National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places
Name	National Register of Historic Places
Established	1966
Administering agency	National Park Service
Jurisdiction	United States

Contents

National Register of Historic Places is the United States' official list recognizing historic properties deemed significant for their association with historic events, persons, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. Administered by the National Park Service, the register shares administrative and interpretive connections with programs such as the Historic American Buildings Survey, Preservation Grants Program, and the National Historic Landmarks Program. The list intersects with federal statutes including the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Antiquities Act, and influences planning involving agencies like the United States Department of the Interior, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and state State Historic Preservation Officer offices.

History

The register emerged from the legislative response to mid-20th century preservation challenges exemplified by demolitions in Pennsylvania Station (New York City), urban renewal projects in Boston and St. Louis, and losses of sites like H.H. Richardson's Trinity Church and Penn Station. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 followed advocacy by organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects, and historians from institutions including Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, and Harvard University. Early listings included properties associated with figures like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and cultural resources linked to Harlem Renaissance, New Deal programs, and sites documented by the Historic American Engineering Record and Historic American Landscapes Survey.

Evaluation follows criteria reflecting significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture with parallels to criteria used by UNESCO World Heritage Committee for cultural heritage. Assessments draw on scholarship from universities such as Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, University of Virginia, and museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of American History. Considerations include associations with persons like Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and events like the Civil War, American Revolution, World War II, and movements such as Civil Rights Movement and Women's suffrage in the United States. Architectural importance references architects and firms such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, McKim, Mead & White, I.M. Pei, and styles exemplified in works tied to Beaux-Arts, Gothic Revival, Art Deco, and Modern architecture.

Nominations are prepared by individuals, local governments, and organizations including National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic New England, Chicago History Museum, and California Historical Society, then reviewed by State Historic Preservation Officer and state review boards before submission to the National Park Service. The process parallels documentation standards used by Library of Congress collections and archaeological protocols from the Smithsonian Institution and Society for American Archaeology. Prominent nominations have involved properties associated with Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Monticello, Independence Hall, and Alcatraz Island, often requiring interdisciplinary input from preservation architects, conservators, and historians affiliated with American Alliance of Museums and university departments such as University of California, Berkeley and University of Michigan.

Listed properties include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects similar in scope to inventories managed by Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record. Designations overlap with National Historic Landmarks, National Monuments designated under the Antiquities Act, and state registers like the California Register of Historical Resources and New York State Register of Historic Places. Examples range from battlefield landscapes such as Gettysburg Battlefield, industrial complexes like Lowell National Historical Park, transportation resources such as Route 66, to cultural sites like Montgomery Bus Boycott locations, Harlem Renaissance rowhouses, and archaeological districts comparable to Mesa Verde National Park.

Listing provides recognition and access to incentives such as federal historic tax credits administered through the Internal Revenue Service, grant eligibility from the National Park Service, and consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 involving federal agencies and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Protections interact with environmental reviews like those under the National Environmental Policy Act and funding programs from agencies including the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Highway Administration. Economic and community revitalization linked to listings echoes initiatives supported by organizations like Main Street America, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and municipal planning departments in cities such as New York City, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco.

The register has shaped preservation debates involving adaptive reuse projects in Detroit, Baltimore, and New Orleans, tensions over property rights exemplified in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, and discussions about representation of Native American sites, African American heritage, and Latino histories. Controversies include disputes over integrity standards in industrial heritage listings like Homestead Steel Works, conflicts over landscape-level nominations near Bison ranges and Yellowstone National Park, and critique of the program's early underrepresentation corrected by initiatives with partners such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. International comparative debates cite programs like English Heritage, ICOMOS, and the World Monuments Fund.