National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

SPRIN G 2009 News of the Nation's Diverse Cultural Heritage 

Filipinos in Ellis Island 

Maria Elizabeth Del Valle Embry 

I

t is common knowledge that in the early 1900s, many Filipinos came to the Hawaiian 

and Alaskan Territories, as well as to California, Washington, and Oregon to work in the 

agricultural and fishing industries. Filipinos played a significant role in the defense of 

the country during World War II when they worked on the ships that transported military 

personnel and supplies to the war fronts. However, the entry of many Filipinos through Ellis 

Island, our nation's symbol of liberty and inclusion, remains largely unknown. 

The Ellis Island Oral History Collection is currently looking for Filipinos who passed 

through Ellis Island on their way to the United States. The research staff is also looking for 

those who worked as ships' crewmembers, were stationed at Ellis Island with the Coast 

Guard, or worked as an employee prior to 1954. According to Dr. Janet Levine, the Ellis 

Island oral historian, they did not have 

any Filipinos participating in the oral 

history project to date. 

Going through thousands of 

ships' manifests that the Ellis Island 

Foundation publishes free online in 

the website, www.ellisisland.org, 

Maria Del Valle Embry created her 

own website that listed the names of 

many Filipinos who passed through. 

This list included Filipino non-voting 

members of the U.S. Congress as 

Resident Commissioners of the U. S. 

colonial government in the Philippines, 

commissioners Manuel Quezon and 

"Filipinos who passed through 

Ellis Island were the Senators, 

provincial Governors, diplomats, 

jurists, writers, educators, students, 

and businessmen/women. It is also 

noteworthy that of the Filipinos 

who entered the US through Ellis 

Island, most were crew members 

of ships." 

MARIA ELIZABETH DEL VALLE EMBRY 

CONTINUED » PAGE 2 

Heritage Matters 

this issue... 

Filipinos in Ellis Island 

Internships Provide Career 

Opportunities for 

Diverse Students 

New Courses on NAGPRA 

Available to Tribes 

and Museums 

Recent National Historic 

Landmark Designations 

Heritage Preservation 

Grants Allow DC 

Neighborhoods to Tell 

Their Stories 

National Register 

Nominations 
Mission of the 

National Park Service 

The National Park Service preserves 

unimpaired the natural and cultural 

resources and the values of the 

national park system for the enjoyment, 

education, and inspiration of this and 

future generations. The Park Service 

also cooperates with partners to 

extend the benefits of natural and 

cultural resource conservation and 

outdoor recreation throughout this 

country and the world. 

Heritage Matters, sponsored by the 

Cultural Resources Programs of the 

National Park Service, is published 

twice a year, and is free of charge. 

Readers are invited to submit short 

articles and notices for inclusion. 

(Limit submissions to fewer than 600 

words and include author's name 

and affiliation. Photographs or 

digital, images are welcome.) Please 

submit newsletter items in writing 

or electronically to: Brian D. Joyner, 

Editor, Heritage Matters, DOI/National 

Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW (2280), 

Washington, DC 20240. 

Phone: 202/354-2276, 

e-mail: brian.joyner@nps.gov. 

This material is based upon work 

conducted under a cooperative 

agreement between the U.S. 

Department of the Interior, National 

Park Service and the National 

Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers. Views and 

conclusions in this material are those 

of the authors and should not be 

interpreted as representing the opinions 

or policies of the U.S. Government. 

Mention of trade names or commercial 

products does not constitute their 

endorsement by the U.S. Government. 

Daniel Wenk 

Acting Director 

Janet Snyder Matthews 

Associate Director, Cultural Resources 

Antoinette J. Lee 

Assistant Associate Director, Historic 

Documentation Programs 

J. Paul Loether 

Chief, National Register of Historic 

Places & National Historic Landmarks 

Programs 

Brian D. Joyner 

Heritage Matters Editor 

Filipinos in Ellis Island 

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 

'Filipinos played a significant role 

in the defense of the country 

during World War II when 

they worked on the ships that 

transported military personnel 

and supplies to the war fronts." 

MARIA ELIZABETH DEL VALLE EMBRY 

Sergio Osmena, both of whom would later become President of the Philippines. 

Filipinos who passed through Ellis Island were the Senators, provincial Governors, 

diplomats, jurists, writers, educators, students, and businessmen/women. It is also 

noteworthy that of the Filipinos who entered the US through Ellis Island, most were 

crew members of ships. Since the Filipinos were called FOBs (fresh off the boats) 

by otlier earlier immigrants, it is interesting to know that they were actually the seafarers 

who toiled in the ships that brought the European immigrants to the United States. 

