National Park Service
NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS PROGRAM
How are National Historic Landmarks different from other historic properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places?
Landmarks have been recognized by the Secretary of the Interior as possessing national significance. Nationally significant properties help us understand the history of the Nation and illustrate the nationwide impact of events or persons associated with the property, its architectural type or style, or information potential. A nationally significant property is of exceptional value in representing or illustrating an important theme in the history of the Nation. Properties listed on the National Register are primarily of State and local significance. With a State or locally significant property, its impact is restricted to a smaller geographic area. For example, many historic schools are listed on the National Register because of the historically important role they played in educating individuals in the community or State in which they are located. Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas, is nationally significant because it was the site of the first major confrontation over implementation of the Supreme Court's 1954 decision outlawing racial segregation in public schools. The city's resistance led to President Eisenhower's decision to send Federal troops to enforce desegregation at this school in 1957.
All National Historic Landmarks are included in the National Register which is the official list of the Nation's historic properties worthy of preservation. Landmarks constitute more than 2300 of almost 76,000 entries in the National Register; the others are of State and local significance. The process for listing a property in the National Register is different from that for Landmark designation with different criteria and procedures used. Some properties are recommended as nationally significant when they are nominated to the National Register, but before they can be designated as National Historic Landmarks, they must be evaluated by the National Park Service's National Historic Landmark Survey, reviewed by the National Park System Advisory Board, and recommended to the Secretary of the Interior. Some properties listed in the National Register are subsequently identified by the Survey as nationally significant; others are identified for the first time during Landmark theme studies or other special studies. Both the National Historic Landmarks and the National Register programs are administered by the National Park Service under the Secretary of the Interior.
"National Historic Landmarks Program" by the National Park Service. NATIONAL CENTER FOR CULTURAL RESOURCES, National Historic Landmarks Survey, 1849 C Street, NW (Org. 2280), Washington, D.C. 20240