- Did you know? National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape.
Visit the NPS National Heritage Areas Program website for more information. - RecommendationsSee All
- Miriam KahnSuch an essential part of bringing history to the people, and documenting history for the future.about 9 months ago
- Donna SpinelliNational Park Service heritage documentation programs. You know, that historical preservation stuff I'm into.1 · about 12 months ago
Heritage Documentation Programs, NPS updated their cover photo.
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Administrative Complex HABS Recording Team. Huntsville, Alabama. June 2012. (L to R) Ryan Pierce, Paul Davidson, Doug Bacon (Summer Architect, Auburn University), Mark Schara and Jobie Hill (Summer Architect, University of Oregon).
This summer, the team of architects are documenting three international style buildings constructed in the early 1960s. The buildings are perhaps best known for their association with the rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, MSFC Director from 1960-70 whose office was located within the complex.- LikesSee All
- The American Society of Civil EngineersNon-Profit Organization
- National Park ServiceGovernment Organization
- The Library of CongressHistorical Place · Government Organization · Library
- The Athenaeum of PhiladelphiaLibrary · Museum
- Society of Architectural HistoriansNon-Profit Organization
- The Society of Architectural Historians and University of Virginia Press have collaborated on the development of SAH Archipedia, an interactive, media-rich online encyclopedia of American architecture. Now available, SAH Archipedia Classic Buildings - a free online encyclopedia that contains 100 of each state's most representative buildings as well as teacher guides for using the information in the classroom. Check it out!
- Conducting research? Search through the nation's largest archive of historic architectural, engineering, and landscape documentation, the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress.
- Gone But Not Forgotten... (5 photos)...An occasional feature where we highlight sites from the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection which are no longer extant. Since its inception in 1933, HABS (and, later, HAER and HALS) has been concerned with the documentation of sites which are con...sidered threatened. As Charles Peterson noted in his memo which led to the creation of the program: "The ravages of fire and the natural elements together with the demolitions and alterations caused by real estate 'improvements' form an inexorable tide of destruction destined to wipe out the great majority of the buildings which knew the beginnings and first flourish of the nation….It is the responsibility of the American people that if the great number of our antique buildings must disappear through economic causes, they should not pass into unrecorded oblivion." Today the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection is an essential resource for historians, architects, preservationists, students, and others with an interest in America's vanished architectural, engineering, and landscape treasures.
Captain Joseph Johnson House
Washington
District of Columbia
HABS No. DC-10-3
In 1770 the peninsula between the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers (known felicitously today as Buzzards Point) was platted as the town of Carrollsburg. One of the early investors was a riverboat captain, Joseph Johnson, from nearby Bladensburg, Maryland. Very little had been constructed by 1791 when, following the creation of the District of Columbia, the famous plan by Pierre L'Enfant superseded the original Carrollsburg grid. The investors, nonetheless, retained their property rights and, about 1800, Johnson built a two-story brick house for himself on what today would be the unit block of T Street SW.
In early 1934 the Johnson House, then owned by one of the Captain's descendents, was one of the first buildings to be documented by the newly-established District of Columbia HABS field office. Described as "a mansion in its day" on the accompanying historical report, it was nonetheless noted as being in "poor" condition. Within a few years of the HABS recording project the property was acquired by the Potomac Electric Power Company, and the house demolished for the construction of an electrical substation. The complete documentation of the Johnson House can be found at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/dc0315/ .See More - The National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington D.C. played host to tens of thousands of visitors on January 21, 2013 for the Presidential Inauguration. This video was created to highlight the many places the National Park Service protects and interprets in our Nation’s Capital.
- Proposals are now being accepted from researchers, historians and writers for fellowships to conduct original research using records held at National Archives. Applications are due March 15. 2013.
- Our Collections Manager Anne Mason was very proud to be part of the Museum Emergency Response Team that provided assistance the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island staff during the move.
- "The Signal" is the Library of Congress's blog on digital preservation. This post highlights some of the biggest achievements in digital preservation for 2012. Included on the list is the Personal Digital Archiving Day Kit which was created to help libraries teach members of the public how to archive their precious family photographs and other digital materials that are in danger of being lost.
