By Jenny Scofield, AICP

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is honored to introduce the Connecticut Cultural Resource Information System, our new statewide digital resource. ConnCRIS is an interactive map of historic properties and archaeological sites that can be viewed on top of other layers of information. This online tool contains over 96,000 data points linked to digital documents derived from architectural or archaeological surveys or historic designation files. Designation files consist of National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places, and State Register of Historic Places nomination forms, and Local Historic Property or District study reports. During the development of ConnCRIS, SHPO digitized 70 years of paper records and created the state’s first comprehensive map of cultural resources. Approximately 100,000 pages were scanned from survey reports alone. All those documents were moved off-site for scanning during the COVID-19 pandemic in staggered shipments. Previous access to these records involved hand-searching multiple sets of paper collections in various formats and occasionally microfiche files.

Beyond enabling self-service access to the public data maintained by SHPO, ConnCRIS is an essential tool for stewardship, planning, and historical research. So, let’s explore its capabilities. A glance at the ConnCRIS map shows the distribution of known historic places throughout the state in relation to other attributes, such as municipal boundaries, roads, topography, property parcels, and landscape features. Using the zoom function, the map can be focused on specific locations, and information about cultural resources in that area can be downloaded in a table. Data can be extracted for use in local planning documents, and ConnCRIS can be used to identify historic resources within areas of proposed development or conservation or areas at higher risk of storm or flood damage. Locations of known archaeological sites are restricted (to prevent harm and protect sensitive information), but an archaeological grid showing the general presence or absence of documented sites is available as a data layer. ConnCRIS users can turn “layers” of data on or off and select from various underlying maps to control which information is visible simultaneously.

Riverside Cemetery close up

Landscape characteristics and historic development patterns become apparent as data layers are viewed together. For example, the spatial relationship of a building or landscape to the street, town center, railroad, or waterfront is easily understandable in ConnCRIS; this information can then be used to extrapolate how these aspects of the setting may have influenced development. The state’s 1934 Fairchild Aerial Survey photographs (also available through a viewer provided by the University of Connecticut Center for Land Use Education and Research and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) are integrated into ConnCRIS so that data points can be viewed in relation to 1934 conditions. A slider bar allows viewers to toggle between present-day aerial maps and 1934 images to see how the landscape has changed over time.

Filters can be used to view data

Having information available in this digital format also allows for “querying” or searching data in ways not possible before. For example, data can be sorted by construction period to determine how much historic architecture is extant in a town and whether clusters of similar resources are near other points of interest. Data points can be filtered by style, date, and historical use to generate context to establish significance for a particular example of architectural design. By using the associated files for each data point, which contain photographs, descriptions, and histories, similar buildings can be compared to see how an architectural design was applied and if there are trends in particular regions. Similar filtering is possible for various property types, including historic agricultural properties, landscapes, cemeteries, and places with commercial, military, or transportation use. Additional sorting ability is being developed for properties with important associations related to ethnic or social history. This capacity is built into ConnCRIS and will become more functional as identified properties are linked to those categories.

Historic places included in ConnCRIS are those identified in the state’s Historic Resource Inventory and through historic designation. Among those places are properties identified in the State Historic Preservation Office’s first statewide survey effort, which dates to the formal creation of SHPOs throughout the country under the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act. (Fun fact: the Connecticut Historical Commission, which became the SHPO, predated this federal preservation law by 11 years!) Work to verify the locations of some properties surveyed during those first efforts is ongoing. ConnCRIS is regularly updated and will continue to grow as more cultural resources are documented and legacy data is improved.

Please introduce yourself to ConnCRIS at conncris.ct.gov. Our user guide and how-to videos will help you get acquainted.

Jenny Scofield, AICP, is Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer and National Register and Architectural Survey Coordinator at the State Historic Preservation Office.