Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)

The Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) is a vital part of the National Park Service’s historic preservation effort. The program documents important architectural, engineering and industrial sites throughout the United States. A complete set of HABS/HAER documentation, consisting of Measured drawings, large-format photographs, and written history, plays a key role in accomplishing the mission of creating an archive of American architecture and engineering and in better understanding what historic resources tell us about America’s diverse ethnic and cultural heritage. To insure that such evidence is not lost to future generations, the HABS/HAER Collections are archived at the Library of Congress, where they are made available to the public.

Throughout the history of the HABS/HARE Program, it has played a leading role in ‘preservation through documentation” and is recognized as the nation’s oldest federal preservation program. Today’s work builds on a seventy-year tradition of documentation expertise, and incorporates technological advances, such as computer-aided drafting (CAD), digital-rectified photogrammetry and electronic surveying. And although as division the National Park Service the program receives its legislative authority and base funding from the U.S. Congress, HABS/HAER depends on outside funding.