- See the HABS documentation of Fort Jay - which includes measured drawings and photographs of this impressive eagle statue - before it was damaged by Superstorm Sandy at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny0347/
- Today, our nation collectively recognizes the life and substantial contributions of iconic Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Through his passionate efforts, Dr. King’s inspiring words and actions were a catalyst of transformation for a country torn apart by segregation and intolerance. With a message of love, justice and freedom, Dr. King set the nation on a course for equality.
His work and lasting impact are directly memorialized at two national parks, the M...artin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Georgia, however his legacy is celebrated at many other national parks across the country honoring the Civil Rights movement including Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, the and Lincoln Memorial.
http://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/martin-luther-king-jr-memorialSee More Heritage Documentation Programs, NPS updated their cover photo.
View of Lincoln Statue. Lincoln Memorial, West Potomac Park, Washington, District of Columbia
One of Washington's largest and most well known monuments, the Lincoln Memorial serves as an anchor to the western end of the Mall. The statue of Lincoln on interior is one of the most famous works by noted sculpture Daniel Chester French. The memorial to Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) was constructed s a monumental commemoration of the sixteenth president, who saw the nation through a divisive war and preserved the union.
See the HABS documentation of the Lincoln Memorial in our national collection at: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/dc0472/
Visit the Lincoln Memorial Interactive webpage.
Experience a virtual walk through of the Lincoln Memorial and listen to Park Rangers share their reflections on the memorial and its history. Visit: http://www.nps.gov/featurecontent/ncr/linc/interactive/deploy/index.htm#/introduction- REMINDER: Applications for the HAER Maritime Internship Program are due Friday, February 8, 2013.
Heritage Documentation Programs, NPS updated their cover photo.
HAER Photographer Jet Lowe photographs a column capital for the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection using a large-format camera.
HABS Team Documents Arlington Cemetery Gate Stones
In 1879, Montgomery Meigs, Quartermaster General of the U.S, Army, salvaged six columns from the portico of the old War Department building (James Hoban, architect, 1818) adjacent to the White House, which was being demolished for the construction of the new State, War and Navy Building. The columns were brought to Arlington Cemetery where Meigs incorporated them into the design of two gates, the Ord-Weitzel Gate and the Sheridan Gate. The gates, in turn, were demolished in 1971 and the stones dumped in the woods behind the maintenance building at Arlington, where they languished for 40 years. In June 2012, after several years of discussion and planning, the stones were removed and placed in a protected area for conservation and study. On 14-15 August a HABS team, consisting of architects Mark Schara, Paul Davidson, Ryan Pierce, and Jobie Hill (summer hire), together with HABS Historian Gigi Price and HAER Photographer Jet Lowe, undertook field documentation of the stones. It is anticipated that the resulting HABS drawings will aid in the eventual reconstruction of the gates. The project was sponsored by Arlington National Cemetery and by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District.
HABS/HAER/HALS has undertaken several recording projects in Arlington National Cemetery. See the documentation produced in our national collection at the Library of Congress by visiting: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=arlington+Cemetery&fa=displayed%3Asurveys_only&sp=1&co=hh
To see the more pictures of the team documenting Arlington Cemetery Gate Stones, see our Facebook ablum at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.407668662630423.92832.130899723640653&type=1&l=6e2d327f72- Thought some of our Friends would like to know that the Annual Meeting of the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation is scheduled for March 20-23 in Lynchburg, Virginia. The conference theme is "Resilience, Renewal, and Renaissance: Keeping Cultural Landscapes Relevant".
- January 21 will be the first of 11 "Fee Free" days in the National Park Service in 2013. The day is a national holiday celebrating the birthday, life, and legacy of the leader of the American civil rights movement, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. To learn more about these special days days, use the link below.
- Any Modernist fans out there? This post shares photos of the amazingly intact Ebony/Jet Building. Included are photos of Eunice Johnson's office. The building now belongs to Columbia College Chicago who plans on turing much of the building into a library.
- Our friends at the National Register of Historic Places are on Flickr. Check out their photostream!
- Heard about Flickr Commons? Since it launched in January 2008, more than 250,000 photographs with no known copyright restrictions have been contributed by 56 libraries, archives, and museums worldwide. With the creation of this site we have a new opportunity to enjoy historical photographs in a more networked way.
- Anyone coming to Washington DC for the 57th Presidential Inauguration? This website will help you find information about the Inauguration and the role that the National Park Service plays in this historic event.
Heritage Documentation Programs, NPS updated their cover photo.
