Margaret Styles

Port Chicago Naval Magazine 

National Memorial, NPS

At 10:18 p.m. on Monday, July 17, 

1944, the San Francisco Bay Area 

experienced the largest homeland 

disaster of World War II. There 

was an enormous flash of light, 

followed by a loud explosion that 

shattered windows and scattered 

debris for miles. At the height of 

the War in the Pacific, fear swept 

through the communities of Contra 

Costa County, California, as citizens 

tried to understand what had just 

occurred.

The morning newspapers 

revealed the horrifying details of 

the event. At the Port Chicago Naval 

loading operations on the waterfront north of Concord, 320 men 

died when the two ships they were 

loading with munitions ignited. 

With 4,606 tons of high explosives, 

incendiary bombs, depth charges, 

and ammunition on board the ship, 

SS E.A. Bryan, and an additional 

429 tons of munitions in the 16 railcars sitting on the pier, there was 

no place to hide. Everyone within 

1,000 feet perished.

On July 17, 2004, the National 

Park Service will commemorate 

the 60th anniversary of the explosion at the site where these men 

gave their lives. Located within the 

Concord Naval Weapons Station, 

the Port Chicago Naval Magazine 

National Memorial was dedicated 

in 1994. The commencement will 

reflect on the losses, struggles, and 

lessons learned since the explosion. Presentations will address 

the multiple perspectives of 

events surrounding the explosion. 

Correspondence from AfricanAmerican enlisted sailors who 

loaded the ships and the white 

officers overseeing the operations 

speak to the personal toll the disaster took on those at Port Chicago. 

Discussions of the aftermath and 

the Navy’s handling of the events 

that followed will highlight the 

concerns of the military as it tried 

to negotiate both its own personnel 

and the civilian community. 

After the explosion, in a highly 

publicized Navy trial, 50 black 

N E W S O F T H E N A T I O N ’ S D I V E R S E C U L T U R A L H E R I T A G E

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Conferences 

upcoming, p. 17

Internships, 

p. 7 

National Register 

nominations, p. 9

Publication 

of note, p. 17

Training materials 

available, p. 5

HERITAGE MATTERS

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Reflections: The 60th Anniversary of the 

Port Chicago Explosion

The commemoration ceremony at Port Chicago, July 17, 2003, drew people who wanted to remember those lost in the 

explosion. Photograph courtesy of Margaret Styles.

Navy enlisted men 

unload ordnance at 

Port Chicago Naval 

Magazine before 

the disaster.

See page 2.
Using the Federal 

Historic Preservation 

Tax Incentives 

Program: Spotlight on 

Philadelphia’s Parkside 

Historic District

Angela Shearer

Technical Preservation Services, NPS

Providing affordable housing, 

increasing property values, and 

instilling community pride are 

among the benefits of the Federal 

Historic Preservation Tax Incentives 

Program. Since 1977, this program 

has provided economic incentives 

to rehabilitate historic buildings in 

neighborhoods across the country. 

Administered by the Technical 

Preservation Services branch (TPS) 

of the National Park Service, in 

conjunction with State Historic 

Preservation Offices and the 

Internal Revenue Service, the 

program provides a 20 percent 

tax credit for the cost of rehabilitating historic income-producing 

buildings. Projects eligible for the 

program must follow the Secretary 

of the Interior’s Standards for 

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

page 2

FEDERAL ACTIVITIES stevedores were charged with 

mutiny for refusing to return to 

work. In addition, less than a mile 

away, the citizens of Port Chicago 

fought pressure from the Navy to 

move out in an effort to create a 

wider safety zone surrounding the 

loading operations. 

The commemoration ceremony 

will allow for reflection on the 

disaster and the events that followed, while honoring those who 

sacrificed themselves for the war 

effort.

The 60th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony, Saturday, July 

17, 2004, 10 a.m.–noon, at Port 

Chicago Naval Magazine National 

Memorial. 

For more information, call 925/838-0249 or visit 

the park website at http://www.nps.gov/poch.

The dangerous task of moving explosives fell to enlisted sailors, most of which were African American. Here, stevedores 

unload a boxcar of ordnance at Port Chicago Naval Magazine. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Department of the Navy.
page 3

Rehabilitation—10 historic 

preservation principles—that allow 

for functional changes to a building 

while protecting and maintaining 

its historic character.

Historic buildings, either individually listed in the National 

Register of Historic Places or contributing properties in a National 

Register historic district, which 

are rehabilitated using historic tax 

credits must be used for incomeproducing purposes for five years. 

Commercial use of residential 

properties is the largest sector of 

“new use” rehabilitations created 

by the program. An important factor in the large number of housing 

units is that the historic tax credit 

can be used in conjunction with 

other economic incentives such as 

the Low-Income Housing Credit.

Combining historic tax credits 

with low-income housing credits 

offers an effective means of providing affordable housing and 

saving historic buildings. For 

example, the Philadelphia City 

Planning Commission’s Parkside 

National Register Historic District 

Redevelopment Area Plan states 

that “the historic district, and the 

tax incentives that accompany 

it, are partly responsible for the 

investment and renewal that has 

transformed Parkside Avenue from 

a blighted corridor into a stunning, award-winning collection of 

restored mansions and houses.” 

Located in west Philadelphia, 

the Parkside Historic District’s 

growth and development began 

with the Centennial Exposition 

of 1876 and the growing German 

mercantile middle class that settled 

there at the end of the 19th century. 

The district includes large residences and apartment buildings as well 

as more modest housing stock. The 

City of Philadelphia, in partnership 

with private and non-profit groups, 

succeeded in revitalizing this former German enclave.

Since 1996, the historic tax 

credit has spurred $11,985,043 

in rehabilitation in the Parkside 

Historic District. All of the rehabilitations have been affordable 

housing projects. Of the 239 units 

placed in service since 1996, 166 

are new units. One example from 

Parkside, the Brentwood Apartment 

building, is featured on a new website concerning the Tax Incentives 

Program (see below). Incentives! A 

Guide to the Federal Preservation 

Tax Incentives Program for 

Income-Producing Properties provides basic information on how 

the TPS program works, how to 

qualify for the tax credit, tips on 

how to fill out the application, and 

guidance on meeting the Secretary 

of the Interior’s Standards for 

Rehabilitation.

 Another means of educating the public on uses of the Tax 

Incentives Program is the conference held on November 11–12, 2004, 

in Boston, Massachusetts. “Tax 

Incentives for Developing Historic 

Properties” will include topics such 

as: Transaction Structuring and Tax 

Issues; Effective Project Scheduling; 

Equity from Commercial and 

Institutional Investors; and 

Partnering with Non-Profits and 

Government. 

For more information on the TPS conference, 

visit the conference website at http://www2.cr.nps.

gov/tps/conference/index.htm. For more information on the tax incentive program, visit the 

TPS website at http://www2.cr.nps.gov/tps/tax/

incentives/index.htm.

Heritage Areas 

Preserve Our Historic 

Character

Suzanne Copping

National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers

Established in 1984, the heritage 

area concept offers a strategy to 

develop and implement a conservation and interpretation plan based 

upon a region’s historical, cultural, 

and natural characteristics. It 

provides a framework for partnerships between citizens, Federal, 

state, and local governments, 

and nonprofit and private interests. Most heritage areas contain 

resources and themes that are 

multi-jurisdictional. A management 

entity that represents residents and 

key constituents creates and implements the plan through a process 

that embraces the region’s combination of assets and addresses 

community concerns and values. 

With over 3,000 partners active 

in projects around the country, 

national heritage areas share a 

common desire to conserve the history and quality of life that makes 

their communities unique.

Heritage areas are designated 

by Congress. They function in 

partnership with the National Park 

Service to encourage relationships 

that help to conserve the region’s 

distinctive qualities and foster local 

stewardship of the resources that 

have shaped our national identity. 

