New Ken Burns Documentary Showcases the National Parks

On September 27, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, premieres on PBS showcasing the history of the national parks and the stories of the people who helped create them. The epic documentary is directed by award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. The six-episode series took over six years to film. With the airing of the film, the National Park Service will launch a new website showcasing how it is working to make America’s Best Idea even better – and how the public can help.

July Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits

The National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Certification review of applications for Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits has three parts: Part 1 determines the eligibility of a property for the tax incentives program; Part 2 determines whether a proposed project meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation; Part 3 determines whether the completed project conforms with the Secretary’s Standards. In July, National Park Service staff reviewed 123 Part 1 applications, 106 Part 2 applications representing nearly $564 million in estimated preservation investment, and 45 Part 3 applications that resulted in $519 million in preservation investment using the federal tax credit. The National Park Service administers this program in cooperation with State Historic Preservation Officers and the Internal Revenue Service.

Theater’s Lights Shine Once Again

The marquis lights of the historic Robinson Theater, a building which stood vacant for almost two decades, are shining bright once again. Built in 1936 for the African American community that settled in Richmond, Virginia’s Church Hill neighborhood, the theater was named after Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Richmond’s most famous early 20th-century black entertainer and tap dancer. After the theater closed in the 1980s, the iconic marquee was removed – until a recent $1,172,266 rehabilitation restored this Art Deco treasure back to its former glory, all with the help of the National Park Service’s Federal Historic Preservation Rehabilitation Tax Credits. The most striking element of the rehabilitation is the restoration of the theater marquee, which was based on historic photographs of the building. The new marquee marks the entrance to the new Robinson Theater Community Arts Center that, like the original theater, serves as a performing arts venue for the Church Hill neighborhood. The rehabilitation included the restoration of the theater façade, lobby, and main auditorium space, now used for community meetings, receptions, recitals, dance lessons and other neighborhood uses.

July National Register Statistics

In July, 99 listings were added to the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places including 1189 buildings, 36 sites, 155 structures, and 72 objects. The nominations to the National Register come from the 50 states, the American Indian Nations, Freely Associated States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other islands under the authority of the United States.

An Urban Slice of Wilderness Joins the National Register

One of the most popular parks in Colorado Springs, Colorado, recently made the National Register of Historic Places. North Cheyenne Cañon Park was listed in on July 8. Unlike many city parks, despite its many man-made elements, it is essentially a natural environment and not the product of a designed plan. Its history dates back to 1885 when, just around the time that the idea of setting wilderness areas aside as parks became popular, Colorado Springs purchased its 600-acre core. The largest landscape features in the park are Mt. Cutler and Mt. Muscoco, the latter of which rises to 8,020 feet. There are also several varieties of trees and wildflowers, and, from North Cheyenne Creek and its tributaries, numerous rapids and waterfalls. The most renowned is Helen Hunt Falls, named after novelist and civil rights advocate for the American Indians, Helen Hunt Jackson. Although it has grown in size, today nearly the entire park retains its natural character and most of its human-shaped and built elements, including the trails, bridges and retaining walls, which are made of native stone and designed to blend into the natural setting. A system of roads and trails permits visitors to experience much of the park, and its numerous picnic areas, many of them secluded from the road, which include picnic tables, barbecue grills and trash containers.

Two New Tribal Historic Preservation Offices Established

Requests from the Bay Mills Indians Community in Michigan and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Minnesota to assume responsibility for certain State Historic Preservation Officer duties within the exterior boundaries of their reservations has been formally approved. With the exceptions of assisting in the certification of local governments and assisting in the evaluation of Investment Tax Credit rehabilitation projects, the tribes are now in charge of SHPO functions including the review of federal undertakings pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. A complete list of the 83 tribes that have assumed SHPO functions is online.

Hot Off the Press

The Winter 2009 issue of CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship is now available and includes articles on the concept of authenticity in treating architecture from the modern movement, the complex meanings associated with Florida’s Kingsley Plantation, and opportunities for interpreting slavery at a historic estate in western Maryland, along with research reports on California’s Japantowns, the Living New Deal project, and the Royal Presidio Chapel. In addition, the journal, which is free to subscribers, offers reviews of books, exhibits, and websites. The issue will be posted online. The latest issue of the award-winning Common Ground is also out, featuring articles on a new Smithsonian exhibit about Depression-era artwork, and the historic events that made the University of Mississippi’s Lyceum a National Historic Landmark. Check the magazine out online.

History Online

More than 1,000 books, studies, and reports are available online courtesy of the Park History Program. Highlights of the latest additions include –

The Big Bend of the Rio Grande: A Guide to the Rocks, Geologic History, and Settlers of the Area of Big Bend National Park.

Glorieta Pass: Gateway to the Past (pdf) (2007)

Wine, Yaman and Stone, the Archeology of a Russian Hospital Trash Pit, Sitka National Historical Park (pdf) (1986)

Gateway National Recreation Area: A Premier Urban Park (1991) (pdf)

Beyond the Moon Crater Myth, A New History of the Aniakchak Landscape: A Historic Resource Study for Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve (2007)

Values and Challenges in Urban Ecology (2006) (pdf)

Conferences

A Long and Tumultuous Relationship: East-West Interchanges in Art; October 1-2; in Washington, DC; presented by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Registration required for tours.

