National Register and Wikidata

This page will serve as a place to explore the way data about the National Register is stored, processed and displayed within Wikidata.

The goals are to assess the thoroughness and accuracy of NRHP data in Wikidata, and to facilitate research about said data.

Eventually, different SPARQL query display options should be explored, to encourage as much data analysis and visualization as possible within the query builder.

This query retrieves items that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, resulting in a list of 75,816 on April 17, 2025.

This query retrieves items that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and includes the date they were listed, if available.

This query finds NRHP nomination forms that include one or more author name strings. As of April 17, 2025 there were 525 results for this query.

This query selects a set of preservation Wikidata items and explores related information between them

#defaultView:Graph
# This query selects a set of preservation Wikidata items and explores related information between them

SELECT ?item1 ?image ?item1Label ?item2 ?image2 ?item2Label ?edgeLabel WHERE {

  # Define a set of items which are specific entities in Wikidata (e.g., wd:Q47035098, wd:Q47035253, etc.)
  # list the items twice, so that the relationships between the items are explored both ways.
  VALUES ?item1 {wd:Q47035098 wd:Q47035253 wd:Q3719 wd:Q2888877 wd:Q6973378 wd:Q47460806 wd:Q6975244 wd:Q1143548 wd:Q4683278 wd:Q624232 wd:Q19558910 wd:Q47162123 wd:Q20856087 wd:Q47162146 wd:Q47162186 wd:Q57955877 wd:Q51298753}
  VALUES ?item2 {wd:Q47035098 wd:Q47035253 wd:Q3719 wd:Q2888877 wd:Q6973378 wd:Q47460806 wd:Q6975244 wd:Q1143548 wd:Q4683278 wd:Q624232 wd:Q19558910 wd:Q47162123 wd:Q20856087 wd:Q47162146 wd:Q47162186 wd:Q57955877 wd:Q51298753}

  # This line explores the properties of relationships between the listed items
  ?item1 ?prop ?item2.

  # This looks for properties that are of type 'wikibase:Property'.
  ?edge ?dummy ?prop ; rdf:type wikibase:Property.

  # SHow images related to item1 and item2 (if available) using the property wdt:P18 (image property).
  OPTIONAL {?item1 wdt:P18 ?image}
  OPTIONAL {?item2 wdt:P18 ?image2}

  # human readable labels
  SERVICE wikibase:label { 
    bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "[AUTO_LANGUAGE],en". 
  }
}

Have a historic preservation SPARQL query you'd like to share? Please write to hello@openpreservation.xyx.