Search Results

Photographer:

Wood, Charles Edwards, 1876-1954  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Donor:

Wood, Charles E., Jr.  Search this

Extent:

0.15 Cubic feet (1 box)

Container:

Box 1

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Photograph albums

Photographs

Place:

Colon (Panama)

Canal Zone

Gatun Dam (Panama)

Gatun Locks, Canal Zone, Panama

Panama

Panama Canal (Panama)

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents:

An album of photographs taken during the construction of the Panama Canal. Subjects of the photographs include the earliest digging, tree removal, mosquito control, locks, equipment, Wood's family, a fire in Colon that occurred during the building of the Canal, and the first boats to use the Canal. Photographs include images of the Gatun Dam and locks, and the Atlantic side of the Isthmus.

Arrangement:

1 series.

Biographical / Historical:

Wood was an electrical engineer who learned his trade entirely on the job. He had worked on railway electrification prior to his work on the Panama Canal.

Provenance:

Donated to the Museum's Division of Engineering and Industry (now called the Division of Work and Industry) in 1987 by Wood's son Charles E. Wood Jr.

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.

Topic:

Canal construction workers  Search this

Canals -- Design and construction  Search this

Dams -- Panama  Search this

Locks and dams  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photograph albums

Photographs -- 1900-1950

Citation:

Charles Edwards Wood Panama Canal Photograph Album, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1114

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b99e404e-a361-478a-b37c-d4adadf4a255

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1114

Creator:

Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated  Search this

Lockwood-Greene Company  Search this

Whitman, David  Search this

Greene, Stephen  Search this

Lockwood, Amos  Search this

Former owner:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

Extent:

270 Cubic feet (233 boxes, 850 oversize folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Linen tracings

Paper flimsies

Business records

Design drawings

Blueprints

Patents

Specifications

Reports

Photograph albums

Photographs

Trade literature

Date:

1784-2004, undated

bulk 1915-1930

Summary:

The engineering firm that became Lockwood Greene was founded by David Whitman, a mill engineer, in 1832. Amos D. Lockwood, a consultant, succeeded Whitman and entered a partnership with Stephen Greene in 1882. The firm specialized in industrial engineering and construction; they designed and built a wide variety of structures and work environments worldwide over the next century. Lockwood Greene was acquired by CH2M HILL in December, 2003. Before its acquisition by CH2MHILL it was reportedly the oldest industrial engineering, construction, and professional services firm in the United States.

Scope and Contents:

The Lockwood Greene records are a comprehensive range of documents related to the appraisal, building, construction, design, evaluation, and engineering of facilities for a variety of clients. The material covers the entire period of industrialization of the United States, and, provides a thorough record of the textile industry, both in New England and the South. Some of the textile mills are documented with unusual completeness, showing water and steam power layouts, factory village plans, and landscaping schedules. A broad range of other building typologies is also covered, including projects with public or retail functions, such as early automobile showrooms, hospitals, apartments and private dwellings, churches, and schools.

In-depth study of the company's earliest history is hampered by a scarcity of records, many of which were lost in the great fire that destroyed Boston's city center in 1872. Nevertheless, graphic and textual evidence does exist within the collection that illuminates these early projects, in addition to the fabric of surviving buildings. The Lockwood Greene records document several commissions that the firm would return to again and again over the course of many decades as clients requested plant additions, upgrades to mechanical and operating systems, and other substantive changes. Researchers are encouraged to examine the blueprints, elevations, and plans for these later additions in order to find illustrations of the firm's earlier interventions at the site. In addition to drawings, other visual evidence for nineteenth-century projects can be found in the company's extensive photo files, which often document structures for which drawings do not exist.

The Lockwood Greene records contain an abundance of graphic and textual evidence for structures designed after 1910 until the 1930s. After this period, visual documentation becomes much more limited. This is partially due to the evolution of drafting tools and information management technologies within the architecture and engineering profession. Lockwood Greene was an early adopter of technological innovations in rendering and data capture, beginning with the introduction of aperture cards and microfilm and extending to the adoption of computer-aided design (CAD) programs. These more modern formats were not part of the acquisition, and, at the time of writing, still reside with the company.

The Lockwood-Greene collection will be of interest to historians of architecture and engineering, as well as those that study the history of business and labor relations. It provides extensive textual and documentary evidence on the evolution and growth of American engineering and the increasing professionalization of the discipline through specialization during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rich holdings of architectural drawings, photographs, and specifications provide unparalleled resources that trace the evolution of industrial buildings and their typologies; experimentation with building materials and systems, particularly with regards to fireproofing; and the history of textile manufacture in the United States. In addition, there is also rich visual and documentary evidence of the changing relationships between corporations and their employees through photographs, plans, and designs for company towns and mill villages, as well as through corporate records that illustrate the work culture of Lockwood Greene itself. The Lockwood-Greene collection will be of special interest to historic preservationists as the awareness of the significance of industrial and vernacular buildings continues to grow, and detailed design drawings and other visual material will be of especial value for restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive-reuse projects.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into six series.

Series 1, Project Drawings, Renderings, and Plans, 1784-1969, undated

Series 2, Photographs and Slides, 1881-2001, undated

Subseries 2.1: Photo Albums, 1906-1934

Subseries 2.2: Photographic Files, 1881-1956

Subseries 2.3: Spartanburg Office Photographic File, 1948-1974

Subseries 2.4: Spartanburg Office Photographic File, 1919-1999

Subseries 2.5: Project Negatives and Transparencies, 1956-1970

Subseries 2.6: Project Slides and Transparencies, 1985-2001

Subseries 2.7: Project Slides and Transparencies, Culls, 1974-2001

Subseries 2.8: Project Slides and Transparencies, Corporate Photography, 1976-1998

Subseries 2.9: Photograph Album Covers, 1920, undated

Series 3: Job Files, 1872-1957, undated

Subseries 3.1, Specifications, 1913-1942, undated

Subseries 3.2: List of Drawings, 1872-1951, undated

Subseries 3.3: Project Files, 1919-1969, undated

Subseries 3.4: Reports, 1913-1969

Subseries 3.5: Job Cost Records, 1913-1957, undated

Series 4, Corporate Records and History, 1881-2004, undated

Subseries 4.1: Meeting Minutes, 1913-1995

Subseries 4.2: Corporate Files, 1891-2004, undated

Subseries 4.3: Historical Research and Reference Files and Photographs, 1881-1983, undated

