Research & Documentation

One of the many focuses of the National Park Service (NPS) is research and documentation. The skilled historians and staff of the NPS study the people, places, and stories of civil rights across the country. Their research helps to preserve important places and to educate people about the diverse history of the United States.

Collections and Archives

The National Park Service Cultural Resource researches and documents maintains some of the the nation's largest historical archives and collections. Among the most comprehensive of these are the collections of the Heritage Documentation Program and the National Register of Historic Places. These collections contain a wealth of information about places associated with civil rghts history.

The NPS Multimedia Collection is a large collection of NPS audio, videos, podcasts, and photographs, many of which focus on civil rights.

Programs

Heritage Travel Itineraries, Teaching with Historic Places, Telling All Americans' Stories, and the Cultural Landscape Program's Landscapes by Theme all focus on the places where history happened, the stories of diverse peoples, and various topics in civil rights history.

Studies

National Historic Landmarks (NHL) theme studies provide a comparative analysis of properties associated with specific areas of American history. The in-depth historical analysis and historic contexts found in the theme studies contain a wealth of information about their topics. Multiple NHL theme studies focus specifically on the civil rights history of various groups and on multiple aspects of civil rights..

National Parks

Many of our national parks were created in whole or in part around the themes of civil rights history. They strive to educate the public about civil rights through interpretative programs, placed-based learning, and on-line articles and stories. All of these parks have a History & Culture section on their websites with people, places, and stories sections that focus on history in the individual park units.