1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
National Historic Landmark
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A National Historic Landmark is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 85,000 places listed on the countrys National Register of Historic Places, a National Historic Landmark District may include contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed, prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of the United States Congress. The first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17,1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the data gathered under this legislation. Because listings often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9,1960,92 properties were announced as designated NHLs by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton, more than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States, there are NHLs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Three states account for nearly 25 percent of the nations NHLs, three cities within these states all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. In fact, New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, there are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia. Some NHLs are in U. S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other U. S. commonwealths and territories,5 in U. S. -associated states such as Micronesia, over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. About half of the National Historic Landmarks are privately owned, the National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks. A friends group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect, if not already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation. About three percent of Register listings are NHLs, american Water Landmark List of U. S
3.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Corcoran School of the Arts and Design
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The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, founded in 1890, is an art and design school in Washington, D. C. The Corcoran School is part of GWUs Columbian College of Arts, William Wilson Corcoran founded the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1869. Work resumed immediately after the conclusion of the war, with Corcoran formally founding his gallery as an institution in 1869, the first special event held that year was a fundraiser for the completion of the Washington Monument. Corcorans gallery welcomed its first visitors in 1874 and art students immediately flocked to the gallery, eager to sketch, in 1877 the painter E. F. Andrews started offering the visiting students and artists formal instruction in two dimensional media for no cost to the student. In 1878 William Wilson Corcoran donated additional funding to be used to establish a school to be associated with the gallery, after Corcorans 1888 death, a small building was built in 1889 for the purpose of the gallerys burgeoning identity as a place for education in the arts. In 1890 the school opened as the Corcoran School of Art. By the 1890s, both the gallery and the programs had outgrown their respective spaces. From 1897 to the 1930s, the school continued in a modest existence for art students interested in a museum school, successful accreditation in the National Association of Schools of Art was achieved by the mid-1970s, with the first BFA degree bestowed in 1978. During this time artists that taught for the school included Gene Davis, Tom Downing, Sam Gilliam, Anne Truitt, Ed McGowin, William Christenberry, and Paul Reed. Starting in the 1970s, College utilized three facilities, the historic Flagg Building housed fine art facilities, the art photography. A second building, located in Georgetown, housing the Digital Media, Graphic Design, additional programs were offered through the Smithsonians S. Dillon Ripley Center. In 1985, the college was accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. In 1999, the school was renamed as The Corcoran College of Art and Design and worked to further its reputation as the singular four-year arts and design institution in Washington. As a museum school, students and faculty benefited from co-existing with the Corcoran Gallery with its more than 17,000 works and objects. In the later years of the gallery, a space known as Studio 31 displayed student art, in addition to special biennials. The annual NEXT show, staged at the end of academic year. Superior Court approved agreement saw the closure of the Gallery and the passing of most of the collection into the public National Gallery of Art. The Colleges Continuing Education Program, which offers credit and non-credit classes to children and adults
7.
Visual art of the United States
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Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by American artists. Early colonial art on the East Coast initially relied on artists from Europe, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artists primarily painted portraits, and some landscapes in a style based mainly on English painting. American artists who remained at home became increasingly skilled, although there was awareness of them in Europe. The American Revolution produced a demand for art, especially history painting. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement, which began as a reaction to the industrial revolution. After 1850 Academic art in the European style flourished, and as richer Americans became very wealthy, the flow of European art, new and old, to the US began, museums began to be opened to display much of this. Developments in modern art in Europe came to America from exhibitions in New York City such as the Armory Show in 1913, after World War II, New York replaced Paris as the center of the art world. Since then many American movements have shaped Modern and Postmodern art, Art in the United States today covers a huge range of styles. One of the first painters to visit British America was John White, eventually the English settlements grew large enough to support professional artists, mostly portrait-painters, often largely self-taught. Among the earliest was John Smybert, a trained artist from London who emigrated in 1728 intending to be a professor of fine art and his friend Peter Pelham was a painter and printmaker. Both needed other sources of income and had shops, most of early American art consists of history painting and especially portraits. As in Colonial America, many of the painters who specialized in portraits were essentially self-taught, notable among them are Joseph Badger, John Brewster, Jr. and William Jennys. The young nations artists generally emulated the style of British art, which they knew through prints, Robert Feke, an untrained painter of the colonial period, achieved a sophisticated style based on Smiberts example. Charles Willson Peale, who gained much of his earliest art training by studying Smiberts copies of European paintings, Peales younger brother James Peale and four of Peales sons—Raphaelle Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale and Titian Peale—were also artists. John Singleton Copley painted emblematic portraits for the prosperous merchant class. Benjamin West painted portraits as well as paintings of the French. John Trumbull painted large battle scenes of the Revolutionary War, when landscape was painted it was most often done to show how much property a subject owned, or as a picturesque background for a portrait. Americas first well-known school of painting—the Hudson River School—appeared in 1820, Thomas Cole pioneered the movement which included Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Doughty and several others
8.