Subseries 4.4: Corporate Publications, 1917-2001, undated

Series 5, Non-Lockwood Greene Publications, 1910-1984, undated

Series 6, Audio-Visual, 1964

Biographical / Historical:

Lockwood Greene, one of the nation's oldest engineering firms, traces it roots to 1832, when Rhode Island native David Whitman began a machinery repair service. Riding the wave of the early industrial revolution in textile manufacturing, Whitman added mill design services to his repertoire, which formed the backbone of a flourishing consulting business for the rest of the century. Whitman was one of the first itinerant mill engineers or "doctors" that traveled throughout New England advising various industrialists on the placement, design, and construction of their factories and the layout of the complicated system of machinery and shafting that they contained. His largest commission was the design of the Bates Manufacturing Company complex in Lewiston, Maine, which was incorporated in 1850 and soon became one of the largest textile producers in New England.

Upon Whitman's death in 1858, his unfinished work was assumed by Amos D. Lockwood, a prominent mill agent and astute businessman who had built a name for himself in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The successful completion of the projects at Lewiston brought enough additional demand for Lockwood's services to prompt him to relocate to Boston, where he formally opened an independent consulting office with partner John W. Danielson in 1871. For the next ten years, A.D. Lockwood & Company was involved in a least eight major mill design projects, half of which were for new construction. One of these projects, the design and construction of the Piedmont Manufacturing Company in Greenville (now Piedmont), South Carolina was especially significant and is considered to be a prototype for the Southern textile industry.

In 1882, Lockwood established a new business, Lockwood, Greene and Company, with Stephen Greene, a professionally-trained civil engineer who had joined the firm in 1879. As the firm grew, it expanded its scope as consultants supplying all of the necessary architectural and engineering services a prospective owner needed to initiate, equip, and run a complete plant. Acting as the owners' representative, the company supervised construction and installation but did not directly act as builders or contractors. Lockwood

Greene's objective expertise was legendary and made it a leader in this emergent field. As Samuel B. Lincoln explains in his history of the company:

"The new firm's knowledge and experience in the textile industry enabled it to analyze samples of cloth and, from such samples, to provide everything necessary for a completed plant to make such goods in any desired quantity. It did not at any time act as selling agents for machinery or equipment, neither did it accept commissions or rebates from suppliers: by this policy it maintained a position as impartial and independent engineer." (pages 105-107)

Greene became president of the company upon Lockwood's death in 1884. Under his leadership, the company expanded into additional industries and designed an array of other industrial building types that would prefigure the diversity of later work. In 1893, the company revolutionized American industry by designing and constructing the first factory whose operating power was provided entirely over electric wires from a remote power plant, rather than relying upon a water source or a stockpiled fuel supply. The Columbia Mills project created a great deal of publicity for the firm and was a signal to other manufacturers that there were viable alternatives to the use of steam power.

As changing economic conditions led Lockwood Greene to move away from its traditional reliance upon the textile manufacturing industry, it was very successful at soliciting projects for a wide variety of structures, from newspaper plants and automotive factories to convention halls and schools. After 1900, Lockwood Greene expanded its operations and opened branch offices in other cities, including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, and Charlotte. In 1915, Edwin F. Greene, president and son of Stephen Greene, reorganized the firm as Lockwood, Greene & Company, Incorporated This new entity served as the parent company and controlled three subsidiaries: one to own and operate cotton mills that Greene had acquired; one to manage other companies' textile mills; and one to provide engineering services.

Lockwood Greene expanded its operations tremendously as the textile industry boomed under wartime demand and in the years following. The severe textile depression from 1923 to 1928 caused the collapse of this structure, however, as Lockwood Greene continued to suffer deep losses in the textile mills that it owned. The parent company was dissolved in 1928 and the engineering subsidiary, which had remained profitable, was salvaged as Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated.

After a rocky start with the onset of the Depression, the company began to prosper during the Second World War and its growth continued steadily throughout the next several decades. In the late 1960s, as a result of declining business, the company's headquarters was transferred from Boston to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1981, Phillipp Holtzman USA, a subsidiary of Phillipp Holtzman AG of Frankfurt, Germany, acquired a majority interest in Lockwood Greene. In 2003, CH2M Hill, a global provider of engineering, construction, and operations services based in Denver, Colorado, acquired the company.

From its beginnings under David Whitman, Lockwood Greene has become one of the most diversified engineering firms in the United States. The firm is best known as a designer of industrial and institutional buildings, but the company has become a leader in many additional areas in recent years. Lockwood Greene dominates the market in the design and production of the germ- and dust-free "clean room" facilities required by the pharmaceutical industry and micro-electronics manufacturers. The company has also developed expertise in designing integrated security and networking systems for industrial plants, international port facilities, and military installations worldwide.

Banham, Raynor. A Concrete Atlantis: U.S. Industrial Building and European Modern Architecture, 1900-1925. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986.

Biggs, Lindy. The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology, and Work in America's Age of Mass Production. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.

Bradley, Betsy Hunter. The Works: The Industrial Architecture of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Greene, Benjamin Allen. Stephen Greene: Memories of His Life, with Addresses, Resolutions and Other Tributes of Affection. Chicago, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1903.

Heiser, William J. Lockwood Greene, 1958-1968, Another Period in the History of an Engineering Business. Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated, 1970.

Lincoln, Samuel B. Lockwood Greene: The History of an Engineering Business, 1832-1958. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press, 1960.

Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated The Lockwood Greene Story: One-Hundred-Fifty Years of Engineering Progress. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated; undated.

Related Materials:

Materials at the Smithsonian Instituion Libraries

"[Trade catalogs from Lockwood, Greene & Co.]", Trade Literature at the American History Museum Books, Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Provenance:

This collection was donated by Lockwood Greene, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1997 (original drawings). An addendum to the collection was donated by CH2M HILL in 2007.

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.

