The HABS and the HABS NOTs

The HABS and the HABs Nots: Documenting the Architecture of Newburyport in the Historic American Buildings Survey looks back at the federal program that helped professionalize historic preservation in the 1930s, and then takes a look at the present and future of preservation in the rejuvenated port city of Newburyport, Mass.The historic American Buildings Survey, the brainchild of National Park Service architect Charles E. Peterson (1906-2004), took shape in 1934 as a New Deal...
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The HABS and the HABs Nots: Documenting the Architecture of Newburyport in the Historic American Buildings Survey looks back at the federal program that helped professionalize historic preservation in the 1930s, and then takes a look at the present and future of preservation in the rejuvenated port city of Newburyport, Mass.The historic American Buildings Survey, the brainchild of National Park Service architect Charles E. Peterson (1906-2004), took shape in 1934 as a New Deal make-work program for unemployed architects and draftspeople. Nationwide in scope, the program dispatched teams to all corners of the U.S. to document the most at-risk historic structures through rigorous data collecting, photography, and standardized measured drawings. The small city of Newburyport, Massachusetts, located on the coast about 40 miles north of Boston, was a frequent stop for HABS teams. Between 1934 and 1942. HABS teams documented structures in Newburyport ranging from elegant Federal-era mansions to a crumbling 1845 textile mill. Documenting structures of all types, in all regions, from all classes, was a key component of the HABS mission.In addition to chapters detailing the 1930s HABS surveys, the book addresses the present and future of preservation in Newburyport with the author's "HABs Nots Gallery." The small-footprint historic homes in the city, never the subject of HABS attention like the Federal-era showplaces, make up a high percentage of the contributing structures in the city's 750-acre National Register Historic District. Yet they are the at the greatest risk of being lost to development pressures and the "march of progress."For illuminating context, the book includes chapters on the economic history of Newburyport; the origin and evolution of the HABS program; and the history of architectural documentation in the city both before and after the HABS program. For the architecture enthusiast, the book also includes an illustrated guide to the 300 years of house styles found throughout.