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Revision as of 05:14, 9 September 2007

National Register of Historic Places Project‑class

This page is within the scope of WikiProject National Register of Historic Places, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of U.S. historic sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.National Register of Historic PlacesWikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic PlacesTemplate:WikiProject National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places Project This page does not require a rating on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale.

Archives

Archive 1 (Oct. 18, 2006 through Feb. 17, 2007) Archive 2 (Feb. 21, 2007 through -- )

This page has archives. Sections older than 28 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III.

Bulk Stubbing

Would bulk stubbing from the NPS database be something we should pursue? I downloaded the database and was playing around with it some and it doesn't seem like it would be extremely difficult. pw 14:05, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

The bot is created (see User:NrhpBot) and its been flagged as a bot. I've incorporated some of User:Elkman's infobox code and geocoding info in to it. Starting small, with just Hamilton County, Ohio, but hopefully should be up and running for larger areas soon. pw 19:06, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Not sure the time and effort are worth it to create 1000s of sub stub articles with almost no information in them. Just a thought. If you wouldn't mind leaving Illinois out I would greatly appreciate it. If not that's okay too, but I would rather start the articles from scratch if it's all the same to you. IvoShandor 06:21, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I can leave it out if you would like. The main reason I'm doing it is to get the page names, infoboxes, geo coords, architect links, architectural style and other stuff in here from their database and make sure the "List of Registered...*" red links all match up since commonly when an article is stubbed not all the data from the database is transferred over or the title is not the Nrhp title so the redlinks still exist, etc. If you would rather do the infoboxes by hand or with Elkman's tool for IL, thats no problem.

If you have some suggestions to improving the stubs, like adding the significant names or other info from the database or other databases feel free to suggest that too as it would come in handy. pw 13:28, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Well the one big thing is oddly titled articles that already exist, I still find them. Other than that I can't think of anything offhand. If I do I will be sure to contact you. I would note that a number of states maintain databases that usually contain additional info.IvoShandor 14:57, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Yeah I have it do some searching before creation, on google and stuff (using refnum, etc) to see if the page already exists. If it does i don't stub it, I only stub ones I can't find. But yeah, it still creates articles that already exist sometimes. To curb errors I have it check to see if any pages with a name like "List of Registered historic places in *****" link to it, if not, I flag it for manual review since something is wrong somewhere. If more than one list links to it I also flag it for review, since only one link should really link to it. pw 15:34, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

At Talk:List of National Historic Landmarks by state the intent is to have a list/table article for each state. The NHL is about 5% of the NRHP, so NRHP articles might be 20 times larger. But also might be more likely to have more stubs and short entries for a longer time, as it should take time for people to dig up details. Adding coordinates can reduce that time so it is easier for people to find what is nearby. (SEWilco 00:56, 22 August 2007 (UTC))

I just came across the vastness of the bulk-stubbed historic buildings wiki within Archiplanet.org, for example . It does not seem inviting to me add information into that system. It's just too empty and depressing. Better to make the tools like Elkman's infobox generator, and to improve instruction on how to use them, for semi-custom construction use by real people having real interest in particular sites.doncram 05:14, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Infoboxes

I've been going through and adding or updating the Infoboxes. One of the things I've started doing is changing the inversions of the architect names from last name first to first name first and for places open to the public, adding the street addresses.

Some questions that I have:

• The NPS naming convention is that the original or historic name of the property is preferred (see Bulletin 16A). I think that since the Infobox uses information from the NRHP and is meant to "honor" NRHP properties, the title of the Infobox should be the NRHP title of the property - notwithstanding any other "official" or other name of the property. Many times the official name already exists in the article title and in the body of the article. Your thoughts?

• The use of more than one Infobox. Ships, Lighthouses, Bridges, Railroad Depots, High Schools and more all have infoboxes. No place for NRHP info. Is it appropriate to add the NRHP Infobox? With minimal information - date of listing and reference number - or other information not included in the other Infoboxes?

