Indiana Preservationist 1983

              Historic
Landmarks
Foundation
of Indiana
the Indiana
Preservationist
3402 Boulevard Place, Indianapolis, IN 46208
Athenaeum hosts annual
meeting and dinner
by Jan Finney
MARK your calendars now, folks, for HLFI's
annual meeting and membership dinner
on Friday evening, April 22. The site of
this year's event will be Indianapolis' historic
Athenaeum, which is listed in the National
Register of Historic Places.
Our keynote speaker will be Tersh Boasberg
of Washington, DC, one of the nation's foremost
authorities on preservation law. Through his
association with the National Center for
Preservation Law and Preservation Action, the
national preservation lobby, Boasberg has been
involved in many of the landmark decisions that
have upheld the validity of preservation
legislation and ordinances.
The Athenaeum is located at 401 East
Michigan Street. Built between 1893 and 1897, it
was known as "Das Deutsche Haus" until World
War I when the name was changed because of
anti-German sentiment. The German Renaissance
Revival building includes a gymnasium, ballroom,
central bier-garten, and the various "kellars" that
served as the cultural and activities center for the
German population of Indianapolis.
The Athenaeum's authentic "oom-pah-pah"
band has agreed to give HLFI members a
demonstration during the social hour in the
Rathskellar, starting at 5:30 p.m. At 6:30 we will
Architect's rendering of the Athenaeum,
designed by Vonnegut & Bohn.
adjourn to the Kellarsahl to dine on ship's round
of beef, carved at the buffet, and other specialities
of the Athenaeum kitchen.
Chairman Earl Capehart will call the annual
meeting to order at 7:30. On the agenda are the
presentation of the Sandi Servaas Memorial
Award, a review of the year's activities by the
president, Reid Williamson, and election of
board members.
Members of HLFI's thirteen Affiliates will also
receive invitations to this event and we hope
many will join us. It should be noted that
individual members of Affiliates are not entitled
to vote at the annual meeting unless they also
hold separate membership in HLFI. This requires
clarification since it has caused some confusion in
the past.
A golden annivesary celebration
FOR'THE-RECORD
HABS
Historic American Buildings Survey
1933 • in Indiana • 1983
by Charles Jacobs
1933: Hitler is appointed Chancellor . . , F.D.R.
launches his New Deal. . . John Dillinger escapes
from an Indiana prison . . . the Century of Progress
Exposition opens in Chicago . . . and architects of
the National Park Service begin the Historic
American Buildings Survey.
THE Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) was established as both an agency to
study architecture of historical importance
and a national collection of drawings and
photographs which preserve and proclaim the
heritage of our man-made environment.
Architects, draftsmen, and photographers were
employed under several Federal relief programs
to "secure, collate, and preserve drawings, plans,
photographs, and other data of historic and
archaeological sites, buildings, and objects."
With the American Institute of Architects and
the Library of Congress, the National Park Service
had organized HABS as a nationwide program of
documentation by the mid-thirties. The program
grew during the following decade with the
donation of records and contributions of four
mobile field parties. In 1951, teams of students,
supervised by professors of architecture, began
to record National Park Service buildings for
HABS during the summer, an activity which was
later expanded. Although the role of HABS was
redefined after the passage of the National
Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the agency
continued its broad program of intensive
architectural surveys. Today, HABS works closely
with state and local governments, preservation
groups, and historical societies to achieve
"preservation through documentation."
To commemorate the semicentennial of the
Historic American Buildings Survey, HLFI has
prepared a traveling exhibition. "For the
Record: Historic American Buildings Survey
in Indiana, 1933-1983" features photographs
(both black-and-white and color) and measured
drawings of familiar—and not so familiar-
structures in Indiana, ranging from the Old State
Capitol at Corydon to the Switzerland County
Courthouse Privy. These are accompanied by a
text which provides a history of HABS and its
work in Indiana.
"F
OR the Record" is being organized by
HLFI with support from the Historic
American Buildings Survey, the Historic
American Engineering Record, the Indiana
Architectural Foundation, and Ball State University.
The forty-two panel exhibit will make its
debut at the Huddleston Farmhouse Inn Museum
on U.S. 40 on May 8, and will be available for
loan—free of charge—after June. For further
information, please contact Charles M. Jacobs,
Programs and Exhibits Coordinator, Huddleston
Farmhouse Inn Museum.