Manual of the Historic American Buildings Survey, Part II: Criteria

McKee, Harley

The Historic American Buildings Survey, a public institution, aims to collect and make available in the Library of Congress information on American buildings that architects, historians and others will find useful. The more that can be collected the greater is its potential value. The various Librarians of Congress have told us that more copies are sold from HABS than from any other of their collections; this is a tribute to those who selected the material now there. The problem in planning Survey work is to select subject material which can be used now or which is likely to be of interest in the future. The subjects on which historians and restorationists need information today are more or less possible to ascertain. What they will need in the future can only be forecast. In the meantime, so many structures are disappearing that risks will have to be taken in making selections. Available knowledge upon which judgment can be based is a limiting factor, mien KABS was started in 1933 it was suggested that the year 1860 be generally regarded as the terminal date for the collections. At that time very little had been analyzed and published by historians for the period after the Civil War. In recent years, however, some competent surveys have been made of American architecture of the last one hundred years and our knowledge is certainly increasing. When historical perspective and informed judgment are available for the locality under study there is no reason why buildings up to 1900—or even afterwards—should not be recorded. The tremendous increase of illustrated professional publications after that time can pretty well take care of the buildings new in the last half-century.

Manual of the Historic American Buildings Survey, Part II: Criteria

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