Series: The Antiquities Act of 1906

NPS historian Ronald F. Lee's book on the legislative and social history of the Antiquities Act describes the 25-year struggle to develop this important statute, which provides the basic public policies for archeological and historic preservation and natural resource conservation.

Forewords to 1970 and 2001 editions

Lee, Ronald F. The Antiquities Act of 1906. US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. 1970.

• Article 1: Beginnings of Public Interest in American Indian Antiquities

  

  The abandoned and ruined dwellings of prehistoric man in the American West had aroused the interest and comment of explorers and colonizers for centuries. Not until after the Civil War, however, did these ruins, and the continuing discovery of still others, attract the serious attention of the eastern scientific community. Read more

• Article 2: Saving Casa Grande

  

  After Senator Hoar's effort failed in 1882, seven years elapsed before another archaeological preservation proposal reached Congress. These years witnessed a steady extension of knowledge and deepening of public interest in American archaeology and ethnology. Read more

• Article 3: Growth of Interest in American Indian Antiquities, 1889-1906

  

  Public and scholarly interest in American Indian antiquities grew rapidly after 1889, in spite of a lull during the depression years of 1893-97. As early as 1885, Charles Eliot Norton and his associates in the Archaeological Institute of America saw the need for affiliated groups in cities other than Boston. In that year they admitted chapters from Baltimore and New York. By 1898 there were affiliated groups in cities across the nation. Read more

• Article 4: Vandalism and Commercialism of Antiquities, 1890-1906

  

  Rising public interest in the history and art of the southwestern Indians in the 1890's was accompanied by a swelling demand for authentic prehistoric objects. The desires and needs of growing numbers of collectors and dealers, exhibitors and curators, teachers and students, added to the native curiosity of cowboys, ranchers, and travelers, created an avid demand for original objects from the cliff dwellings and pueblo ruins of the Southwest. Read more

• Article 5: The Temporary Protection of Ruins

  

  Until the Antiquities Act was passed in 1906, the chief weapon available to the Federal Government for protecting antiquities on public land was the power to withdraw specific tracts from sale or entry for a temporary period. As the problem of protection grew and as complaints reached the General Land Office in steadily increasing numbers, this power was exercised more and more frequently. An early example was Frijoles Canyon in northern New Mexico. Read more

• Article 6: The Antiquities Act, 1900-06

  

  The legislative history of the Antiquities Act falls into three different phases, which culminated in passage of the law in 1906. Read more

• Article 7: Creating Mesa Verde National Park and Chartering the Archeological Institute, 1906

  

  From 1900 to 1906, while the provisions of the Antiquities Act were being worked out, two other major proposals were also before Congress to establish large areas of public lands containing many ancient ruins as national parks. Read more

• Article 8: The Proclamation of National Monuments Under the Antiquities Act, 1906-1970

  

  The first national monument to be established under provisions of the Antiquities Act was proclaimed by President Theodore Roosevelt on September 24, 1906. It was created to protect Devils Tower, well-known geological formation in Crook County, Wyoming. The massive stone shaft which gave the monument its name rises abruptly some 600 feet from its base and some 1300 feet above the nearby Belle Fourche River. Read more

• Article 9: American Antiquities Act of 1906

  

  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America. Read more

• Article 10: Uniform Rules and Regulations Code of Federal Regulations Title 43--Public Lands: Interior Subtitle A--Office of the Secretary of the Interior Part 3--Preservation of American Antiquities Revised Dec. 23, 1954

  

  Rules and regulations for implementing the Antiquities Act. Read more