ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how cultural resource management (CRM) involves the negotiation of complex landscapes and place-identities that genealogists create, reinforce and disseminate through local historical societies, publications, websites and in public forums. The work of genealogists, often marginalized within the academy, has become increasingly important to the practice of CRM and the identification and evaluation of historic properties during the development of Federal undertakings. The practice of CRM often involves negotiation of the landscapes that link material places and the imagination. In fact, the very processes of environmental impact assessment negotiate a collage of geography, memory, and sentiment informed by the work of local historians and genealogists. Rural genealogical projects involve a claim to space that has been challenged through economic and social restructuring. In rural areas such as Somerset County, the role of place-bound genealogy has to be considered in light of the changing social and economic fortunes of the long time residents.