Publication of the Ellis Island interview search will identify Filipinos who 

may be willing to tell their first-hand experience on their passage through Ellis 

Island and be part of its history. Additionally, members of diverse communities like 

the Chinese, Koreans, Hispanics, and others who worked alongside the Filipinos 

as crewmembers may wish to share their stories. Identification with our nation's 

history will undeniably promote good citizenship and civic involvement, common 

goals for all. • 

(T) For more information contact Janet Levine, Oral History Program, Statue of 

Liberty National Monument; email: janet_levine@nps.gov: phone: 212/363-3206, x157. 

The immigration museum on Ellis Island, New York 

2 SPRING 2009 
NPS INITIATIVES 

Internships Provide Career Opportunities 

for Diverse Students 

Turkiya Lowe / National Conference for State Historic Preservation Officers 

T

he Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program 

(CRDIP) provides diverse undergraduate and graduate 

students paid internships that build their resumes in 

the cultural resources and historic preservation fields. Over 

the years, the National Park Service (NPS) and its partners 

in the public and private sectors have co-sponsored dozens 

of diverse undergraduate and graduate students and provided 

them with outstanding career exploration opportunities. 

During summer 2009, CRDIP will co-sponsor 14 to 16 

interns during the 10-week session. 

In 2008,16 CRDIP interns successfully completed 

projects around the county, from the U.S.-Mexican border 

in Brownsville, Texas, to the far reaches of the Pacific 

Northwest in Seattle, Washington, to the port city of New 

Bedford, Massachusetts, and back to the small town of 

Washington, Georgia. They worked on a variety of topics 

involving communities of color, including: the MexicanAmerican War along the Texas border; traditional African 

American burial practices in Natchitoches, Louisiana; and 

evaluation of slave emancipations and freedom licenses 

at St. Louis' Old Courthouse. Interns' ideas shaped how 

this information was presented to the public and resulted 

in a variety of exhibitions, including interpretive programs 

and panels, site bulletins, and online displays on the 

park websites. 

Web design was also a major component of several 

internships. For the NPS's Heritage Preservation Grant 

Division, Howard University senior and Louisiana-native 

Dwayne Rax designed a website to highlight successful 

preservation recovery projects in Louisiana, Mississippi, 

and Alabama, that were funded by the Disaster Relief 

Grants program. Another intern, Jasmine Ines, a junior at 

the University of Washington, Seattle, was instrumental in 

updating the Cultural Resources website of the NPS's 

Pacific West Regional Office. 

Each summer, tire CRDIP also hosts a three-day Career 

Workshop to provide interns with an understanding of the 

National Park Service and other cultural resources careers 

beyond their summer internship experience. Interns give 

presentations about their work experiences to NPS managers 

and invited guests, meet with NPS staff and other cultural 

resources professionals to discuss career development 

strategies, and visit area museums and preservation organizations. During Summer 2008, former NPS Director Robert G. 

Four of the 2008 CRDIP Interns pose in front of the Frederick Douglass 

National Historic Site during their visit to Washington, DC for the 

three-day Career Workshop in August 2008. Courtesy of Rei Harada. 

Stanton, the first African American head of the agency, gave 

inspiring advice about the opportunities and responsibilities 

that students of color have to preserve America's diverse 

cultural heritage. Interns also toured the Frederick Douglass 

Memorial Home NHS, the Smithsonian Institution National 

Museum of the American Indian, and the privately-funded 

Newseum, and met professionals at these sites. 

The CRDIP is part of a comprehensive effort to diversify 

the cultural resources and historic preservation fields. Since 

its inception, the CRDIP has sponsored 141 diverse students 

and, as a testament to CRDIP's overall success, almost 

one-third of former CRDIP participants currently work in 

historic preservation and cultural resources careers. In 

fact, three 2008 interns continued employment with their 

respective work sites after the CRDIP internship. 

The NPS partners with the Student Conservation 

Association (SCA) to administer CRDIP. •> 

(T) For more information on CRDIP and to see the current 

internships, please visit www.cr.nps.gov/crdi, select 

"Internships" or contact Turkiya Lowe, Program Coordinator, 

at 202/354-2266, email: TurkiyaJowe@contractor.nps.gov. 

For more information on SCA, please visit www.thesca.org 

or contact Justin Chow, Diversity Internships Coordinator, 

at jchow@thesca.org. 

