Photograph courtesy of South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office
Social History: Civil Rights
Holman’s Barber ShopSouth 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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Photograph courtesy of New York State Historic Preservation Office
Social History: LGBTQ
Caffe CinoNew York, Reference number: 100001802
Area of Significance: Social History-LGBTQ, 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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Photograph courtesy of Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office
Social History: Women’s History and Conservation
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary DistrictPennsylvania, Reference number: 100007555
Area of Significance: Conservation, Social History (women’s history)
Period of Significance: 1934-1987
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary located in the townships of Albany and East Brunswick, PA. 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 under 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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Photograph courtesy of New York State Historic Preservation Office
Social History: LGBTQ
Church of the Holy ApostlesNew York, Reference number: 72000867
Area of Significance: Architecture, Religion, Social History-LGBTQ
Period of Significance: 1846-1922; 1969-1977
Additional documentation was added to the original 1972 nomination, to recognize the role of this church in the formation and support of many early LGBT social, political, and religious activities for the community. Originally listed for its architectural significance as an important work of architect Minard Lefever (1846-48), the revised nomination now recognizes the church’s significance in Social History: LGBTQ History from 1969 to 1977, for its role in welcoming members of the LGBT community, for serving as New York City’s first LBGT community center, and for hosting meetings of the West Side Discussion Group, the Gay Liberation Front, and the Gay Activists Alliance, among the city’s earliest and most important activist organizations in the fight for LGBT civil rights. Holy Apostles also provided space, between 1970 and 1975, for three early LGBT religious congregations that were founded there: the Church of the Beloved Disciple, the Metropolitan Community Church of New York, and Congregation Beth (Beit) Simchat Torah, the first permanent LGBT synagogue on the East Coast. The establishment of places where groups of gay men and lesbians could meet openly and/or worship the religion of their choice in an era of open hostility toward them was important because these places served as sources of comfort, community, and stability for people who often lacked families or other sources of support.
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Photograph by Juan Llanes Santos, courtesy or Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office
Social History
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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Photograph courtesy of Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office
Social History: Women’s History
Omaha Star
Nebraska, Reference number: 07001322
Area of Significance: Ethnic Heritage: Black, Social History (women’s history), Communications
Period of Significance: 1940-1947
The nomination presents a case of significance for Ethnic ethnic Heritage heritage and Social social History 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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Last updated: September 9, 2024