StoryMap: Fifty Years of the National Historic Preservation Act

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 2016, the Heritage Documentation Programs reflected upon over eighty years of documentation while also honoring the cultural legacy of each state in the nation. In the tradition of capturing a "complete resume of the builder's art," HABS, HAER, and HALS have always endeavored to record both high-style and vernacular structures as well as the distinctive array of regionally and ethnically-derived building forms. Each state has its own particular characteristics and qualities, manifested in its built environment. These maps highlights just a small number of the vast and rich variety of building forms that together represent the architectural, industrial, and landscape heritage of the United States.

This exhibit includes a tiny fraction of the 44,000 (and growing) surveys in the HABS/HAER/HALS collection. We encourage you to view our selections and to take a deeper look at the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection via the links to the Library of Congress website. There you can find records on sites and structures from across the country.

Every week from November 2015 to November 2016, we added an additional state to this map as part of the NPS Cultural Resources Directorate's #50for50 social media campaign to celebrate historic preservation and the NHPA. Are these some of your favorite places? Or do you have other favorites that have been documented by HABS, HAER, or HALS? Please join the conversation on our Facebook page.

The story map was created by Mary McPartland, Collections Manager, Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP).

To Use This Map:

Click on the image below to launch the map, then click on the tab at the top of the map to view each state's list. The map works best if you zoom out to view the full map before choosing a new state. After clicking on the state's tab, zoom in on the map to see more detail.

Note: The StoryMap is currently unavailable because it is being migrated to a new template.