Designation highlights the region’s 

national significance but does not 

diminish the rights of individual 

property owners. At the state level, 

Maryland, Utah, Pennsylvania, New 

York, and Louisiana administer 

similar designation and assistance 

programs to recognize regionally 

significant resources. More than 

200 self-designated areas nationwide use the heritage area concept 

to encourage balanced conservation and development of locally 

significant assets. 

To date, there are 24 nationally designated areas in 18 states. 

While the majority currently lie 

in the Northeast, heritage area 

development is moving southward 

and westward to ethnically diverse 

regions with large concentrations 

of American Indians and Hispanics, 

as well as areas with sizable 

African-American populations.

One such example is the 

Northern Rio Grande Heritage 

Area in New Mexico, home to eight 
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

Pueblo tribes and the descendants 

of Spanish settlers who arrived in 

1598. These groups made up the 

early population of the region. 

The national importance of this 

region lies in a combination of 

physical features, such as the Rio 

Grande and surrounding natural 

landscape, and the Indigenous 

cultures, languages, folk arts, 

customs, and architecture. These 

resources are in need of research 

and documentation, preservation, 

and comprehensive interpretation. 

Local governments and residents 

actively support national heritage 

area designation as a mechanism 

for encouraging these activities and 

managing increased levels of heritage tourism, which would 

benefit the region economically 

and socially. 

Organizations and individuals in the Mississippi Delta region 

are also seeking designation as a 

national heritage area. After the 

Civil War, the Mississippi Delta 

played a pivotal role in the agricultural, migratory, and civil rights 

history of the nation. The region is 

known for its blues heritage, and 

contains dozens of historic sites 

that recount the lives of musicians 

such as Muddy Waters and Charley 

Patten, who developed a musical 

style that later influenced rock, 

jazz, and folk. The Delta was also 

the home of Tennessee Williams, 

Eudora Welty, and Richard 

Wright, among other artists. The 

Delta landscape contains diverse 

aquatic, agricultural, and botanical 

resources. National designation of 

the region will enable partnership 

organizations and individuals to 

expand their relationships with 

other national, state, regional, and 

local programs to protect and promote these resources and stories. 

National designation will benefit 

the region by stimulating economic development and local pride 

through heritage tourism.

For more information on national heritage areas 

and the heritage areas strategy, visit http://www.

cr.nps.gov/heritageareas/. For a registry of blues 

and blues heritage sites, or for more information on the Mississippi Delta region, visit Blues 

Highway Association News at http://www.

blueshighway.org/bluesnews.htm.

page 4

San José de Gracia de Las Trampas is one of the resources that make up the Northern Rio Grande Heritage Area. 

Photograph courtesy of Ernest W. Ortega, National Park Service.
page 5

National Park 

Service/University of 

Maryland Develop 

Training Module 

for Archeologists, 

Interpreters

Lena Mortensen

University of Maryland, College Park

The Center for Heritage Resource 

Studies at the University of Maryland, together with the National 

Park Service (NPS) Archeology 

and Ethnography Program and the 

Stephen T. Mather Training Center 

in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, 

designed a four-course training 

module in archeology and interpretation. The program builds on NPS 

online distance learning courses 

and is designed to meet the shared 

competency in archeology and 

interpretation in the National Park 

Service. 

The training program covers a 

full range of interdisciplinary issues 

that enable archeologists and interpreters to work together to provide 

effective and accurate interpretation of archeological resources 

to the public. The training mixes 

traditional classroom settings with 

self-paced online curricula, partner 

learning, on-site case studies, and 

peer evaluation. The four modules 

in this course are: 1) The Public 

Meaning of Archeological Heritage, 

a two-day seminar to be held at the 

University of Maryland, College 

Park; 2) Subject Matter Training: 

Archeology/Interpretation, 

which uses two online, interactive distance learning modules 

developed by NPS; 3) Study Tour 

of Archeological Interpretation 

Programs, a behind-the-scenes tour 

and critical assessment of archeological interpretation at sites in 

the Washington, DC region; and 4) 

Archeological Interpretive Products 

and Assessments, a two-day evaluation seminar at the University of 

Maryland, College Park.

Scheduled to begin in Fall 

2004, this course will be offered 

to archeologists, interpreters, and 

historians in the National Park 

Service through the University of 

Maryland’s Office of Continuing 

Education. In addition to NPS personnel, representatives from state 

and local agencies and non-profit 

heritage organizations are also 

invited to participate.

For more information about this training program, 

contact Lena Mortensen, Assistant Director, Center 

for Heritage Resource Studies, phone: 301/405-

0085, e-mail: lmortensen@anth.umd.edu.

NRCS and Historic 

Preservation: 

Forgotten Territorial 

History

Kenneth C. Kraft

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of 

Agriculture 2002 Farm Bill provides 

cost-share programs to promote 

natural resource conservation on 

private land. Under the auspices of 

Section 106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act, the Natural 

Resources Conservation Service 

(NRCS) conducts cultural resource 

inspections of farms and ranches 

that qualify for Farm Bill programs. 

Such large tracts of private land are 

rarely accessible to archeologists. 

The primary mission of the 

Oklahoma NRCS historic preservation program is identification and 

documentation of cultural resources in the field. Background research 

is conducted using State Historic 

Preservation Office files. Additional 

research is undertaken at local 

libraries, genealogical and historical societies, tribal headquarters, 

and county courthouses. Interviews 

with local informants have proven 

fruitful also. Letters, journals, 

personal memoirs, government 

documents, and historic maps are 

beneficial as well. 

Despite Oklahoma’s rich 

history of lands runs, Indian and 

U.S. Cavalry skirmishes, cattledrives, and missions, much of 

Oklahoma’s cultural and territorial history is unrecognized and 

unrecorded. The NRCS historic 

preservation program records the 

location of lost cultural resources 

and their context within the 

cultural landscape. Sites investigated and identified include the 

Otoe-Missoura Quaker Mission, 

the Santa Fe Trail’s Fort Nichols, 

and multiple forgotten cemeteries. The most recent of Oklahoma 

NRCS historic preservation activities is discovering Murrow Indian 

Orphans Home. 

Throughout the 1800s, Christian 

missionaries such as Father Joseph 

Samuel Murrow maintained a 

strong presence in Indian Territory. 

During his 72-year tenure, from 

1855–1927, Murrow established over 

75 Baptist churches, ordained 60 

American Indian preachers, and 

baptized approximately 1,800 converts. His defining achievement was 

the creation of the Murrow Indian 

Orphans Home in 1900, in what 

is now Pushmataha County. The 

objective was to establish a farm 

for vocational training of Choctaws 

and neighboring Chickasaws. All 

were welcomed but preference was 

given to American Indian orphans. 

Despite his fundraising efforts 

through correspondence with influential people and lecturing around 

the nation, financial difficulties 

forced the Murrow Indian Orphans 

Home to move to the Indian 

University campus, now Bacone 

College, in 1910.

The original location of 

Murrow’s Home was soon lost to 

time. However, thanks to the NRCS 

historic preservation program, the 

location of the home on the 80-

acre allotment has been recovered. 

Once consisting of a schoolhouse, 

dormitories, barns, an orchard, 

cultivated fields, water impoundments, and herds of domestic stock, 

all that remains are two rock-lined 
HERITAGE 

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JUNE 2004

page 6

water wells, a stacked-stone cellar, 

and stem walls of an unidentified building. Unfortunately no 

photographs, sketches, or plan 

maps of the institution survive. 

Nevertheless, the exact location of 

Murrow Indian Orphans Home has 

been identified and documented, 

and can now be preserved and protected by both the new landowner 

and NRCS.

