Recent past

Recent past

The “recent past” is a term commonly used to describe historic and architectural resources younger than fifty years old.

The fifty year mark is based on the so-called “fifty year rule” is the generally held belief that a property cannot be listed on the National Register of Historic Places unless it is at least fifty years old. Actually, this rule is not a rule at all, it is an exception to the National Register Criteria for Evaluation. As stated by John J. Sprinkle, Jr. the Deputy Director of the Federal Preservation Institute, “this ‘rule’ is only an exception to the criteria that shape listings within the National Register of Historic Places. Of the eight “exceptions” [or criteria considerations] , Consideration G, for properties that have achieved significance within the past fifty years, is probably best-known, yet also misunderstood preservation principal in America.” [Sprinkle, John, H., Jr. , “Of Exceptional Importance’ the Origins of ‘the Fifty Year Rule.”]

Because with each passing year a new group of resources crosses the fifty-year threshold, the term “recent past” describes an array of resources, all of which were, at one point, considered “too recent” for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (unless they were exceptionally significant).

The preservation of these “underage” resources, has gained increasing attention in recent years.

Notes and references


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  • the recent past — the recent past, times that have only recently past, not long ago …   English contemporary dictionary

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  • Past tense — The past tense is a verb tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment (in an absolute tense system), or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future (in a relative tense system).#… …   Wikipedia

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  • past — [[t]pɑ͟ːst, pæ̱st[/t]] ♦ pasts (In addition to the uses shown below, past is used in the phrasal verb run past .) 1) N SING: the N The past is the time before the present, and the things that have happened. In the past, about a third of the… …   English dictionary

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  • recent — re|cent W1S2 [ˈri:sənt] adj [Date: 1400 1500; : French; Origin: Latin recens fresh, recent ] having happened or started only a short time ago ▪ Irving s most recent book ▪ recent research into the causes of cancer in recent years/months/times etc …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • recent — I adjective fresh, lately, new, newly arrived, not long past, novel, of recent occurrence, up to date associated concepts: in recent memory, recent possession, recently II index current, novel …   Law dictionary

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