HAER Documentation Project:
Blue Ridge Parkway, Between Shenandoah National Park & Great Smoky Mountains, Asheville vicinity, Buncombe, NC (HAER NC-42)
Image: Linn Cove Viaduct.
This is the first precast concrete segmental concrete segmental viaduct to be built with the progressive method in the United States. It contains nearly every type of highway construction within its length. With is super elevation of up to ten degrees and its tight horizontal and spiral curves, it was the most complicated bridge of its type built to that time. Looking south-southwest.
Significance: Blue Ridge Parkway was the first long-distance rural parkway developed by the National Park Service. Its designers adapted parkway development strategies originating in suburban commuter routes and metropolitan park systems and expanded them to a regional scale, creating a scenic motorway linking two of the most prominent eastern national parks. The parkway was conceived as a multiple-purpose corridor that would fulfill a variety of social, recreational, environmental and pragmatic functions. In addition to preserving and showcasing attractive natural scenery, the parkway was designed to display the traditional cultural landscapes of the southern Appalachian highlands, providing visitors with an idealized vision of America's rural heritage. At frequent intervals the parkway borders expand to encompass smaller parks, recreational areas, and historic sites, many of which include picnic areas and/or overnight accommodations. Blue Ridge Parkway's attractive natural and cultural features, its diverse recreational attractions, and its relatively accessible East Coast location have long made it the most heavily visited unit of the National Park System.
See the HAER documentation of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection in the Library of Congress at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.nc0478
Lear more about the Blue Ridge Parkway on the NPS website at http://www.nps.gov/blri/index.htm- The HALS Northern California Chapter is promoting the documentation of California's cultural landscapes by offering stipends to qualified persons to prepare HALS documentation.
Learn more about the Chapter's HALS Heroes program at http://www.halsca.org/grants.htm
And while your checking out this exciting opportunity, be sure to see the chapter's prizewinning HALS historical reports for the landscapes of the California missions at http://halsca.org/challenge.htm - One week from today the 57th Presidential Inauguration will occur in the District of Columbia. Although many parts of the ceremony have changed over time, one constant is the President's final destination, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Learn mo...re the White House by viewing the HABS documentation in the Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/dc0402/ then find out more about what happens inside the White House on Inauguration Day by watching this short NPS video.See More
Heritage Documentation Programs, NPS updated their cover photo.
View of Annie Kidd, HDP Architect, on Fall Protection Training climbing the Fifth Potomac Crossing. The safety training was in preparation for the HAER Western Maryland Railway Project which began in the Summer of 2009. The HAER project included the recording of several historic bridges, culverts and tunnels.
Project Significance: The westward expansion of the Western Maryland Railway, beginning with the Cumberland Extension, was one of the last new mainlines constructed during the U.S. railroads' period of extensive growth between the Civil War and World War I, and it represents the height of railroad civil engineering at the beginning of the twentieth century. By employing modern materials and steam-powered construction equipment, engineers were able to design and build a railroad that included six major bridges, three tunnels, and extensive earthworks in this section alone to achieve low grades through rugged terrain along the upper Potomac River. While high construction and maintenance costs coupled with changes in the transportation industry ultimately led to the railroad's abandonment, the surviving roadbed and structures continue to bear witness to the sophistication of the era's engineering and construction capabilities, as well as the bold visions of those who underwrote such projects.
See the documentation produced by the HAER team in the nation's largest archive of historic architectural, engineering, and landscape documentation, the HANBS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/md1890/
See more pictures of the Western Maryland Railway HAER team on our Facebook album at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.131361726927786.22658.130899723640653&type=1&l=35a3144e8f- Catholic University School of Library and Information Science is holding a symposium on February 1 entitled "Bridging the Spectrum: A Symposium on Scholarship and Practice in Library and Information Science" that we thought would be of interest to our Facebook friends. Registration is only $20!
- We don't expect this photo of an unknown railroad bridge to get identified either, but it was another great 8x10 glass plate that we just had to share with our friends. This also has a date etched in the bottom left, ?? (possibly the word "late") May 1890.
- We don't expect this photo to get identified, but it was too cool not to share it. It's an 8x10 glass plate negative showing a bridge under construction. In the bottom left corner the date 18 July 18?0 is etched (maybe 1890)
- Attention Students: Want to learn more about the National Archives and Records Administration holdings and how to use them for historical research? Then this low cost seminar is for you.
- Our friends at the National Register have been busy listing historic properties. Here's a highlight from this weeks listings.
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