Topic:

Architects  Search this

Architecture, Commercial  Search this

Architecture, Domestic  Search this

Building materials  Search this

Buildings  Search this

Construction industry  Search this

Company towns  Search this

Textile mills  Search this

Mills  Search this

Manufacturing industries  Search this

Industrial engineering  Search this

Industrial buildings -- Design and construction  Search this

Industrial buildings  Search this

Engineering  Search this

Factories -- Power supply  Search this

Factories -- Design and construction  Search this

Factories  Search this

Cotton textile industry  Search this

Commercial buildings  Search this

Electric power production  Search this

Genre/Form:

Linen tracings

Paper flimsies

Business records

Design drawings

Blueprints

Patents

Specifications

Reports

Photograph albums

Photographs -- 21st century

Photographs -- 20th century

Trade literature

Photographs -- 1890-1900

Citation:

Lockwood Greene Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Preservation of this collection was made possible in part by a generous gift from CH2M HILL.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1113

See more items in:

Lockwood-Greene Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep85090342a-0c7e-4667-8b37-fa0e8309b5ac

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1113

Creator:

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company  Search this

Author:

Garrett, John W. (John Work), 1820-1884  Search this

Latrobe, Benj. H. (Benjamin Henry), 1807-1878  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

Extent:

33 Cubic feet (76 boxes, 46 map-folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Annual reports

Correspondence

Drawings

Glass plate negatives

Negatives (photographic)

Photographs

Tracings

Date:

1827-1987

Summary:

The collection consists of correspondence, invoices, drawings, photographs, and negatives and other printed literature documenting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from its inception in 1827 to its merger with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in the 1960s.

Scope and Contents:

The collection consists of correspondence, engineering drawings, notes, photographs, transparencies, negatives, glass plate negatives, printed materials, and newspaper clippings documenting the Baltimore and Ohio railroad from its inception in 1827 to its merger with the Chesapeake and Ohio in the 1960s.

Arrangement:

The records are arranged into ten series.

Series 1, Historical Background, 1827-1987

Series 2, Bridge Histories, 1867-1966

Series 3, President's Office, 1826-1880

Series 4, Correspondence, 1826-1859

Series 5, Business Records, 1894-1914, and undated

Series 6, Agreement, 1870

Series 7, Drawings, 1858-1957, and undated

Subseries 7.1, Indices and Lists, 1924-1943, undated

Subseries 7.2, Bailey's Station, 1887; 1899; 1901

Subseries 7.3, Baltimore Belt Railroad, 1895, undated

Subseries 7.4, Bay View and Canton Bridges, 1884-1885

Subseries 7.5, Big Seneca Creek Viaduct, 1905

Subseries 7.6, Bollman Bridges, undated

Subseries 7.7, Boyds, Maryland Station, 1886; 1927

Subseries 7.8, Bridewell Station, undated

Subseries 7.9, Bridges (general), 1893-1917

Subseries 7.10, Brunswick, Maryland, 1890-1907

Subseries 7.11, Building Materials List, undated

Subseries 7.12, Building Signs, 1911-1912

Subseries 7.13, Camden Station, 1881-1942 (not inclusive)

Subseries 7.14, Camden Station (related), 1881-1915

Subseries 7.15, Centenary Bridge Models, 1927

Subseries 7.16, Central Office Building, undated

Subseries 7.17, Chestnut Street Station, 1925-1952

Subseries 7.18, Coaling facilities, water tanks, turntables, and miscellaneous structures, 1888-1912

Subseries 7.19, Cumberland Station, 1910-1955

Subseries 7.20, Curtis Bay Branch, 1900-1911

Subseries 7.21, Frederick Station, 1908-1915

Subseries 7.22, Hyattsville Station, 1913

Subseries 7.23, Keedysville Station, undated

Subseries 7.24, Laurel Station, undated

Subseries 7.25, Ledger, undated

Subseries 7.26, Lieperville Station, 1889

Subseries 7.27, Locust Point, 1881-1957

Subseries 7.28, Maps, 1862; 1918

Subseries 7.29, Martinsburg, West Virginia, 1913-1927

Subseries 7.30, Miscellaneous Buildings, 1875-1956

Subseries 7.31, Miscellaneous Large Photographs, undated

Subseries 7.32, Miscellaneous Structures, 1890-1916

Subseries 7.33: Mt. Clare (general)

Subseries 7.34, Mt. Clare New Blue Line Stable, 1899; 1905

Subseries 7.35, Mt. Clare New Car Shops, undated

Subseries 7.36, Mt. Royal Station, undated

Subseries 7.37, Newton Falls and Fairpoint, Ohio, 1909

Subseries 7.38, Patapsco River Bridge, 1883

Subseries 7.39, Plans for house no. 1846 (N. Gay Street, Baltimore, Maryland), undated

Subseries 7.40, Point of Rocks Station, 1951

Subseries 7.41, Scales, 1903

Subseries 7.42, Signal towers, 1900-1908

Subseries 7.43, Stations (general), 1866-1907

Subseries 7.44, Sykesville Station, undated

Subseries 7.45, Untitled, undated

Subseries 7.46, Warnings, 1894-1911

Subseries 7.47, Woodstock Station, undated

Subseries 7.48, Miscellaneous (rolled), 1858-1930 (not inclusive)

Series 8, Photographs and Copy Prints, 1872-1980s (not inclusive)

Subseries 8.1, Photographs, 1872-1980s

Subseries 8.2, Copy prints, 1901-1931, undated

Subseries 8.3, Indices and Lists, 1909-1920

Series 9, Negatives, 1850-1983 (bulk 1920s-1930s)

Subseries 9.1, Glass plate negatives (unidentified), undated

Subseries 9.2, Glass plate negatives (numbered), 1850-1957 (bulk 1920s-1930s)

Subseries 9.3, Negatives by number, undated

Subseries 9.4, Negatives by location, 1870; 1978-1983

Subseries 9.5, Negatives by subject, 1922-1930s, undated

Series 10, Stations and Buildings, 1884-1982

Biographical / Historical:

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) was the nation's first extensive steam powered railroad. It was founded by Baltimore merchants in 1827 as a means of promoting trade and making Baltimore competitive with other east coast ports. The original intent of the founders was to provide direct and fast access to the Ohio River, and the markets that the river reached. The railroad, however, went beyond the Ohio River and its lines went as far west as St. Louis and Chicago. The B&O was also known for its use of an electric locomotive in the mid 1890s. It also had a completely air conditioned train, and it was a forerunner in the use of diesel-electric locomotives. Company activities paralleled those of other American railroads and over the course of its life included expansion, near bankruptcy, innovations, regulations, and finally buy out. In February 1963, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) completed its purchase of the B&O. Today, B&O is part of the CSX Transportation (CSX) network.