A Gem on the Farm: 

The Slave Quarter at 

Blandair Farm

Thomas Reinhart 

Maryland Historical Trust 

In August 1998, Howard County, 

Maryland, purchased Blandair, a 

300-acre farm in the middle of the 

town of Columbia. The main house 

is a mid-19th-century, centerpassage dwelling built by the descendants of Theodorick Bland, a 

prominent state judge who owned 

the property in 1845–1846, just 

long enough to give it the name 

Blandair. Discussions of the property today, including how the 

county will use the historic resources on the farm, generally focus on 

the dwelling house and often overlook the small slave quarter next 

to it, an almost pristine example 

of this important, but all too rare 

resource type. 

The Historic American Buildings 

Survey (HABS) undertook documentation of the slave quarter as 

a demonstration project during 

the International Preservation 

Trades Workshop, which was held 

at Blandair in October 2003. It was 

conducted in conjunction with documentation of the larger estate by 

HABS, sponsored by the National 

Park Service Historic Preservation 

Training Center in Frederick, 

Maryland, for the Howard County 

Department of Recreation and 

Parks.

The double-pen quarter 

measures approximately 12-feetby-32-feet, with a gable roof and 

a large central brick chimney. It 

stands on a rubble stone foundation with walls made of three-inchthick, sash-sawn log planks with 

mud chinking and dovetail notches 

at the corners. The exterior has 

replacement board-and-batten 

siding and the interior is whitewashed throughout. The first floor 

is divided into two rooms by the 

central chimneystack with passage 

on either side. Each room has an 

exterior door, two windows, and 

a fireplace. A stairway from each 

room leads up to a separate room 

on the second floor, but only the 

south stairway survives. Upstairs, 

vertical board walls on each side of 

the chimney completely separate 

the loft rooms, and each room 

has a small casement window in the 

gable. 

Documentation suggests 1845 as 

a date for the quarter’s construction. When Bland was negotiating 

HABS produced this drawing of the slave quarter for its demonstration project at Blandair, MD. Drawing courtesy of HABS.
page 7

the purchase of the property in 

1844, he noted the necessity “of 

putting upon the land such new 

edifices as would be indispensably 

necessary, of which there are none, 

that is a Negro quarter, stables, 

etc.” He had a team of carpenters 

working on the dependencies after 

closing the sale. The quarter is an 

excellent example of mid-19thcentury slave housing and reflects 

the “reforms” in design and construction implemented by plantation owners who wished to protect 

their investment in their slave labor 

force. During this period, planters began to allocate more money, 

time, and materials to building 

slave quarters in order to improve 

the living conditions. In the 

Blandair quarter, the incorporation 

of a foundation and brick chimney 

are indicative of the expenditure 

of capital and time, and the raised 

floor and whitewashing represent 

attempts to provide a healthier 

environment.

Unfortunately, there is little 

documentation on the antebellum 

occupants of the slave quarter. In 

his will, Bland left the farm, all of 

those enslaved there, and personal 

property associated with it to his 

daughter, Sarah Mayo, but no 

exact numbers were mentioned. In 

1857 when Mayo and her husband 

gave Blandair to their daughter as 

a wedding present, 11 slaves were 

included in the gift.

The Blandair quarter offers a 

unique glimpse of slave housing 

that illustrates the changes appearing in slave architecture in the 

mid-19th century. Its position near 

the farm’s large dwelling house 

presents a juxtaposition of white 

and slave domestic space at the end 

of the antebellum era. County ownership of the farm and its historic 

resources should translate into a 

rich educational and interpretive 

future for Blandair Farm and its 

important slave quarter.

For more information about Blandair, contact 

Thomas Reinhart at reinhart@dhcd.state.md.us.

Fort Lewis College 

Center of Southwest 

Studies Receives 

Congressional Award 

for Native American 

Internships

Melissa Kingsland

Ft. Lewis College

The Fort Lewis College Center of 

Southwest Studies recently received 

a $1,589,600 U.S. Department of 

Education Congressional Award 

for the acquisition of equipment 

and technology and an education program for Native American 

interns. The Center of Southwest 

Studies hopes the award ultimately 

improves heritage preservation on 

Native American reservations.

 According to President Robert 

Dolphin, Jr., “This grant will create 

opportunities for these students 

to contribute to their culture 

through archival work, library 

practices, museum studies, and 

historical preservation. We believe 

that the center, through its programming and work with students 

and scholars, will bring further 

national acclaim to the college.” 

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell 

of Colorado and his wife Linda, a 

member of the Board of Trustees 

for Fort Lewis College, were instrumental in the college receiving the 

award. 

Director of the Center of 

Southwest Studies, Andrew 

Gulliford said the four areas of 

internship training—archival training, library studies, museum studies, and historic preservation—are 

all related to the cultural resource 

needs of reservations today. 

“Reservations want things like 

museums and an archival system, 

but they need staff from within 

their own tribe,” he said. As the 

first college to receive a congressional appropriation for a Native 

American intern program, Gulliford 

said the goal of the college and 

center is to help Native people care 

for their heritage.

The internships are available 

to Native American students and 

graduates for both undergraduate 

and for professional/career-track 

positions. The professional internship is a nine-month program, 

based at the Center of Southwest 

Studies, with outreach opportunities at institutions across the Four 

Corners region. Staff of the Center 

for Southwest Studies will mentor 

the interns in the four disciplines as 

well as provide classroom instruction. Gulliford hopes the center will 

be able to make the program selfsustaining within three years.

For more information or to apply for an internship, visit http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/internshipsoverview.htm, or contact Andrew Gulliford at 

970/247-7494; e-mail: gulliford_a@fortlewis.edu.

2004 OAH Annual 

Meeting

Michèle Gates Moresi

National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers

The National Park Service (NPS) 

began its participation in the 

Organization of American Historians (OAH) 97th Annual Meeting, 

held in Boston, March 25–28, 

2004, by conducting a pre-meeting workshop for historians. The 

OAH conference theme, “American 

Revolutions” attracted engaging 

presentations, including sessions 

and events on the landmark Brown 

v. Board of Education decision.

NPS historians, consultants, 

PARTNERS ACTIVITIES
HERITAGE 

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page 8

local historians, and public history 

practitioners attended the twoand-a-half-day workshop, “History 

in the National Park Service,” 

March 23–25. Presentations on 

“Doing ‘Tough’ History,” included 

a discussion about the Gulag 

Museum at Perm 36 in Russia, and 

raised some comments about the 

2001 exhibit at Martin Luther King 

National Historic Site, “Without 

Sanctuary: Lynching Photography 

in America,” and the Holocaust 

Museum in Washington, DC. This 

session opened the workshop with 

provocative questions: What is 

the appropriate balance between 

the spectacle of horrific images 

and presenting accurate historical 

stories? How much latitude does 

a park superintendent have to 

expand a site’s interpretation to 

contemporary issues? How can 

legacies of violence appropriately 

translate into a learning experience 

at museums and historic sites?

Participants to the NPS workshop also heard from contract 

historians about researching and 

writing administrative histories, 

engaging in collaborations with the 

academy, conducting oral history 

projects of World War II Tuskegee 

Airmen and at the USS Arizona

Memorial, and interpreting Native 

American histories for the Lewis 

and Clark Centennial and the NPS 

Sand Creek Massacre Site Location 

Study. Historian Edward Linenthal 

discussed his work during “Preserving Memory: Seminars in the 

Preservation and Presentation of 

History for NPS Managers” and 

indicated his interest in seeing 

more interpretive work on religion 

at historic sites.

Nearly 200 OAH sessions and 

events explored a wide range of 

topics, such as civil rights activism and resistance struggles in 

the Americas related to diverse 

cultural groups. Some ethnic 

studies sessions, such as “Asian 

Immigrants and Asian Americans: 

A Half-Century of Experiences 

Coping with American Policies and 

Culture” and “Pots of Promise: 

Mexicans, Reformers, and the Hull 

House Kilns, 1920–1940” presented 

new research while indicating the 

need to address inter-ethnic and 

cross-class relations.

