Music is an essential piece of the culture of south Louisiana. Three genres -- Cajun, Zydeco, and Swamp Pop -- grew up in this region. The genres developed as separate cultures, primarily Cajun and Creole, developed and blended before entering a period of cultural assimilation in the early twentieth century. The music, and the social dancing that accompanies it, took place at weekly gatherings in rural residences in the eighteenth century. Commercial dance halls began to appear in the state around 1900 and have evolved throughout the century. The evolution of dance halls and their use follows a cultural evolution from relative isolation to assimilation and eventually cultural awareness and promotion as tourism blossomed in the state. Despite their significant place in the region's history, dance halls are not yet recognized in any official capacity, including the National Register of Historic Places. The Center for Louisiana Studies is collecting information about the extant and demolished buildings to advocate for preservation of dance hall culture and extant buildings. I am contributing to this advocacy effort with a National Register of Historic Places Multiple-Property Documentation Form for extant historic dance halls. The form will discuss the historic contexts of Cajun, Zydeco, and Swamp Pop music and establish typical and variable characteristics, both physical and associative, for dance hall buildings. Registration requirements based on significance and integrity will establish criteria for eligibility of extant buildings for the National Register of Historic Places. / text

Throughout history, the direct or indirect choice of preservation has resulted in the successful incorporation of tangible products of the human past into modern cultural environments. Within the current American historic preservation system, "significance" is used as a delimiter for identifying historic properties that are determined beneficial to the heritage of the American people. As defined under U.S. law, however, "significance" is attributed only to places and objects whose importance is limited within an historical or scientific framework. This thesis proposes that the significance of historic properties transcends the boundaries of these limited frameworks of importance, and demonstrates that the public benefits of preservation are maximized when history is reified through the modern-use of these places and objects as cultural resources for the current and future generations of the American people.

This study has presented a comprehensive overview of the properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places from Pennsylvania and Indiana. The project systematically examines what types of properties are listed on the National Register from each state. The evidence, which was compiled into an electronic database, suggests that property listings did not follow larger social trends. However, the evidence did show that certain events, such as federal legislation and federal tax credits, led to a larger number of properties to be listed at certain times. The research also proved that the State Historic Preservation Offices of Pennsylvania and Indiana have many similarities in the way properties are nominated. / Department of Architecture

Thesis (M.S.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Jo Leimenstoll; submitted to the Dept. of Interior Architecture. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jun. 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-90).

No description available.

This three-article dissertation uses a mixed-method research design to examine a contemporary phenomenon related to grassroots resistance to urban gentrification. In New York City, Los Angeles, and other high-growth US cities, community-based organizations are utilizing National Register of Historic Places listing and local designation of historic districts as strategies to resist residential displacement in the context of gentrification and diminishing housing affordability. The central issue with this practice is quantitative research overwhelmingly finds that neighborhood socioeconomic trends follow indicators of gentrification after the implementation of historic districts. Qualitative studies also demonstrate that historic districts are most often associated with the interests of homeowners who seek districts to protect or increase property values. Therefore, the use of historic districts for anti-displacement purposes can appear counter-intuitive. Arguably, the few existing studies of this practice do not thoroughly analyze the value of publicly stating the intention of districts for anti-displacement purposes or how organizational entities hypothesize causal links between historic districts and the reduction of displacement by gentrification. This gap between research and practice presents an opportunity to examine the functions of historic preservation regulations and participatory venues within the uneven distribution of racial, political, and economic resources necessary to affect authoritative land use decisions. The three articles are sequential. The first article uses logistic regression to estimate the organizational, contextual, and neighborhood socioeconomic factors that influenced a sample of community-based organizations in New York City, NY, and the City of Los Angeles, CA, between 2000-2020 to state motivations for anti-displacement purposes at public hearings for new historic districts. The second article further examines organizations’ motivations through archived conference proceedings and focused interviews with the key informants of six (6) New York City community-based organizations on the political, socioeconomic, and racial processes that influenced their use of local and NRHP districts as anti-displacement strategies. The interviewed organizations were identified by the review of public hearing testimony and correspondence for Article 1. Finally, Article 3 uses a difference-in-differences statistical technique to test the neighborhood socioeconomic impacts of contextual rezoning in New York City between 1986-2020 as a type of non-FAR rezoning. Contextual zoning and historic districts are similar in that their implementation depends on the presence and maintenance of neighborhood character. Unlike historic districts, new development in contextual zones functions as an administrative process with the Department of Buildings without reliance upon discretionary review of proposals by a city agency. The articles find that community-based organizations pursue historic districts for a blend of procedural, regulatory, and financial benefits related to anti-displacement activism. Some organizations seek historic districts as substitutes for neighborhood-wide downzoning due to rezoning’s high financial and administrative costs, reflecting power inequalities in urban politics. The articles’ findings also suggest that there are causal links between regulatory restrictions on development and the exclusion of new socioeconomic groups, albeit in the interest of excluding residents of higher-socioeconomic status to resist gentrification. Ostensibly neutral, character-based discourse in urban development is implicated in preserving historical patterns of urban racial and economic isolation. Without state and federal interventions in the provision of urban growth, historic districts and character-based rezonings have limited influence on long-term urban equity.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121).