John Work Garrett president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 1858-1884, was born in Baltimore, Maryland July 31, 1820. He was the second son of Elizabeth Stouffer and Robert Garrett. He married Rachel Ann Harrison, the daughter of Thomas Harrison, a Baltimore merchant. They had one daughter, Mary and two sons Robert and Thomas Harrison Garrett.

After attending Lafayette College (Pennsylvania) for two years John W. Garrett left in 1836 to become associated with his father's commission business in Baltimore. The commission house which dealt in wholesale groceries, produce, forwarding and a commission business expanded to establish direct connections with Latin America, seek outlets in Europe and develop its own banking operations. In time its financial operations overshadowed the commission and shipping business.

When John W. Garrett began to invest heavily in Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stock, the road was in competition with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the stock was not popular. Its value rose steadily over the years. Mr. Garrett was elected a director of the railroad in 1855. His report as chairman of a subcommittee on the need for additional funds to complete the line to the Ohio River led to his election to the presidency of the road on November 17, 1858, a position he held for 26 years. New policies with emphasis on economy, personal supervision and gradual expansion were inaugurated and consistently maintained, in spite of a general financial crisis, Mr. Garrett's first year in office showed a net gain in earnings.

Sympathetic to his southern friends during the Civil War, Mr. Garrett nevertheless supported the Union. He recognized the inevitability of Confederate defeat by superior northern resources. Confederate leaders blamed him for their inability to seize Washington and he received warm appreciation for his services to the Union cause from President Lincoln. The railroad stretched along the theater of war and twice crossed Confederate territory. It was, therefore, a main objective for southern attack. Branches were frequently damaged by Confederate raids, but the main line to Washington became important for the transport of troops and supplies. The Baltimore and Ohio carried out the first military rail transport in history and the transfer of 20,000 men from the Potomac to Chattanooga in 1863 was a major triumph for its president.

With the advent of peace Mr. Garrett turned to rebuilding and strengthening the railroad. He replaced equipment and track damaged by the war, then extended the system by securing direct routes to Pittsburgh and Chicago and arranging an independent line into New York. Wharves were built at Locust Point for ocean liners and a system of elevators erected. The B&O. built its own sleeping and dining cars, established hotels in the mountains and created its own express company. By 1880, after battles over rates with other trunk lines, a costly rivalry with the Pennsylvania Railroad over the eastern route and charges of discrimination against local shippers Mr. Garrett was at the height of his success. He cooperated in establishing the B. and 0. Employees Relief Association for accident and life insurance, a hospital system, saving and building funds, and arrangements for improving sanitation in the work place. He was on friendly terms with Johns Hopkins, a trustee of John Hopkins Hospital, and with George Peabody, founder of the Peabody institute of which he was also a trustee. Garrett County, Maryland was named in his honor.

John W. Garrett died on September 26, 1884 within a year of his wife's death in a carriage accident. During his connection with the railroad the stock increased from $57 to $200; at the outbreak of the Civil War the railroad was operating 514 miles of rail, gross earnings were $4,000,097 and net per mile was $4246.1 By 1864 gross earnings were $10,138,876 and net per mile, $7113.2 By the end of his presidency mileage had increased to 1711 miles and net earnings were $4535 per mile.3

References

1 -- National Cyclopedia of American Biography -- Vol. 18:3

2 -- National Cyclopedia of American Biography -- Vol. 18:3

3 -- National Cyclopedia of American Biography -- Vol. 18:3

Related Materials:

Materials at Other Organizations

Maryland Historical Society

Baltimore and Ohio Museum

Provenance:

This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the 1960s.

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.

Topic:

Bridges  Search this

Construction  Search this

Engineering -- 19th century  Search this

Railroads  Search this

Repairing -- Railroads  Search this

Railway engineering -- 1860-1890  Search this

Genre/Form:

Annual reports

Correspondence -- 19th century

Drawings -- 1860-1890

Glass plate negatives

Negatives (photographic)

Photographs

Tracings

Citation:

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1086

See more items in:

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8e652d903-bb57-46a8-a205-c7cbfe89f444

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1086

Creator:

Allis-Chalmers  Search this

S. Morgan Smith Company  Search this

Names:

Atlanta Water and Electric Power Company  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

23 Cubic feet (105 boxes; 4 map folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Advertisements

Catalogs

Photographs

Trade literature

Place:

Atlanta (Ga.)

York (Pa.)

Date:

1890-1914.

Summary:

This collection documents the products and facilities of the S. Morgan Smith Company through photographs and trade literature.

Scope and Contents:

Archival materials, including photographs, advertising art, catalogs and other trade literature, documenting the equipment, facilities, personnel and products of the S. Morgan Smith Company, engineers and contractors. The subjects of the photographs include engines, fire pumps, generators, paper making machinery, turbines, the construction of a dam and hydroelectric station by the Atlanta Water and Electric Power Company, and the Mathis Dam near Atlanta.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series

Series 1: Company Records, 1877-1961

Series 2: Catalog Art, undated

Series 3: Glass Plate Negatives,

Biographical / Historical:

The S. Morgan Smith Company was an engineering company located in York, Pennsylvania. It was founded by S. Morgan Smith, who patented one of the first washing machines, in 1877. The company became notable for its high-powered water turbines and other hydraulic machinery. The S. Morgan Smith Company later became Allis-Chalmers.

Provenance:

Donated to the National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) in 1968 by the Allis-Chalmers Company.

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.

Topic:

Dams  Search this

Engines  Search this

Fire pumps  Search this

Generators and generating stations  Search this

Hydraulic engineering  Search this

Hydroelectric power plants  Search this

Power plants  Search this

Turbines  Search this

Water-power  Search this

Genre/Form:

Advertisements

Catalogs

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 19th-20th century

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 1890-1920

Trade literature

Citation:

S. Morgan Smith Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1099

See more items in:

S. Morgan Smith Company Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep834bcaf09-d452-4e04-abdd-10162af29786

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1099

Creator:

Meigs, John  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

4.5 Cubic feet (20 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Place:

Washington (D.C.)

