Places That Count: Traditional Cultural Properties in Cultural Resource Management

Abstract

Places that Count: Traditional Cultural Properties in Cultural Resource Management. THOMAS F. KING. Heritage Resource Management Series, Vol. 6 (DONLD FOWLER, series ed.). AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 2003. 256 pp., illus., biblio., index. 256 pp., $24.95 (paper), ISBN 0-7591-0071-3; $69.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-7591-0070-5. In 1990, Patricia Parker and Thomas F. King coined the term cultural property (TCP) to designate a place eligible for inclusion in the [United States] National Register [of Historic Places] because of its association with cultural practices or beliefs of a living that: (a) rooted in that community's history, and (b) important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community (Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties, National Register Bulletin 38, National Park Service, Washington, D.C., 1990, p. 1). King continues his long-running and vigorous defense of the TCP concept in this new book, but he qualifies his support of Bulletin 38 by advocating a more consultative and cooperative approach. The book's intent is to give practical guidance to professionals in cultural resource management (CRM), heritage preservation, and environmental management. The book is accessibly written, full of examples, addresses a conspicuous void in the professional training literature, and offers readers the chance to gain from King's vast experience. King distinguishes TCPs from other types of historical properties by locating their significance in the minds of ordinary people. Although all have TCPs, King argues, those of Indian tribes, native Hawaiians, and others whose values are often ignored by mainstream society (p. 6) deserve greater consideration in CRM. King believes that TCPs have not received consideration equal to that of other types of historic properties because the interests of ordinary people overlooked in most theories of significance in United States historic preservation. In 1990, he and Parker were concerned that CRM was neglecting conflicts between tradition and modernity (p. 32) and was failing to give communities (p. 33) equal consideration. Accordingly, the purpose of Bulletin 38 was to guarantee for traditional the right to use the National Register and the section 106 process (p. 36), although Bulletin 38 makes no mention of this. King reviews the origin of the TCP concept, international and domestic examples of places with culturally important meanings, especially indigenous sacred sites (a term King wisely qualifies), but also urban ethnic neighborhoods and not-so-ethnic urban and rural areas. He discusses how people routinely rework, manipulate, and create the meanings or traditions associated with place, samples eclectic theories on why place is important to people, discusses interacting with communities, and identifies some relevant case law. King discusses attributes of TCPs and wisely rejects efforts to insist that stories conveying a place's importance to a must be objectively true, pointing out that a TCP's significance comes from its social role. The Point Conception and Hindmarsh Island Bridge cases, he notes, have shown that people's truthfulness about what they believe is more problematic than was originally recognized, yet he dismisses the issue in both cases even while concluding that evaluation must address truthfulness in contentious cases. Unfortunately, he does not accurately describe both cases, has not stayed abreast of the literature, and misinterprets what he does cite. In contrast to Bulletin 38's emphasis on identification and evaluation, King argues that project planning and long-term management can proceed without having to identify TCPs or conduct formal ethnographic assessments. The priority should be identifying concerned and beginning consultation with them early while maximum flexibility exists. …

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