The Keeper of the Register (more formally known as the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places) is a National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 (NPS) official, responsible for deciding on the eligibility of historic properties for inclusion on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 (NRHP). The Keeper's authority may be delegated as he or she sees fit. The State Historic Preservation Office

State Historic Preservation Officer

The State Historic Preservation Office was created in 1966 under Section 101 of the National Historic Preservation Act . The purposes of SHPO include surveying and recognizing historic properties, reviewing nominations for properties to be included in the National Register of Historic Places,...

 (SHPO) for each state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 submits nominations to the Keeper. Upon receipt, the Keeper has 45 days to decide whether to add the property to the NRHP.

List of Keepers

• William J. Murtagh – late 1960s-1979
• Jerry L. Rogers – approximately 1981-1994
• Carol D. Shull – Acting Keeper 1979-1980, Keeper 1994-2005, Interim Keeper 2009 to present
• Jan Snyder Matthews – 2005–2009