HALS Reports

2022 HALS Competition

Each year, HALS (Historic American Landscape Survey), through the National Park Service Heritage Documentation Program, sponsors a competition to document significant landscapes.

This year’s theme is Olmsted Landscapes. The deadline is July 31^st.
CGLHS encourages everyone to participate. 

Information and report templates are located at: https://www.nps.gov/history/hdp/competitions/HALS_Challenge.html

“For the 13th annual HALS Challenge competition, we invite you to document Olmsted landscapes. 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, social reformer and founder of American landscape architecture. By documenting Olmsted Landscapes for HALS, you will increase public awareness of historic landscapes and illuminate Olmsted's living legacy. Any site designed or planned in part or in full by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., his firm, and the firm continued by his sons, John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Junior, is eligible."

The Historic American Landscapes Survey uses both a short-form report, supported with some research and a few digital photos, and a much more involved long-form format with detailed drawings and in-depth research. The short-format HALS report used for this competition is the easiest and most accessible form of recordation. The program also provides flexibility, and a short-format report may be expanded at a later date.

Please see below for members' previous submissions.

Here are some sites that will help to find locations:

olmsted.org Master List of Design Projects

http://ww3.rediscov.com/Olmsted/

https://olmstedonline.org/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/olmsted_archives/albums/page39 (you need to know the job # to find information here)

https://www.tclf.org/olmstedonline

And check the Library of Congress to make sure there are no already completed HALS for the location you chose:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/

For help in choosing sites and to avoid duplication for the 2022 Challenge, please contact:

Chris Patillo, FASLA
chris.pattillo.fasla@gmail.com

Douglas Nelson, Landscape Architect, LEED AP
doug@rhaa.com

Libby Simon, CGLHS Board Member, Southern California ASLA HALS committee member
libbymsimon@gmail.com

The HALS Mission

The Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) mission is to record historic landscapes in the United States and its territories through measured drawings and interpretive drawings, written histories, and large-format black and white photographs and color photographs. The National Park Service oversees the daily operation of HALS and formulates policies, sets standards, and drafts procedural guidelines in consultation with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress preserves the documentation for posterity and makes it available to the general public. 

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/

Chris Stevens, acting Chief of the National Park Service Historic American Landscapes Survey and Landscape Architect for the HALS Program since 2008 described the benefits and opportunities of the project and process of documenting a landscape for submission to the NPS in his talk

Documenting Landscapes in Perpetuity: The Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) to CGLHS members on May 12, 2021.

HALS Reports by CGHLS Members 

Members of CGLHS have contributed to many HALS projects in California and beyond. Documentation on Californian locations prepared by CGLHS members is listed below with links to the Library of Congress repository.

Griffith Park Zoo, Los Angeles - Report by Libby Simon (2014) 

Sutter’s Fort, Sacramento - Report by Janet Gracyk (2016)

Wellesley Park, Redwood City - Report by Diana J. Painter (2005)

Sunset Headquarters, Menlo Park - Report by Janet Gracyk, Chris Pattillo, Jill Johnson, Sarah Raube, and others (2015) 

Olompali State Historic Park, Marin County - Report by Carol Roland (2019)

Links to reports submitted by members in the 2020 HALS Challenge "Vanishing or Lost Landscape" are highlighted below. Links to Library of Congress documentation will be added when they are available. The University Mound report tied for 3rd place in the  Challenge.

Balboa Park, Golden Hill Fountain Grotto by Nancy Carol Carter (HALS CA-150-A July 15, 2020)

Degnan-Guerra Residence by Gina Guerra (HALS CA-151 July 15, 2020)

University Mound Nursery by Stacy Farr and Eleanor Cox (HALS CA-153 July 31, 2020)

Perkins Park by David A. Laws (HALS CA-155 June 20, 2020)