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In a hurry? Save or print these Collection Connections as a single
file.
Go directly to the collections, Built
in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering
Record, 1933-Present, in American Memory, or view a Summary
of Resources related to the collections.
Built in America: The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) 1933-Present,
provides an opportunity to investigate the history of the United States
through the history of its buildings. Photographs and descriptions of
buildings used during the eras of slavery, gold rushes, and world's
fairs reflect the history of the people who lived in and around these
constructions. Projects related to the development of the resort town,
Atlantic City, New Jersey, and to the implementation of President Franklin
Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) demonstrate the economic
influence of a growing middle class and unparalleled unemployment during
the Great Depression.
Gold Rush
James Marshall was working in a California sawmill in 1848 when he
discovered gold along the American River. More than 100,000 miners arrived
in the area over the next year in the hope of finding riches.
| The gold mines and mills in
Calaveras County's Madam
Felix-Hodson District represent mining activities from the mid
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The accompanying "Summary
of District History" describes the mines established in the
area and acknowledges that only one of the ventures "was a financial
success, and that was only during the 1885-97 and the 1932-42 periods
. . . . The lack of understanding of the nature of the gold occurrence
and inadequate technology, coupled with insufficient financial resources,
explain these repeated failures," (page
8). The gold rush achieved greater success farther north. |
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A map of California's Madam Felix-Hodson District
mines. |
In August 1896, the discovery of gold along the Klondike River in
Alaska prompted hundreds of miners to make claims before the winter
weather closed the area to travel.
A Canadian Northwest Mounted Police along the Dalton
Trail.
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A year later, the rush was
on, as tens of thousands of people traveled to Seattle to purchase
food, clothing, equipment, pack animals, and steamship tickets before
heading to Alaska. The millions of dollars spent in Seattle influenced
the city's economy for years to come.
Beginning in 1898, the Dalton
Trail Post ran along part of the U.S.-Canada border. The post
was designed to maintain order in the gold rush, control the surge
of people to the area, and establish a border custom station.
Inspector A.M. Jarvis led eighteen Canadian Northwest Mounted
Police from April to October, 1898. Under his supervision, they
collected over $11,000 in custom fees, captured several criminals,
and witnessed the remnants of the U.S. Reindeer Relief Expedition
pass through to the Klondike (page
3).
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- Why do you think that so many people tried to strike it rich in
the gold mines?
- Do you think that most people recouped the money that they invested
in the gold rush?
- How do you think that the influx of people in California and the
Klondike
influenced the development of those areas?
- What do you think was the environmental impact of the mining industry
in
these areas?
- Are there any contemporary investments or programs that are based
on the possibility of earning a lot of money over a short period of
time? If so, how do they work?
- Use the items in the collections to write a detailed journal entry
in the persona of someone who participated in a gold rush.
International Expositions
International expositions were held in United States and European cities during
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of the "World's Fairs"
held in the United States celebrated culture, commerce, and technology
while commemorating a major historic event. For example, Philadelphia’s
1876 Centennial Exposition celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence. One Exposition building,
Memorial
Hall, was "an early monumental building" and "one
of America's first in the Beaux-Arts manner," boasting a ten-entry
vestibule leading to an open arcade, (page
2).
Other exposition buildings featured in the HABS collection include the
store
buildings from Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition, the Jefferson
Memorial Building from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in
St. Louis, and the Palace
of Fine Arts from San Francisco's 1915 Exposition, which was characterized
as "the most original creation in the architecture of the Exposition,
as it was the most beautiful" for its dome and sculptures (page
8).
- What did the construction of ornamental temporary buildings imply
about the intent of these international expositions?
- Why do you think that people were interested in seeing buildings
such as the Harpers Ferry fort?
- What do you think was the role of these historic buildings at the
fair?
- Is the value and significance of an historic building affected when
it is removed from its original location?
- How did historic buildings compare to the buildings that were designed
specifically for the event?
