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    State Historic Preservation Office Adds 7,500 Properties to Historic Places Inventory

    March 15, 2022

    Harrisburg, PA - The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO), a bureau of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) has added more than 7,500 properties in 17 counties to Pennsylvania's Historic Places Inventory in year one of a multiyear initiative to collect baseline survey information about thousands of older and historic places across a vast part of Pennsylvania that are underrepresented in the statewide inventory.

    This inventory, which includes historic and archaeological resources representing 16,000 years of Pennsylvania history, is maintained in PA-SHARE (Pennsylvania State Historic and Archaeological Resource Exchange). Surveyor, PA-SHARE's companion mobile app, expedites baseline data collection for integration into PA-SHARE. Counties inventoried in year one include Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Columbia, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lackawanna, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Union and Wyoming.

    Identifying and documenting historic and archaeological resources is the foundation of PA SHPO's work. The Historic Places Inventory helps PHMC's partners and citizens of Pennsylvania understand how the commonwealth developed and evolved. PA-SHARE's map-based inventory assists Pennsylvanians in making informed decisions about future plans in the state's communities.  It has been four decades since PHMC initiated a survey effort of this scale. 

    In 2022 and 2023, the baseline survey initiative expects to add about 19,500 additional historic and archaeological resources in 35 counties. Survey work is being done in counties and municipalities where previous survey efforts did not comprehensively document historic properties and focuses on documenting new properties that are underrepresented in the Pennsylvania Historic Places Inventory. This includes places of local significance as identified by local stakeholders, such as recreational properties, fraternal buildings, industrial resources, African American churches and cemeteries, ethnic communities, and properties that represent local building styles and traditions.

    PA SHPO is asking Pennsylvanians who live and work in the following counties to suggest older and historic places in their communities for this baseline survey initiative: Berks, Bucks, Butler, Carbon, Crawford, Delaware, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Lehigh, Luzerne, McKean, Montgomery, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Westmoreland

    Submit your information at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PASHPO_baseline_survey or via email to ra-bhpmail@pa.gov.

    Survey teams will be in these counties beginning in April 2022 through early 2023. Baseline survey captures only basic information about the location and appearance of places that is visible from the public right-of-way.  

    Learn more about baseline survey at https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Preservation/survey/Pages/Baseline-Survey-Effort-2020-2024.aspx.

    The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission is the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Learn more by visiting PHMC online or following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

    MEDIA CONTACT: Howard Pollman, 717-705-8639