Historic American Building Survey Records

Historic preservation agency,

formed under the federal Works Progress Administration.

Records, 1933-1954. Bulk, 1936-1941.

Size: 3 linear feet

Catalog number: MSS 502

Processed by: Rick Stattler and Kristina Piecyk, May 1996

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

The Historic American Buildings Survey was initiated in 1933 by the National Park Service, using funds from the Federal Relief Administration. Its mission was to obtain a comprehensive record of early American architecture, through fieldwork by unemployed architects, draftsmen and photographers. Priority was given to endangered buildings. The resulting drawings and photographs were deposited with the Library of Congress.

The original program only lasted through May of 1934, and was then continued in some individual states. In 1935, it was again made a national program under the Works Progress Administration. The project did not reach Rhode Island until late that year, when renowned architect Norman Isham was appointed District Officer for the state. He served in this capacity only briefly, as did his successor Norman W. Marble. In April of 1936, Philip D. Creer replaced Marble as District Officer. Office space was secured at the Rhode Island School of Design, and draftsmen were hired, including Head Draftsman Edward W. Husband (ca. 1875-a.1960), who had studied under several notable local architects, including Isham and Edmund Willson. Work on the project continued through at least 1942, with several interruptions, eventually coming under the care of the Civil Works Administration.

This collection was originally called the Edward Husband / R.I.H.A.B.S. Papers. This is a misnomer. The files were almost all kept by District Officer Philip Creer and his predecessors. They include correspondence, administrative files and house files, as well as a few drafts of Rhode Island works from the Federal Writers Project.

The house files are probably of the most interest to researchers. They include notes by workers in the field on hundreds of historic Rhode Island homes. Unfortunately, these notes are rarely very extensive. The completed photographs and drawings done by the Survey were deposited with the Library of Congress. What remains are mostly newspaper clippings and filing note cards which tell more about the work flow of the survey than about specific building dimensions. These files can provide evidence that a building was standing in the 1930s, and give insight into its general condition. Newspaper clippings may prove useful. In rare cases, sketches are available.

The correspondence and administrative files contain little information on specific houses, other than mention of completed files being sent to Washington for deposit. These files are of interest more for the light they shed on the work of the survey, and for the Works Progress administration in general.

Important Rhode Island preservationist Antoinette Downing served on the advisory committee to RIHABS in 1937, and was apparently given the office files of the project circa 1953. She donated them to the Historical Society in 1980; her own preservation-related papers were donated to the Society in 1992, and are kept as a separate collection, the Antoinette Downing Papers (MSS 98).

Photographs remaining in the files were long ago transferred to the Graphics Division. There are also extensive reports by the survey available through the library’s printed collection.

The manuscript portion of the collection was found in a disorganized state in 1996. It consisted of a file of envelopes containing notes on specific houses, three loosely related card files, two boxes containing stacks of unarranged clippings, and extensive project-related files. Folders were created for the contents of each envelope, which were then arranged by town. Related cards and clippings were then filed in or near the appropriate folder. Material on houses not included in the envelope files were placed in miscellaneous folders arranged by town or neighborhood.

The original card files were arranged by town as well, while the clippings were not found arranged at all, so no significant original order has been lost. It is now possible to glean all of the relevant information on a specific house without learning an inconsistent and idiosyncratic filing system.

A considerable portion of the collection was found to be the personal research notes of Antoinette Downing, unconnected with the survey. These files, mostly newspaper clippings and a single card file, were transferred to MSS 98, the Antoinette Downing Papers.

Correspondence of the Rhode Island District Officer, outgoing and incoming. Some files are arranged by correspondent, while others are arranged by date. The arrangement is not very precise.

15. Vint, Thomas C., Chief of Planning, Dept. of Interior. Correspondence with, 1937-1941

16. Letter, [Edward Husband?] to Antoinette Downing, 1/21/1951, describing project

These drafts have no direct relation to the H.A.B.S., nor is it clear if any of the H.A.B.S. staff served as editors. None of these works seem to have been published.

Arranged by county, then town, then by village, neighborhood or street if necessary. Some houses have their own files.

Every house worked on by the survey was assigned both an "RI" number and a Priority number. These indexes are a useful way to cross-reference by these numbers, and they sometimes contain additional information.