Civilian Conservation Corps
| In 1933, the first piece of
major legislation in Franklin Roosevelt's Civil Works Administration
established the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). This organization
enlisted young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five to preserve and
protect the nation's natural resources, and to reduce unemployment.
Many projects focused on forestry, flood control, soil erosion,
and forest fires. Enrollees built new roads, reservoirs, and fire
towers and planted millions of trees in U.S. parks. A search on the phrase,
Civilian Conservation Corps produces examples of projects
undertaken between 1933 and 1942 such as Ohio's Vesuvius
Dam and Shawnee
Fire Tower. |
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Montana's Fish Creek Bridge was one of many Civilian
Conservation Corps projects. |
Textual accounts of these projects are informative and particularly
useful for those surveys that don't include photographs or measured
drawings. For example, the
description of the Camp
Cleawox Organizational Tract describes the area's use of "typical
Depression-era rustic architecture of natural wood and stone for a northwest
forest environment," (page
2). (The CCC officially ended shortly after the start of World War
II.)
- What sorts of projects were done by the CCC?
- Why do you think that national forests were used as worksites for
the CCC?
- Who do you think benefits from efforts to protect the nation's natural
resources?
- Why do you think that natural wood and stone were common building
materials for "Depression-era rustic architecture"?
- What might these choices suggest about the goals and values of the
CCC projects?
Slavery
A search on the term,
slave, produces images and descriptions of buildings in which
millions of people were fed, sheltered, healed, worked, and sold while
living in bondage in the United States. For example, the slave market
in the Public
Square in Louisville, Georgia includes a tablet that reads:
The Market Building in Louisville, Georgia.
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This old Market Building was erected in 1758 at
what was then the junction of the Georgetown and Savannah trails.
Here there was an Indian Trading Post, and this cross roads was
a meeting place of Slave Traders going from the "Up-country" to
the rice fields further south. Many slaves were sold here. Later
it became the official place for Sheriff's sales, as well as a
community market house, and remained so until recently.
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- Who do you think were the "Slave Traders" traveling along the Georgetown
and Savannah Trails?
- Why do you think that slaves were often sold in community centers
such as the Market Building?
- Why do you think that some plantation owners constructed hospitals
for their slaves?
- Do you think that there are any benefits to preserving these buildings
as they were used during the antebellum era?
- What can these places tell us about slavery?
Atlantic City, New Jersey
In 1852, New Jersey businessmen and a Philadelphia-based railroad
and land company received a railroad charter to run trains from Camden
to Atlantic City. Atlantic city was incorporated two years later and
the first train arrived there on July 1, 1854. The city's reputation
as a prime destination for vacations and conventions developed in the
subsequent decades.
The Atlantic
City Boardwalk was first created as a ten-foot-wide walkway in 1870
so that "strollers would not return to hotels, trains, and businesses
with sand in their shoes," (page
2). A decade later, the city built a new boardwalk. The boardwalk
hosted more than 100 businesses alongside its wooden platform, by 1883,
and was the heart of the area’s commercial and entertainment center:
The first pier, Howard’s Pier, constructed in 1882,
had a pavilion for theater and vaudeville . . . Applegate’s Pier
opened in 1884, providing music and vaudeville, a picnic area,
a parking lot for baby carriages, and an ice water fountain. The
Iron Pier (1886) . . . was sold to H.J. Heinz and Company [in
1898] and became the famous Heinz Pier . . . . [with] permanent
displays of the company’s products, and gave away free samples.
After opening in 1898, the Steel Pier entertained crowds with
moving pictures, band and orchestra concerts; it hosted national
conventions and commercial exhibits.
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The Atlantic City Convention Hall along the town's
boardwalk.
The Atlantic
City Convention Hall was built between 1926 and 1929 to cement
the city's reputation as a prime site for national conventions.
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- Why do you think that Atlantic City flourished as a resort town?
- Who do you think traveled there during the late nineteenth century?
- How do you think that the city has changed since the introduction
of gambling during the 1970s?
- What do the architectural features of the city suggest about its
character and function?
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