OAH organizers grouped 

sessions and events according 

to broad interests. “Focus on 

Teaching” sessions presented strategies and issues in teaching history 

that appealed to schoolteachers, 

museum educators, and curators, 

as well as university professors. 

“Graduate Student” panels featured sessions organized for and 

research presented by current 

students. “State-of-the-Field” sessions were designed to appeal to a 

broad audience by discussing the 

development of subfields such as 

public history, ethnic studies, and 

slavery, among others. In the panel, 

“State-of-the-Field: Latino/Latina 

History,” presenters discussed 

the role of language in categorizing 

cultural groups (Hispanic versus 

Latino) and problems with the 

construct of these categories that 

blend national and cultural differences.

The anniversary of the Brown

decision informed several presentations. For instance, in a roundtable 

style panel entitled “Interpreting 

Brown v. Board of Education: 

Public History, Teaching, and 

Historiography,” professors and 

museum practitioners discussed 

methods of communicating the 

lessons and legacies of Brown, as 

well as the broader issues of desegregation, in the classroom and in 

exhibits. 

Other sessions highlighted the 

significance of community spaces 

and public history venues while 

allowing an opportunity to visit the 

city. A plenary session offering a 

retrospective of Brown, featuring 

the Honorable Robert L. Carter, a 

member of the NAACP legal team 

that argued Brown before the 

Supreme Court, was held at the 

Union United Methodist Church 

and another one, “A Town Meeting 

with Howard Zinn,” was held at the 

Old South Meeting House. Overall, 

numerous OAH events and sessions 

reflected the growing significance 

of public history and ethnic studies 

in American historical research and 

run the spectrum of interests of 

association members.

For more information about the OAH, visit 

http://www.oah.org.

AHA Annual Meeting: 

January 8–11, 2004

Brian D. Joyner

National Park Service

Current events often dictate our 

historical focus. The American 

Historical Association (AHA) chose 

“War and Peace: History and the 

Dynamics of Human Conflict and 

Cooperation” as the theme for 

their 118th annual conference, held 

in Washington, DC, January 8-11, 

2004. AHA’s meeting covered the 

symbolic notions of world war and 

peace through religion, nationalism, imperialism, and personal 

activism. The proceeding began 

with remarks from James McPherson, distinguished historian and 

current president of AHA, and his 

presentation of the Inaugural Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson 

Public Service Award to Senator 

Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. 

The plenary session, “Thought 

of War in a Democratic Age,” followed, setting the meeting tone. 

Sessions addressed military and 

domestic conflict across eras and 

nations, and were interspersed with 

workshops on modern practices 

and technologies for historians and 

the field. Affiliated historical organizations co-hosted related sessions and offered support sessions 

to its memberships. Topics related 

to diverse communities were prevalent and presented opportunities to 

discuss current research. 
“Nationalism, Ethnicity, and 

Citizenship Among Japanese Americans During the Sino-Japanese War 

and World War II,” addressed the 

transnational nature of Japanese 

heritage in America at a time of 

state-sponsored cultural assimilation and growing concerns of the 

imperial aims of Japan and how 

they conflicted with those of the 

United States. Racism and housing on the American homefront 

were investigated in “Racial Conflict, Housing, and World War II.” 

Papers addressed discriminatory 

practices as they affected African 

Americans and other people of 

color at home, while their brethren 

fought for America abroad.

Other sessions addressed 

imperial and domestic policies of 

nations through the war and peace 

paradigm. For example, “A Historian, a Slave Rebel, and a Film: 

Reflections on Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property,” examined the 

various interpretations of Turner 

explored in the film and the view of 

slavery as a domestic war between 

the enslaved and slavers, culminating in the American Civil War. This 

was complemented with a session 

“Double Trouble or Double Victory: 

How Wars Shaped the Struggle for 

Black Liberation.” Alternately, “The 

Year China Discovered America: A 

Roundtable Discussion,” focused 

on the claims of the Gavin Menzies book, which covered Chinese 

contact with the Americas prior 

to Columbus. The session offered 

insight into Chinese imperial efforts 

during the Age of Exploration and 

its subsequent retreat from world 

affairs. A later session, “Defining 

Change and Continuity: Building 

State and Society in 20th-Century 

China,” addressed China’s reemergence in the 20th century.

Next year’s meeting will take 

place January 6-9, 2005 in Seattle, 

Washington. 

For more information about past and future 

conferences, visit the AHA website at http://www.

historians.org/annual/index.cfm. 

National Register Of 

Historic Places Listings

Rustin Quaide

Caridad de la Vega

National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers

Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu 

Memorial Park 

The Kyoto Gardens is located at 

the eastern half of the Honolulu 

Memorial Park cemetery. It consists 

of two large columbaria (a structure of vaults lined with recesses 

for cinerary urns), other structures, 

and a Japanese garden. The State 

of Hawaii established the Honolulu 

Memorial Park as a community service cemetery in 1958. President of 

Honolulu Memorial Park, Herbert 

M. Richards, created the Kinkakuji memorial, along with the Sanju 

Pagoda, which were completed in 

July 1966. 

Originally named the Nuuanu 

Memorial Gardens Funerary Home, 

the Kyoto Gardens was renamed in 

1966 with the donation of a bronze 

bell donated by Mayor Takayama 

of Kyoto, Japan. Written in English and Japanese, the inscription 

on the bell reads “World Peace 

Forever. Praying for the Everlasting Fellowship of Honolulu and 

Kyoto, Mayor Yoshizo Takayama, 

January 1, 1966.” The three-tiered 

Kinkaku-ji Temple and the Mirror 

Gardens are considered to be the 

finest examples of Japanese traditional-style structures and gardens 

built outside of Japan. The Kyoto 

Gardens of Honolulu Memorial 

Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on February 

11, 2004.

Military Road-Cadron Segment

Listed in the National Register 

of Historic Places on January 28, 

2004, as part of the Cherokee 

Trail of Tears Multiple Property 

Submission, the Military RoadCadron segment is significant 

for its association with Native 

American heritage, and in the areas 

of exploration, settlement, and 

transportation. The Military RoadCadron segment is one of the few 

extant sections of the Cherokee 

Trail of Tears. The 578-feet long and 

approximately 18-feet wide section 

of this 19th-century roadbed is one 

of two surviving roadbeds located 

west of Little Rock, Arkansas.

The construction of the 

road was authorized by an act 

of Congress on March 3, 1825. 

Established by assistant quartermaster general Lt. James Dawson, 

the travel route was completed 

in 1828 and was used until 1839. 

It covered an area between Little 

Rock and Fort Gibson, Indiana. 

The remaining roadbed is associated with the removal of other 

STATE ACTIVITIES

page 9

The Kinkaku-ji Temple in Honolulu, HI, 

was designed according to Japanese 

architectural traditions. Photograph 

courtesy of David Franzen.
page 10

Native American groups, including 

the Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and 

Chickasaw. 

Mt. Olive Rosenwald School

The Mt. Olive Rosenwald School in 

Bradley County, Arkansas, is one of 

five Julius Rosenwald-funded buildings that were constructed between 

1922 and 1927 and it is the only 

two-classroom school built in the 

county. Designed in the Colonial 

Revival style, the one-story, 

T-shaped building provided classes 

for African-American students 

through the 10th grade. It was used 

as a school as late as 1949. After the 

school closed, the building became 

a community center for the surrounding area. Among other activities, the building hosted quilting 

parties, functions, and events. 

The Mt. Olive School is significant for its association with Julius 

Rosenwald, former chairman of 

Sears, Roebuck, and Company. In 

1917, Rosenwald established the 

Julius Rosenwald Fund, which 

raised more funds for the benefit 

of black education than any other 

philanthropic undertaking of its 

time. The school was listed in the 

National Register of Historic Places 

on January 21, 2004.

