Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

(NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). Its records include measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports, all archived in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

' Prints and Photographs Division.

History

Historic American Buildings Survey

In 1933, the Historic American Buildings Survey was established following a proposal by Charles E. Peterson, a young

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

in the National Park Service. Peterson proposed that the survey would be "Almost a complete resume of the builder's art." Though it was founded as a temporary, "ten-weeks" constructive make-work program for architects, draftsmen, and photographers left jobless by the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the Historic American Buildings Survey has endured to this day. The program was later supported through the Historic Sites Act of 1935. Guided by field instructions from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, the first HABS recorders were tasked with documenting a representative sampling of the nation's

architectural heritage ''Architectural Heritage'' is an academic journal published by Edinburgh University Press on behalf of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland in November each year. It was founded in 1991. The journal focuses on architectural history an ...

. They began to document the

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

in the United States, carrying out multi-format surveys that has today amassed "more than 581,000 measured drawings, large-format photographs, written histories, and original field notes for more than 43,000 historic structures and sites dating from Pre-Columbian times to the twentieth century." By creating an archive of historic architecture, HABS provided a

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of primary source material and documentation for the then-fledgling

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

movement. Peterson stated that the survey initially would, "...include public buildings, churches, residences, bridges, forts, barns, mills, shops, rural outbuildings, and any other kind of structure of which there are good specimens extant." The acting Chief of HABS, Catherine Lavoie stated in 2011 that HABS was, "Documenting the worthy and not just the wealthy.” Earlier private projects that pre-dated HABS included Eleanor Raymond's ''Early Domestic Architecture of Pennsylvania'' (1931), Charles Morse Stotz's Western Pennsylvania Architectural Survey, and the '' White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs''. Many of their contributors later joined the HABS program. Notable HABS photographers included Jack Boucher, who worked for the project for over four decades, Robert W. Tebbs, Richard Koch, and Jet Lowe.

Historic American Engineering Record

The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) program was founded on January 10, 1969, by NPS and the

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

. HAER documents historic sites, structures, mechanical, and engineering artifacts. The Maritime Administration works with HAER to "document historic vessels prior to their disposal." Since the advent of HAER, the combined program is typically called "HABS/HAER". Eric DeLony headed HAER from 1987 to 2003.

Historic American Landscapes Survey

In October 2000, NPS and the

American Society of Landscape Architects The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. ...

established a sister program, the Historic American Landscapes Survey, to systematically document historic American landscapes. A predecessor, the Historic American Landscape and Garden Project, recorded historic Massachusetts gardens between 1935 and 1940. That project was funded by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

, but was administered by HABS, which supervised the collection of records. In 2001, along with the Library of Congress, the NPS, and the American Society of Landscape Architects signed a Memorandum of Understanding which established a working relationship between the three organizations. Following the signing of this agreement, these organizations together signed the Tripartite Agreement in 2010, making "HALS a permanent federal program." The NPS deals with the planning and operations of HALS, standardizes the formats and develops the guidelines for recording landscapes.

Library of Congress

The permanent collection of HABS/HAER/HALS are housed at the

, the national library of the United States. Many images, drawings, and documents are available through the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, including proposed, demolished, and existing structures; locales, projects, and designs. The HABS and HAER collections are among the largest and most heavily used in the division.

References

External links

Records of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)/Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Division
Guide to Federal Records

* ttps://www.loc.gov/collections/historic-american-buildings-landscapes-and-engineering-records Library of Congress HABS/HAER/HALS Collection
Photographer Stepen Schafer BLOG: Frequently Asked Questions about HABS, HAER and HALS website

New England based Photographer Andrew Baugnet specializes in HABS/HAER photographic documentation
* Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Collection at the

University of Maryland Libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the University of Maryland, College Park, College Park campus, while ...

{{Authority control 1933 establishments in the United States Architecture organizations based in the United States Historic American Engineering Record History of engineering Landscape design history of the United States National Park Service Online archives of the United States Photo archives in the United States Works Progress Administration