Following the tradition of the Historical American Building Survey (H.A.B.S.) program and in the footsteps of former UNM Architecture professor Bainbridge Bunting, Chris Wilson has assigned his architecture seminar students the task of documenting historic communities and structures across New Mexico. The resulting collection of student research work provides important information on history, culture and architecture around New Mexico. The students used a wide variety of sources for their studies, including censuses, maps, business directories, building permits, family histories, and oral interviews. Many include photographs or copies of photos taken on-site or borrowed from residents, diagrams, illustrations, sketches and measured drawings. Most provide a bibliography of sources consulted. The names of the students working on the projects have been provided when known. The bulk of the collection is organized by county and includes: Bernalillo County - Albuquerque airports, Barelas neighborhood, Edward Lembke house in the Huning Highlands neighborhood, Padilla house in the South Valley, the Merritt and Miller houses in the Country Club area, and the Nob Hill Motel and Aztec Motel along Central Avenue. There is also a study of multi-family structures, compounds, and apartments in Albuquerque, including the Bachechi Compound, Balay, Alhambra and El Porvenir Apartments. A survey of the San Antonito Church in the East Mountains is also included. Guadalupe County - a study of the town of Pastura. McKinley County - a history of the Zuni Salt Lake. Mora County - papers on the history of Rainsville, the Manzanares house in Rainsville, the Romero-Salman Ranch house and land grant near La Cueva, La Cueva Mill, and the Santa Gertrudis Rectory at Mora. Also included are two interviews with women from La Cueva and an analysis of the 1910 census for Mora County. Rio Arriba - a history of Los Ojos area villages, which are part of the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant. Sandoval County - a history of the Perea - C. de Baca house. San Miguel County - material for the Casa Redondo compound in Las Vegas is included in the study of Albuquerque's historic compounds and apartments (Folder 6). Santa Fe County - material on two non-regional style state capitol buildings in the City of Santa Fe and the King house in Nambe. There is also material for Santa Fe's Ann Webster - Plaza compound (Folder 6 and Folder 24) and for the Jose N. Trujillo Family compound (Folder 6). Taos County - a study of the Lopez Ortiz ranch house in Rodarte. Valencia County - a study of the Lucero house in Isleta Pueblo. Also included in the collection are student papers focusing on adobe wall construction, farms (including the Baca House, the Tipton Barn, the Watrous House and El Rancho de las Golondrinas), stucco use, and northern New Mexico tin roofs. There is also a brief history of nineteenth century American architectural pattern books for mail order houses.