The George Washington Carver 

Library and Auditorium

The George Washington Carver 

Library and Auditorium was constructed in 1929 as the “Colored 

Branch of the San Antonio Library 

and Auditorium.” The building 

stands at the southeast corner of 

San Antonio’s east side, on the 

site of the old Colored Recreation 

Center. The City of San Antonio, 

Texas, purchased the property 

in 1925, and opened a branch of 

the public library. A 1928 bond 

issue provided funds to construct 

a new library and auditorium on 

the site. The building, designed by 

local architects Carl Von Seutter 

and Malcolm Simmons, opened 

in 1930. Until desegregation in the 

1950s, the library and auditorium 

remained a vital educational and 

social gathering place for the 

African-American community. 

The auditorium was renowned 

as a venue for entertainment. 

Appearances by leading AfricanAmerican performers—including 

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Ella 

Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and 

Count Basie, as well as leading 

political and religious speakers— 

were commonplace. Social clubs 

held dances, initiations, and meetings in the auditorium also. Elderly 

San Antonio residents still recall it 

as the largest dance venue in the 

city. While African-American social 

life revolved around the auditorium, the adjoining library was the 

center of learning. San Antonio’s 

first African-American librarian, 

Byrd Holland, was the initial director of the Colored branch. Her successor, Prudence Curry, took over 

in 1929, and with the exception of a 

brief period, remained in that position until her retirement in 1958. 

After the library closed in 1973, 

the building was renovated as a 

performing arts and meeting facility, continuing its role as a venue 

for artistic programming and community discussion. It reopened in 

1976 as the George Washington 

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

The Mt. Olive Rosenwald School 

was once a social and cultural hub 

in the African-American community 

in Bradley County, AR. Photograph 

courtesy of Ralph S. Wilcox, Arkansas Historic 

Preservation Program.
page 11

Carver Community Cultural Center. 

The center is being renovated and 

is scheduled to open in 2004. The 

Carver Library and Auditorium is 

a two-story brown brick Art Deco 

building with cast stone trim and 

Egyptian revival detailing. The 

Carver Library and Auditorium was 

listed in the National Register of 

Historic Places on November 15, 

2003.

The Pabst Brewing Company 

Complex

The Pabst Brewing Company 

Complex, listed in the National 

Register of Historic Places on 

November 12, 2003, consists of 27 

buildings, plus 4 additional structures occupying the 900 and 1000 

blocks of West Juneau Avenue and 

the 1100 and 1200 blocks of North 

10th and 11th streets in the City of 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 

1844, the Pabst Brewing Company 

Complex is one of the largest breweries in the United States. 

Although its precise origins are 

unknown—it is first documented 

in Munich in 1420—many brewing 

historians attribute the advent of 

lager to Bavarian monasteries. First 

brewed in the United States in the 

1840s, lager production followed 

German migration patterns within 

the country and could be found in 

such cities as Philadelphia, New 

York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, 

and Milwaukee, that attracted sizable German communities. 

Under the leadership of Captain 

Frederick Pabst, the Pabst Brewing 

Company (formerly the Phillip Best 

Brewing Company) became the 

largest national brewery in 1874 

and the largest lager brewery in the 

world, the first to produce over a 

million barrels of beer in a single 

year, in 1892. Milwaukee’s German 

immigrant and second-generation 

population more than doubled 

during the 1850s. This community 

provided a ready market and 

skilled workforce for the lager 

breweries that thrived in the City 

of Milwaukee. 

The Carver Library and Auditorium 

has served the San Antonio, TX, 

African-American population since 

1929. The inset shows the original 

name of the library, “Colored Branch 

of the San Antonio Library and 

Auditorium.” Photographs courtesy of 

Maria Watson Pfeiffer.

The architecture of the Pabst Brewing 

Complex reflects the German cultural 

heritage associated with the lager 

brewing process and the German 

immigrant community in Milwaukee, 

WI. Photograph courtesy of Michael T. 

McQuillen, Wisconsin Historical Society.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

page 12

The Pabst Brewing Company 

Complex is characterized by large, 

cavernous buildings constructed 

between 1858 and 1975 composed 

of masonry materials, including 

cream brick, cut stone, and pressed 

brick. The German Renaissance 

Revival style dominates the com-

plex, with battlements and cren-

ellated towers. Elements of the 

Italianate, Gothic Revival, and 

Moderne styles can also be found 

within the complex.

Union Bethel African Methodist 

Episcopal Church

The Union Bethel African 

Methodist Episcopal Church in 

Great Falls is one of the earliest 

African-American churches in 

Montana. The church exempli-

fies the development of AfricanAmerican communities in the 

western United States following 

the Civil War. After emancipation, 

a growing number of freed men 

and women and freeborn African 

Americans joined the national 

migration west. These exodusters 

swiftly established institutions, 

such as churches, in the places they 

settled. 

African Americans began arriv-

ing in Great Falls in the late 1880s. 

In 1890, the Great Falls African 

Methodist Episcopal (AME) 

Church organized as a congregation 

and began meeting in the city’s first 

fire station on 2nd Avenue South. 

The next year, Ed Simms, William 

Morgan, and A.W. Raym, trustees 

of the Great Falls AME, purchased 

the lot where the church currently 

The largest of three African 

Methodist Episcopal congregations 

in Montana, Union Bethel AME 

serves the local community, as well 

as nearby Malestrom Air Force Base. 

Photograph courtesy of Barbara Behan.

The St. Joseph Catholic Church is a 

cultural and architectural landmark 

of the Polish community in Camden, 

NJ. Photograph courtesy of Sheila Koehler, 

New Jersey Historic Preservation Office.
page 13

stands. Great Falls AME changed its 

name to Union Bethel AME in 1905.

The original one-story wood 

frame building was built in 1891 

with a parsonage on the south 

side of the building. The current 

building was constructed in 1917. 

It is representative of local Gothic 

Revival architecture in Montana 

during the early 20th century. 

Union Bethel AME is a tall, onestory rectangular, wooden structure 

with brick veneer, and a steep gable 

roof. 

Historically and today, Union 

Bethel AME has provided a forum 

in which black and white Great 

Falls residents could mix socially. 

Today, the congregation is flourishing with a multi-racial mix of 

Air Force personnel from East 

Base/Malestrom Air Force Base and 

an influential group of long-tern 

members and their extended families. The Union Bethel AME Church 

was listed in the National Register 

of Historic Places on September 11, 

2003.

St. Joseph Polish Catholic Church

St. Joseph Polish Catholic Church, 

built in 1914 and located at 10th 

and Liberty Streets in Camden, 

New Jersey, is an architectural and 

community landmark. The church, 

together with the 1895 school and 

the 1901 rectory, have anchored the 

Polish community in South Camden 

since the parish was created 111 

years ago in response to a wave of 

Polish immigration to the area. 

The parish was instrumental in 

community support, through the 

construction of housing around 

the church and the formation of 

Polish-owned savings and loan 

associations. The church was 

designed by Philadelphia architect 

George I. Lovatt, Sr., and reflected 

the Baroque architecture and the 

European traditions of the Polish 

congregation. St. Joseph Polish 

Catholic Church was listed in the 

National Register of Historic Places 

on December 18, 2003.

The Portland Buddhist Church

The number of Japanese immigrants in Oregon was small at the 

turn of the 20th century. More than 

half of the state’s 2,600 Japanese 

lived in Portland. On August 10, 

1903, Portland’s Japanese settlers 

invited Reverend Gendo Nakai of 

Seattle to give a sermon in town, 

which inspired the organization of a Buddhist congregation 

for Portland. The first Portland 

Buddhist Church was located 

in a rented building at 18 First 

Avenue. By 1910, the congregation 

purchased an old house on Tenth 

Avenue, razed it, and built a new 

church. The church quickly became 

a center for both political and 

spiritual gatherings. Activities at the 

church included a Fujinkai (women’s group) and the Young Men’s 

and Young Women’s Buddhist 

Associations, which offered socials, 

sports, and handcrafts. 

