Dallam residence, near Belair, Harford Co., circa 1930-1940

The collection consists of ten boxes with 369 folders containing approximately 827 photoprints documenting approximately 343 structures and sites located in all Maryland counties except Allegheny and Garrett, and in Baltimore city and Annapolis. Most of the photographs in this set were made in 1936 by E.H. Pickering. Included are urban and rural houses, churches, hotels, public buildings, mills, bridges, farms and industrial structures, as well as street views. For many subjects, there are interior as well as exterior views of the buildings, and architectural details.

In selecting which buildings to document, the HABS administrators considered architectural merit and historical significance, and strove to include a broad range of building types: small and large, public and private, vernacular and elite, giving priority to earlier buildings and to those likely to be demolished. Most of the buildings documented by the survey were built before the Civil War. Some of the photographs in the set held at the Maryland Historical Society reproduce paintings or prints of the subjects.