HERITAGE MATTERS 3 

DID YOU KNOW? The National Park Service and its partners in the 

«

blic and private sectors have co-sponsored dozens of diverse undergraduate and 

iduate students and provided them with outstanding career exploration opportunities. 
New Courses on NAGPRA Available to 

Tribes and Museums 

Sangita Chari / National Park Service 

T

ribes and museums with Native American objects 

in their collections may sign up for new, specialized 

training offered by the National Park Service and 

the National Preservation Institute. 

Determining Cultural Affiliation offers practical tools 

and best practices for determining the cultural affiliation 

of human remains and cultural items to a Native American 

tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. Writing and Managing 

a Successful Grant explains how to assess the needs of a 

program to repatriate human remains and cultural items, 

identify fundable projects, write a grant proposal, and 

manage a successful grant. 

The initial workshops for Writing and Managing a 

Successful Grant are scheduled for May 20-21 in Seattle, 

Washington, and September 15-16 in Chicago, Illinois. The 

first Determining Cultural Affiliation workshop will be held 

on September 14 in Chicago, Illinois. Each will be offered 

twice a year. Tribal representatives are eligible for a scholarship 

to cover registration for either workshop. Small museums 

may receive a scholarship for the Determining Cultural 

Affiliation workshop. Registration and scholarship information 

is online at www.npi.org or www.nps.gov/history/nagpra. 

Native American medicine bag. 

The National Park Service was authorized to carry out 

the provisions of the National Native American Graves 

Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) enacted in 1990 

to address the rights of lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and 

Native Hawaiian organizations to certain Native American 

cultural items, including human remains, funerary objects, 

sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. While more 

than 36,000 human remains and nearly 1 million funerary 

objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony 

have been identified for repatriation, this represents a small 

percentage of all such items in museum collections. 

NAGPRA requires museums and tribes to work together 

through a consultation process to determine cultural affiliation. 

The new workshops will provide participants with concrete 

tools they can use to improve the consultation and repatriation process and with the skills, successfully apply for and 

manage National Park Service grants to help offset the 

costs involved. 

The National Park Service's National NAGPRA Program 

has offered grants to tribes and museums for consultation 

and repatriation since 1994. Feedback from the more than 

1,000 people annually who take the program's training on 

the NAGPRA process indicated a need for the specialized 

workshops. 

The National Preservation Institute is a nonprofit 

organization that offers seminars to enhance the skills of 

professionals responsible for the preservation, protection, 

and interpretation of historic, archeological, architectural, 

and cultural resources. See the full range of NPI courses 

online at www.npi.org or contact Jere Gibber at 703/765-0100 

orinfo@npi.org. •> 

Native American art and tools. 

4 SPRING 2009 
inrAI INITIATIVFS 

Recent National Historic Landmark 

Designations 

Brian Joyner/ National Park Service 

Rosebud Battlefield/ 

Where the Girl Saved 

her Brother 

The Battle of the Rosebud /Where the 

Girl Saved Her Brother was a significant 

turning point in tire Great Sioux War 

between the U.S. Army forces and the 

Lakota-Northern Cheyenne coalition 

in 1876 and 1877. Specifically, tire battle 

blocked die army's strategy of launching 

a three-pronged attack on die tribes' 

village on die Little Bighorn River. 

Eight days prior to Lieutenant 

Colonel George A. Custer's defeat at 

Litde Bighorn, Northern Cheyennes 

and Lakotas from die Little Bighorn 

village unexpectedly attacked Brigadier 

General George Crook's troops at 

Rosebud Creek on June 17,1876. After 

the day-long battle, the general withdrew 

his troops from the war zone to resupply. As a result, Crook's troops were 

not in a position to support Custer's 

troops a week later at Litde Bighorn. 

By instigating the attack on Crook's 

column, the coalition troops changed 

tactics from a defensive posture to 

an aggressive one, demonstrating a 

fearlessness of and disdain for the 

American military's presence in lands 

they considered their own. An estimated 

1,500 warriors and 1,300 soldiers and 

civilians on the field that day made 

Rosebud one of the largest battles of 

the Indian wars. Rosebud Battlefield 

was designated a National Historic 

Landmark (NHL) on October 6, 2008. 

Wolf Mountains Battlefield/Where Big Crow 

Walked Back and Forth 

The Battle of Wolf Mountains on 

January 8,1877, near Rosebud, Montana, 

was a major turning point in the Great 

Sioux War of 1876-1877. Following Wolf 

Mountains, tire eventual surrender of 

Crazy Horse and the Lakotas and 

Northern Cheyennes at Camp 

Robinson, Nebraska, on May 6, signaled 

the formal conclusion of the war. 

