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall, Plymouth Rock, Fort McHenry, and sites representing LGBT history in the United States, African American history, Native American history, and industrial heritage like Lowell National Historical Park and Homestead Steel Works National Historic Landmark. They standardize how professionals from urban planning-adjacent agencies, historians from American Historical Association, archaeologists associated with Society for American Archaeology, and architects from Royal Institute of British Architects-linked practices approach documentation. Their guidance has influenced rehabilitation tax credit projects under the Tax Reform Act provisions and environmental compliance in transportation projects involving the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration.
Notable Bulletins and Examples
Examples include Bulletins on evaluating rural historic landscapes exemplified by Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, documentation guidance used for Route 66, architectural inventory forms applied at sites like Fallingwater, and thematic studies informing nominations for contexts such as Underground Railroad, Japanese American incarceration during World War II, Civil War battlefield preservation including Antietam National Battlefield, and industrial heritage in places like Pullman National Monument. Specialized Bulletins address materials conservation for masonry at Fort Sumter, recording of maritime heritage as with USS Constitution, and treatment of twentieth-century resources such as Rosenwald Schools and Mid-Century Modern architecture.
Criticism and Revisions
Critics from organizations like National Trust for Historic Preservation and scholars at University of California, Berkeley have argued Bulletins historically privileged monumental architecture—evident in early listings emphasizing sites like Mount Vernon and Monticello—over vernacular, intangible, and minority heritage represented by Chicano Park, Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage sites, and Stonewall Inn. Revisions and new Bulletins have responded to critiques by incorporating guidance on cultural landscapes, ethnic heritage, oral history documentation, and collaborative approaches with Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and communities tied to National Museum of African American History and Culture and National Museum of the American Indian. Ongoing updates reflect litigation outcomes, evolving scholarship from institutions like Smithsonian American Art Museum and American Antiquarian Society, and policy shifts driven by entities such as the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and Department of Transportation.