The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) is an organization that promotes the production of visual and written documents that serve as a historical record of the condition of our built environment. The documents are created following the archive regulations of the Library of Congress and are stored there as an official record of the building or site. HABS drawings are physical ink or mylar drawings that are scanned and available to the public as downloadable digital images.

HABS projects engaged by Texas A&M University comprise a faculty team of 2 and a student team of between 5 and 10 students for conducting the measurement work in the field. Field measurements are conducted for a period of 4 to 5 weeks with the goal of producing particular drawings that best describe the building of interest. After the field session a smaller group of students — usually 2 or 3 — work with the professors for a period of 9 months to a year to produce the required drawings.

Field measuring occurs through the use of traditional and digital methods. Terrestrial laser scanning is performed to create a detailed digital record of existing conditions and may be used for planning and maintenance purposes. In addition to drawings, other information such as historical information, photographs, and notes taken during the measurement process are included in the final submission to the Library of Congress. It was the intention of the CHC to work with the Architectural Engineering Dept. at TAMU Kingsville during the measurement process.

Documentation by photographing and scanning the historic structure took place in 2010.