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Context that influences the nature and distribution of the community's resources, and should influence survey efforts designed to find and document such resources. Historic Contexts are developed on the basis of background data on the history and prehistory of the community and its surrounding area. To uncover such data, survey planners should conduct initial research into the community's history and the history and prehistory oÍ the region in which it lies, in consultation with knowledgeable authorities. An initial statement of Historic Contexts should be developed during the earliest stages of planning to guide development of the actual survey design. In planning the survey, it may be feasible to define the contexts only in broad, general terms; sufficient flexibility should always be maintained to allow changes to take place as the survey progresses. In this manner, Historic Contexts are almost always refined, modified, or expanded as the survey proceeds. An outline of statewide Historic Contexts is available from the National Register Programs office of the THC. These are considered a guide for surveys, registration, and documentation that will eventually lead to the establishment of fully developed Contexts or help to focus on specific property or resource types with defined protection strategies. How are survey goals and priorities established! A great deal of preparation is necessary before beginning any survey effort. During the initial stages of research, survey goals should be established based on the developed historic contexts. This will provide information crucial for determining the scope and focus of the proposed work. For example, suppose that a community (a) was the probable location of a prehistoric Indian village near the confluence of two streams; (b) was a port during the early 19th century; and (c) experienced growth in the middle to late 19th century as rural Blacks established neighborhoods of shotgun houses near urban centers and merchants built opulent houses in another related neighborhood. Goals for the first-stage reconnaissance-level survey effort might be (a) to determine whether soil strata that might contain the archeological re~ains of the Indian village still exist under the modern streets and houses that overlay the old stream confluence; (b) to determine the boundaries of the early 19th century port, identify major buildings from the period, identify buildings requiring further study to determine whether they represent repeatedly modernized 19th-century buildings, and determine locations of likely archeological interest; (c) to identify historic neighborhoods that retain their architectural and cultural integrity. The means to achieving these goals can then be assigned priorities based on such factors as work already conducted, available funding, planning and development constraints, and survey opportunities. How is the survey conducted? The first step is to determine the boundaries of the survey area. This usually is determined by the funding agency or organization and follows an established political boundary. If dealing with standing structures in densely populated 6