Documentation

Architectural Documentation and Rehabilitation

Around the country diverse organizations and individuals have been engaged in documenting historic barns with survey forms and photographs. These surveys may be by community, township, county or some other defined area. In cooperation with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the NBA has created a Barn and Farmstead Survey with instructions for its use. The following links are additional tools for your local survey.
Power Point training volunteer surveyors. 3.94 MB file, be patient, it will take time to load. Press any key to advance the slides and press escape if you want to terminate the slide show. If you have difficulty using the file, here is a free program you can download. Open Office.
Leader letter PDF Format. MS Word Format.
Funding Letter PDF Format. MS Word Format.
Farm Owner letter PDF Format. MS Word Format.
BarnCAT Program, Help file for Data Base

Questions and assistance with Barn and Farmstead Surveys contact Rod Scott.

The NBA also has developed a Barn Rehabilitation Case Study Form to gather information about barn rehabilitation projects throughout the country. For some projects it may be difficult to obtain all of the information that the form asks for. Because we are trying to develop an information base the documents the many types of barn rehabilitation projects that exist, please fill out as much of the form as you can.

Rehabilitation Forms can be E-mailed to Nancy Burgess by clicking here.

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register is the official federal list of sites, buildings and structures that are historically significant, either locally or nationally. The list is administered by the National Park Service. Nominations must be submitted through your State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Nominations of farmsteads and individual farm buildings have had varying success rates depending on the staffing, the interest in rural sites and the knowledge of their history within the SHPO. For example, Iowa has over 200 farms on the National Register while Illinois, a state of comparable size and importance in farming history, has fewer than 50.

The National Register listings include far more information than a basic survey. To find which farms are listed in your area, go to the National Register of Historical Places' National Register Information System.

For more information about the National Register, contact your SHPO or go to the National Register website.

The National Register publishes excellent resources such as these:

"Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Rural Historic Landscapes"

"The Preservation of Historic Barns", Preservation Brief #20