Designated an NHL site on October 6, 

2008, the Battle of Wolf Mountains 

signified the last major combat of the 

Great Sioux War, one that led directly 

to the final removal of tribal people from 

lands that white Americans sought for 

settlement and commercial venture 

throughout tire Northern Plains. 

The battle followed successive 

engagements for the Lakota and 

Cheyenne after the Battle of Little Big 

Horn. The coalition between the Native 

groups began to fracture and control of 

the area slowly slipped away. Starvation, 

persistent harassment by the Fifth 

Infantry, led by Colonel Nelson Miles, 

and an unexpected blizzard just as the 

Crazy Horse/White Bull/Two Moon-led 

Indian coalition forces tried an assault 

that ended the last-gasp efforts. The 

symbolic end to the conflict came with 

the death of Cheyenne medicine man 

Big Crow, leading to the withdrawal of 

die coalition fighters. The defeat at Wolf 

Mountain was the death knell of the 

coalition and the end of the massive 

Native American resistance to U.S. 

military forces. 

Freedom Tower 

Freedom Tower is considered the 

"Ellis Island of the South" for its role 

between 1962 and 1974 as the Cuban 

Assistance Center, offering federally 

sanctioned relief to the Cuban refugees 

who sought political asylum from the 

regime of Fidel Castro. The Kennedy 

Administration enacted the Migration 

and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 to 

offer assistance to the large number 

of Cubans seeking political asylum. 

Freedom Tower stands as the single most 

identifiable building associated with 

the Cuban-American exile experience. 

As a physical manifestation of Cold 

War era politics, the building illustrates 

the influence the Cold War exerted 

over national immigration policies. 

In addition to its significance to 

immigration history, Freedom Tower's 

architecture is also worth noting. The 

building was the home of the Miami 

Daily News and Metropolis from 1925 

to 1957. Designed by Leonard Schultze 

and S. Fullerton Weaver, the building is 

designed in the Mediterranean Revival 

style, an adaptation of Spanish Colonial 

architecture particular to South Florida, 

detailed with Spanish Baroque treatments. The interior reflects Florida's 

role in the "new world" explored by 

Spain, with a mural of the Western 

Hemisphere and tiles from Spain, Cuba, 

as well as South America and Africa. 

Freedom Tower was designated an 

NHL on October 6,2008. 

Designated a National Historic Landmark on 

October 6, 2008, Freedom Tower served as a 

place of refuge for Cuban immigrants to the 

United States from 1962 to 1974. Courtesy of 

Ellen J. Ugucioni 

HERITAGE MATTERS 5 
Forty Acres 

Forty Acres in Delano, California, 

was the first national headquarters 

for the first agricultural labor union 

in the United States, the United 

Farmworkers o"f America (UFWA), 

from 1966-1970. The UFWA was a 

multiethnic organization, uniting 

Hispanic, Pinoy (Filipino American), 

and other laborers in efforts to 

secure fair labor practices, resulting 

in the first federally-recognized 

collective bargaining agreement for 

farm workers. Forty Acres is the site 

most closely associated with the career 

of Cesar Chavez. During this period, 

Chavez rose to national prominence 

as a leader in the Chicano, and later 

Hispanic, civil rights movement 

and as a leading advocate for 

improved working conditions for 

migrant laborers. 

Forty Acres' contributing buildings 

are sites of great significance to the 

labor movement. Chavez's first public 

fast from February 19 to March 11, 

1968, took place at the service station 

at Forty Acres. The signing of the 

contract that brought an end to the 

five-year table-grape strike on July 20, 

1970, took place in the meeting room 

at Reuther Hall. Forty Acres was 

designated an NHL on October 6,2008. 

Sage Memorial Hospital 

School of Nursing 

Sage Memorial Hospital School of 

Nursing, situated on the Ganado 

Mission within the Navajo reservation 

in Arizona, was the first and only 

accredited nursing program for Native 

American women in the United States. 

The Presbyterian founders of Ganado 

Mission saw their work as being 

threefold: evangelism, education, and 

medical care would transform the lives 

of the Navajo. 

The Presbyterian Board of Home 

Missions approved the construction 

of a twelve-bed hospital at Ganado in 

1911. In 1930, Dr. Clarence Salsbury, a 

Presbyterian missionary and physician 

associated with the hospital, founded 

Sage Memorial Hospital School of 

Nurses wearing sashes that indicating their ethnicity, pose in front of the Nurses Home for Sage 

Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, circa 1940. Courtesy of Archives of the Ganado Mission. 

Nursing. Although many whites 

believed that the Navajo lacked the 

intellectual ability to become nurses, 

Salsbury believed that young Navajo 

women were capable of the task. 