In May 1942, the church 

was forced to close as Japanese 

Americans in states bordering the 

Pacific Ocean were evacuated to 

relocation centers by the Federal 

government. A Portland attorney, 

Neal Crouse, was asked to take 

care of the church, which reopened 

after the end of World War II. In 

1965, a new church building was 

constructed on SW 34th Avenue, 

and the old church building was 

sold. It has been used since as 

offices for a variety of businesses. 

A three-story, unreinforced 

brick building with a flat roof, the 

Portland Buddhist Church was 

listed in the National Register of 

Historic Places on January 21, 2004.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is 

historically significant because of 

its association with the AfricanAmerican community in New 

Haven, Connecticut. St. Luke’s is 

one of four churches formed in 

New Haven during the 1840s by 

African Americans who separated 

from white congregations. The current church was erected in 1905 and 

represents the parish’s success in 

overcoming early social and financial struggles to become an active 

and thriving community presence. 

St. Luke’s has the distinction of 

being the first Episcopal church 

established by black parishioners 

in New Haven. One of the founding 

officers of St. Luke’s Church was 

Alexander DuBois, grandfather 

of scholar and educator W.E.B. 

DuBois. In 1852, the congregation 

purchased the property of the 

Negro Baptist Society on Park 

Street and worshipped there for 

several decades. In 1894 St. Luke’s 

celebrated its 50th anniversary 

by endowing a building fund for 

a larger church. A new edifice on 

Whalley Avenue opened in 1905. 

In the early 20th century, various 

church guilds were established to 

provide food, shelter, clothing, 

Fulfilling the spiritual needs of the 

Japanese community in Oregon for 

over 30 years, the Portland Buddhist 

Church was listed in the National 

Register January 21, 2004. Photograph 

courtesy of Amy McFeeters-Krone, Oregon 

State Historic Preservation Office.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

page 14

and visitation for parishioners in 

need. Outreach extended to the 

New Haven community included 

providing educational and social 

services, making it a valuable community asset.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church 

is an example of the late Gothic 

Revival style and of the work of a 

local architecture firm, Brown and 

von Beren, which was influential in 

the design of domestic, civic, and 

commercial architecture in New 

Haven from the late 19th century 

into the 1920s. St. Luke’s Episcopal 

Church was listed in the National 

Register of Historic Places on 

November 21, 2003.

The St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in New Haven, CT, is exemplary of late Gothic Revival architecture. Photograph courtesy of 

Mary Dunne, New Haven Preservation Trust.
page 15

Faga Village Site

Listed in the National Register 

of Historic Places on November 

23, 2003, the Faga Village Site is 

located in Manu’a County on the 

island of Ta’u in American Samoa. 

This archeological site is significant 

for its association with the origin 

of the Tui Manu’a title and according to oral tradition, as the oldest 

Samoan village. Occupied as a 

village until recently, the site has 

the potential to yield important 

information about the prehistory of 

Samoa. 

With a period of significance 

spanning 900 years between 980 

and 1930, the Faga Village site 

reveals information about Samoa’s 

founding, the evolution of its 

people, and the introduction of 

European-American cultures to 

the island. The island also plays 

an important role in the history of 

the settlement of the Polynesian 

Islands as the easternmost island of 

Western Polynesia. Remains identified to date include house foundations, graves or burial monuments, 

terraces, hearths, and walls, among 

other features. Although the village 

is no longer inhabited, it is still 

used for agricultural purposes and 

burials. 

Trujillo Homestead

The Trujillo Homestead is significant in the area of Hispanic heritage for its association with Pedro 

Trujillo, a first-generation HispanicAmerican rancher who operated a 

small cattle ranch in rural Alamosa 

County, Colorado between 1879 and 

1902. The homestead is located in 

the San Luis Valley region and is 

unique for its building construction as a two-story log ranch house 

in lieu of the more traditional 

adobe construction typical to the 

area and period. Representative 

of the first ranches established in 

the area, the homestead symbolizes the tempestuous relationship 

between the small Hispanic-owned 

family operations in the area and 

the larger American-owned cattle 

ranching operations. Furthermore, 

it represents the contentiousness 

between Hispanic sheepherders 

and American cattleman as the latter contested ownership of local 

lands. The Trujillo Homestead 

was eventually sold in 1902 to the 

Medano Ranch. The homestead 

site includes a well, a circular metal 

stock tank, a stable/barn, a 

corral, and a two-story ranch 

house. The Trujillo ranch was listed 

in the National Register of Historic 

Places on February 4, 2004. 

The Trujillo Homestead dates from 

the late 1800s and is associated with 

the earliest generations of HispanicAmerican ranchers in Colorado. 

Photograph courtesy of Thomas H. Simmons, 

the Nature Conservancy.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

page 16

Past Meets Future in 

Lincoln Park, MD 

Maizie Cummings

Terry Lachin

Sharyn Duffin

Dale Pastor

The Lincoln Park Partners Project

Demographic changes are affecting 

older neighborhoods across the 

nation. Lincoln Park, a historically 

black neighborhood in suburban 

Maryland, is coping with similar 

issues as newer immigrant groups 

alter the cultural landscape of the 

area. Platted in 1891 as a Negro 

subdivision adjacent to the B&O 

Railroad line, Lincoln Park was 

annexed by the city of Rockville 

in 1949. Today’s residents, many 

of whom are descendants of the 

original 19th-century landowners, 

are coping with rapid demographic 

change by documenting and promoting their community’s history 

through a public-private collaboration.

In 2000, residents joined with a 

consortium of local organizations, 

including Peerless Rockville (a historic preservation group), United 

Black Cultural Center, Montgomery 

County Archives, Rockville Regional Library, and Montgomery 

County Historical Society to form 

Lincoln Park Partners Project 

(LPPP). Their objectives include 

identifying historical resources, 

producing a resource guide, and 

creating a website illustrating and 

documenting Lincoln Park’s history, development, and social and 

spiritual life. The website is hosted 

by the Rockville Regional Library 

and is available online at http://

www.montgomerycountymd.gov/

Content/Libraries/lpark/lpproject.

asp.

LPPP collaborates with residents 

to document Lincoln Park’s history and long-standing tradition of 

community activism. Throughout 

the late 19th- to mid-20th century, Lincoln Park espoused the 

cause of equality of education. 

In 1867, freedmen petitioned the 

local school board for a teacher, 

agreeing to pay the teacher’s living 

expenses and the schoolhouse’s 

fuel and lights. In 1876, the Rockville Colored Elementary School 

opened. By 1927, the town established Rockville Colored High 

School. When a new building was 

acquired in 1936, the high school 

moved to Lincoln Park, and was 

renamed Lincoln High School. 

Lincoln Park’s desire for 

adequate schooling was tied to the 

larger battle for civil rights. In 1936, 

local teacher and principal William 

B. Gibbs filed a lawsuit seeking 

equal pay with his white contemporaries. Thurgood Marshall, then 

a young attorney with the National 

Association for the Advancement 

of Colored People (NAACP), represented Gibbs, whose case was 

settled successfully out of court in 

1937. Gibbs and other early suits 

were instrumental to the NAACP’s 

strategy of attacking the discriminatory system through legal action, 

building to the 1954 United States 

Supreme Court’s decision in Brown 

v. Board of Education, which overturned the “separate but equal” 

standard previously enforced. 

Lincoln Park was also active in 

organizing boycotts, rallies, and sitins to eliminate barriers in housing 

and public accommodations.

To honor the community’s 

contributions toward school desegregation, LPPP is participating in 

programs commemorating the 50th 

anniversary of the Brown decision. 