Date:

1900-1905.

Scope and Contents:

Photoprints and negatives documenting the construction of several Washington, D.C. bridges. The Washington Aqueduct Bridge is the subject of most of the images. The Washington Channel Bridge, the Potomac Highway Bridge, and the 11th Street Bridge are also included among the images. Additionally, there is a letterpress book, an employee time book, and a notebook containing diagrams and measurements.

Arrangement:

Collection is divided into five series.

Series 1: Glass Plate Negatives (5 in x 7 in), 1904

Series 2: Glass Plate Negatives (6 in x 8 in), undated

Series 3: Glass Plate Negatives (4 in x 5 in), 1900

Series 4: Photographs Photographs, 1894, 1900

Series 5; Other Materials Other Materials, 1901-1992

Biographical / Historical:

Meigs was a Washington, D.C. civil engineer.

Provenance:

Collection donated by the Department of Highways and Traffic, District of Columbia Government, through Thomas F. Airis, Director, 1965.

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.

Topic:

Rivers -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Bridges -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Citation:

Washington, DC Bridges Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1095

See more items in:

Washington, DC Bridges Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep809dae6b9-6971-411b-b65c-a1e72adff215

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1095

Creator:

Woodward Governor Company  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

Extent:

7 Cubic feet (40 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Annual reports

Bulletins

Manuals

Photographs

Reports

Trade catalogs

Trade literature

Place:

Rockford (Ill.)

Date:

1902-1985

Summary:

This collection documents the products, trade literature, business proceedings, and office environment of the Woodward Governor Company.

Scope and Contents:

The records contain catalogs, operator's manuals, illustrations, technical bulletins, photographs, glass plate negatives, informational booklets, and annual reports dealing with the activities and products of the company.

Arrangement:

1 series.

Biographical / Historical:

The Woodward Governor Company was founded in Rockford, Illinois in 1870 by machinist Amos W. Woodward, who patented the first waterwheel governor. The company designed and manufactured several cutting-edge inventions in the governor industry, including the mechanical compensating-type governor, the diesel engine governor, and the airplane propellor governor.

Provenance:

Immediate source of acquisition unknown.

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.

Topic:

Hydraulic governors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Annual reports -- 20th century

Bulletins

Manuals

Photographs -- Black-and-white photonegatives -- Glass -- 20th century

Reports

Trade catalogs

Trade literature

Citation:

Archives Center, Woodward Governor Company Records, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1094

See more items in:

Woodward Governor Company Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep83490f76f-9560-4208-844e-4b8f4d8f589e

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1094

Creator:

Lombard Governor Company.  Search this

American Lincoln Corporation  Search this

Donor:

Sorensen, William  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

6.75 Cubic feet (7 boxes, 2 map folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Patents

Price lists

Reports

Bulletins

Glass negatives

Blueprints

Catalogs

Date:

1898-1970s.

Scope and Contents:

The collection consists of records documenting the Lombard Governor Company: photographs (including glass plate negatives), blueprints, printed material, price lists, reports, catalogs and trade literature, bulletins, and a notebook of patents.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1: Printed Materials

Series 2: Glass Plate Negatives

Series 3: Blueprints

Biographical / Historical:

In 1894, Nathaniel Lombard developed the first practical water wheel governor in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Lombard's design incorporated hydraulics and a unique anti-racing device to move the gates of the largest turbines multiple times faster than any existing device. In 1904, the company moved to Ashland, Massachusetts. During the first World War, Lombard Governor produced hydraulic lathes for the manufacture of artillery shells, and special valves for the US government's Muscle Shoals nitrogen plant. At the conclusion of the war, Lombard expanded into the areas of chain saws and plastic molding injection machines. In 1962, the company changed its name to Lombard Industries. In 1964, Lombard Industries was acquired by American Lincoln Corporation and the operation was moved to Toledo, Ohio.

Provenance:

Collection donated by William Sorensen in 1962.

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.

Topic:

Hydraulic engineering  Search this

Turbines  Search this

Water-power  Search this

Water-wheels  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 20th century

Patents

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- 20th century

Price lists

Reports

Bulletins

Glass negatives

Blueprints

Catalogs

Citation:

Lombard Governor Company Records, 1898-1970, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1091

See more items in:

Lombard Governor Company Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep838c9af77-d267-4831-91c2-ac3e21f51008

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1091

Creator:

T.B. Cryer Company  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

Extent:

2.5 Cubic feet (1 box, 17 map folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Specifications

Tracings

Place:

Montclair (N.J.)

Newark (N.J.)

Orange (N.J.)

West Orange (N.J.)

Date:

1892-1950

Summary:

Collection documents select plumbing and heating projects undertaken by the T.B. Cryer Company in New Jersey.

Scope and Contents:

These records contain plans and specifications for plumbing and heating systems installed in residences, schools, and public buildings in Newark, Orange, East Orange, West Orange, Montclair, and other locations in New Jersey. The drawings consist of blueprints, pencil tracings, linen and typescript contracts and specifications, and correspondence related to the projects.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into two series.

Series 1: List of Drawings (by Project Number), 1962, undated

Series 2: Projects, 1892-1950

Biographical:

Thomas Blackburn Cryer (1864-1935) was born in London, Ontario, Canada and came to the United States in 1909 and formed a heating, ventilating and contracting and engineering firm, T.B. Cryer Company, in Newark, New Jersey.

Sources

New York Times, "Thomas B. Cryer," March 29, 1935.

Related Materials:

Materials at Smithsonian Libraries

Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection holds a proposal from T.B. Cryer Company (1922) related to oil burners by Schuette & Koerting Company.

Provenance:

Donated to the National Museum of History and Technology (now called the National Museum of American History) by Clifford T.I. Cryer in 1962.

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.

Topic:

Heating and ventilating  Search this

Housing  Search this

Plumbing  Search this

Public buildings  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Specifications

Tracings

Citation:

T.B. Cryer Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1085

See more items in:

T.B. Cryer Company Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep838dfad9d-bac2-443a-bf8e-71f2efee0e33

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1085

Author:

Nagle Engine and Boiler Works  Search this

Names:

Buffalo Forge Works  Search this

Pennsylvania Boiler Works  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

Former owner:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

Extent:

11.3 Cubic feet (2 boxes, 40 oversize folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Blueprints

Drawings

Correspondence

Place:

Erie (Penn.)

