The Historic Sites Act of 1935 was enacted by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

largely to organize the myriad federally own parks, monuments, and historic sites under the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

and the

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural ...

. However, it is also significant in that it declared for the first time "...that it is a national policy to preserve for public use historic sites, buildings, and objects of national significance...".''Historic Sites Act of 1935''
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617121709/https://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/FHPL_HistSites.pdf , date=2017-06-17 , 49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. sections 461-467. Thus it is the first assertion of historic preservation as a government duty, which was only hinted at in the 1906

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential procla ...

. Section 462 of the act enumerates a wide range of powers and responsibilities given to the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior, including: *codification and institutionalization of the temporary

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

*authorization to survey and note significant sites and buildings (this became National Historic Landmark program, which was integrated into the National Register after the 1966

National Historic Preservation Act The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA; Public Law 89-665; 54 U.S.C. 300101 ''et seq.'') is legislation intended to preserve historic and archaeological sites in the United States of America. The act created the National Register of Historic ...

) *authorization to actually perform preservation work Section 463 established the National Park System Advisory Board to assist the Secretary of the Interior with administration.

References

United States federal environmental legislation United States federal public land legislation 1935 in law United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes National Park Service