Formally accredited by the state of 

Arizona in 1932, the school eventually 

attracted not only Native American 

women but also women from other 

minority groups across the nation. 

Sage Memorial Hospital School of 

Nursing was a landmark institution in 

changing attitudes about the abilities 

of Native American people. The 

Secretary of the Interior designated 

Sage Memorial Hospital an NHL on 

January 16, 2008. 

The Miami Circle at 

Brickell Point 

Designated an NHL on January 16, 

2008, the Miami Circle at Brickell 

Point Site is an archeological property 

in Miami, Florida. It is formerly the 

primary village of the Tequesta 

people, one of the first Native North 

American groups encountered by 

Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513. Research 

at tire site has produced an impressive 

body of data, well-preserved evidence 

of American Indian architecture, 

and considerable materials related 

to patterns of regional and longdistance exchange. 

The Tequesta, who inhabited the 

area from 500 B.C. through European 

contact are associated with the unique 

environment of the Everglades. 

The Tequesta appear to be one of 

several important groups, including 

the Calusa and Ais, that occupied 

southern Florida at the time of 

European Contact. Another circle 

feature nearby, the Royal Palm Circle, 

was discovered in 2005 and provided 

context for Miami Circle; both have 

identical dimensions and configuration 

carved into the limestone bedrock and 

similar artifacts were found at both. 

Continued research may yield additional information about the group's 

land use, architectural practices, and 

material culture. 

6 SPRING 2009 
New Philadelphia 

Town Site 

Established in 1836, New Philadelphia, 

outside of Barry, Illinois, was the first 

known town platted and registered 

by an African American, Frank 

McWorter. The town consisted of 

42 acres of land divided into 20 

blocks and parceled into 144 lots. 

McWorter sold town lots to black, 

white, and mulatto settlers and used 

the proceeds to purchase freedom 

for enslaved family members. 

McWorter freed himself and 15 

family members from bondage at 

a cost of approximately 814,000. 

New Philadelphia provides material 

evidence for understanding life in 

multi-racial communities of the era. 

At New Philadelphia, researchers 

have an opportunity to investigate 

both the relationships of formerly 

enslaved individuals, free born 

African Americans, and people of 

European descent who lived together 

in a small rural community, and the 

effects of interaction between the 

groups. Archeological analysis at 

New Philadelphia reflects new trends 

within historical archeology that seek 

to understand how material culture 

and racial identity interact. The site 

was designated an NHL on January 

16, 2009. 

Excavations of the New Philadelphia Town 

Site outside of Barry, Illinois, provide an 

understanding of a multi-racial community at 

a time when such places were rare. Courtesy 

of Chris Valvano. 

Heritage Preservation Grants 

Allow DC Neighborhoods to 

Tell Their Stories 

Brian D. Joyner/ National Park Service 

T

he history of preservation is that of actions initiated by local groups 

and individuals to preserve what is significant to their communities; in 

short, to preserve their heritage. It is this impetus that drives the 

District of Columbia Community Heritage Project (DCCHP), a joint project 

between the DC Historic Preservation Office and the DC Humanities Council. 

On January 8,2009, at the Reeves Center in Washington, DC, DCCHP held 

an event recognizing 2008's grant recipients and highlighting some of the 

projects done by grant recipients. Featured speakers at the DCCHP event 

included District of Columbia Historic Preservation Officer David Maloney 

and Brian Joyner of the National Park Service. Maloney greeted the grantees 

and acknowledged the need for continued involvement of the city in the sorts 

of projects being recognized. Joyner spoke about neighborhood preservation 

efforts toward increasing the number of locally recognized, places, sites, and 

landmarks and highlighting the importance of Washington's neighborhoods. 

In 2008, the Community Heritage Project funded 18 projects. However, it 

was decided to host an event to allow past grant recipients to showcase the 

results of their funded projects. Some of the projects featured on January 8 

included a brochure on the architectural history of the Eastland Gardens 

community in Northeast Washington; a Guide to Latino Folk Artists of the 

District of Columbia; an audio walking tour of U Street, NW, developed by 

youth to highlight the changes in the area since the 1968 riots; and a history 

trail brochure for the Woodridge neighborhood in Northeast Washington. 

Participants gave visual and audio presentations about the significance of place 

and heritage, with posters from other projects lining the walls. DC Humanities 

Council Chairperson Joy Austin announced a "community icons" photographic 

project, to identify places of significance in each of the city's wards and 

neighborhoods. 

The DCCHP grants are supported with funds from the Historic Preservation 

Fund, awarded by the National Park Service that provides money to state 

historic preservation offices for historic preservation activities. For more 

information on DCCHP, visit the website, www.wdchumanities.org/index. 

php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=44.upcoming events. 