Date:

circa 1890-1939

Summary:

This collection contains documents related to Nagle Engine and Boiler Works, including photographs, drawings, correspondence, and catalogues.

Scope and Contents:

The collection includes drawings, blueprints, correspondence, and published materials related to Nagle Engine and Boiler Works. The collection is divided into four series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1912-1915, includes correspondence between T.M. Nagle and various construction companies, notably Kirschner Brothers Contractors and Builders. The correspondence is primarily concerns various additions and improvements to Nagle's private property, and dates 1912-1914. The series also includes building specifications and miscellaneous notes and calculations.

Series 2: Correspondence, 1914, includes business letters exchanged between Nagle Engine and Boiler Works and its suppliers and customers.

Series 3: Catalogues/Price Lists, 1903-1926, is composed primarily of catalogues, including a leather-bound book containing blank graphing paper and several catalogues, which was given to B.P. Morse of Morse Brothers Machinery Company. Also included are price lists, circulars and bulletins, and a book of testimonials from Nagle customers. In addition, this series contains some loose sheets including ads and articles referencing Nagle products and an instruction sheet for a Hassle Oil Engine.

Series 4: Photographs, undated, is divided into folders based on subject. There are photographs featuring standard boilers, vertical and wheeled boilers, steam engines, and miscellaneous parts. One folder contains images of Nagle products printed on cardstock for use in publication.

Series 5: Drawings, 1890-1938, includes oversize blueprints, tables, and diagrams produced by Nagle Engine and Boiler Works and Pennsylvania Boiler Works. Steam engines make up the bulk of the series, although boilers and miscellaneous parts are also represented.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into five series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1912-1915

Series 2: Correspondence, 1914

Series 3: Catalogues and Price Lists, 1903-1926

Series 4: Photographs, undated

Series 5: Drawings, circa 1890-1938

Biographical / Historical:

Nagle Engine and Boiler Works was founded by T.M. Nagle in 1879 and incorporated in 1896. The company was based in Erie, Pennsylvania, and was affiliated with Pennsylvania Boiler Works. For over fifty years, Nagle Engine and Boiler Works manufactured steam engines and boilers, including the Corliss engine model. It ceased production in 1940.

Related Materials:

Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection Trade Catalogues from Nagle Engine and Boiler Works MC*316892, Nagle Steam Engine, Vertical Slide-valve MC*329758, Gardner Throttling Steam Engine Governor

Provenance:

Immediate source of acquisition unknown.

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.

Topic:

Boilers  Search this

Steam-engines  Search this

Manufacturing  Search this

Genre/Form:

Blueprints

Drawings

Correspondence -- 20th century

Citation:

Nagle Engine and Boiler Works Records, circa 1890-1939, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1083

See more items in:

Nagle Engine and Boiler Works Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8d85e35ba-2f3c-4198-9197-0128811f8ba4

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1083

Photographer:

Treloar, Elmer, 1902-  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

0.3 Cubic feet (1 box)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Negatives

Date:

1970-1973.

Scope and Contents:

A collection of negatives of photographs documenting railroad stations in the United States and Canada. The majority of the negatives are of stations in the Midwestern U.S.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into one series and then arranged alphabetically by railroad.

Series 1: Negatives,

Biographical / Historical:

Railroad hobbyist and photographer who specialized in transportation subjects.

Provenance:

Purchased from Elsie Treloar in 1977 by the National Museum of American History, Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (now called the Division of Work and Industry).

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.

Topic:

Railroad stations -- Canada  Search this

Railroad stations -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Negatives

Citation:

Elmer Treloar Collection of Railroad Station Negatives, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1078

See more items in:

Elmer Treloar Collection of Railroad Station Negatives

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86a8b7f39-dfff-41b3-a9f5-f88cbb44ca69

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1078

Creator:

Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Donor:

Rehor, John A.  Search this

Extent:

2 Cubic feet (6 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Black-and-white negatives

Place:

Ohio

West Virginia

Date:

1925-1942.

Scope and Contents:

Over nine hundred official company photographs documenting the history of the railroad. Subjects include trains, locomotives and cars; employees and employee gatherings and events; structures such as stations, track, bridges, crossings, towers, and coaling stations.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into two series.

Series 1: Negatives

Series 2: Copy Prints

Biographical / Historical:

Founded in 1871, the Wheeling and Lake Erie (W&LE) Railway was built to haul coal from southeastern Ohio mines to the Lake Erie ports of Huron and Toledo. After World War II, W&LE had several owners, the Nickel Plate, then the Norfolk & Western, and later, the Norfolk & Western and Southern (NS) merged. The W&LE was dissolved in 1989 but was revived in 1990 by new investors.

Provenance:

Donated to the Museum's Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering in 1981 by John A. Roher.

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.

Topic:

Railroads -- Rolling-stock  Search this

Railroad stations -- United States  Search this

Railroad tracks  Search this

Railroad companies  Search this

Railroads  Search this

Railroads -- Buildings and structures  Search this

Railroads -- Employees  Search this

Locomotives  Search this

Railroad bridges  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1900-1950

Black-and-white negatives

Citation:

Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Photographs, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1075

See more items in:

Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Photographs

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep875f1f0ce-0a3e-4a41-9e12-6468abbd9ef4

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1075

Creator:

Colorado Fuel and Iron Company  Search this

Elk Rapids Iron Company  Search this

Rust Boiler Company  Search this

Rust Engineering Company  Search this

Rust, Edwin  Search this

Rust, Henry Bedinger, 1872-1936  Search this

Rust-Helander Engineering Company  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

5 Cubic feet (14 boxes and 1 map-folder)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Correspondence

Blueprints

Photographs

Date:

1890-1928

Scope and Contents:

Papers, comprised mostly of business correspondence (typescript, handwritten, and letter press books), from Edwin Rust's career as an engineer, specializing in boilers and steam engines. Also included are agreements, receipts, telegrams, blueprints, sketches, job cost records, rate of wages (Antrim Iron Company), daily labor reports (Elk Rapid Iron Company) and publications such as Iron Age.

