A very large array: Early federal historic preservation - The Antiquities Act, Mesa Verde, and the National Park Service Act

Vandalism to archeological areas in the American Southwest provided the chief motivation for passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906. One of the Progressive Era's foremost preservation laws, this Act firmly established research and education in science and the humanities as valid goals of public land management in the United States. In addition, the Act authorized the use of presidential proclamations to create "national monuments" on public lands that are especially significant to science or history. The Act's leading congressional advocate, U.S. Congressman John F. Lacey of Iowa, also supported the creation of Civil War battlefield parks in the East and national parks in the West, as well as early wildlife refuges and national forest reserves. ne Antiquities Act thus came into being within the context of an array of new conservation and preservation legislation, which included the 1906 Mesa Verde Act and the 1916 National Park Service Act. All together, the legislative histories and the wording of these three statutes - plus management activities ongoing in the early battlefield parks, national monuments, and national parks - formed the philosophical and policy foundations for national park service historic preservation practices throughout much of the twentieth. century.