Shaping the Political Landscape Additional Resources

The Cultural Resources Stewardship, Partnerships, and Science Programs of the National Park Service provide leadership for the protection and interpretation of the nation's heritage, guide a national historic preservation program that embraces national parks and heritage resources, engage all American peoples with the places and stories that make up their national identity, and serve as models for the stewardship of cultural resources throughout the world. The magnitude of NPS stewardship responsibilities for the nation's heritage resources is inspiring. The cultural resources programs and responsibilities of the NPS reach into every park and virtually every community in the nation. Explore additional resources about all Americans' stories through our history portal and through the links below.

Voting Acts Right of 1965: Congress adopted this act in response to the ongoing obstruction African Americans faced in exercising their right to vote. As a result, African Americans were overwhelmingly disenfranchised in many Southern states. The act's adoption followed nearly a century systematic resistance by certain states to the Fifteenth Amendment guarantee of the right to vote regardless of race or color.

Presidential Homes and the Historic American Buildings Survey: Explore some of the presidential sites preserved by the National Park Service and drawings and photographs from the Historic American Buildings Survey.

The Conspirators: Meet the people who Conspired to kill president Abraham Lincoln. Created by Ford's Theatre National Historic Site.In this exhibit, you will learn about the people who joined Booth in plotting to topple the United States government through violence.

Heritage Documentation Programs: The permanent collection of architectural, engineering and landscape documentation at the Library of Congress consists of measured and interpretive drawings, large-format black and white and color photographs, written historical and descriptive data, and original field notes. The collection captures the American experience through approximately 40,000 recorded historic structures and sites, from American Indian cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde to space-age technology at Cape Canaveral.

National Heritage Areas (NHA) are a grassroots, community-driven approach to heritage conservation and economic development. Through public-private partnerships, NHA entities support historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects. NHAs are not national park units. Rather, the National Park Service partners with, provides technical assistance, and distributes matching federal funds from Congress to NHA entities. NPS does not assume ownership of land inside heritage areas or impose land use controls.

Last updated: March 7, 2016