Introduction

Historic contexts are a key component of our history and historic resources collections. As defined by the National Park Service,

Historic contexts are those patterns or trends in history by which a specific occurrence, property, or site is understood and its meaning (and ultimately its significance) … is made clear.

What is in a historic context?

Typical contents

• Topical historic research focusing on New Jersey.
• Specific associative property types.
• Examples of similar properties in New Jersey.

Fully developed historic contexts

• Collection, assessment and analysis of relevant information.
• Identification of associated property types.
• Identification of information needs.
• Development of specific preservation goals and priorities for the historic context’s property types.
• Systematic development of general historic context planning goals and priorities.

How are historic contexts used?

Goals for developing historic contexts

Historic contexts may be developed at any number of thematic, geographic or temporal levels. The development and implementation process is dynamic. They may need to change as new information becomes available.

For example, a historic context incorporating the Delaware and Raritan Canal might include:

• The contributing “transportation” theme.
• Property types associated with canals.
• The central portion of the state as its geographic area.
• The period 1850-1920.

Historic contexts in New Jersey

Statewide

We have identified twelve statewide historic contexts. These provide a framework to organize all information about individual resources. They address the following aspects of each property within New Jersey:

• History
• Architecture
• Archaeology
• Engineering
• Culture

Statewide historic contexts are best used to

• Organize a comprehensive municipality or county survey of historic resources.
• Enable broad temporal categorizations and evaluations.

How are statewide contexts organized?

We have split our statewide contexts at the point of European contact or intrusion, A.D. 1500.

• Pre-contact (or prehistoric) contexts describe eras of Native American history before A.D. 1500. Aside from the end date of Late Woodland, the last of these contexts, most are defined in years Before Present (B.P.). This dating system uses A.D. 1950 as the cutoff for the “modern” era. Each period directly follows the last.
• Post-contact (or historic) contexts use common Anno Domini (A.D.) years. Note that these contexts have overlapping dates. They focus more on themes from state and national development.

Thematic

Thematic historic contexts generally focus on specific types of historic resources. They cover recognized topics from New Jersey and, in some cases, United States history. Of all nomination types, Multiple Property Submissions rely on thematic contexts the most. The associated Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) must address the following:

• Particular property type
• Theme
• Geography
• Timeframe

Recognized thematic contexts

The following themes include National Register (NR) Reference IDs where available. NPS uses these to track NR-listed historic properties, including Multiple Property Submissions. Use these to match records across state and federal agencies’ inventory catalogs. If a context has a public scan through NPS or the National Archives (pre-2012 listings), we have added a link as well.