{
  "id": "R45741",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R45741",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 598808,
      "date": "2019-05-29",
      "retrieved": "2019-05-29T22:01:00.369749",
      "title": "Memorials and Commemorative Works Outside Washington, DC: Background, Federal Role, and Options for Congress",
      "summary": "Congress frequently faces questions about whether and how to commemorate people and events that have influenced the nation\u2019s history. Congress often has chosen to do so by establishing national memorials or by conferring a national designation on existing state, local, or private memorials. The National Park Service (NPS) defines national memorials within the National Park System as \u201cprimarily commemorative\u201d works that need not be at sites historically associated with their subjects. The Commemorative Works Act (CWA; 40 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a78901-8910) was enacted to govern the establishment process for memorials located in the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) or its environs that are under the jurisdiction of the NPS or the General Services Administration. The CWA includes provisions related to memorial location, design, construction, and perpetual maintenance. Memorials in Washington, DC, include those with the word national in the name and those that are essentially national memorials but do not bear that title.\nFor memorials outside the District of Columbia, no specific law or set of regulations governs their establishment. Congress has established a number of federally administered national memorials throughout the nation, most often as units of the National Park System but also under management of other federal agencies. Various nonfederal entities undertaking commemorative efforts also have petitioned Congress for assistance or statutory recognition, and some individual memorial organizers have titled their works as national memorials without congressional recognition. To clarify options for Congress when considering commemoration of individuals, groups, and events through memorials, this report discusses several types of congressional involvement in memorials outside the District of Columbia. For purposes of the report, these are characterized as \nhigh federal involvement (e.g., congressional establishment of a national memorial under federal agency administration);\nmedium federal involvement (e.g., congressional authorization for a memorial to be located on federal property or to receive federal funds);\nlow federal involvement (e.g., statutory recognition without additional federal support); and\nno federal involvement (e.g., a self-declared national memorial).\nThe report provides examples of memorials of each type and discusses some options for Congress, with regard to both individual memorial designations and consideration of whether to systematize criteria for memorials outside Washington, DC, similar to the CWA\u2019s provisions for District of Columbia memorials. Because this report focuses specifically on memorials outside the District of Columbia, please see CRS Report R41658, Commemorative Works in the District of Columbia: Background and Practice, by Jacob R. Straus, for discussion of memorials governed by the CWA in Washington, DC, and its environs.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45741",
          "sha1": "36d238875f0dfac9a8fbd3417245810c375bb95c",
          "filename": "files/20190529_R45741_36d238875f0dfac9a8fbd3417245810c375bb95c.html",
          "images": {
            "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45741_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190529_R45741_images_5bf85850a146c93998e902693b4532fec12534a6.png"
          }
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45741",
          "sha1": "8cd89eb82c9e3bd2b009e311dab8e2983fd60da8",
          "filename": "files/20190529_R45741_8cd89eb82c9e3bd2b009e311dab8e2983fd60da8.pdf",
          "images": {}
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Legislative Process"
  ]
}