Allison Merritt

Center for Historic Buildings
General Services Administration

My duties during the summer included gathering building information on five buildings for an annual brochure and poster series and collecting information for a database of GSA modern architecture. The brochure and poster series is a tool used to promote historic resources within the GSA and in local communities. My task was to gather historical and architectural information for the brochure text and search for quality photos to use in the brochure and on the poster.

The Modernism Database is a new undertaking to document the governmentýs modern buildings, many of which are recently eligible or will soon be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Information on these buildings built between 1949 and 1970 is often lacking, so my task was to confirm what information there was (such as date of construction, if it was still actually owned by GSA, the name of architect, current contact person for the building), collect missing information, and research its National Register status according GSAýs standards.

The benefit of my internship was seeing the federal government creating policy in adherence to the National Historic Preservation Act. Through my own projects and interaction with the staff, I was able to see how the Center created policy and applied historic preservation practice to operation, repair, rehabilitation, purchasing and selling of federal buildings.