Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Andrew Esola via AP. Within hours of taking office, President Donald Trump outlined in one of his many executive orders a mission to celebrate American greatness and to recognize those who have made contributions throughout history. He also called on the U. Interior Department to work with Alaska Natives and others to adopt names for other landmarks that would honor their history and culture.
The U. Board on Geographic Names will play a role. The little known panel made up of officials from several federal agencies has been in existence since How did the board get its start? As more settlers and prospectors headed west following the American Civil War, it became apparent the federal government needed some kind of consistency for referencing landmarks on maps and in official documents.
In comes President Benjamin Harrison. He issued an executive order establishing the board in hopes of resolving some of the confusion. President Theodore Roosevelt took it further in , making the board responsible for standardizing geographic names for use across the federal government. That included changing names for some spots and identifying unnamed features. It was President Franklin Roosevelt who dissolved the board in , opting instead to transfer duties to the Interior Department.
The board under the Trump administration will have new members, but the makeup will be the same with representatives from several agencies ranging from the Interior and Commerce departments to the Post Office and the Library of Congress. Even the CIA plays a role when the board considers place names beyond U. The members are appointed for two-year terms by the respective heads of the agencies they represent.
The committee that deals with names on U. What's in a name? The board is quite aware of the importance of a name, noting in its guiding principles, policies and procedures that the names of geographic features throughout the U. The board points out that names of Native American origin are found sprinkled throughout the land and there are traces of the languages spoken by early explorers. In the case of Mount McKinley , original inhabitants had unique names for the mountain long before prospectors showed up.
