| "> | | | | am transported to another ghost of our collective past |
| Started during the Great Depression, The Historic | | | | (and a few that are still around). You can search by |
| American Buildings Survey(HABS) was the nations' | | | | building types, location or key words like: Cupola or |
| first extensive documentation of our architectural | | | | porch. I was introduced to HABS by Steve Culpepper, |
| heritage. According to Jack Larkin in Where We Lived: | | | | an editor at Taunton Press. As I walked into his office |
| The Survey had its origins in a time of national crisis. It | | | | he excitedly showed me the web site with all of its |
| began in 1933 as a program to find meaningful work | | | | beautiful photographs and architectural drawings. As it |
| for thousands of architects (and photographers) left | | | | turned out, he was working on the manuscript of |
| unemployed when the Great depression virtually | | | | Where We Lived by Jack Larkin. |
| brought construction in America to a halt. | | | | It is a beautiful book which guides us through life in |
| From 1934 to 1940, architectural survey teams | | | | early America by walking inside the homes we lived in. |
| documented thousands of homes, public buildings, and | | | | Another wonderful book which draws extensively |
| other structures, dating from the early 1600s through | | | | from HABS is Barns by John Michael Vlach. It is one of |
| the mid-1800s. Many of the houses they documented, | | | | the most extensive works on early barns I know of |
| weakened even then, have not survived to our time. In | | | | and also includes a CD of the images. From chicken |
| fact it is a collection of beautiful photographs and line | | | | coops and corn cribs to dairy barns and horse stables, |
| drawings produced by photographers and architects | | | | in 400 pages he catalogs working farm buildings. So |
| and are available to everyone on line through the | | | | wether you are web adept or in the mood for a good |
| Library of Congress web site. When I go the HABS | | | | book with great pictures, treat yourself to the work of |
| web site, I become a kid in a candy store. | | | | hundreds of architects and photographers through the |
| It is like going on an archeological dig through our | | | | Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings |
| mostly forgotten architectural history. With every click I | | | | Survey. |