We are pleased to help foster the appreciation for Hispanic culture during National Hispanic Heritage Month. This site highlights various properties listed in the National Register, travel itineraries, education lesson plans and National Parks that deal directly with the cultural and political experiences of Hispanic Americans.

Featured Historic Properties:

Barela-Reynolds House (J. Paul Taylor Hosue) Photo courtesy of the New Mexico State Monuments

Barela-Reynolds House, NM
Find out how a housekeeper, a priest, and the Gadsen Purchase fit into the history of this house in Mesilla, NM!

One of several historic buildings facing the famous plaza in Mesilla , New Mexico , the Barela-Reynolds House (also known as the J. Paul Taylor House) is an excellent example of a combined store and residence, a type of structure once common in 19th century New Mexico towns and villages ...

Bullion Plaza School Photo courtesy of Arizona State Historic Preservation Office

Bullion Plaza School, AZ
Follow the history of the segregation and desegration of Arizona schools through this building

Segregation of Mexican-American students was a common practice in Arizona public schools from the early decades of the 1900s until the early 1950s-precisely the period during which Bullion Plaza School served as a segregated school for Miami 's Mexican-American children...

Travel Itineraries

Photo courtesy of La Purisima Mission State Historic Park

In Print and Online itineraries are self-guided tours to National Parks and other historic places. Each includes detailed maps, tourist information, location information, and color photographs.

Travel virtually to:

• South and West Texas
• Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
• American Southwest
• California Coast
• Along the Georgia-Florida Coast
• Florida Shipwrecks
• Santa Clara, California
  

Teaching With Historic Places

The Teaching with Historic Places program offers a series of lesson plans that use places listed in the National Register to examine subjects that are part of history and social studies curricula. Included among the many lessons now available on-line are nine that focus on Hispanic History:

• Californio to American: A Study in Cultural Change
• The Hispano Ranchos of Northern New Mexico: Continuity and Change
• Forts of Old San Juan: Guardians of the Caribbean (Lección en Español)
• Frederica: An 18th Century Planned Community
• Gran Quivira: A Blending of Cultures in a Pueblo Indian Village
• The Vieux Carré: A Creole Neighborhood in New Orleans
• Castolon: A Meeting Place of Two Cultures
• San Antonio Missions: Spanish Influence in Texas
• Ybor City: Cigar Capital of the World

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
National Park Service photo

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
In 1776 Spanish Captain Juan Bautista de Anza led almost 300 people along the first overland route to connect New Spain with San Francisco. Explore maps of the route, historical sites associated with the expedition and an audio library of sounds along the 1200-mile trail using the Anza Trail guide. Access journals of the expedition members and learn about the Spanish exploration and colonization of Alta, California in an interactive study environment.

• Cabrillo National Monument
• Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (past feature)
• Chamizal National Memorial
• Coronado National Memorial
• De Soto National Memorial (past feature)
• Dry Tortugas National Park
• El Morro National Monument
• Fort Matanzas National Monument
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Presidio
• Gulf Islands National Seashore: Bateria de San Antonio
• Padre Island National Seashore
• Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site
• Pecos National Historical Park
• Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (past feature)
• Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve
• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (past feature)
• San Juan National Historic Site (past feature)
• Santa Fe National Historic Trail
• Tumacácori National Historical Park (past feature)

Presidential Proclamation: Hispanic Heritage Month 2008

Library of Congress Hispanic Heritage Month Portal The Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the National Archives with the National Park Service have created a portal to bring together the exhibits and features of our various offices that highlight Hispanic Heritage.

HABS/HAER/HALS Hispanic Heritage Month Feature

National Historic Landmark Program Hispanic Heritage Month Feature

Cultural Resources Management (now CRM Journal)
"CRM" is the flagship publication of the NPS Cultural Resources Programs and contains articles on the full range of cultural resources management and preservation topics. The following issues deal directly with questions regarding Hispanic cultural resources.

• Hispanic History in the National Register of Historic Places
• Exploring Hispanic History and Culture--A Dynamic Field

Diversity in the National Park Service
A highlight of the National Park Service's on-going efforts to reflect the diversity of American culture.

Library of Congress: Built in America (HABS/HAER/HALS)
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States through a comprehensive range of building types and engineering technologies, including sites related to Hispanic history and culture. Searches on keywords like "Spanish," "missions," or "Spanish forts" will provide information on an array of associated sites. Most of the site records have publication-quality drawings, photographs and historical data.

Spanish Colonial Research Center
As a way of recognizing our Spanish colonial past in the United States and in commemoration of the Columbus Quincentennial in 1992, the National Park Service established the Spanish Colonial Research Center in partnership with the University of New Mexico. The center's primary purpose is serving research needs by providing a computerized data base from Spanish colonial documents. More than 85,000 pages of microfilmed Spanish colonial documents and approximately 4,500 maps, architectural plans, and sketches of North America have been accumulated.

National Register Information System
Since its inception in 1966, over 80,000 properties have been listed in the National Register. Together these files hold information on more than 1.4 million individual resources--buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects--and therefore provide a link to the country's heritage at the national, State, and local levels. Search by name, location, agency, or historic contexts to locate National Register properties associated with Hispanic history.

Past Hispanic Heritage Month Features
For more information about other Hispanic properties listed in the National Register, please visit our past features from 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000.