Seems to me that maybe we've gotten off of the thread that Adrian
started...which was (correct me if I'm wrong, Adrian!) about the bias on the
parts of some who are official "gatekeepers" of historical preservation
policy with regard to recent historical sites. Somehow we got back on our
old favorite, the "training" thread...which of course then morphed into
other interesting postings...

But back to what Adrian  mentioned -- the article by Kerri Barile was quite
good, and contained some other gems that Adrian didn't mention. The article
was entitled, BTW,  "Race, the National Register, and Cultural Resource
Management: Creating an Historic Context for Postbellum sites". Among other
things Barile addresses the biases that exist in favor of "older" sites with
regard to the National Register.  Here are some more quotes she brings us,
taken from writings by the Texas SHPO (remember, Kerri isn't saying this,
the SHPO did!!):

"In general, late-19th and early-20th century sites are not considered
eligible for inclusion in the National Register for Historic Places"...

and

"research designs that involve the removal of late-19th and early-20th
century deposits without artifact collection or analysis, in order to reach
older historic or prehistoric deposits, are regularly approved".

and, another quote from the Texas SHPO regarding late-19th and early-20th
century sites:

"The distribution of mass-produced goods across the United States produced
amazing artifact assemblage uniformity, and, therefore, the archaeological
results rarely provide important new interpretive insights for the
historical record".

I guess these quotes speak for themselves.With that type of bias (which
obviously extends past Texas!)  it's not surprising that developers are
allowed to run roughshod over newer, but still potentially important, sites.
I work in Freedmen's Town, a neighborhood which is a National Register
District (the late Congressman Mickey Leland managed to get this designation
in 1984 -- an amazing feat considering the aforementioned bias, and
Houston's "developer mentality"). To qualify for this status, 530 historic
structures were identified. Less than 30 remain.

Carol

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Carol McDavid, Ph.D.
Project Co-Director
Yates Community Archaeology Project
1638 Branard, Houston, Texas, 77006, USA
(713) 523-2649
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www.webarchaeology.com