Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Architectural and Engineering Documentation

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Architectural and Engineering Documentation
Name	Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Architectural and Engineering Documentation
Established	1983
Jurisdiction	United States
Authority	National Park Service

Contents

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Architectural and Engineering Documentation The Standards are a set of guidelines issued to direct the recording, analysis, and archival of built heritage, intended to guide professionals working on historic National Register of Historic Places properties, National Historic Landmarks, and properties within National Historic Preservation Act frameworks. They inform practice across federal programs such as the Historic Preservation Fund, affect projects under agencies like the General Services Administration and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and intersect with professional bodies including the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Society of Architectural Historians.

Overview and Purpose

The Standards define the objectives for creating reliable architectural and engineering documentation to support preservation of resources such as Smithsonian Institution-held buildings, sites listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and infrastructure overseen by the Federal Highway Administration. They aim to ensure documentation produced for entities like the United States Department of the Interior, the Library of Congress, the Historic American Buildings Survey, and the Historic American Engineering Record meets archival quality for use by researchers from institutions such as the University of Virginia, the Yale University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Standards guide coordination among practitioners from organizations like the American Planning Association, the National Council on Public History, and the Association for Preservation Technology International.

The Standards evolved against the backdrop of legislation including the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Environmental Policy Act, and subsequent amendments championed in congressional sessions involving committees such as the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the United States House Committee on Natural Resources. Early precedents trace to initiatives by the Historic American Buildings Survey during the New Deal era and postwar programs administered by the National Park Service and the Works Progress Administration. Legal interpretation has involved case law from the Supreme Court of the United States when federal undertakings intersect with protections under statutes like the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and consultations under the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 process involving the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Core principles require documentation to be objective, comprehensive, and reproducible for stakeholders including the National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, and university archives such as the Columbia University Libraries. Standards call for measured drawings consistent with conventions used by the American Institute of Architects, photographic recordation aligned with practices at the George Eastman Museum, and written histories comparable to scholarship published by presses like the University Press of Kansas and the Cornell University Press. Ethical standards reference professional codes from bodies such as the American Institute of Conservation and the Society for American Archaeology, and emphasize chain-of-custody and intellectual property considerations involving the Copyright Office.

Recommended methods range from traditional field measured drawings using formats endorsed by the National Building Museum and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries to advanced technologies such as laser scanning employed by firms collaborating with the United States Geological Survey, photogrammetry used in projects with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration support, and Building Information Modeling protocols compatible with standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Organization for Standardization. Metadata practices align with cataloging schemes used by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative and archival descriptions following Encoded Archival Description formats used by major repositories like the New York Public Library.

In practice, federal rehabilitation under programs like the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives and adaptive reuse projects on properties listed by the National Register of Historic Places apply the Standards to balance retention of character-defining features and documentation needs during interventions by contractors regulated by the Department of Defense or agencies such as the Federal Transit Administration. Large-scale undertakings—dams, bridges, and rail infrastructure—require coordination among specialists from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Association for Preservation Technology International, and state historic preservation offices such as the California Office of Historic Preservation and the Texas Historical Commission.

Compliance involves review by the National Park Service, consultation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and integration with environmental review processes administered by the Environmental Protection Agency when projects trigger federal actions. Best practices recommend interdisciplinary teams including architectural historians trained at institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, engineers credentialed through the National Society of Professional Engineers, and conservators accredited by the American Institute for Conservation. Project documentation should be deposited with repositories such as the Library of Congress, distributed copies provided to state archives like the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and accessible to scholars affiliated with centers like the Center for Architectural Conservation.