Antiquities Act of 1906

What happened

The Antiquities Act, "An Act For the preservation of American antiquities," was approved June 8, 1906. Section 1 made it a crime to "appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity" on federal land without the permission of the department that manages it. The penalty was a fine of up to $500, up to ninety days in jail, or both.

Section 2 is the part that shaped later land protection. It authorizes the President "to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" on federal land to be national monuments. The President may reserve parcels of land as part of a monument, whose limits "shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected." The Act is now codified at 54 U.S.C. 320301.

The National Park Service says Congress acted because, in the late 1800s, people from the east travelled west and collected "antiquities" in "haphazard ways" for personal gain, while scientists also studied them, and concern over the loss of information drew a coalition to seek a federal law. The Park Service says presidents have used the Act almost 300 times.

The Act has been used to protect places important to Native nations, including Bears Ears in 2016. Whether a President may shrink a monument is disputed: the 2021 Bears Ears proclamation notes that parties challenged the 2017 reduction in federal court, while the 2026 proclamation says the Act permits the President "to remove land from the monument" and return it to its prior status.

Good to know. The Park Service's account of the Act's origins does not mention the Native nations whose ancestors made the sites.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error