On October 15, 1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and offices of the relevant State Historic Preservation (SHPO) [3]. Initially, the National Registry is composed of ancient monuments designated prior to the creation of the record, and all other historical sites in the national park system [4]. Passage of the bill, which was amended in 1980 and 1992 represented the first time that the U.S. had a policy of broad historical preservation. [3] [5] The 1966 Act requires these organizations to work with the SHPO and an independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), to address the adverse effects of federal activities in the preservation of heritage [6].

To manage the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service U.S. Department of Interior, with director George B. Hartzog, Jr., has established an administrative division, called the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP). [6] [7] Hartzog OAHP responsible for the creation of a national registration program mandated by the 1966 law. Ernest Connally was the first director of the Office. In OAHP divisions were created to deal with the National Registry [8]. The division has managed several existing programs, including the Survey of historic sites and historic buildings in the United States survey, and the new National Registry of Historic Preservation and the Fund [6

The first official record keeper was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. [4] In the early years of the register of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the organization was lax and SHPOs was small, understaffed and underfunded. [7] However, funds were still left to fund historic preservation to provide matching grants to help owners of properties listed, first for house museums and institutional buildings, but possibly commercial structures and