Latest News About Historic American Buildings Survey

Here are the latest publicly available updates on the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) as of now.

What HABS is

• The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is a long-running program managed through a collaboration among the National Park Service, the Library of Congress, and other partners to document America's built environment. It includes measured drawings, photographs, and historical reports for thousands of sites dating from the 17th through the 20th centuries.[2][3][7]

Recent highlights and context

• HABS celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2023, marking nine decades of documenting diverse building types—from architect-designed landmarks to vernacular structures—and highlighting how modern technologies have expanded its reach and methods.[2]
• The Library of Congress hosts the HABS collection online, with the repository documenting tens of thousands of structures and continuing to add new materials, including photographs, drawings, and historical narratives.[3][7]
• In recent years, partnerships and digitization efforts have increased access to HABS records. For example, collaborations with state and institutional partners have contributed additional documentation to the public archive, expanding availability for researchers and the general public.[1]

Selected resources to explore

• Library of Congress HABS collection portal: hh/ collection page where you can search for specific sites, view scanned drawings and photos, and access related histories.[3]
• NPS Heritage Documentation Programs overview: general guidance on how HABS fits within the broader set of documentation programs and how new projects are initiated and managed.[10]
• HABS anniversary coverage and articles detailing how the program has evolved with technology and expanded its scope to include mid-century modern and civil rights–era sites, among others.[2]

If you’d like, I can pull specific recent examples of HABS documentation or help you locate HABS records for a particular building, city, or time period. I can also summarize notable HABS projects or guide you to search strategies on the Library of Congress site.