1.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
2.
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
3.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
4.
Historic preservation
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The term tends to refer specifically to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness. In England, antiquarian interests were a familiar gentlemans pursuit since the mid 17th century, Fellows of the Royal Society were often also Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries. Another early preservation event also occurred at Berkhamsted, in 1866, Lord Brownlow who lived at Ashridge, tried to enclose the adjoining Berkhamsted Common with 5-foot steel fences in an attempt to claim it as part of his estate. In England from early Anglo-Saxon times, Common land was an area of land which the community could use as a resource. Across England between 1660 and 1845,7 million acres of Common land had been enclosed by land owners by application to parliament. In 1870, Sir Robert Hunter and the Commons Preservation Society succeed in legal action that ensured protection of Berkhamsted Common, in 1926 the common was acquired by the National Trust. By the mid 19th century, much of Britains unprotected cultural heritage was being slowly destroyed, even well-meaning archaeologists like William Greenwell excavated sites with virtually no attempt at their preservation, Stonehenge came under increasing threat by the 1870s. Tourists were chipping off parts of the stones or carving their initials into the rock, the private owners of the monument decided to sell the land to the London and South-Western Railway as the monument was not the slightest use to anyone now. John Lubbock, an MP and botanist emerged as the champion of the national heritage. Soon, he began campaigning in Parliament for legislation to protect monuments from destruction and this finally led to the legislative milestone under the Liberal government of William Gladstone of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. The first government appointed inspector for this job was the archaeologist Augustus Pitt-Rivers, the Act only covered ancient monuments and explicitly did not cover historic buildings or structures. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 had only given legal protection to prehistoric sites, the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 took this further by empowering the governments Commissioners of Work and local County Councils to protect a wider range of properties. Further updates were made in 1910, Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire, a medieval manor house had been put up for sale in 1910 with its greatest treasures, the huge medieval fireplaces, still intact. However, when an American bought the house they were ripped out, the former viceroy of India, George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, was outraged at this cultural destruction and stepped in to buy back the castle and reinstall the fireplaces. After a nationwide hunt for them they were found in London. He restored the castle and left it to the National Trust on his death in 1925 and his experience at Tattershall influenced Lord Curzon to push for tougher heritage protection laws in Britain, which saw passage as the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913. The new structure involved the creation of the Ancient Monuments Board to oversee the protection of such monuments, powers were given for the board, with Parliamentary approval, to issue preservation orders to protect monuments, and extended the public right of access to these. The term monument was extended to include the lands around it, the National Trust was founded in 1894 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Canon Rawnsley as the first organisation of its type in the world
5.
Jack Boucher
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Jack E. Boucher was an American photographer for the National Park Service for more than 40 years beginning in 1958. He served as the Chief Photographer for the Historic American Buildings Survey, offered his old job back by the Park Service/HABS in 1970, he left New Jersey to return to NPS/HABS and the highly specialized job of large format photographic architectural documentation. His work took him to 49 States, the Virgin Islands, april 2008 was the fiftieth anniversary of his employment with the National Park Services HABS program. He traveled with 900 pounds of photographic equipment, also wrote a weekly column on conservation and preservation for the Tribune and then the Atlantic City Press for two years. He produced and presented a radio program dealing with conservation and preservation from 1952 to 1953 on WFPG, Atlantic City. He then left the Parkway to work for the National Park Service, in 1963, He became Chief Photographer of the Historic American Building Survey. From 1971 to 1978, Boucher also performed all photography work for the Historic American Engineering Record and he died on September 2,2012, at age 80. Boucher stated “My whole philosophy is, I regard the building I’m doing as the most important one in my life, while reconnoitering camera vantage points to document Fortress El Morro in Old San Juan in 1967, Puerto Rico. Boucher and his wife Peggy were passengers aboard a sailing catamaran that was struck, during the 1990s he produced over 500 large format images of the White House for the Historic American Buildings Survey, some days producing only a single image. A proud possession is a book published by the White House centering on the living quarters illustrated by his work. His copy was personally autographed to him by the President and the First Lady, I vividly remember studying the story of the Belgian Priest Fr. Damien and his labors for 16 years among the lepers while in grade school, I never dreamed I would be able to go there. About 1973 he was one of 36 selected to participate in the European Traveling Summer School for Historic Architecture and it was a seven-week study tour through England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. American Preservation Magazine published a series of articles in which he wrote and showed photographs of cities in the Soviet Union, Belgium, Hungary. He conceived and oversaw the preservation of Atlantic Citys 1857 Absecon Lighthouse in 1964, in 1952 he personally guided Mike Hudoba, noted outdoors writer on a several day canoe trip through the Warton Forest rivers. He once spoke of a canoe trip to fish for trout in Canadian wilderness a few hundred miles from the Arctic Circle. Navigating the Bersimus River, they were attempting to reach Lake Boucher but were unable to portage around rapids, with more than five decades of public service, he was the creator of tens of thousands of public domain photographs. In 1986 he received the Department of the Interiors Meritorious Service Award and he never accepted private commissions or sold copies of his work
6.
American Society of Civil Engineers
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The American Society of Civil Engineers is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering society in the United States and it was the first national engineering society created in the United States. In 1999, the ASCE elected the top-ten civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century in broad categories. Monuments of the Millennium were a combination of technical engineering achievement, courage and inspiration, and it also publishes conference proceedings, standards, manuals of practice, technical reports, and monographs. The ASCE corporate website hosts the society’s bookstore, the access to all journal articles published since 1983, all conference proceedings since 2000. Each year, more than 55,000 engineers earn continuing education units and/or professional development hours by participating in ASCE’s continuing education programs, ASCE hosts more than 15 annual and specialty conferences, over 200 continuing education seminars and more than 300 live Web seminars. The Societys Committee on Technical Advancement has 10 divisions, each year, more than 6,000 civil engineering professionals contribute volunteer technical expertise through participation on ASCE technical committees. These committees are housed in the divisions of the Committee on Technical Activities or in the Society’s institutes, the efforts of these volunteers advance the profession in many ways including the numerous conferences held each year, manuals of practice, journals and standards. Certification is the recognition of attaining advanced knowledge and skills in a specialty area of civil engineering, ASCE offers certifications for engineers who demonstrate advanced knowledge and skills in their area of engineering. American Academy of Water Resources Engineers Academy of Geo-Professionals Academy of Coastal, Ocean, michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research and the Charles Pankow Award for innovation,11 scholarships and fellowships for student members. Special consideration is given to private practice engineering work that is recognized as a contribution to the field of environmental engineering. The Lifetime Achievement Award has been presented annually since 1999 and recognizes five different individual leaders, one award is present in each category of design, construction, government, education, and management. ASCE designates national and international Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks, on February 12,2007 Lt. Gen Strock gave all expert review panel members an Outstanding Civilian Service Medals. On June 1,2007, the ASCE issued its expert review panel report, the report stated that had levees and pump stations not failed, far less property loss would have occurred and nearly two-thirds of deaths could have been avoided. The ASCE administration was criticized by the Times-Picayune for an attempt to minimize, the Corps acknowledged receiving a copy of the letter and refused to comment until the ASCEs Committee on Professional Conduct had commented on the complaint. It took over a year for the ASCE to announce the results of the CPC, the ASCE self-study panel did not file charges of ethical misconduct and blamed errors on staff and not review panel members having created the June press release. On November 14,2007, ASCE announced that U. S, congressman Sherwood Boehlert, R‑N. Y. would lead an independent task force of outside experts to review how ASCE participated in engineering studies of national significance. ASCE President David Mongan said the review was to address criticism of ASCE´s role in assisting the Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored investigation of Katrina failures
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