“This Place Belongs to Us”: Historic Contexts as a Mechanism for Multivocality in the National Register

Abstract

Since the creation of the National Register of Historic Places, determining eligibility for listing on it has become the fundamental process driving archaeology in the United States. This process affects how archaeological sites are identified, recorded, evaluated, and ultimately how they are protected. Yet less than 6% of properties on the National Register are archaeological sites. Although scholars often lament the rigidity of the National Register and its eligibility criteria, notable revisions in National Park Service guidance pave the way for important changes. One of the National Register's most pervasive and fundamental concepts—the historic context—remains deeply undertheorized when compared to more familiar terms like “significance” and “integrity.” In this article, we argue that archaeologists are well positioned to reinvigorate the National Register by using historic contexts as a mechanism for recognizing layered relationships to places. Using an example from the multivocal nomination of the Inscription Rock Archaeological District as a case study, we argue that the oft-neglected concept of the historic context can be used to commemorate multivocality, moving from one national history to the production of multivocal national histories.

Anchoring Sovereignty in Space: Documenting Places of Wichita Community Building in the Twentieth Century

“…However, for those community members who gathered at these places and their descendants, something as simple as the base of a flagpole can anchor their culture, community, and sovereignty in physical space. Furthermore, the physical documentation of features on the landscape is also critical for long-term preservation of these culturally significant places under the legal policies of federal and state governments (Hanson et al 2022). As archaeologists we must work to link intangible memories with tangible places (and the features and artifacts that remain of them), regardless of how ephemeral these places may be.…”

“…However, to effectively research these histories, this work must be collaborative and originate from community need and interest (Laluk et al 2022:671;Steeves 2020:5699). Collaborative archaeology starts by acknowledging what is important to descendant communities in the present, asking how archaeology can contribute to these goals, and incorporating Indigenous voices into the interpretation of the material record (Atalay 2019:515;Hanson et al 2022;Laluk et al 2022:674;Smith and Wobst 2005).…”

Black Heritage in the National Register: The Williams Avenue YWCA in Portland, Oregon

“…However, at the same time, we want to highlight how its listing in the National Register is already a significant achievement in the field of preservation that contributes to including Black heritage in the nation's history. The process illustrates what the scholarship of the 1990s was advocating for, such as including a multivocal representation of American history that displays a more democratic process (Hanson et al 2022). The changes made by the NPS in the framework for establishing historic significance in the 1990s were pivotal to providing a perspective that honors the social history of Black heritage.…”

“…The administrative structure developed alongside the creation of the National Register, SHPO, CLG, and organizations dedicated to local history implemented the framework for collecting that broader history. The process for the determination of significance involves these actors at vertical and horizontal levels, creating the premises for a democratization of historic preservation that represents the multivocality of American history (Hanson et al 2022;King 2008). However, historic preservation scholarship is still pushing for a more transparent process that guarantees the protection of cultural resources important to diverse stakeholders (Fatoric and Seekamp 2018).…”

“…Using an analytical framework that integrates critical geography (Summers 2019;Watkins 2013) and multilevel governance theory (Vogel 2007), we examine two primary documents written in preparation for the application to the National Register: the Multiple Property Document (MPD) African American Resources in Portland Oregon, from 1851 to 1973 (Galbraith et al 2020) and the Registration Form Williams Avenue YWCA (Davis and Ewers 2019). As we further explain in a later section, MPDs and Registration Forms are key sources of information and have been underutilized in the academic context, relegating them to a mere bureaucratic function despite the wealth of information they collected about the representation of the ethnic and racial diversity of American history and its influence on the National Register (Hanson et al 2022).…”