Local residents, historians, and 

educators, whose stories document 

the segregation and integration 

of Montgomery County Public 

schools, are making connections 

with today’s students and residents, 

ensuring that the spirit of Lincoln 

Park continues.

LPPP’s next step is to document 

the demographic shift in the community since the mid-1980s, when 

increasing numbers of Latino, 

Asian, and other immigrant groups 

began arriving, attracted to its convenient public transportation and 

affordable housing. LPPP is collaborating with the city of Rockville 

to commemorate Lincoln Park’s 

history and allocate resources to 

continue documenting the community. LPPP and others are also 

working to nominate the Lincoln 

Park community to the National 

Register of Historic Places.

LOCAL ACTIVITIES

Formerly a high school for the Rockville African-American community, Lincoln 

High School now serves as a school board administrative building and is leased 

to other nonprofit organizations. Photograph courtesy of Richard Andrews, Peerless 

Rockville. 
page 17

Publications

Newly Published Travel Reference 

Guide Series Dedicated to Heritage 

Tourism

Onward Toward Recife: Cinnamon Traveler Insider’s Guide is a 

new travel reference guide series 

dedicated to heritage tourism. This 

first volume explores the African 

Diaspora experience on Martha’s 

Vineyard Island from historical and 

contemporary perspectives. 

Historical essays chronicle the 

African Diaspora presence on 

Martha’s Vineyard Island beginning in the 1700s and offer insight 

into the interwoven multinational 

origins of the island’s “Community 

of Color.” Self-guided adventures 

highlight lighthouses, weathervanes, a walking tour of Oak Bluffs, 

and a day voyage to Nantucket to 

walk the Black Heritage Trail and 

visit the African Meeting House. 

Practical planning information 

about travel to the island, accommodations, on island transportation, restaurants, beaches and local 

business directory are also presented with important telephone 

numbers and websites. 

For more information about the book and heritage tour adventures, visit the Cinnamon Traveler 

Heritage Trust website at http://www.cinnamontraveler.org or contact Sangeet Grace Lynis at 

claybeach10@cinnamontraveler.org

Conferences

The 4th International Conference 

on Diversity in Organizations, 

Communities, and Nations

The University of California, 

Los Angeles, will host the 4th 

International Conference on 

Diversity in Organizations, 

Communities, and Nations from 

July 6–9, 2004.

The conference will address a 

broad range of multidisciplinary 

themes relating to diversity and 

difference. The overarching 

themes are Diversity of Cultures, 

Representing Diversity—the 

Globalizing Media, and Governing 

Diversity in a Globalizing World. 

The conference will include both 

major keynote addresses by internationally renowned speakers and 

numerous small-group workshop 

and paper presentation sessions.

For more information, visit the conference website 

at http://www.Diversity-Conference.com.

Camp Connections: A Conversation 

about Social Justice and Civil Rights 

in Arkansas Conference

The University of Arkansas, in 

partnership with the Japanese 

American National Museum, will 

hold a day-long conference on 

Japanese internment at the Jerome 

and Rohwer Relocation Camps in 

Arkansas on September 25, 2004. 

The conference will take place in 

conjunction with a larger, threeday event, “Arkansas and the 

Japanese American Story,” as part 

of the organization’s joint project, 

Life Interrupted: The Japanese 

American Experience in World War 

II Arkansas.

“Camp Connections” will feature speakers, including Gary Y. 

Okihiro of Columbia University and 

Franklin Odo of the Smithsonian 

Institution, as well as breakout 

sessions on the topic. 

For more information on the conference and 

related events, visit the Life Interrupted website at 

http://www.lifeinterrupted.org.

National Trust’s 2004 Preservation 

Conference

The National Trust for Historic 

Preservation (the Trust) will hold 

its Preservation Conference in 

Louisville, Kentucky, September 

28-October 3, 2004. This year’s 

conference, “Restore America: 

Communities at a Crossroads,” 

seeks to highlight preservation 

endeavors specific to the South, 

such as Rosenwald Schools and 

landscape conservation, cuttingedge ideas and tactics for financial 

incentives, neighborhood revival, 

downtown revitalization, affordable 

housing, transportation, and organizational development. Sessions 

will offer advice on taking advantage of opportunities in heritage 

tourism, historic sites, rural conservation, and preservation advocacy. 

For more information on the conference, visit 

the Trust’s conference website at http://www.

nthpconference.org/, or contact the Trust, phone: 

800/944-6847.

Catoctin Center for Regional Studies 

Conference

Frederick Community College 

and the National Park Service 

will hold its 3rd regional history 

conference, “Catoctin Crossroads: 

Folk Traditions and History in 

Mid-Maryland,” at Frederick 

Community College in Frederick, 

Maryland on October 1-2, 2004. 

The conference will explore 

the history and culture of MidMaryland and the adjacent areas 

of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and 

Virginia.

Direct all inquiries to Barbara Powell, Conference 

Coordinator Catoctin Center for Regional Studies, 

Frederick Community College, 7932 Opossumtown 

Pike, Frederick, MD 21702; phone: 301/624-2803; 

fax: 301/846-2498.

PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCES 
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

Discovery and Loss: 

The Takahashi Farm, 

Section 106, and Our 

Diverse Heritage

Neal Kaptain

Christian Gerike

John Kelley

LSA Associates, Inc.

With the arrival of large numbers 

of Japanese immigrants during the 

1890s, Japanese-American culture 

began to influence the cultural 

fabric of California. This impact 

can be seen in both urban and 

rural landscapes in many parts 

of California. The archeological 

deposits associated with those 

landscapes provide opportunities 

for the study of Japanese-American 

cultural heritage. Unfortunately, 

precious few archeological studies have been conducted or their 

results added to our nation’s 

inventory of historically significant 

places. 

In October 2002, archeologists 

conducted cultural resource studies for an interchange improvement project on Interstate 80, on 

rural land at the edge of the Sierra 

Nevada foothills, 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, in compliance 

with Section 106 of the National 

Historic Preservation Act. During 

the field survey, the remains of 

two Japanese-American farms 

were identified and recorded: the 

Takahashi farm and the Takuma 

farm. Of the two, the Takahashi 

family farm was better preserved, 

and the site was evaluated and 

found eligible for listing in the 

National Register of Historic 

Places. 

Information about the farm 

comes from field survey, documentary research, and interviews 

with members of the Takahashi 

family. Three generations of the 

family worked the farm from the 

1930s until it was abandoned in the 

1990s. Archeological surveys of the 

80-acre farm identified a concrete 

house foundation, a basement, a 

small concrete foundation with a 

chimney, a collapsed wood-frame 

structure, a shed, a well, concrete 

water diversion structures, fence 

remains, olive trees, walnut trees, 

several ornamental plants, and the 

remnants of a peach orchard and 

vineyard. Subsequent oral history 

and archival research indicated 

that the farm had a main house of 

two stories with a full basement, 

a barn, an ofuro (hot tub), and a 

packing shed. The family grew table 

and wine grapes and peaches. In 

addition, they kept a few cattle on 

the farm and attempted poultry 

farming. 

The Takahashi farm site was significant for its connection to larger 

historic trends as well as California 

agricultural history. From 1942 to 

1945, the Takahashi family was sent 

to the Amache Relocation Camp 

in Colorado, one of the 10 World 

War II internment camps west of 

the Mississippi River, along with 

120,000 other persons of Japanese 

ancestry. As a result, many families 

lost or sold all of their holdings. 

Leases on farms held by those 

relocated were almost immediately 

sold to other farmers. In only a few 

instances were leases kept available for tenants upon their return. 

The relocation order was revoked 

in early 1945, and a few, including 

some members of the Takahashi 

family, returned to claim property 

held in trust by friends and churches. They were, by far, the exception.

