Top of page

Photo, Print, Drawing The Caverns Historic District, Research Hut No. 8, Reef Top Circle, Carlsbad, Eddy County, NM Carlsbad Caverns National Park

View 9 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS NM-152-B  ]

More Resources

View 4 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS NM-152-B  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS NM-152-B  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS NM-152-B  ]

About this Item

Title

  • The Caverns Historic District, Research Hut No. 8, Reef Top Circle, Carlsbad, Eddy County, NM

Other Title

  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Carlsbad Cave National Monument
  • Boles, Thomas
  • White, Jim
  • Conti, Kathleen, historian
  • Epley, Jamie, historian
  • Lee, Jinwon, delineator
  • Ristovska, Blagica, delineator
  • Hill, Katherine, delineator
  • Smith, Erin, delineator
  • Epley, Jamie, delineator
  • Molander, Johanna, delineator
  • Riddle, Kelsey, delineator
  • Hill, Katherine, photographer
  • Riddle, Kelsey, photographer
  • Ristovksa, Blagica, photographer
  • Clarke, Kate, field team
  • Martin, Lori, field team
  • Medwig, Sarah, field team
  • Simonson, Hannah, field team
  • Ibarra-Sevilla, Benjamin, faculty sponsor
  • University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture, sponsor
  • U.S. National Park Service (NPS), Intermountain Regional Office-Santa Fe, sponsor
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park, sponsor
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  national parks & reserves
  • -  housing
  • -  domestic life
  • -  stone buildings (limestone)
  • -  vigas
  • -  parapets
  • -  L-plan buildings
  • -  World Heritage sites
  • -  New Mexico--Eddy County--Carlsbad

Latitude / Longitude

  • 32.17757,-104.441849

Notes

  • -  Significance: In 1927, the National Park Service (NPS) hired Thomas Boles to manage the park as its first superintendent. During this year, it is said that he designed Employee Residences 6, 7, 8, and 9, which cave guides built from 1927-1929. The claim that Boles designed Research Hut No. 6 in the late 1920s remains unsupported by historic documentation; this discrepancy between archival sources and popular memory will be discussed in later sections. Instead, archival evidence suggests that these buildings were instead both designed and built by and for the cave guides to provide much needed housing for themselves. On May 14, 1930, Carlsbad Cave National Monument was renamed Carlsbad Caverns National Park, becoming one of the most popular destinations in the southwest. The majority of buildings and structures built in the park's early years have not survived its expansion; thus, the significance of these quarters is measured in their contribution to the architectural language that continues to shape development in the park today. Archeological evidence demonstrates that American Indians knew of and used the cave at Carlsbad Caverns for ceremonial and religious purposes since the prehistoric times, and continued to do so for thousands of years. European exploration and settlement eventually paved the way for locals to begin mining the cave for guano decades before the first tourists arrived in the 1920s. Only one year after the National Geographic Society published a magazine spread on the caverns in 1922, the caves became so famous that President Calvin Coolidge signed legislation on October 25, 1923 to make them a National Monument under the recently-formed National Park Service. A whole economy developed around the caverns to meet the increasing demands of the tourists arriving to tour the caves, from infrastructure in and around the caves to camping and other lodging, meals, and other forms of entertainment. In 1925, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce hired Jim White, the first recorded explorer of the cave, to build a staircase from the natural entrance of the cavern. The construction of the staircase vastly improved the accessibility cave, allowing a greater volume and increased diversity of visitors. Additionally, cave guides built a new, more passable road to the cave's entrance, replacing the functional yet dangerous path previously used for transporting guano.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2335
  • -  Survey number: HABS NM-152-B
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1927-1929 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1932 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 88001173

Medium

  • Photo(s): 9
  • Measured Drawing(s): 4
  • Data Page(s): 18
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 1

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS NM-152-B

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • nm0386

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS NM-152-B
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
      • The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Carlsbad Cave National Monument, Thomas Boles, Jim White, Kathleen Conti, Jamie Epley, Jinwon Lee, et al., Hill, Katherine, Kelsey Riddle, and Blagica Ristovksa, photographer. The Caverns Historic District, Research Hut No. 8, Reef Top Circle, Carlsbad, Eddy County, NM. Eddy County Carlsbad New Mexico, 1933. translateds by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/nm0386/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Carlsbad Cave National Monument, Boles, T., White, J., Conti, K., Epley, J. [...] Carlsbad Caverns National Park, S., Hill, K., Riddle, K. & Ristovksa, B., photographer. (1933) The Caverns Historic District, Research Hut No. 8, Reef Top Circle, Carlsbad, Eddy County, NM. Eddy County Carlsbad New Mexico, 1933. McPartland, M., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/nm0386/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographers by Hill, Katherine, Kelsey Riddle, and Blagica Ristovksa. The Caverns Historic District, Research Hut No. 8, Reef Top Circle, Carlsbad, Eddy County, NM. trans by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/nm0386/>.