Documenting for Heritage Conservation

Description

Why do we document historic buildings—and what makes documentation meaningful beyond regulatory compliance?

For preservation professionals, documentation often appears as a required step in environmental review. Yet at its best, documentation does far more than satisfy a mitigation measure: it captures places at moments of transition, informs design and rehabilitation decisions, and creates lasting records that future researchers, owners, and communities can use long after a project is complete.

This seminar explores how historic building documentation functions in real preservation practice. Using examples from projects conducted under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the program examines how documentation is developed, what agencies and consulting parties expect, and how preservationists translate field observations, archival research, and photography into meaningful records of historic resources.

Participants will explore the core methods that have long defined preservation documentation—measured drawings, field surveys, historical narratives, and documentary photography—alongside rapidly evolving digital tools such as laser scanning, LiDAR, photogrammetry, and other forms of reality capture. The session will discuss when these technologies are most effective, where they fall short, and how they can complement traditional documentation practices rather than replace them.

The program also considers what makes documentation truly useful over time: clear standards, thoughtful interpretation, and formats that remain accessible long after a project concludes. From HABS/HAER-influenced recording practices to emerging uses of immersive visualization and archival print documentation, the seminar explores how documentation can serve as both a regulatory deliverable and a lasting preservation resource.

Blending practical guidance with broader preservation insight, this program offers a deeper look at how documenting historic buildings helps us understand, steward, and interpret the places that define our communities.