National Gallery of Art
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The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D. C. located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. Andrew W. Mellon donated an art collection and funds for construction. The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning the world and the history of art and it is one of the largest museums in North America. In 1930 Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, when quizzed by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on the attitude of the Government towards the gift. Designed by architect John Russell Pope, the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17,1941. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the completed, both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world, as anticipated by Mellon, the creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. The Gallerys East Building was constructed in the 1970s on much of the land left over from the original congressional joint resolution. It was funded by Mellons children Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce, designed by famed architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The new building was built to house the Museums collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures. The design received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981, the final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Completed and opened to the public on May 23,1999, the National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museums operations, all artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds. The museum is not part of the Smithsonian Institution, noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. John Walker, and J. Carter Brown. Rusty Powell III is the current director, entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. From Monday through Saturday, the museum is open from 10 a. m. –5 p. m. it is open from 11 –6 p. m. on Sundays and it is closed on December 25 and January 1. The museum comprises two buildings, the West Building and the East Building linked by an underground passage
9.
George Washington University
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The George Washington University is a private research university in Washington, D. C. GW is the largest institution of education in Washington, D. C. In his will, Washington left his 50 shares in the Potomac Company to help endow the university, however, due to the companys financial difficulties, the funding did not materialize. The university was chartered by an act of Congress on February 9,1821 and its name was changed to Columbian University in 1873 and to the George Washington University in 1904, in honor of Washington. GWs Graduate School of Political Management is the school of applied politics in the nations capital. GWs professional schools and the Elliott School of International Affairs are consistently ranked highly in national and international college rankings lists, the Princeton Review consistently ranks GW as one of the Most Politically Active schools. Some of the graduates have gone on to high positions within both the U. S. government and foreign governments. Notable alumni include former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and he presented numerous letters to Congress and included the subject in his last will and testament. Baptist missionary and leading minister Luther Rice raised funds to purchase a site in Washington, the first commencement in 1824 was considered an important event for the young city of Washington, D. C. In attendance were President Monroe, John C, Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis de Lafayette and other dignitaries. During the Civil War, most students left to join the Confederacy, walt Whitman was among many of the volunteers to work on the campus. Following the war, in 1873, Columbian College became the Columbian University and moved to a downtown location centered on 15th and H streets. The university moved its operations to the D. C. neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in 1912. The George Washington University, like much of Washington, D. C. traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons, the Bible that the presidents of the university use to swear an oath on upon inauguration is the Bible of Freemason George Washington. Freemasonry symbols are displayed throughout the campus including the foundation stones of many of the university buildings. Many of the Colleges of the George Washington University stand out for their age, the Law School is the oldest law school in the District of Columbia. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences is the 11th oldest medical school in the nation, the Columbian College was founded in 1821, and is the oldest unit of the university. The Elliott School of International Affairs was formalized in 1898, the majority of the present infrastructure and financial stability at GW is due to the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
10.
William Wilson Corcoran
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William Wilson Corcoran was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector. He started the Corcoran Gallery of Art and his father was born in Ireland, settled in Georgetown in 1788, and established a leather business. Instead of finishing his education, he joined the family business, Corcoran joined the Potomac Lodge No.5 of Free and Accepted Masons in Georgetown and was raised as a Master Mason on July 26,1827. In 1835, Corcoran eloped and married Louise Morris, who was the daughter of Commodore Charles Morris and his wife died in 1840, but not before they had three children — Harriet Louise, Louise Morris, and Charles Morris. The middle child, Louise Morris, was the one to survive into adulthood, she later married George Eustis. After his wife died in 1841, Corcoran chose not to marry again. He died on February 24,1888 in Washington, DC. Corcoran entered business at the age of 17, Corcoran brothers established a wholesale auction and commission business, but their ventures failed after the Panic of 1819. He worked in family business, and in 1828, he took control of large amount of real estate from his father. Corcoran was employed as a clerk at the Bank of Columbia at Georgetown branch, in 1837, Corcoran established a brokerage firm on Pennsylvania Avenue at 15th Street. He was successful and in 1840 entered into a partnership with George Washington Riggs, the Corcoran and Riggs private banking firm enjoyed the patronage of Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury and prospered after it re-sold to investors $5 million of U. S. Treasury notes in 1843. In 1845, it purchased the former Second Bank of the United States building located on 15th Street at New York Avenue. In Spring 1847, the Corcoran and Riggs sold to investors at home, in 1854, Corcoran retired from Corcoran and Riggs to focus on his investments in real estate, land grants, armaments, railroads, as well as pursue pleasure and philanthropic endeavors. In 1854, Corcoran was able to retire with a fortune and devote himself to art. In 1848, Corcoran had purchased 15 acres of land for Oak Hill Cemetery and he organized the Oak Hill Cemetery Company to oversee the cemetery, which was formally incorporated by Act of Congress on March 3,1849. Corcoran paid for the construction of a Gothic Revival chapel in Oak Hill Cemetery, Corcoran also established a $10,000 fund, administered by the Benevolent Society, to purchase firewood for the poor in Georgetown. Corcoran also contributed to a fund to purchase George Washingtons Mount Vernon estate, after his family could no longer keep it up, one of William Wilson Corcorans longtime business associate and friend was the renowned George Peabody. In contrast to contemporary art patrons, Corcoran was not exclusively interested in European works. Before it was ready, however, the Civil War began, and Corcoran, a Southern sympathizer, left Washington for Paris, architect James Renwick was commissioned in 1859 to a museum building to house William Wilson Corcoran’s growing art collection