Prior to the report, no archeological study of a Japanese family 

POINT OF VIEW

page 18

ICOM 20th General Conference

The International Conference of 

Museums (ICOM) will host its 

20th general conference and 21st 

general assembly in Seoul, Korea, 

from October 2-8, 2004. This year’s 

theme will be “Museums and 

Intangible Heritage,” examining the 

role of museums in the stewardship of non-material, ephemeral, 

and intangible cultural heritage. 

The conference seeks to promote 

a deeper understanding of multiple cultural identities of people 

throughout the world and the 

expression of those cultures. 

The conference is open to all 

museum disciplines and is of interest to cultural resource managers in 

dealing with similar issues affecting 

the historic preservation/cultural 

resources field. 

For more information, visit the ICOM conference 

website http://www.icom2004.org/home.htm.
page 19

farm had taken place in California. 

The Takahashi farm site constitutes 

an ethnic landscape representing 

the history of Japanese-American 

farming in Placer County. The farm 

was found eligible for listing in the 

National Register of Historic Places 

under Criterion A, for its association with events in our history representing Japanese American agricultural practices in Placer County; 

and Criterion D for its potential 

to yield information important 

in history through archeological, 

archival, and oral history research 

of Japanese-American farming 

in Placer County, and California. 

However, prior to archeological 

excavations, the remains of the 

Takahashi Farm were destroyed as 

a result of activities unrelated to 

the transportation project. 

Cultural resources representing 

the diverse minorities of California’s history appear to be greatly 

under-represented. The Takahashi 

farm demonstrates that there are 

archeological opportunities for 

studying the Japanese-American 

contribution to California’s rural 

history. Historic preservation legislation can encourage compliance, 

but greater efforts must be made to 

identify and preserve the cultural 

resources that represent the historical diversity of the people of California before they are lost again.

Awakenings

Karen Coody Cooper

National Museum of the American Indian

Recently, a mixed audience 

attended a museum workshop 

designed for Native American participants. Exercises and examples 

contained Native scenarios. Evaluations for the program revealed 

that some non-Native participants 

were displeased that the workshop 

had a primarily Native emphasis. 

The non-Native participants, 

it seems, experienced the same 

feeling Native people often have 

when attending a mainstream 

workshop, which is the realization that much of the material is 

unsuited to their needs. 

Racial and cultural bias persists 

in museums and other cultural 

institutions. For instance, a small 

history museum exhibits stone 

artifacts of early American Indians 

but fails to provide any American 

Indian history, even though there 

are two tribal headquarters in the 

community. A catalog refers to 

products made by the “descendants 

of the Inca,” inferring that today’s 

Inca are not really Inca anymore. 

In a meeting at the headquarters 

of a national museum association, 

a director of an “American palace” 

house museum in Florida spoke 

up at the mention of diversity and 

stated that people were tired of the 

topic and that for many museums, 

his in particular, diversity was 

irrelevant. The group of 30 or so 

museum professionals did not dispute his statements. None defended 

the idea that diversity still needs 

attention in our nation’s museums. 

The speaker apparently believed 

the area surrounding the house he 

managed had no diversity. 

Upon further consideration, 

it became apparent there were 

myriad stories related to diversity 

at the speaker’s disposal. What 

of domestic and industrial labor 

issues? Who toiled to keep the 

house clean and who laid the 

tracks for the railroad necessary 

for Florida’s boom? Was there a 

racial component to the economic 

and commercial development of 

Florida? Did the subsequent development displace residents, and 

who were they? Did the coming of 

vast numbers of tourists lead to job 

markets for minorities in hotels and 

eateries and in construction? How 

did Florida change, and how did 

that affect the indigenous people 

who lived there? Undoubtedly, 

there is a minority story somewhere 

in the maze of threads related to 

the house museum. By exploring 

some of the house museum’s background stories, interpretation might 

better engage visitors with the topic 

and the site.

The stories and histories 

of significant segments of the 

American population have not been 

adequately told and, as evinced 

by the previous example, minority 

issues are not fully appreciated 

in the mainstream of our nation. 

Some question “revisionist” history, especially accounts giving 

credence to minority involvement 

in our nation’s development, even 

when a new historical account is 

unassailably accurate. Paul Revere’s 

engraving of the Boston Massacre 

does not depict Crispus Attucks, an 

African-Algonquian American, as 

one of the fallen men, but records 

tell us he was one of the victims. He 

is a role model for black and Native 

children and other Americans. 

Colonial Williamsburg, 

Monticello, Plimoth Plantation, 

and other historic sites have 

adapted their interpretation plans 

to better reflect the diverse nature 

of American history. For each of 

these sites, the presence of diverse 

people is essential to tell the story 

accurately. The awakening we see in 

some museums begs the question: 

Will the recognition of diversity 

be sufficient to assure increased 

learning and balance to all quarters 

of the interpretive field? 

Karen Coody Cooper is museum training 

programs coordinator for the Community Services 

Department of the Smithsonian Institution’s 

National Museum of the American Indian.
FIRST CLASS MAIL

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of the Interior

National Park Service

1849 C Street, NW (2251)

Washington, DC 20240

Fran P. Mainella

Director

Janet S. Matthews

Associate Director

Cultural Resources 

John Robbins 

Assistant Director

Cultural Resources

Antoinette J. Lee

Special Projects Manager

Brian D. Joyner

Heritage Matters Editor

Mission of the 

National Park Service

The National Park Service is dedicated 

to conserving 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 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 twicea-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 (2251), Washington, DC 20240. Phone: 

202/354-2276, email: brian_joyner@nps.gov.

Visit the website for the NPS Cultural 

Resources Diversity Program: www.

cr.nps.gov/crdi

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

JUNE 2004

 CONTENTS

H E R I TA G E M AT T E R S

FEDERAL ACTIVITIES, pages 1-6

Port Chicago Explosion’s 60th Anniversary, p. 1

Federal Tax Incentives in Philadelphia, p. 2

Heritage Areas Explained, p. 3

Archeology, Interpreter Training Developed, 

p. 5

Oklahoma Territorial History Remembered, p. 5

Blandair (Md.) Slave Quarter Preserved, p. 6

PARTNERS ACTIVITIES, pages 7-9

Native American Internships at Fort Lewis 

College, p. 7

OAH Annual Meeting Report, p. 7

AHA Annual Meeting Report, p. 8

STATE ACTIVITIES, pages 9-15

Recent National Register Nominations, p. 9

• Kyoto Gardens, Honolulu, Hawaii

• Military Raod-Cadron Segment, near Little 

Rock, Arkansas

• Mt. Olive Rosenwald School, Hermitage, 

Arkansas

• George Washington Carver Library and 

Auditorium, San Antonio, Texas

• Pabst Brewing Company Complex, Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin

• Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal 

Church, Great Falls, Montana

• St. Joseph Polish Catholic Church, Camden, 

New Jersey

• Portland Buddhist Church, Portland, Oregon

• St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, New Haven, 

Connecticut

• Faga Village Site, Ta’u, American Samoa

• Trujillo Homestead, Mosca, Colorado

LOCAL ACTIVITIES, page 16

Lincoln Park, Maryland, Documents Local 

History, p. 16

PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCES, pages 17-18

Publications

• Onward Toward Recife: Cinnamon Traveler’s 

Inside Guide, p. 17

Conferences

• 4th International Conference on Diversity in 

Organizations, Communities, and Nations, 

p. 17

• Conference on Japanese Internment in World 

War II Arkansas, p. 17

• National Trust 2004 Preservation Conference, 

p. 17

• Catoctin Center for Regional Studies 

Conference, p. 17

• ICOM 20th General Conference, p. 17

POINT OF VIEW, pages 18-19

Discovery and Loss: The Takahashi Farm, Section 

106, and our Diverse Heritage, p. 18

Awakenings, p. 19

page 20

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.

St. Luke’s was the first Episcopal 

church established by black parishioners in New Haven, Connecticut. 

See page 13.