Einbierbitte 18:08, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

My two cents--I think it's going to depend on "is it a bridge that happens to be on the NRHP list, or is it a NRHP site that happens to be a bridge?" -- in other words, Republican River Pegram Truss is a bridge that has maybe ten cars a day pass over it... the argument could be made that the only reason it is still standing is because of the NRHP. However, other historic bridges might be "historic" in nature and on the list, but have significant traffic--thus making it more of a "bridge" than a "historic site" ... --Paul McDonald 03:46, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Who's to say we can't work on, say, the bridge infobox (in collaboration with that project, of course), to include some optional NRHP parameters? I would note too that we have museums, libraries, skyscrapers, parks and a few protected areas that overlap as well. Putting {{Registered Historic Places}} at the bottom should always be done, of course, but I think we should find a way to add NRHP info in a number of infoboxes. Daniel Case 19:03, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

There are undoubtedly many bridges outside of the United States that are listed by their country's historic register, so we wouldn't want to make the infobox section too NRHP-centric. As an example, there's Forth Bridge (railway), which is a Category A listed building in Scotland. There's also Category:Grade I listed bridges in England and Wales. Any parameters added to {{Infobox Bridge}}, {{Infobox Lighthouse}}, and others should be generic enough to indicate any other country's listing standards. The type of register, date listed, and reference number would probably qualify -- any others we need? --Elkman 01:42, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

I've personally always thought the infoboxes should be more modular, so that you can define one as having both skyscraper AND historic building. As long as they start from the same parent (ie: things), then you wont get a nrhp and a musician sharing a combined infobox. I've occasionally added a second infobox, but it doesn't always look right. dm 15:05, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Daniel Case and Dmadeo that maybe there should be some flexibility in the Infoboxes. Besides Bridges and Lighthouses, there are also Infoboxes for Locomotives, Ships (civil and military), Railroad Stations, Protected Areas, Skyscrapers, Colleges and Universities, High Schools, and perhaps more that'll come to me later. I like Elkman's suggestion of adding just the bare minimum of information - type of register, date listed. Einbierbitte 21:33, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

As one who has been sadly silent around here of late (too much to do at work, hurray), I'd like to chime in and say that I, too, would like to see some way of combining userboxes. It would make everything much neater and easier to read. Not just for us, either - I've seen lots of userboxes where I thought it might be something nice to have. --User:AlbertHerring 01:00, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Manhattan Landmarks are complete

I'm happy to announce that with help from User:Daniel Case, User:Einbierbitte and many others, that we now have an article for each of the 85 Manhattan entries in the List of National Historic Landmarks in New York. Personally, it took five weekend skates to get pictures of almost all of them as well as detailed perusal of the AIA guide, the Guide to NYC Landmarks and other reference material. Whew! dm 04:04, 10 August 2007 (UTC) (I always forget to sign :(

Good work! You forgot to sign though. : ) IvoShandor 21:36, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Fantastic! Many kudos for a great effort! Ipoellet 04:43, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Okay, but what have you done lately... :) Can you snap a photo for Quarters A, Brooklyn Navy Yard and otherwise head out into the boros?doncram 22:15, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Portal

I think it is time for an NRHP portal. Ebyabe had something in user space awhile back. I think that a good idea for the portal would be to inlcude an "Weekly updates" section where we could list all places added to the NRHP each week, this would assure that users could easily update the state lists here. And of course, we could add the portal to our banner, which is on so many pages people are bound to visit our little portal. IvoShandor 21:38, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Indeed! It's stored at PortalNRHP. Have at, folks. :) -Ebyabe 16:09, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

I thought about having a portal, too. Great minds think alike Einbierbitte 21:48, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Userboxes

I decided I need to learn more Wikicode and this seemed like a fun way to do it. I haven't counted my NRHP-sites-visited yet, but I was sadly disappointed to learn I've only visited 40 landmarks. Gotta get moving! Anyway, have fun with these if you want. I may play with them a bit still; I'm really not happy with the picture for the landmarks, but it'll do for now. Check out User:G LeTourneau/userboxes for the details.

This user visits sites on the National Register of Historic Places.

User:G LeTourneau/userboxes/NRHP2

User:G LeTourneau/userboxes/NHL1

Nice. I like the color and composition. I'm going to use the NHL box once I tally up my total. . . Ipoellet 15:58, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Coordinates

As long as I have the NRHP database loaded up, want me to emit {{coord}} entries for the entries? Having coordinates can make it easier for people to find nearby sites to visit and update. Do you want just the named coordinates grouped by state? Grouped by county? Or do you want more of the data, such as being discussed at Talk:List of National Historic Landmarks by state#All the states? And where do you want the 40,000-60,000 items placed? (SEWilco 03:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC))

I haven't tallied them but based on the NHL subset I estimate half to two-thirds of the entries have coordinates. (SEWilco 03:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC))

Yes, please! Regarding emission. :) How about putting it in Misplaced Pages:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/coords, or maybe Misplaced Pages:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/coordinates dump? And arranged by state and county would be lovely. Thanks so muchly! :) -Ebyabe 14:29, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Only the list of coordinates is wanted, then? If that's the case, I'll wrap them in county section headings. I'll include the state in the section heading so browsers won't be confused when jumping to counties with the same name in multiple states. (SEWilco 16:30, 23 August 2007 (UTC))

