![]() |
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 31st.
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://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.
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.
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.