Some letters relate to various engineering companies Rust was associated with, including the Rust Boiler Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company of Pueblo, Colorado; The Elk Rapids Iron Company, Michigan; the Rust-Helander Engineering Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Rust Engineering Company, Birmingham, Alabama. Rust's brother Henry is one of the correspondents. Some of the personal correspondence relates to Rust's membership in various clubs such as the Duquense Club and Antelpoe Park Club. Photographs of Edwin G. Rust and boilers and boiler equipment are also included in the papers.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four series.

Series 1: Biographical, 1912-1925

Series 2: Correspondence, 1893-1928

Series 3: Patents, 1890-1920

Series 4: Photographs, 1902-1918

Series 5: Drawings, Blueprints and Sketches, 1886-1917

Biographical / Historical:

Edwin Gray Rust (1869-1925) was born in Leesburg, Viginia and attended Lehigh University, graduating in 1894 with a degree in mechanical engineering. During the Spanish American War he served as an assistant engineer with the rank of junior lieutenant and during World War Two, he served in the production department of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC). EFC was established by the United States Shipping Board, in 1917to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant ships to meet national defense, foreign and domestic commerce during World War I. As an engineer, Rust specialized in boilers, inventing the Rust water tube bolier (US 710,340) and later founded the Rust Boiler Company.

Provenance:

Originally collected for the Division of Agriculture and Extractive Industries' reference collections. Original provenance is unknown.

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.

Topic:

Steam-engines  Search this

Manufacturing  Search this

Boilers  Search this

Genre/Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century

Blueprints -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Citation:

Edwin Rust Papers, 1899-1922, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1070

See more items in:

Edwin G. Rust Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8cffec0df-8cb6-415c-991e-e7dac7c71cbd

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1070

Sponsor:

Northern Pacific Railway Company  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

0.16 Cubic feet (1 box )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1881-1949

Summary:

The collection consists of photoprints documenting the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway.

Scope and Contents:

Two hundred fifteen silver gelatin photoprints documenting the construction of the Northern Pacific Railway. Images depcit the Takoma Shops, Marent Gulch Viaduct, Howe trusses, trestle work, iron Pratt trusses, plate girders, coal bunkers, the Stampede Tuunnel, Bozeman Tunnel, turntables, and the Bismarck, North Dakota Missouri River Bridge.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into one series.

Biographical / Historical:

Founded in 1864, the Northern Pacific Railway originated in Minnesota and operated in the states bordering Canada, also serving cities in British Columbia and Manitoba.

Provenance:

Immediate source of acquisition unknown.

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.

Topic:

Railroads  Search this

Bridges  Search this

Railroad bridges  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 19th-20th century

Citation:

Northern Pacific Railway Photographs, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1067

See more items in:

Northern Pacific Railway Photoprints

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8760c62d7-812a-4985-b00a-13039ebfdff0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1067

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

Former owner:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

Extent:

.50 Cubic feet (2 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Trade catalogs

Place:

Milwaukee (Wis.)

Tucson (Ariz.)

Date:

1911-2000

bulk 1950s

Summary:

Collection documents solar energy, particularly for use in residential homes.

Content Description:

Papers document the activities of Fritz P. Grutzner of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and his interest to build a home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida "energized" by the sun. Included is correspondence with various manufacturers of materials and power companies concerning solar energy, copies of articles on solar heating, trade literature, notes and calculations, and mimeographed proceedings of the Conference on Solar Energy held in Tucson, Arizona in 1955.

Arrangement:

Collection is unarranged.

Provenance:

Collection assembled by Fritz P. Grutzner.

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.

Topic:

Calculators  Search this

Solar energy  Search this

Solar heating  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Trade catalogs

Citation:

Fritz P. Grutzner Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1540

See more items in:

Fritz P. Grutzner Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep866840a3b-49f6-4713-a9ae-6721bd0f33ae

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1540

Creator:

Pennsylvania Railroad.  Search this

Architect:

McKim, Mead & White  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Names:

Pennsylvania Station  Search this

Photographer:

Dreyer, Louis H.  Search this

Extent:

10.5 Cubic feet (23 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Glass plate negatives

Photographs

Stereographs

Date:

1904-1910

Summary:

Collection documents the construction of Penn Station and the Pennsylvania Railroad's work in New York City, including the station foundations and the East and Hudson River tunnels.

Scope and Contents:

Photographs, stereographs, and glass plate negatives documenting the construction progress of the Pennsylvania Terminal, including the Pennsylvania Station Site, from pre-existing structures through the foundation construction; construction of Sunnyside Yard; Construction of Sunnyside Yard Power House; and all aspects of the construction of the East River tunnels. The photographs depict machinery, equipment, techniques, and the men working on the site. The collection is also strong in depicting streets, buildings and the clothes worn by people at that time.

Arrangement:

The collection is arannged into three series.

Series 1: Photographs, 1904-1909

Series 2: Steregraph Cards, 1904-1909

Series 3: Glass Plate Negatives, 1908-1910

Series 4: Contract Material Vouchers, 1907-1908

Historical:

Pennsylvania Station, also known as Penn Station, is a railroad station located in New York City between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets. It was named for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), and the project was initiated and lead by Alexander Johnston Cassatt (1839-1906), the seventh president of the PRR. Cassatt's vision was to construct tunnels under the Hudson River, bringing the PRR's line into New York City which enabled Pennsylvania Railroad trains to enter from New Jersey for the first time.

"Beginning with a double-track line across New Jersey's marshy Hackensack Meadows, they would dig two tunnels through Bergen Cliffs, continue down under the mile-wide Hudson, emerging deep underneath a great terminal. From there two tunnels, each with two tracks, would continue under and through Manhattan, becoming four separate tunnels under the East River. Two would be for the LIRR (Long Island Railroad), and would thus create a through ride all the way from the mainland to Long Island. The two other tunnels would serve the PRR, whose empty trains would terminate in Sunnyside, Queens." (Jonnes, page 84)

Construction of the tunnels began in 1904 and opened for service in 1910. The architects of the station building were McKim, Mead & White. The station's building was demolished (1963-1966) and Madison Square Gardens was built above the station, opening in 1968.

