DOCUMENTING THE PANAMA CANAL 
an International Achievement 
M. Patino *, B. Cliver“ 
* Project Manager, HABS/HAER/HALS Division, NPS, 1201 Eye St, NW, Washington DC 20005, US - 
mariana patinofaicontractor.nps.gov / mariana patino@terra r.rim r.n 
“ Chief, HABS/HAER/HALS Division, NPS, (idem) — blaine cliver@nps.gov 
KEYWORDS: 
ABSTRACT: 
The Panama Canal Documentation Project was launched through a tripartite organization - ACP, HABS/HAER/HALS 
and ICOMOS- on March of 2001, between the countries of Panama and the United States, to document in interpretive 
drawings, large-format photographs and a data base the history of the construction of the Panama Canal and its 
mechanical operation, providing future generations with a fully understanding of a colossal achievement of the 
engineering of the 20th century. The international perspective through which the Panama Canal Documentation Project 
was conducted illustrates how two countries were challenged into organizing, locating, keeping and retrieving 
information of a now Panamanian enterprise that was constructed by the United States. The two nations archival 
infrastructure expanded frontiers as so will do the new set of drawings with its recording methods and techniques 
achieved through digital retrieval. The link with both ICOMOS organizations also accomplished the other part of the 
documentation goal, through providing training and exchange of expertise in recording and documenting techniques, 
assuring the strong liaison that the academic dimension of the project put into documentation as a tool for historic 
preservation activities. Involving personnel from both countries to work jointly assured the new documentation to be 
shared equally and produced bilingually. 75 sheets with interpretive drawings, a data base and a huge image bank will 
be the deliverables of the project, to be found at several ACP offices and the Miraflores Visitors Center in Panama 
and at the Library of Congress, the HABS/HAER/HALS Division of the NPS, the National Archives and the Panama 
Canal Museum in Florida in the United States, both in hard copies as on electronic version through the corresponding 
organizations web sites. 
This is an extraordinary opportunity to talk about the 
PANAMA CANAL DOCUMENTATION PROJECT 
and the successful-international alliance between the 
Panama Canal Authority, the Panama and the United 
States ICOMOS committees, and the 
HABS/HAER/HALS Division of the National Park 
Service, US Department of the Interior. 
Project background 
In early 1999 US/ICOMOS was approached by the 
HABS/HAER/HALS Division of the National Park 
Service, US Department of the Interior, to explore 
avenues of international cooperation to prepare 
interpretive documentation of the work done by the 
United States in constructing the Panama Canal at the 
beginning of the 20th Century. This work would be 
included in the HABS/HAER/HALS collection and 
archived at the Library of Congress. 
HISTORY 
Let me start by presenting a brief history of the 
geographical location we are going to be speaking of 
and a short introduction of the organizations involved 
in the operation: 
The Panama Canal is the realization of an idea four 
centuries old. It dates almost from the discovery of 
Using a cooperative agreement with US/ICOMOS, 
and in turn, the link between US/ICOMOS and 
ICOMOS Panama, HABS/HAER proposed a joint 
initiative to achieve its documentation goal. 
US/ICOMOS felt that this would be a good 
opportunity to expand its objective of international 
cooperation and exchanges by using such a project to 
provide training to Panamanian conservationists in 
recording and documentation techniques. 
A first trip to Panama by the Executive Director of 
US/ICOMOS and the Manager of 
HABS/HAER/HALS, on the 20 th July 2000, gave birth 
to the initiative. In March 2001, a project manager 
was assigned to the project. 
America by Columbus. The native Indians knew of a 
narrow place between the two seas and Balboa, a 
Spaniard was the first white man to cross the Isthmus. 
He began his expedition and reached the waters of the 
Pacific (south sea) in 1513. 
With the passing of Spanish colonial domination, the 
United States took an official interest in the subject of 
a transportation connection between the two oceans;