The National Park Service American Latino Heritage projects explore how the legacy of American Latinos can be recognized, preserved, and interpreted for future generations. The National Park Service, as a storyteller of our Nation’s past, is committed to connecting and amplifying American Latino stories throughout national parks and communities across the United States.
This website highlights projects undertaken by National Park Service parks and programs as part of the Service’s commitment to telling the American Latino story. Projects vary from increased interpretation, collaboration with community organizations, and the production of scholarly documentation.
National Park Service American Latino Heritage brochure
English & Spanish (En inglés y español) - (.pdf 9mb)
A Report on the American Latino Heritage Initiative 2012 (.pdf 20mb)
One of the goals of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is to reconnect the American people to both the natural world and to our nation’s rich historic and cultural heritage.
Theme Study
American Latinos and the Making of the United States: A Theme Study is a publication of the National Park System Advisory Board (NPSAB) for the National Park Service (NPS). Who is this theme study for? It's for students and teachers, for researchers, for preservation professionals, for local, state and federal government officials, and for the general public. In other words, it's for you.
Preservation Toolkit
What does Historic Preservation mean for American Latino Communities?
American Latino National Historic Landmark Nominations
Additional nominations for nationally significant American Latino historic properties will assist with their recognition, preservation, and interpretation.
Documentation of Forty Acres
Historical American Buildings Survey documentation of Forty Acres will result in measured drawings, a written historical document, and large format photography of Forty Acres, a designated National Historic Landmark property closely associated with the career of Cesar Chavez.
Nationwide Youth Summits
Two Latino Youth Summits in 2012, one in Washington, DC and another in Washington State, involved young Latinos and others with historic preservation. Youth Summits engage students with historic places and empower them to share their ideas with leaders in their communities. A guide on how to plan and conduct Youth Summits is available on the NPS Teaching with Historic Places website.
Teaching With Historic Places Latino Heritage Plans
Teaching with Historic Places engages students from upper elementary school through college in active learning from real historic places. Seven online classroom lesson plans focus on the role of Latino heritage in our nation’s history. Two of these lesson plans are avialbe in Spanish as well as in English.
American Latino Heritage Travel Itinerary
Latino peoples have contributed to and shaped the heritage of the United States in many ways for over 500 years. Explore their stories and their legacies in a new National Park Service travel itinerary on American Latino Heritage. This itinerary features units of the National Park System and places listed in the National Register of Historic Places, most of which are designated National Historic Landmarks.
Video
Learn more about Latino heritage with this online video "Conversations with American Latino Scholars Experts Panel" including Frances Negron-Mutaner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English & Comparative Literature and Director, Center for the Study of Ethnicity & Race, Columbia University; Stephen J. Pitti, Ph.D., Professor of History and American Studies and Director, Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, Yale University; and Antonia Castaneda, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, San Antonio, Texas, and retired Professor of History, St. Mary's University, Texas.
National Register of Historic Places Brochure is now available in Spanish!
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Our brochure gives
an overview of our program, includes a map showing how many listings are in each county throughout the U.S., and has great photographs of historic properties, including properties significant for Hispanic Heritage. It measures 16” by 24”. A pdf of the brochure is available online:
Links
Research resources for Puerto Rican, Latino, Latin American and Caribbean Studies are available for documentation efforts.