Dartmouth Orozco’s Murals named New National Historic Landmark

The National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis announced 13 newly designated National Historic Landmarks yesterday, including our very own The Epic of American Civilization Murals done by José Clemente Orozco during the early 20th century. The murals were conceived as a representation of a North American continent characterized by the duality of indigenous and European historical experiences. (Read Dartmouth Now)

Thanks to the many people that helped to make the designation possible: Peter Michaud, Coordinator from New Hampshire’s Division of Historical Resources who contacted us early January 2012, Roger Reed, Historian from National Register of Historic Places,  National Historic Landmarks who wrote the nomination, Dartmouth Professor Mary Coffey who testified in DC in support of the nomination and the Honorable Senator Jeanne Shaheen for her letter of support.

National historic landmarks are nationally significant historic places that possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.

Full press release can be found here:

March 11, 2013
Contact: Jessica Kershaw (DOI) 202-208-6416
Mike Litterst (NPS) 202-513-0354

AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS:
 Secretary Salazar, Director Jarvis Designate 13 New National Historic Landmarks
New Sites Recognize More Complete Story of America, including Significant Latino, African American and Indian Sites

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Director of the National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis today announced the designation of 13 new national historic landmarks, including an Alabama bridge that was site of “Bloody Sunday” during the civil rights movement, a 400-year-old historic district showcasing the influence of Spanish culture in Puerto Rico, the home of author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, and a historic stadium used by Negro league baseball teams in 20th-century segregated America.

“These national historic landmark designations span more than two centuries of our country’s history, from 17^th century architecture to a Civil War battlefield to a 19^th century-Kentucky whiskey distillery that continued to operate through the Prohibition era,” Secretary Salazar said. “Today’s designations include significant sites that help tell the story of America and the contributions that all people from all walks of life have made as we strive for a more perfect union.”

“From the Civil War to civil rights, to the struggles and accomplishments of women, African Americans and Latinos, these sites highlight the mosaic of our nation’s historic past,” said Director Jarvis. “We are proud to administer the National Historic Landmarks Program to educate and inspire Americans through their country’s rich and complex history.”

National historic landmarks are nationally significant historic places that possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. The program, established in 1935, is administered by the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior. Currently there are 2,540 designated national historic landmarks.

The new national historic landmarks include the following sites:

• Camden Amphitheatre and Public Library, Camden, Maine.  The Camden Amphitheatre and Public Library is one of the few public projects of Fletcher Steele, one of America’s premier practitioners of 20^th-century landscape design.  It is an outstanding representation of the contributions made by the landscape architecture profession, private benefactors, and national associations to develop public landscapes in the United States that celebrated natural regional beauty, scenic character, and rich cultural history.

• Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District, Jessamine County, Ky.  One of the nation’s largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers during the American Civil War, CampNelson is also significant as the site of a large refugee camp for the wives and children of the soldiers who were escaping slavery and seeking freedom.

• Casa Dra. Concha Meléndez Ramírez, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  This was the residence and workspace of Dra. Concha Meléndez Ramírez, a prolific and prominent literary criticism voice in Generación del Treinta (Generation of 1930), a literary movement that shaped Puerto Rico’s 20^th-century national cultural identity.

• Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala.  On March 7, 1965, civil rights marchers drawing attention to the need for voting rights legislation were attacked by law enforcement officials as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  The attack, which came to be known as “Bloody Sunday,” contributed to the introduction and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, considered to be the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by the US Congress.

• The Epic of American Civilization Murals, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.  These murals are the most important work in the United States by muralist José Clemente Orozco, one of Mexico’s foremost mural artists of the early 20^th century.  Orozco conceived the murals as a representation of a North American continent characterized by the duality of indigenous and European historical experiences.  Though highly controversial in their day, the murals challenged traditional ways of thinking about the development of Aztec and Anglo-American civilizations in North America.    

• George T. Stagg Distillery, FranklinCounty, Ky.  With resources dating from approximately 1880 to 1953, the George T. Stagg Distillery is a rare, intact example of an operating distillery before, during and after Prohibition.  It provides an unparalleled opportunity to study at one site the evolution of buildings and technology associated with the American whiskey industry.

• Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford, Conn.  Though best known to modern audiences for her antislavery work, Harriet Beecher Stowe was widely recognized in her lifetime as a highly prolific and nationally significant reformer for a wide variety of causes.  Her longtime home in Hartford is associated with Stowe’s later career as a reformer on issues relating to the family and women’s roles.

• Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson, N.J.  Hinchliffe Stadium the institutionalized practice of “separate but equal” facilities was the accepted norm.

• Honey Springs Battlefield, McIntosh and Muskogee Counties, Okla.  By far the largest Civil War engagement of the 1861-1865 period of conflict within Indian Territory, the Battle of Honey Springs was the largest battle in Indian Territory in which Native Americans fought as members of both Union and Confederate armies.  It is also significant as the first and largest engagement in which Indian troops of both sides fought in the formalized style of Anglo-American warfare.

• Old San Juan Historic District/Distrito Histórico del Viejo San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Old San Juan is the only existing representation of an almost 400-year-old Spanish Colonial city in the United States, and contains the largest collection of buildings representing four centuries of Spanish culture, religion, politics, and architecture.  It is the oldest city within the United States and its territories, and the district includes the oldest house, Christian church, executive mansion, convent, and military defenses in the country as well.

• Pear Valley, Eastville, Va.  Dating to 1740, the wood-frame house known as Pear Valley is an excellent, rare surviving example of the distinctive form of architecture that developed in the Chesapeake Bay region, illustrating how early settlers in the colonies adapted to their new environment.

• Second Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Ill.  The Second Presbyterian Church represents the visual and philosophical precepts of the turn of the century Arts and Crafts design movement.  Its interior, the masterwork of noted architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, presents some of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts mural painting, sculpture, stained glass and crafting in metals, fabrics, wood and plaster.

• Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.  One of the country’s oldest artists’ retreats, Yaddo has hosted more than 6,000 influential writers, visual artists and composers who shaped and imprinted American culture with a distinct national identity in the 20^th century.  Among the notable artists who have worked at Yaddo are Aaron Copland, Truman Capote, Leonard Bernstein, Flannery O’Connor, Sylvia Plath and Langston Hughes.

Salazar also announced the acceptance of updated documentation and a boundary revision for the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg, Pa.

The National Historic Landmarks Program, established in 1935, is administered by the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior.  The agency works with preservation officials and other partners interested in nominating a landmark. Completed applications are reviewed by the National Park System Advisory Board, which makes recommendations for designation to the Secretary of the Interior.  If selected, property ownership remains intact but each site receives a designation letter, a plaque, and technical preservation advice.

Additional information on the designations can be found at www.nps.gov/history/nhl.