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Publications

 

Below is a selection of guidance documents and other publications to assist owners and operators of historic maritime properties with the documentation and preservation of their resources.

 

The schooner Lewis R. French in Maine. Photo by akh673. Permission for NPS use granted via entry in the 2010 National Historic Landmark Photo Contest.

 

Recording and Documentation

Boats: A Manual for Their Documentation (1993). Prepared by the Museum Small Craft Association and the American Association for State and Local History with assistance from the National Maritime Initiative and other partners.

Guidelines for Recording Historic Ships (third edition, 2004). Prepared by the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER).

National Register Bulletin Number 20: Nominating Historic Vessels and Shipwrecks to the National Register of Historic Places (1987). Prepared by the National Maritime Initiative and the National Register of Historic Places.

National Register Bulletin Number 34: Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Historic Aids to Navigation (1990). Prepared by the National Maritime Initiative and the National Register of Historic Places.

Full list of National Register Publications.

 

Laws, Treatment Standards, and Compliance

Abandoned Shipwrecks Act

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's Citizen's Guide to Section 106 Review (pdf)

Archeological Resources Protection Act

National Historic Preservation Act

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects (1990) (pdf). Prepared by the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and the National Maritime Initiative.

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Archeology and Historic Preservation

Sunken Military Craft Act
Final Rule for Permitting Archaeological Investigations and Other Activities Directed at Sunken Military Craft, effective March 1, 2016

You may also find useful the National Park Service's Discover History webpage about federal historic preservation laws, regulations, and orders.

 

Submerged Cultural Resources Reports

The Submerged Resources Center (formerly the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit) was formed and staffed in 1980 by underwater archeologists and photographers to provide the expertise required by managers of national parks with submerged lands. Now encompassing natural resources as well, the Center supports the protection, preservation, public access, and interpretation of submerged resources. The Center produces periodic cultural resources reports.

 

Divers from the Submerged Resources Center inspect a 1940s B-29 Superfortress Bomber in Lake Mead. NPS photo by Brett Seymour.