Historic DC rowhouses. 
National Register Nominations 

Caridad de la Vega / National Conference for State Historic Officers / Rustin Quaide / National Park Service 

0 Mahone's Tavern 

Mahone's Tavern in Courtland, Virginia, was a central 

point of refuge for the European American population 

during Nat Turner's Rebellion of August 1831. The 

tavern also served as the headquarters for the militias 

organized to pursue Nat Turner and his followers. 

Turner led an insurrection of 40 enslaved Africans 

against slaveholders and other whites, eventually 

killing 55 people before his capture in October. The 

result of the rebellion was the enactment of new, 

harsh legal codes for free and enslaved blacks. As a 

result, roughly one-sixth of Southampton County's 

free black population moved to the African colony 

of Liberia in December 1831. 

The current building consists of the original pre-1796 

structure and a 1931 addition of a rear kitchen through 

a connecting hyphen. The tavern is a two-story Federal 

style, hall-and-parlor plan house. Mahone's Tavern was 

listed in the National Register on May 29, 2008 

Mahone's Tavern was a refuge and headquarters for the local 

militia, which pursued those involved in the Nat Turner Rebellion 

of 1831. Courtesy of Hardwood Paige Watkinson, Jr. 

(T) For more information about the National Register 

visit http://www.nps.gov/nr 

© The Omaha Star Building 

The Omaha Star is Nebraska's only African American-owned 

newspaper. Founded in July 1938, it is also the first newspaper 

in the nation founded by an African American woman and quite 

possibly the first female-founded newspaper in the country. 

The newspaper served as a center of community information 

and activism for African Americans. Through its reporting on 

boycotts that brought attention to the discrimination among 

local businesses, it provided information for the local and 

national civil rights movement. The newspaper building also 

served as a meeting place for local civil rights organizations, 

such as the De Porres Club, a mixed race students' club. 

Mildred Brown founded the newspaper and continued as its 

publisher until her passing in 1989. The Omaha Star occupied 

this one-story, rectangular commercial building from 1940 until 

1957, in the heart of the African American community. Brown 

was one of 35 individuals to receive the NAACP's "Unsung 

Heroine Award" for service. President Lyndon B. Johnson also 

appointed Brown as a goodwill ambassador to East Germany to 

investigate human rights violation after the construction of the 

Berlin Wall. At the time of Brown's death, the newspaper had a 

circulation of 30,685 in 39 states. The building was listed in the 

National Register on December 27, 2007. 

SPRING 2009 

Founded in 1938, the Omaha Star has served as Omaha's only African 

American newspaper. The Star building was a focal point of civil rights 

activities for the African American community. Courtesy of Jill Dolberg. 

8 
Q The Progressive Club 

The Progressive Club, located on Johns Island, South 

Carolina, was the prototype for citizenship schools 

that were established throughout the South. The schools 

were designed to teach rural adults to read and write 

and complete such basic tasks as filling out a check 

and reading road signs. The school's goal was to build 

citizenship skills and register African American voters. 

The voter registration classes proved successful, spreading 

quickly throughout the South. 

The Progressive Club also served as a community center 

for the mainly underserved African American community 

on the sea island; housed the legal and financial 

assistance program and an adult education program; 

and provided community recreational facilities, child 

care services and a meeting space and grocery store. 

These community services evolved from the establishment 

of the first citizenship classes in the Low Country by Esau 

Jenkins, the club's main founder and organizer, in 1957. 

The Progressive Club's building, a one-story cement block 

structure, was built in 1963. It was listed in the National 

Register on October 24, 2008. 

Built in 1963, the Progressive Club played a pivotal role in providing 

social services to the underserved citizens of Johns Island, South 

Carolina. Courtesy of Leigh Scott. 

Rock Rest provided African American vacationers with lodging in the 

post-World War II era when many Americans took to the roads during 

the summer months. Courtesy of Christi A. Mitchell.. 

O Rock Rest 

Located in Kittery Point, Maine, Rock Rest is an L-shaped 

house that is a one-and-a-half story wood frame building 

believed to date to the early 19th century. The house was 

listed in the National Register on January 24, 2008. 

Rock Rest was a seasonal guest house for African 

American tourists vacationing in Maine from 1946 

until 1977. During a time when segregated public 

accommodations were the norm, Hazel and Clayton 

Sinclair operated their guest house to provide African 

Americans with accommodations for their vacations. 

