It's Time to Start Thinking About the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) Landscapes of the New Deal Challenge!

HALS was created in 2000 to document our country’s dynamic cultural landscapes. Each year, the HALS office at the National Park Service issues a challenge, encouraging landscape architects and preservation professionals to document historic landscapes. The theme of the 2014 challenge is Documenting Landscapes of the New Deal.

Individuals and groups from every state are encouraged to complete at least one HALS short-format history for a cultural landscape related to this theme, whether vernacular or designed, in order to increase awareness of public works projects and their role in shaping the American landscape. During this time period, workers planted nearly 3 billion trees to help reforest America, constructed more than 800 new parks nationwide, upgraded most state parks, restored countless historic sites, and built a network of service buildings and public roadways across the nation. Many of these landscapes remain in all 50 states, but their history may go unnoticed.

The HALS short-format history is easy to complete! It’s neither as exhaustive nor as restrictive as other national historic preservation paperwork you may be familiar with. The short form is a standard Word document-based form with set font, sizing, and instructions – just download the form and fill it out in Word for your selected landscape. You'll need some information on the landscape and, if you'd like, a plan drawing sketch (doesn't have to be construction worthy, just a quick sketch) and rights-free photos – both great excuses to get out to the site and exercise your hand drawing and photography skills. You can do the whole thing in a page or two depending on the site.

Short-format histories should be submitted to HALS at the National Park Service no later than July 31, 2014. The top three submissions will receive cash prizes and the winners will be announced at the 2014 ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo in Denver during the HALS Meeting. All HALS documentation is permanently housed and publicly accessible at the Library of Congress.

Now the hard part: selecting a landscape for this Challenge! We’ve listed a few ideas to help you get started:

General Suggestions:

National Register of Historic Places (Is your site listed?)
Search the HABS/HAER/HALS Collections at the Library of Congress (Has your site already been documented? If so, sufficiently? Also search for inspiration with "CCC" or "WPA.")
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) was created as a make-work program during the Great Depression under the Roosevelt administration to put unemployed architects to work documenting "a Complete Resume of the Builders’ Art"
The CCC activities in the National Capital Region of the National Park Service illustrate the important role of this program in employing out-of-work youth to create a national recreation infrastructure during the 1930s.
National Archives, Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA)
PBS’ The American Experience: The Civilian Conservation Corps
Interactive map of some CCC sites in every state
The WPA undertook work at several national cemeteries during its lifetime in the 1930s and early 1940s, including Baltimore National Cemetery
Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy
The CCC Legacy Annual Gathering was held in Tucson, Arizona October 24-27, 2013, "Celebrating the 80^th Anniversary of the CCC" (1933-1942)
National New Deal Preservation Association
The Living New Deal

Region-Specific Resources:

WPA Today (Maryland)
New Deal Roadside Landscape Features (Minnesota)
"The Best Kind of Building" – The New Deal Landscape of the Northern Plains (Montana, North and South Dakota)
The New Deal in Arizona: Connections to Our Historic Landscape Heritage Tourism Map Locations (Arizona)
Texas Parks and Wildlife Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy Parks (Texas)
Civilian Conservation Corps in California State Parks (California)

For more information, see the HALS Guidelines or contact Chris Stevens, (202) 354-2146, Chris_Stevens@nps.gov.

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