Air Force Historical Foundation Symposium: Balkans Air Campaigns in the 1990s & Their Influence Since 2001; October 8; in Arlington, Virginia. Register online.

13th Biennial Conference on Planning History; October 15-18; in Oakland, California; presented by the Society for American City and Regional Planning History.

New England American Studies Association Annual Meeting:The Post-American City; October 16-18; in Lowell, Massachusetts.

53rd annual Missouri Valley History Conference, March 4-6, 2010; in Omaha, Nebraska. Deadline for Abstracts: November 1.

Perspectives on Cross-Cultural History Conference , March 19-20, 2010; in St. Louis, Missouri. Deadline for Abstracts: November 15.

Training

Drafting Easements for Perpetuity Webinar; September 10, 17, 24, and October 1; presented by the Land Trust Alliance. Limited registration.

Effective Interpretation of Archeological and Cultural Heritage Resources workshop; October 19-23; at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado and Anasazi Heritage Center, Dolores, Colorado. Limited registration.

Heritage In the News

See the Dinosaur Bones in Vernal, Utah

ABC News – August 24
Local legend has it that cowboys, sheep herders and trappers long knew about the huge fossilized bones that regularly surfaced from the ancient rock underlying Utah's dinosaur country….

FDR’s Great-Grandaughter Re-Creates Glacier National Park Trip

USA Today – August 23
The Obamas are not the only ones with presidential connections to hit national parks this summer….

Archeologists Uncover Items that are Vital Clues to Santa Cruz’s Obscured Past

San Jose Mercury News – August 23
Carefully concealed so that no one would find it, a gold ring was buried in dirt beneath the floorboards of a long-abandoned Santa Cruz cabin….

Octagon House in Heritage Square has a Multidimensional History

Los Angeles Times – August 22
Along the Arroyo Seco Parkway from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena is a collection of 19th century buildings saved from L.A.'s busy wrecking ball….

UMass Amherst and Hancock Shaker Village Create New Graduate Degree in Historic Preservation and Design

Artdaily.org – August 18
UMass Amherst and Hancock Shaker Village have announced a groundbreaking partnership….

Images of a Vanishing America: Photographer Brian Vanden Brink's Views of the Past and Present

Preservation Magazine Online – August 10
Acclaimed photographer Brian Vanden Brink has shot some of the finest architecture in the U.S….

Grants

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Conservation Project Support.Deadline: October 1.

Connecting to Collections: Statewide Implementation Grants. Deadline: October 15.

Connecting to Collections: Statewide Planning Grants.Deadline: October 15.

National Center for Preservation Technology and Training

PTTGrants Program. Deadline: October 15.

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for History. Nomination Deadline: November 1.

On the Hill

Floor Action

July 27 – House passed H.R. 1121 to authorize a land exchange to acquire lands for the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and for other purposes.

July 27 – House passed H.R. 1376 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument in Texas.

Markups

August 4 – Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the nomination of Jonathan B. Jarvis to be the Director of the National Park Service.

July 29 –House Natural Resources Committee approved the following bills:

H.R. 481 to revise the authorized route of the North Country National Scenic Trail in northeastern Minnesota to include existing hiking trails along Lake Superior's north shore and in Superior National Forest and Chippewa National Forest, and for other purposes.

H.R. 1641 to amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of the Cascadia Marine Trail in Puget Sound Washington.

Hearings

August 6 – Senate Environment and Public Works Committee oversight hearing on Climate Change and Ensuring that America Leads the Clean Energy Transformation.

August 4 – Senate Finance Committee oversight hearing on Climate Change Legislation: Allowance and Revenue Distribution.

August 3 – Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife oversight hearing on “A Renewed Commitment to Protecting the Chesapeake Bay: Reauthorizing the Chesapeake Bay Program”.

July 30 – House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands hearing on the following bills:

H.R. 2802 to provide for an extension of the legislative authority of the Adams Memorial Foundation to establish a commemorative work in honor of former President John Adams and his legacy.

H.R. 2806 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness and the North Cascades National Park in order to allow the rebuilding of a road outside of the floodplain while ensuring that there is no net loss of acreage to the park or the wilderness.

July 28 – Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing for Jonathan B. Jarvis, to be the Director of the National Park Service.

July 28 – House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife hearing on H.R. 3086, to coordinate authorities within the Department of the Interior and within the Federal Government to enhance the United States' ability to conserve global wildlife and biological diversity and for other purposes.

Milestones

National Park Service Transitions

John Piltzecker has been named superintendent of the National Mall & Memorial Parks in Washington, DC. Piltzecker has served for the past year as acting NPS Chief of Staff. Prior to that, he spent four years as manager of the Office of Partnerships and Philanthropic Stewardship. He is a former superintendent of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and former deputy superintendent of Fire Island National Seashore, and has also held field positions at Boston National Historical Park, Weir Farm National Historic Site, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. Early in his career, Piltzecker served as a seasonal park ranger on the National Mall.