At maximum capacity, their house and guest house 

could accommodate 16 guests. For $40 a week, guests 

received breakfast and dinner, enjoyed games of 

horseshoe in the backyard, relaxed in the gardens, and 

enjoyed boating trips and formal dinners. On Sundays, 

Mrs. Sinclair served a Maine staple, lobster, while on 

other occasions "soul food" was part of the menu. 

Rock Rest is one of three African American guest houses 

known to have existed in Maine during that period. 

Farmers State Bank Building 

Listed in the National Register on October 26, 2008, the 

Farmers State Bank Building in Lindsborg, Kansas, is tied to the 

early history of this Swedish American community founded in 

1869. Following the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the availability 

of land created a demand for labor, exploited by the railroad 

companies through international promotional schemes. Among 

the targeted immigrant groups were the Swedes. 

The Farmers State Bank was Lindsborg's longest operating bank, 

having survived the financial panics in the 1890s, 1907, and the 

Great Depression. Augustus E. Agrelius founded the bank in 

1866. In less than a year, the business outgrew its original wood 

frame building and the construction of the 2-story brick bank 

building began in 1887. In 1954, a new bank building, seated on 

the southeast corner of Lincoln and Main, replaced the bank's 

original 1887 building. Eventually, the Farmers State Bank sold 

the building to the city of Lindsborg in 1955. The Farmers State 

Bank Building is a brick Italianate two-part commercial block in 

downtown Lindsborg, and is rectangular in massing. 

HERITAGili.iAiiEIIS 9 
National Register Nominations 

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 

The building appears almost exactly as it did when it first 

opened. It is a slightly rectangular two-story structure with 

a gable roof, situated on a knoll at the foot of the Blue 

Ridge Mountains. With the arrival of the Shenandoah 

Valley railroad in 1885, a number of new Lutheran churches 

were formed in the area and the success of these daughter 

congregations would eventually prove to be the end of 

Mount Calvary as an active congregation. The size of the 

congregation dwindled with the turn of the 20'h century 

and regular services ceased to be held in 1959, save for 

occasional homecoming services. Mount Calvary Lutheran 

Church was listed in the National Register on June 3, 2008. 

10 SPRING 2009 

The last synagogue in the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, the United Synagogue of Hoboken has 

served the city's Jewish community for nearly 100 years. Courtesy of Mary Delaney Krugman. 

6

 Mount Calvary Lutheran Church 

The Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Luray, Virginia, is an 

example of religious architecture built in 1848. The church 

can trace its origins back to the first German settlers in the 

Page Valley area. In 1726 Adam Mueller led a group of 

German families from Pennsylvania to the vicinity of 

present-day Luray. These Germans were of Mennonite, 

Lutheran, and Reformed denominations. Established as the 

Massanutten settlement, the group was the first to locate 

in the Shenandoah Valley area. The predominance of 

German immigrants and the relative isolation of Page 

County allowed German culture to thrive in the area. 

The United Synagogue of Hoboken 

The United Synagogue of Hoboken (formerly the "Star of Israel" 

Synagogue) represents the large and vibrant Jewish community that 

lived in Hoboken, New Jersey during the late 19th through the early 

20* centuries. An intact example of a European synagogue of the 

period, the synagogue possesses elements of several Revival styles— 

the Gothic, Romanesque, and Moorish Revival—that are blended in 

the facade. The facade is a tripartite composition, having a central 

mass flanked on each side by a stair tower capped with a polygonal, 

copper-clad "onion" dome. Designed by Hoboken architect Max J. 

Bayer, the synagogue was recognized as the "work of a master." 

The building was listed in the National Register on June 28, 2008. 

Jewish immigration began in Hoboken in the middle of the 19* 

century, during a period of unrest in Europe, when Jewish German 

immigrants from the southern principalities of what is today 

Germany emigrated to the United States. The Star of Israel 

synagogue was organized in October 1905 by 32 former members 

of Hoboken's first Orthodox congregation, Moses Montefiore. 

Although it remained Orthodox, the new congregation was 

seeking a more liberal environment for its observance. In early 

1910, the congregation purchased two lots on the 100-block of 

Park Avenue. The new synagogue was completed by 1915, and on 

May 16 of that year, the building was formerly dedicated. 

