Heritage Documentation Programs ( HDP ) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). These programs were established to document historic places in the United States. Records consist of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports, and are archived in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress .
23-700: The John Dickinson House , generally known as Poplar Hall , is a National Historic Landmark on the John Dickinson Plantation in Kent County , Delaware , 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Dover . It was the boyhood home and sometime residence of Founding Father John Dickinson (1732-1808), principal author of the Articles of Confederation and a drafter of the Constitution of the United States . The property
46-596: A nearby bend of the St. Jones River which is no longer there as the river has been straightened. The original house suffered major damage during a British raid in August 1781 and was nearly destroyed in a fire in 1804. John Dickinson lived there for extended periods only in 1776–77 and 1781–82, although he kept up a keen interest in the property and often visited. Purchased by the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in 1952, it
69-854: Is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks. A National Historic Landmark District sometimes called a National Historical Park may include more than one National Historic Landmark and contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed or registered. Prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of
92-593: Is owned by the State of Delaware and run as a museum by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. It became part of the First State National Historical Park in 2013. The main house is an Early Georgian mansion and was built on a 13,000-acre (5,300 ha) plantation in 1739–40 by Judge Samuel Dickinson, the father of John Dickinson. Wings were added in 1752 and 1754. The house faced
115-844: The Historic American Buildings Survey amassed information about culturally and architecturally significant properties in a program known as the Historic Sites Survey. Most of the designations made under this legislation became National Historic Sites , although the first designation, made December 20, 1935, was for a National Memorial , the Gateway Arch National Park (then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis , Missouri. The first National Historic Site designation
138-606: The United States Congress . In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act , which authorized the interior secretary authority to formally record and organize historic properties, and to designate properties as having "national historical significance", and gave the National Park Service authority to administer historically significant federally owned properties. Over the following decades, surveys such as
161-819: The 50 states. New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia , California , Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, the latter of which has the most NHLs of all 50 states. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia . Some NHLs are in U.S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states . There are 15 in Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands , and other U.S. commonwealths and territories ; five in U.S.-associated states such as Micronesia ; and one in Morocco . Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. Approximately half of
184-620: The HABS program. Notable HABS photographers included Jack Boucher , who worked for the project for over four decades, Robert W. Tebbs , Richard Koch , and Jet Lowe . The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) program was founded on January 10, 1969, by NPS and the American Society of Civil Engineers . HAER documents historic sites, structures, mechanical, and engineering artifacts. The Maritime Administration works with HAER to "document historic vessels prior to their disposal." Since
207-535: The Historic American Buildings Survey following a proposal by Charles E. Peterson , a young landscape architect in the agency. It was founded as a constructive make-work program for architects, draftsmen, and photographers left jobless by the Great Depression . The program was supported through the Historic Sites Act of 1935. Guided by field instructions from Washington, D.C. ,
230-634: The National Historic Landmarks are privately owned . The National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks . A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect and promote National Historic Landmarks. If not already listed on
253-781: The National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation; about three percent of Register listings are NHLs. Washington, D.C. is home to three specifically legislated exceptions to this rule: the White House , the United States Capitol , and the United States Supreme Court Building . All are designated as NHLs, but are not on the National Register. Historic American Buildings Survey In 1933, NPS established
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#1732883458372276-548: The National Register, or as an NHL) often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9, 1960, 92 places, properties, or districts were announced as eligible to be designated NHLs by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton . Agreements of owners or responsible parties were subsequently obtained, but all 92 have since been considered listed on that 1960 date. The origins of
299-674: The Tripartite Agreement in 2010, making "HALS a permanent federal program." The NPS deals with the planning and operations of HALS, standardizes the formats and develops the guidelines for recording landscapes. The permanent collection of HABS/HAER/HALS are housed at the Library of Congress , which was established in 1790 (and reestablished after the disastrous fire of 1814 in Washington, D.C. , by purchasing former third President Thomas Jefferson 's personal library at Monticello in 1815) as
322-485: The United States secretary of the interior because they are: More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are NHLs in all 50 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C. Three states ( Pennsylvania , Massachusetts , and New York ) account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states, Philadelphia , Boston , and New York City , respectively, all separately have more NHLs than 40 of
345-616: The advent of HAER, the combined program is typically called "HABS/HAER". Eric DeLony headed HAER from 1987 to 2003. In October 2000, NPS and the American Society of Landscape Architects established a sister program, the Historic American Landscapes Survey, to systematically document historic American landscapes. A predecessor, the Historic American Landscape and Garden Project, recorded historic Massachusetts gardens between 1935 and 1940. That project
368-437: The first HABS recorders were tasked with documenting a representative sampling of the nation's architectural heritage . They began to document the built environment in the United States, carrying out multi-format surveys that amassed a "more than 581,000 measured drawings, large-format photographs, written histories, and original field notes for more than 43,000 historic structures and sites dating from Pre-Columbian times to
391-578: The first National Historic Landmark was a simple cedar post, placed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their 1804 outbound trek to the Pacific in commemoration of the death from natural causes of Sergeant Charles Floyd . The cedar plank was later replaced by a 100 ft (30 m) marble obelisk. The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa , was officially designated on June 30, 1960. NHLs are designated by
414-518: The replacement reference library of the United States Congress . The Library of Congress has since been expanded to serve as the national library of the United States; U.S. publishers are required to deposit a copy of every copyrighted and published work, book monograph and magazine. As a branch of the United States Government , its created works are in the public domain in the U.S. Many images, drawings, and documents are available through
437-541: The twentieth century." By creating an archive of historic architecture, HABS provided a database of primary source material and documentation for the then-fledgling historic preservation movement. Earlier private projects included Eleanor Raymond 's Early Domestic Architecture of Pennsylvania (1931), Charles Morse Stotz 's Western Pennsylvania Architectural Survey, and the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs . Many of their contributors later joined
460-812: The wealthiest men in the American colonies, he became known as the Penman of the Revolution , for his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania , where he eloquently argued the cause of American liberty. Although refusing to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he supported the establishment of the new government during the American Revolution and afterward in many official capacities. National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark ( NHL )
483-644: Was funded by the Works Progress Administration , but was administered by HABS, which supervised the collection of records. In 2001, along with the Library of Congress, the NPS, and the American Society of Landscape Architects signed a Memorandum of Understanding which established a working relationship between the three organizations. Following the signing of this agreement, these organizations together signed
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#1732883458372506-546: Was given to the State of Delaware and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961. John Dickinson was a lawyer and politician who spent most of the time in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and Wilmington , Delaware. He was at various times a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, President of Delaware , and President of Pennsylvania . Among
529-716: Was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, and the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape. When the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, and rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings (either on
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