Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) Collections

Measured drawings, photographs, and data sheets documenting works of American architecture and engineering

Prints and Photographs Division

Collection digitized? Yes. Most of the HABS and HAER documentation is available in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html). (The same images are presented on the Library of Congress American Memory site.)

Jump to: Background | Access | Ordering Copies | Permissions and Credits | Sample Images from the Collection (via American Memory)

BACKGROUND

The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) are collections of documentary measured drawings, photographs, and written historical and architectural information for about 37,000 structures and sites in the United States and its territories. The U.S. Department of the Interior is responsible for the administration of these surveys and creates the records which are transferred to the Library of Congress for service and preservation. The American Institute of Architects, which cooperated with the Library of Congress and the National Park Service in forming HABS, serves in an advisory capacity for HABS (see the National Park Service HABS/HAER site); the American Society of Civil Engineers provides similar assistance with HAER by giving professional counsel, financial assistance through its local sections, and other aid. Other professional engineering societies such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' History and Heritage Committee also aid HAER. Architectural and engineering structures and sites of almost every type, including residential, commercial, public, monumental, religious, military, and industrial categories, have been recorded and are part of these collections. Various building technologies and materials, as well as periods and styles from the 17th to the 20th century are represented.

ACCESS

Online Access

The most comprehensive way to search the collection is through the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC); URL: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html. PPOC is available in the Prints and Photographs Division Reading Room and from offsite via the Web. HABS/HAER records can be searched along with all other records in PPOC, or they can be searched by themselves, by selecting "Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record" in the list of available collections. The online records include links to digitized documentation: photographs, drawings, data pages, photo caption pages and, sometimes, supplemental materials. All but the most recent documentation has been digitized and made available on the Web. Since the National Park Service's HABS and HAER programs create new documentation each year, digital images will continue to be added to the online collections. The first phase of digitization of the Historic American Engineering Record collection was made possible by the generous support of the Shell Oil Company Foundation.

An online search will definitely answer questions such as what buildings were recorded in Lynchburg, Virginia. One can search by name or address of a structure. Where the data is available in catalog records, you can also search by name of architect/creator, names of owners of buildings, building date, and current and/or former use of the structure (such as trolley barn). Since 1999 the HABS and HAER programs have been working to review systematically each survey in order to add subject terms and architect name to the 37,000 records in the online catalog. Selected catalog cards which could contain such information have been digitized as "supplemental" materials. Photographers' and delineators' names are not searchable online, but they can be found within the documentation itself.

The same HABS/HAER catalog records and images that are presented in PPOC are also presented on the Library of Congress American Memory site.

Use at the Library of Congress

Physical copies of all formal HABS/HAER records may be consulted in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room in the Library of Congress' Madison Building. Patrons are welcome to visit the collection and examine the records and access tools in person. (As a preservation measure, the Library generally serves surrogates, i.e., digital or xerox copies, of the original drawings.) HAER records from Michigan through Wyoming are offsite and are retrieved twice daily upon request.

Records processed between 1933 and 2003 are filed in binders by shelflist number and arranged by geographic hierarchical order: state, county name, city or vicinity, and by the sequence in which the building was recorded within the given city or vicinity. Records processed after 2003 are located at the end of the 1933-2003 shelving and are filed by state, then by survey number.

The order for the material for each structure in a binder is:

1. photographic materials, usually consisting of captioned black and-white photographs, but also occasionally color xeroxes made from duplicate color transparencies (some later photographs are preceded by photo caption pages);
2. written historical and descriptive data;
3. reduced-size copies of measured drawings (8 1/2 x 11 inches).

A master card catalog, which follows the hierarchical geographic arrangement of the documentation, provides an entry for each structure or site and lists the amount of documentation and the shelflist number. Several card indexes, all in progress, have been developed to supplement the geographic catalog. The largest index is by subject, which includes types of buildings (such as barns), specific materials (such as stone buildings), and details (such as murals). The subject index also includes building styles ranging from Federal to International. A smaller index lists structures chronologically. Another card index includes the names of architects, engineers, or firms, allowing a reader interested in the work of a particular architect or engineer to determine which works by that architect are included in HABS/HAER.

Field records may exist for some buildings, and, if so, are noted in the online records and in the HABS/HAER card catalog, as well as in the book America Preserved (see below). However, this informal documentation is not included in the notebooks in the Reading Room and access to these nonstandard materials is by special arrangement. Arrangements to view or copy field records must be made in advance with the Reference Specialist in American architecture.

Other published tools for access

It has always been the intention of those responsible for the surveys that they be accessible to people throughout the country, and many state and national catalogs to the surveys have been published over the years. For the 60th anniversary of HABS and the 25th anniversary of HAER, an updated catalog, America Preserved: A Checklist of Historic Buildings, Structures, and Sites Recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, was published by the Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service in 1995, and is available for $37 (telephone 800-255-3666).

The collection has been reproduced in two microform publications. All HABS measured drawings from 1933-1974 are available in a 66-reel publication which may be ordered as a set or by reel from the Library's Photoduplication Service (telephone 202-707-5640). Microfiche of all the documentation -- drawings, photographs, and written histories -- in the Library's cataloged HABS and HAER collections as of 1988 was made by Chadwyck-Healey and is available from ProQuest, 300 North Zeeb Road, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48106-1346 (telephone: 800-521-0600 ext. 2793; email: info@ilproquest.com). Again, the entire set or individual states may be ordered. These microform publications are being bought not only by libraries throughout the country, but by individuals who view them on machines at their area libraries.

Staff have prepared reference aids that list selected sites relevant to frequently requested themes, such as architect, building types and styles. Reference aids that are available online can be found in the "Architecture" section of the Prints and Photographs Division's online "Images Lists" page.

ORDERING COPIES OF THE RECORDS

Copies of all HABS and HAER materials which have been transferred to and processed by the Library may be obtained through the Library's Photoduplication Service (telephone: 202-707-5640; email: photoduplication@loc.gov) which can provide price information and describe ordering procedures.

PERMISSIONS AND CREDITS

While the Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17 U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the HABS/HAER materials, there may be content protected by copyright law. Additionally, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by privacy or other rights. A rights statement is available online at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Buildings Survey or Historic American Engineering Record, Reproduction Number (Ex:"HABS,ILL,16-CHIG,33-2")

Compiled by: Marilyn Ibach, Reference Specialist. Last revised: October 2004.