After World War II, the sharp decline of Jewish families in Hoboken 

caused the three Jewish congregations in the city to merge. The 

congregations of Moses Montefiore (Orthodox), Star of Israel 

("liberal" Orthodox), and the Hoboken Jewish Center (Conservative), 

joined and became the United Synagogue of Hoboken (USH) on 

December 12, 1947. The USH continued to use the Hoboken Jewish 

Center on 830 Hudson Street for its offices, school, and rabbinical 

residence, reserving the synagogue building at 115-117 Park Avenue 

for religious services. Today the former Star of Israel is the only 

surviving synagogue in the city of Hoboken. 
Conferences and Events 

Conferences 

April 2009 

AIA National Convention 

April 30-May 2, 2009 

The American Institute of Architects' 2009 National Convention and 

Design Exposition 2009 will take place in San Francisco, California, 

April 30-May 2, at the Moscone Center. This year's convention theme 

is "The Power of Diversity: Practice in a Complex World." Hundreds 

of continuing education sessions and professional tours highlight 

such topics as globalization of practice, new values in design, the 

reassertion of the architect's role in society, sustainability, and the 

resulting new values in design. 

For more information, visit the conference website, www.aia.org/ 

ev_conv_aia_09. 

AAM's 2009 Annual Conference 

April 30-May 2, 2009 

With each generation, museum professionals in the United States 

seek to redefine the word "museum" and determine anew their 

responsibilities to the society they serve. While asking the same 

questions as their predecessors - What should the museum be? 

How should it best do its work? Whom should it serve? - the 

answers change, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly, with each 

generation. Museums are unfinished, ever-changing. Museums are 

a grand and continuous experiment in educating, engaging and 

inspiring people of every age and background. With this in mind, 

the theme of this year's conference of the American Association 

of Museums is "The Museum Experiment." 

AAM will host its annual conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 

on April 30-May 4, 2009. Keynote speakers include New York 

Times bestselling authors Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker 

Magazine and Walter Issacson of the Aspen Institute. For more 

information, visit AAM's conference website at www.aam-us.org/ 

am09/. 

October 2009 

National Trust for Historic Preservation 

Conference 

October 13-17, 2009 

The National Trust will host its annual Preservation Conference in 

Nashville, Tennessee, on October 13-17, 2009. This year's topic is 

"Creating the Future in Harmony with our Pasts." The theme provides 

an opportunity to explore and learn from the preservation challenges 

and successes in Nashville and the communities and countryside that 

surround it. Pasts filled with frontier hardships, Civil War battles, 

civil rights struggles, and the development of American music are 

blending with the energy of the New South and thriving Main Street 

communities. The resulting stories are told through plantations and 

farms, town squares, battlefields, city streets, historic African American institutions, 19th and 20th century neighborhoods, and music 

venues from intimate bars to the world-famous Ryman Auditorium. 

For more information on conference topics and registration, 

contact the Trust at 800/944-6847; email: conference@nthp.org. 

August 2009 

AASLH Annual Meeting 

August 26-29, 2009 

The days of museums as "cabinets of curiosity" are gone. To 

succeed in an increasingly fast-paced, technology-saturated 

society, museums must embrace new models of operation. 

They should become centers for ideas and inspiration-cultural 

entrepreneurs. In partnership with the Association of Indiana 

Museums, the 2009 American Association for State and Local 

History Annual (AASLH) meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, will 

explore the place of entrepreneurship within the field-marrying 

fresh concepts with the museum's mission as stewards of the past. 

For more information on registration and the meeting agenda, visit 

the AASLH website at www.aaslh.org/2009-annual-meeting.htm. 

Events 

Preservation-related 

Commemorations 

Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month / May 

Historic Preservation Month / May 

Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month / September 15-October 15 
National Park Service 

1849 C Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20240 

Presort 

FIRST CLASS MAIL 

Postage & Fees Paid 

U.S. Department 

of the Interior 

Permit # G-83 

www.nps.gov 

SPRING 200 9 

Heritage Matters 

News of the Nation's Diverse Cultural Heritage 

Recent National Historic 

Landmark Designations 

National Register 

Nominations 

About 

Heritage Matters 

Heritage Matters, sponsored by the Cultural 

Resources Programs of the National Park 

Service, is published twice a year, and is free 

of charge. Readers are invited to submit 

short articles and notices for inclusion. 

(Limit submissions to fewer than 600 words 

and include author's name and affiliation. 

Photographs or slides are welcome.) Please 

submit newsletter items in writing or 

electronically to: 

Brian D. Joyner, Editor, Heritage Matters 

DOI/National Park Service, 1849 C Street 

NW (2280), Washington, DC 20240 

phone: 202/354-2276 

e-mail: brianJoyner@nps.gov. 

Internships Provide Career 

Opportunities for 

Diverse Students 

New Courses on NAGPRA 

Available to Tribes 

and Museums 

Filipinos in Ellis Island 

Heritage Preservation 

Grants Allow DC 

Neighborhoods to Tell 

Their Stories