The report evolves from previous work in the field that questions the efficacy of the 50-year rule, or criterion consideration G, of the National Register of Historic Places program to register and protect modern and recent past resources. Proponents of the recent past argue that by restricting evaluation of historic architecture to only that which is 50-years or older is leading to widespread endangerment and demolition of buildings and sites with periods of significance from the postwar era. This report studies the use of criterion G in-depth since the inception of the National Register program and attempts to identify and quantify the resources lost through continued adherence to the 50-year rule. The analysis is done in two parts. Part one examines the history of the use of criterion G by tracking patterns in the National Register of Historic Places data between 1966 and 2010 to determine how and where the case for exceptional significance has been made. Part two challenges the capacity of the existing framework of the 50-year rule and the NRHP program to protect the recent past by surveying the current status of a 145 AIA award-winning buildings from the 1960s. Most are virtually undiscovered in the canon of American architectural history, and all could likely be found as exceptionally significant. The study finds more than 75% of the AIA award-winners standing and possessing good integrity, but only 6% actually listed on the Register. The report concludes that we are losing less to outright demolition than estimated, but lack of context studies and an inconsistent vocabulary for postwar architecture is preventing the registration of intact resources from the 1960s that could greatly benefit from the awareness and recognition that is the primary purpose of the National Register. / text

The Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest has served as the location of numerous archaeological investigations. Despite all of the work done, there is a question of whether a representative sample of the archaeological record has been saved and subsequently whether the reports and findings from the Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest are legitimate and can be applied to a larger body or research at the regional, and even national scale. This thesis will evaluate whether a paradigmatic classification of occupations can be used to assess if a representative sample of the archaeological record has been saved, and consequently whether identifiable bias exists among the practitioners who recorded those occupations.

The Cultural Landscape Inventory is a comprehensive inventory of all historically significant landscapes within the National Park Service. This cultural landscape inventory documents the Johnson Settlement Area at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Johnson City, Texas. The Johnson Settlement Area served as the headquarters for former president Lyndon B. Johnson’s paternal grandparents, Samuel Ealy Johnson and Eliza Bunton’s, open-range cattle ranch from 1867 through 1872. After the collapse of the cattle ranching enterprise, the land was sold to James Polk Johnson and later converted into a small-scale farm by John Bruckner. From 1970 through 1972, Lyndon B. Johnson was involved with the planning, acquisition, and donation of a portion of the original settlement property to the National Park Service. In 1972, a major restoration and reconstruction project was completed as the property was converted into an historic interpretive landscape administered by the National Park Service. The Johnson Settlement Area is primarily an open pastoral landscape with reconstructed livestock corrals and a cluster of restored and reconstructed building and structures that collectively convey the ranching and frontier heritage of former president Lyndon B. Johnson. The cultural landscape inventory documents the physical development and historical significance of the Johnson Settlement Area. The inventory evaluates the landscape characteristics of the district and considers the integrity and overall condition of this historic vernacular landscape. Further, the inventory assesses eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. The Johnson Settlement Area Cultural Landscape Inventory expands the 1990 National Register of Historic Places nomination in its period of significance, boundaries and acreage, and National Register Criteria. / text