Sample Nominations - Areas of Significance - Social History

Caffe Cino, New York, New York

Photograph courtesy of New York State Historic Preservation Office

Caffe Cino

New York, Reference number: 100001802
Area of Significance: Social History, Performing Arts
Period of Significance: 1958-1968

“The Cino,” located in a ground-floor commercial space at 31 Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village from December 1958 to March 1968, was operated by Joe Cino (1931-1967), a gay man of Sicilian heritage. This property was significant as the first venue of importance to continuously stage off-off-Broadway theater, then a newly emerging movement, and for its role in the development of gay theater and support of gay playwrights at a time when depicting homosexuality on stage was illegal. This nomination was supported by an NPS under-represented communities grant.
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Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania

Photograph courtesy of Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary District

Pennsylvania, Reference number: 100007555
Area of Significance: Conservation, Social History
Period of Significance: 1934-1987

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary located in the townships of Albany and East Brunswick, Pennsylvania. The district is significant at the national level in the area of Conservation as the first raptor sanctuary in the world and as a leader in the American conservation movement of the early twentieth century, when the sanctuary played an integral role in changing public attitudes toward raptors and securing their permanent legal protection. By the 1980s, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary had become a pioneer and leader in the conservation of migratory raptors around the world, a position which it solidified and formalized with the creation of Hawks Aloft Worldwide, a global conservation initiative to amass, analyze, and distribute information on migratory raptors through the creation of an international network of independent local organizations, in 1987. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is significant for women’s history for the pioneering conservation work of the sanctuary’s founder, Rosalie Barrow Edge (1877–1962) with the support of the sanctuary’s first wards, Maurice Broun (1906–1977) and Irma Penniman Broun Kahn (1908–1997). Described by Broun as “the foremost woman conservationist of the twentieth century,” Edge led a crusade to reform the National Association of Audubon Societies and ushered in a new era of environmental activism. The period of significance for Hawk Mountain Sanctuary begins in 1934, when Edge leased the 1,398-acre tract of land that forms the sanctuary’s historic core and established it as a sanctuary, and ends in 1987, when the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association (HMSA) launched its international registry of raptor migration sightings now known as Hawks Aloft Worldwide.
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Holmans Barber Shop, South Carolina

Photograph courtesy of South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office

Holman's Barber Shop

South Carolina, Reference number: 100006884
Area of significance: Social History, Ethnic Heritage: Black
Period of Significance: 1945-1975

Holman’s Barber Shop is significant for its representation of both Black barber shops’ and beauty salons’ important functions within African American communities, and for its connection with Columbia’s segregation history. It is one of the only mid-century Black-owned barber shops in Columbia known to still stand Holman’s provided Black Columbians and other African Americans with an alternative public space where patrons could meet, freely converse, and receive quality, convenient service without fear of the harassment and degradation that often awaited them in the white-controlled spaces of mid-century Columbia, South Carolina.
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Iglesia Cristiana, Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico

Photograph by Juan Llanes Santos, courtesy or Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office

Iglesia Cristiana

Puerto Rico, Reference number: 100010834
Area of Significance: Architecture, Social History
Period of Significance: 1922-1923

Completed in 1923, Iglesia Cristiana is significant in Social History for its role in the “Americanization” of Puerto Rico. When ruled under the Spanish flag, Puerto Rico was Catholic. The Catholic Church and the government were equal partners in administering the island. Churches and government buildings stood side-by-side on each town’s public square. After the US took over control of Puerto Rico, Protestant denominations sought to establish missions across the island. The Church of Christ established a mission in the town of Santa Isabel, eventually growing its membership enough to warrant a new, modern, Mission Revival style church building on the public square, where it joined the Catholic church and the town hall.
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Omaha Star, Nebraska

Photograph courtesy of Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office

Omaha Star

Nebraska, Reference number: 07001322
Area of Significance: Ethnic Heritage: Black, Social History, Communications
Period of Significance: 1940-1947

The nomination presents a case of significance for ethnic heritage and social history (and likely Women’s History as a subcategory) for the building that housed the most influential Black newspapers in the state. The nomination also identifies, under Criterion B, the significance of Mildred Brown, the long-time publisher. As a Black woman, her leadership was unusual at that time, and important.
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