, a historic district in Rhode Island, has the distinction of carrying the NRHP reference number 66000001, technically making it the first property added to the National Register on November 13, 1966. blank">National Register Information System, National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service. Retrieved 11 April 2007. ]] The National Register of Historic Places is the _United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects worthy of preservation. The passing of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one million properties on the National Register, 80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing members within historic districts. Each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or through individual listings.

For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior. Its goals are to help property owners and groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, they do provide some financial incentive to listed property owners. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics in the fields of history and preservation, as well as the public, and politicians.

Occasionally historic sites outside the country proper but associated with the United States (such as the American Embassy in Tangiers) are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts and Multiple Property Submissions (MPS). The Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties: building, structure, site, object, and districts. Historic districts consist of contributing and non-contributing property types. Some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they come under the aegis of the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks (NHL), National Historic Sites (NHS), National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials and some National Monuments.