Crafting preservation criteria: the National Register of Historic Places and American historic preservation

Abstract

Crafting Preservation Criteria: The National Register of Historic Places and American Historic Preservation By John H. Sprinkle, Jr. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2014. 244 pp. 10 greyscale figures, 6 appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $135.00 (cloth), ISBN: 978-0-415-64255-2, $34.95 (paper), ISBN: 978-0-41564256-9 (paper), $34.95 (e-book), ISBN: 978-0-203-08083-2.John H. Sprinkle, Jr.'s book Crafting Preservation Criteria: The National Register of Historic Places and American Historic Preservation fills a prominent gap in the literature on historic preservation, material culture, and collective memory studies. Unlike geographical works by Tim Cresswell, Gareth Hoskins, and others that explore the assignment of cultural significance to physical places (2008, 393), Sprinkle practically reviews the contribution of early twentieth century US federal agents to the development of American site designation protocols during the so-called prehistory of (6). His detailed consideration of the early decisions of preservationists exposes the mutability of early signification processes that is seldom evidenced in established commemoration processes. Although Sprinkle explicitly intends this work to inform students of preservation studies, his original chronicling speaks to interdisciplinary audiences. It critically reminds contemporary scholars of the uncertainties and imperatives that initially inspired politicians, government agents, and land use experts to act collectively for the preservation of American material culture and landscape.The book is unquestionably a masterfully researched and exceptionally detailed rendering of Sprinkle's reviews on sites that draw from original source materials. He deftly weaves together evidence on site decisions gathered from empirical work completed as Historian at the National Park Service (NPS), as well as his earlier published studies on disputes regarding the interpretation of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act criteria. His fluency in reviewing internal Park Service policies and the acts of leading personalities greatly enhances his ability to thematically organize stories about site categories and allows him to assess decisions involving sites situated in different geographical areas and with variable cultural significance.Given Sprinkle's command of the facts, the book is perhaps more narrowly focused than it ought to be. He limits the work to an examination of the series of decisions and deliberations about site authenticity and integrity that occurred in the three decades between the enactment of the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and the National Historic Preservation Act (or NHPA) in 1966. The author seeks to determine what changes in the interpretation of federal preservation criteria caused the tremendous expansion (2) in the number of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the time President Richard Nixon issued the 1972 Executive Order 11593, which dramatically altered the methods for site approval. In his response, Sprinkle primarily considers the varied input of Historians at the National Park Service and their expert collaborators, and secondarily accounts for the influence of surrounding critical political, economic, and cultural circumstances.Methodologically, the author devotes significantly more attention to providing details on various case studies than drawing conclusions. Although weighty at times, his strategy of reading across multiple examples effectively supports the overall investigation, the organization of the work, and development of key arguments. One of the most productive uses of case analyses are his reviews of decisions to signify such well-known sites as George Washington's Residence in the 1930s (62), the Vanderbilt Mansion in 1940, the Robie House of architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957 (118), and Ulysses S. Grant's Tomb in 1958 (181), alongside decisions to preserve such lesser-known places as the tiny pioneer city districts of La Villita in San Antonio, Texas, and the Joseph Bailly Homestead in a sparsely populated area of Indiana. …