National Museum of American History (U.S.) Search this
Extent:
45 Cubic feet (114 boxes, 23 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Articles
Color slides
Contracts
Copy prints
Correspondence
Illustrations
Letterheads
Maps
Negatives (photographic)
Newsclippings
Notebooks
Photographs
Picture postcards
Pocket notebooks
Postage stamps
Press releases
Reports
Specifications
Stereographs
Date:
1755-2000
Summary:
The collection consists of a wide range of materials--ephemera, trade literature, correpsondence, photographs, maps, plans, schematics, pamplets, brochures, postcards, calendars--documenting the subject of bridges.
Scope and Contents:
This collection was assembled by the Division of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (now the Division of Work and Industry) curators over the course of several decades. The collection consists of a wide range of materials documenting the subject of bridges broadly in terms of planning, construction, geography, aesthetics, cost, and failures. Well-known bridges such as the Brooklyn Bridge and its bridge builders and engineers is also documented.
The materials consist of photographs, negatives, copy prints, illustrations, correspondence, newsclippings, journal articles, HABS/HAER drawings, engineeeing reports, contracts and specifications for building bridges, blueprints, and notebooks. Throughout the files is curatorial correspondence, principally with curator Robert Vogel and historians of the history of technology, bridge enthusiasts, and civil engineers. There is a mixture of primary, secondary and tertiary materials found throughout the collection.
Some of the materials related to the Brooklyn Bridge are photocopies or copy prints from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Roebling Collection and other archives and libraries. These materials were assembled for the exhibit "Building Brooklyn Bridge--The Engineering and Construction, 1867-1883" staged in 1983 at the National Museum of American History. These materials are filed under the title "Building Brooklyn Bridge."
Many of the photographs and other items are from collections at the National Museum of American History: Llewellyn Nathaniel Edwards, Henry Grattan Tyrrell, Samuel E. Reed Collection, and the T.F. Healy Collection.
Publications vary widely, but some titles include American Contract Journal, American Railroad Journal, Harpers Weekly, Scientific American, Engineers and Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering News-Record, Engineering Record, and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series, then alphabetically.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Horatio Allen Papers, NMAH.AC.1447
American Public Works Association "Top Ten Public Works Projects of the Century--1900-2000" Nominations, NMAH.AC.0983
American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0711
Archives Center Business Americana Collection, NMAH.AC.0404
Archives Center Lantern Slide Collection, NMAH.AC.0686
Archives Center Postcard Collection, NMAH.AC.0483
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, NMAH.AC.1086
Benjamin Franklin Bridge Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1029
Berlin Construction Company Records, NMAH.AC.1032
Victor Blenkle Postcard Collection, NMAH.AC.0200
Bollman Truss Bridge Collection, NMAH.AC.1064
Donald M. Burmister Paper, NMAH.AC.1068
Canadian Bridges Photograph Albums, NMAH.AC.1025
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Collection, NMAH.AC.0930
Robert Covington Stereograph Portfolio, NMAH.AC.1201
Cummings Structural Concrete Company Records, NMAH.AC.0218
Arthur d'Arazien Industrial Photographs, NMAH.AC.0314
Victor C. Darnell Bridge Construction Photographs, NMAH.AC.1018
William E. Dean Papers, NMAH.AC.0230
Robert Dearborn Panama Canal Glass negatives, NMAH.AC.1111
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Records, NMAH.AC.1074
Beata Drake Covered Bridge Collection, NMAH.AC.0998
Llewellyn N. Edwards Papers, NMAH.AC.0959
W.J. Eney Collection, NMAH.AC.1062
Erie Railroad Collection, NMAH.AC.1082
Joseph C. Farber Papers and Photographs, NMAH.AC.0520
Foundation Company Records, NMAH.AC.0974
James Forgie Papers, NMAH.AC.0986
James Gallagher Collection, NMAH.AC.0228
Grand Central Terminal Collection, NMAH.AC.1071
Henry Grattan Tyrrell and Mary Maude Knox Tyrrell Papers, NMAH.AC.0948
Hartford, Connecticut Bridge Collection, NMAH.AC.1066
William R. Hutton Papers, NMAH.AC.0987
Kahn Family Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0722
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Bridge Profiles, NMAH.AC.1073
Beatrice Lizinger Postcard Collection, NMAH.AC.0530
Nicholas C. Mandragos Papers, NMAH.AC.0484
Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090
Mechanical and Civil Engineering Glass Plate Negatives, NMAH.AC.1089
Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, NMAH.AC.0984
Richard H. Miller Bridge Collection of Postcards and Slides, NMAH.AC.0950
Minnesota Railroads Photograph Albums, NMAH.AC.1023
George S. Morison Collection, NMAH.AC.0978
Modjeski and Masters Company Records, NMAH.AC.0976
Nathan W. Morgan Papers, NMAH.AC.0965
Niagara Falls Bridge Commission Records, NMAH.AC.1060
Thomas Norrell Railroad Photographs Collection, NMAH.AC.1174
Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge Construction Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1030
Panama Canal Commission Photonegatives, NMAH.AC.1116
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas Records, NMAH.AC.0969
David Plowden North American Bridge Photographs, NMAH.AC.1019
David Plowden Steel Manufacturing Photographs, NMAH.AC.1020
Samuel E. Reed Bridge Collection, NMAH.AC.1001
Lili Rethi Papers, NMAH.AC.0749
John A. Roebling Collection, NMAH.AC.0981
Lucinda Rudell Covered Bridges Collection, NMAH.AC.1028
Edwin G. Rust Papers, NMAH.AC.1070
Jean W. Seele Rural Photographs, NMAH.AC.0759
Lester Shanks Collection of Bridge Photographs and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.1244
J. Parker Snow Collection, NMAH.AC.1000
Society for Industrial Archaeology Records, NMAH.AC.0688
Quebec Bridge Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.1026
Railroad Bridges Construction Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1024
Holton Duncan Robinson Papers, NMAH.AC.0963
Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.Ac.0143
U.S. Steel Corporation Photograph Albums, NMAH.AC.1037
Rip Van Winkle Bridge Photographs, NMAH.AC.1027
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Bridges, NMAH.AC.0060
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Railroads, NMAH.AC.0060
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series 2: Other Collection Divisions, NMAH.AC.0060
Washington, D.C. Bridges Collection, NMAH.AC.1095
Raymond W. Wilson Covered Bridge Collection, NMAH.AC.0999
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
