Full List of Theme Studies

This page provides a complete list of NHL theme studies. Theme studies published after 2003, along with selected earlier theme studies, are also available in the National Historic Landmark Theme Studies series in the DataStore in IRMA, an NPS web portal for documents and studies.

Please be aware that older theme studies often provide much less historic context than do recent studies, and may simply consist of a list of properties (some of which are designated NHLs and some of which may be eligible for NHL designation) that relate to a given theme.

NHL Theme Studies

• African American Outdoor Recreation (2022)
• American Aviation Heritage (rev. 2011)
• American Latino Heritage (2013)
  American Latino Heritage NHL Registration Guidelines (2022)
• Archaic Shell Rings of the Southeast U.S. (2006)
• Architecture in the Parks (1986)
• Astronomy and Astrophysics (1989)
• Civil Rights in America: Racial Desegregation of Public Accommodations (2004, rev. 2009)
• Civil Rights in America: Racial Desegregation in Public Education in the United States (2000); supplement (2004)
• Civil Rights in America: Racial Discrimination in Housing (2021)
• Civil Rights in America: Racial Voting Rights (2007, rev. 2009)
• The Clash of Cultures Trails Project: Assessing the National Significance of Trails Associated with U.S. Army/American Indian Campaigns in the Trans-Mississippi West (2002)
• Colonials and Patriots: Historic Places Commemorating Our Forebears, 1700–1783 (1964)
• Contact with the Indians
• The Earliest Americans Theme Study for the Eastern United States (2005)
• Early Indian Farmers and Village Communities (1963) and supplement
• The Era of Reconstruction: 1861–1900 (2017)
• Finding a Path Forward: Asian American Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study (2017)
• Geology (1990)
• Here Was the Revolution: Historic Sites of the War for American Independence (1977)
• Historic Contact: Early Relations Between Indian People and Colonists in Northeastern North America, 1524–1783 (1992)
• The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction (2005)
• Japanese Americans in World War II (2012)
• The Advance of the Frontier: 1763–1830
  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1958) and list of associated NHLs
  • Lewis and Clark: Historic Places Commemorating Their Transcontinental Exploration (1804–1806) (1975)
• Labor Archeology of the Industrial Era (2015)
• Labor History in the United States (2022)
• LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History (2016)
• Literature, Drama and Music (1962)
• Man in Space: Parts 1 and 2 (1984); Man in Space thematic article
• Maritime Heritage of the United States: Lightships in the United States (1989)
• Mission 66 Visitor Centers: The History of a Building Type (2000)
• The Presidents of the United States: Historic Places Commemorating the Chief Executives of the United States (1976)
• Protecting America: Cold War Defensive Sites (2022)
• Recreation in the United States (1986). Available for download (accessible PDF 2.0 MB).
• Russian America (1987)
• Scientific Discoveries and Inventions vol. 1 (1964) and vol. 2 (1965)
• Signers of the Constitution: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Constitution (1974)
• Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence (1974)
• Southern Florida Sites Associated with the Tequesta and Their Ancestors (2004)
• Spanish Exploration and Settlement (1959)
• Travel and Communication (1963)
• Underground Railroad Resources in the United States (rev. 2000)
• The U.S. Constitution (1986)
• Warships Associated with World War II in the Pacific (1985)
• Westward Expansion and Extension of the National Boundaries to the Pacific, 1830–1898
  • The Mining Frontier (1959)
• World War II and the American Home Front (2007)
• World War II in the Pacific (1984)

The theme studies listed below are out of print or otherwise unavailable:

• 19th-Century American Architecture, 1784–1880 (1971)
• 19th-Century Architecture: Georgia (1973)
• Agriculture and the Farmer's Frontier (1963)
• Architecture in North Carolina (1973)
• Black Americans in United States History (1974)
• Colonial Architecture of the Southern Colonies (1969)
• Commerce and Industry (1966)
  • Arts and Sciences
  • Education
  • Literature Drama and Music (1962)
• Conservation of Natural Resources (1963)
• Development of the English Colonies 1700–1775 (1960)
  • Dutch and Swedish Exploration and Settlement (1961)
  • English Exploration and Settlement (1960)
  • French Exploration and Settlement (1960)
• Landscape Architecture in National and State Parks
• New England Architecture 1784–1880 (1970)
• Painting and Sculpture (1965)
• Political and Military Affairs
  • 1783–1830 (1959)
  • 1830–1860 (1960)
  • 1865–1912 (1963)
  • After 1914 (1972)
• Signers of the Constitution-Middle Atlantic and New England States (1973)
• Sites Associated with American Authors (1971)
• Sites in the Southern Colonies Associated with the War for Independence (1973)
• Sites in the Middle Colonies Associated with the War for Independence (1972)
• Sites in New England Associated with the War for Independence (1972)
• Social and Humanitarian Movements (1965)
• The Civil War (1959)
• The War for Independence (1960)
• Village Sites of the Middle Missouri Subarea A.D. 1000–A.D. 1887 (1994)
• Westward Expansion and Extension of the National Boundaries to the Pacific, 1830–1898
  • The Cattleman's Empire (1959)
  • The Farmer's Frontier (1959)
  • The Fur Trade (1960)
  • Great Explorers of the West (1960)
  • Military and Indian Affairs (1959)
  • Overland Migration West of the Mississippi (1959)
  • The Santa Fe Trail (1963)
  • The Texas Revolution and Mexican War (1959)
  • Transportation and Communication (1963)