Index to the coordinates list is in Misplaced Pages:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/coords. The location is named within the coordinate, visible in Edit mode. Add whatever other instructions you want, such as whether people should delete items which they have copied to wherever you want them to end up. (SEWilco 05:45, 24 August 2007 (UTC))

After instructions are in the /coords page, that page could be mentioned in Misplaced Pages:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/location verification. Moving coordinates to appropriate pages, even before checking the coordinates, is part of checking the location. (SEWilco 06:34, 24 August 2007 (UTC))

That list is not expected to have coordinates for all the places in the Register. The address and coordinates for some sites are not public, and locations for which the coordinates were not defined were omitted. (SEWilco 06:41, 24 August 2007 (UTC))

Looks like something broke for Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_National_Register_of_Historic_Places/coordsH#New_York.2C_New_York_County, also, at least all the NY county landmarks all have these already... dm 07:15, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

The data is fine. It just hit the template transclusion limit. New York State has so much history it needs articles by county. Or whatever NY calls its political divisions; I just appended "County" to all the county field values. (SEWilco 01:48, 25 August 2007 (UTC))

NY editors: apparently all the counties in NY do not yet have coordinates. I just added them to the Kings County, NY, list, and List of Registered Historic Places in New York County, New York does not have coordinates (it also has a lot of redlinks so obviously all the coordinates are not within articles). (SEWilco 18:01, 28 August 2007 (UTC))

I added instructions to the /coords page that coordinates which have been moved should be replaced with a link to the article which they were moved to. That way it is apparent when the coordinates have been put someplace. I'm doing List of Registered Historic Places in Kings County, New York, now. I notice that a "Historic District" is not in the coordinate list and neither is the Brooklyn Bridge (maybe because it is between counties). (SEWilco 16:40, 28 August 2007 (UTC))

Good Article Review

One of this Project's Good Articles, Presidio of Santa Barbara has been nominated for Good Article review. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. Drewcifer3000 19:43, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

New York State Landmarks in progress, quality question

I'm a new contributor, having come across the List of National Historic Landmarks in New York and having seen User:Daniel Case's contributions there. I got started adding articles, learning by doing, with a few tips from Daniel (Thanks!) and from following his and others' good examples available. Have found NHL nomination forms at NPS for many sites. Hmm, only just now do I see there is an infobox generator in use here, I should have visited this talkpage sooner to learn of it...I have constructed about 20 new articles' infoboxes by hand. Completing out the list of 258 NY landmarks, state-wide, is quite close now, depending on quality of articles required. About 35 articles are needed. I personally believe that a somewhat stubby article not having a photo, like Adams Power Plant Transformer House is worth having, though i sense others may differ. That one does include a PDF link to some NPS photos, but for some others it is still hard to find any photo online to link to. Interested in others' thoughts.... doncram 17:48, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

The Historic American Buildings Survey (main link) often has good photographs, especially for buildings that are architecturally notable. I believe all of their images are in the public domain, being a work of the U.S. government. This is the entry for the Adams Power Plant. The one downside is that most of their images are in black and white, mostly due to the need for archival permanence (being able to store images for at least 75 years). Still, HABS/HAER is always a good resource. --Elkman 18:08, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Actually the NPS photos within the PDF files appear to be public domain. For example, go to http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreghome.do and search on "Adams" in "New York", click on "Adams Power Plant Transformer House", yields the URLS of the PDFs and further info: "Publisher: National Park Service / Published: 06/11/1975 / Access: Public access / Restrictions: Public domain / Format/Size: Physical Document with text, photos and map". Does anyone know how to extract and save some appropriate photo, from the PDF?doncram 01:51, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Doncram- Stubbing can be a very important process on Misplaced Pages - often tedious and thankless, but also critical to jump-starting article development in some areas that aren't getting the attention they deserve in the time they should. I've had a look at your Adams Power Plant Transformer House article, and it's somewhat more informative than many (even most) stubs out there. I'd urge you not to have any hesitation about pursuing the path you've started. Be bold! You're a welcome addition to the Misplaced Pages community, and I personally look forward to seing a much more complete set of NHL articles out there. Welcome aboard! Ipoellet 21:07, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Happy to claim that ALMOST ALL of the 258 NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARKS in NEW YORK STATE now exist at least as a stub article, yippee... :) Thanks Ipoellet for your encouragement and Thanks again Elkman for the Elkman NRHP infobox generator, it has been invaluable! Lots to do in cleaning them up and making the entire list more presentable.doncram 21:49, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

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• NA-importance National Register of Historic Places pages
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