National Historic Context for Department of Defense Installations, 1790 - 1940: Volumes I - IV

R. Christopher Goodwin And Associates, Inc.; Cannan, Deborah; Hirrel, Leo; Grandine, Katherine; Kuranda, Kathryn; Usher, Bethany; McAloon, Hugh; Williams, Martha

The National Historic Context for Department of Defense Installations, 1790 - 1940 is a Legacy Resource Management Program demonstration project that provides a methodological and historical framework for the assessment of the relative significance of Department of Defense (000) historic properties within the context of nationwide military construction. The project examines the historical and architectural evolution of construction on military installations located in the contiguous United States from 1790 to 1940. The purpose of the project is to assist 000 in the execution of its responsibilities for cultural resources under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. as amended, applying the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Preservation Planning and the guidelines of the National Register Program. R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., undertook this project on behalf of the Legacy Program, through the Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Department of Defense (000) manages a range of unique cultural resources associated with the historical development of the U.S. military, as well as many other aspects of North American history and prehistory. Cultural resources are tangible reminders and symbols of our national heritage. Federal legislation requires federal agencies to establish cultural resource management programs. 000 regulations implement cultural resource management programs, which are on-going functions within the military services. Installation and activity commanders are responsible for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). This project will assist 000 cultural resource program personnel with the identification, evaluation, and management of cultural resources required under NHPA. As installation-based cultural resource programs evolved, 000 recognized the complex historical inter-relationship of properties associated with the military services. Assessment of the relative historical significance of 000 properties required comprehensive comparative data on the historical development of 000 construction. The Legacy Program offered 000 the opportunity to compile and synthesize comparative information on 000 historic properties. The results of this project are designed for use by anyone concerned with the management of 000 historic properties built between 1790 and 1940 in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). 000 cultural resource managers, contractors, and State Historic Preservation Officers will find relevant historical data organized in a manner consistent with federal historic preservation planning standards. Through this project, the Legacy Program sought to provide basic background and comparative information in a cost-effective manner. 000 personnel and contractors undertaking the identification and evaluation of historic buildings on installations can assess the relative significance of pre-1940 military construction without conducting extensive background research to develop the appropriate national historic contexts. The National Military Context provides comparative data that enables the analysis of site-specificinformation within the broad pattern of nationwide military construction activities. Understanding these broad patterns of history is crucial to the identification and evaluation of historic properties. Historic contexts provide an organizing framework for understanding history. This framework forms the basis for cultural resource identification, evaluation, and management activities under NHPA. Without an appropriate context, an historic property is identified and evaluated in a vacuum that does not allow adequate assessments of relative significance. A single source for comparative data on 000 historic properties will eliminate redundant effort.