Sources

"Completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad Tunnels and Terminal Station," Scientific American, Vol. 102, No. 20 (May 14, 1910), pp. 398-401.

Historic American Buildings Survey, Engineering Record, Landscapes Survey, (HABS) No. NY-5471, "Pennsylvania Station," 1968.

Jonnes, Jill. Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels. New York: Viking Penguin Group, 2007.

Related Materials:

Materials at Other Organizations

New York Historical Society

McKim Mead & White Architectural Records Collection, circa 1875-1950

Columbia University, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

McKim Mead & White architectural records and drawings, 1879-1958

Progress photographs taken by L. H. Dreyer and others during the construction of the Pennsylvania Terminal (Penn Station), New York City, 1907-1910

Hagley Museum and Library

Pennsylvania Railroad Company records, 1813-1968

Provenance:

The photographs and stereograph cards were purchased from Charles Lloyd, III, a dealer, in 1980.

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.

Topic:

Railroads  Search this

Railroads -- 20th century  Search this

Railroad stations  Search this

Tunnels -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Glass plate negatives

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Stereographs -- 1900-1910

Citation:

Penn Station, New York, Photographs, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1048

See more items in:

Penn Station, New York, Photographs

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8087277d0-5bf6-463e-abfe-b77174e97db9

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1048

Donor:

Enterline, Stevenson  Search this

Eney, William J.  Search this

Creator:

Quebec Bridge Company.  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Engineering and Industry  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Extent:

0.5 Cubic feet (3 boxes, 1 map folder)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photograph albums

Postcards

Photographs

Place:

Canada

Quebec

Date:

1905-1986

bulk 1905-1916

Summary:

The collection documents the construction of the first and second Quebec Bridges over the St. Lawrence River. Construction on the first bridge began in 1900 and the bridge collapsed before completion in 1907. Construction on the second Quebec Bridge, which is the longest cantilever bridge in the world, was completed in 1917.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents the construction of the first and second Quebec Bridges over the St. Lawrence River primarily through photographs. The collection is arranged into two series: Series 1, Photographic Materials, 1905-1965 and Series 2, Other Materials, 1916-1986.

Series 1, Photographic Materials, 1905-1965, is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1.1, Photographs, 1907-1965 and Subseries 1.2, Photograph Album, 1905. The black-and-white photographs primarily document the construction of the second Quebec Bridge, 1907-1917. Many of these photographs were taken in a workshop where the production of the bridge parts and building materials occurred. One picture, marked number 24, is of the Prime Minister of Canada, Robert Borden, attending the construction site in October 1913. This series also contains photographs of the 1907 bridge collapse and pictures taken in 1965 of the current second bridge. Subseries 2, Photograph Album, 1905, documents the construction of the first Quebec cantilever bridge. The album contains mounted black-and-white photographs taken between May 12 and November 23, 1905.

Series 2, Other Materials, 1916-1986, consists of newspaper articles and postcards. The newspaper articles detail the 1916 construction accident on the second Quebec bridge; one 1917 article about the bridge; and one 1986 article about the 1907 collapse of the first bridge. There are three postcards, both black-and-white and color, of the Quebec Bridge.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into two series.

Series 1, Photographic Materials, 1905-1965

Subseries 1, Photographs, 1907-1965

Subseries 2, Photograph Album, 1905

Series 2, Other Materials, 1916-1986

Biographical / Historical:

The first Quebec Bridge was built over the St. Lawrence River in order to connect important railroad lines.[1] This bridge collapsed on August 29, 1907, killing 79 men.[2] The engineers for the second bridge were Maurice Fitzmaurice, H.E. Vautelet, and Ralph Modjeska.[3]

Notes: [1] "Bridge of 1,800-FT. Span Across the St. Lawrence," Popular Mechanics Vol. 8, No. 12 December 1906

[2]"Wrecked Quebec Bridge to be Recommended"[3] "Wrecked Quebec Bridge to be Recommended"

Provenance:

Originally collected for the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering's reference collections; exact date and source of acquisition unknown.

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. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.

Topic:

Bridges -- Design and construction  Search this

Bridges -- Canada  Search this

Bridge failures  Search this

Bridges -- Quebec  Search this

Rivers -- Quebec  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photograph albums -- 20th century

Postcards -- 1900-1920

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1900-1950

Citation:

Quebec Bridge Photograph Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1026

See more items in:

Quebec Bridge Photograph Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87b51becf-1e0e-417b-80c4-79ab4bdf13b0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1026

Photographer:

Weide, Robert Lee  Search this

Names:

James Baird Company (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Madeira School (McLean, Va.)  Search this

Potomac Electric Power Company (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

United States. Bureau of Engraving and Printing  Search this

Hatfield, Devil Anse, 1839-1921  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Donor:

Blake, Beverly B.  Search this

Extent:

0.3 Cubic feet (1 box)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photograph albums

Photographs

Place:

West Virginia -- Logan

West Virginia -- White Sulphur Springs

Guyandotte River

Coosawattee River

Virginia -- Buffalo Springs

Virginia -- Bedford City

Pennsylvania -- Ridgway

Ohio -- Salem

Virginia -- New Castle

Virginia -- Covington

Virginia -- Clifton Forge

Date:

1910-1933.

Scope and Contents:

Photographs and photograph albums documenting engineering projects with which Robert Weide was involved. They include the Potomac Electric Power Company plant in Washington, D.C.; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing building in Washington, D.C.;. a hydroelectric plant on the James River for Bedford City, Virginia; a power plant in Salem, Ohio; a power plant in Ridgway, Pennsylvania; a power plant in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia; a power plant in Logan, West Virginia; a dam project at Coleman Falls, Virginia; the Madeira School in Fairfax, Virginia; a railroad bridge at Clifton Forge, Virginia; a railroad station at Buffalo Springs, Virginia; and other projects. Also includes images of families, street scenes, and recreational activities (such as fishing and picnicking) at some of these locations. Devil Anse Hatfield (of the Hatfield-McCoy feud,) is in some of the photographs.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into one series.

Biographical / Historical:

Robert Lee Weide was a construction engineer who worked for the James Baird Company of Washington, D.C.

Provenance:

Donated by Beverly B. Blake in 1980 to the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (now called the Division of Work and Industry).

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.

Topic:

Dams  Search this

Railroad stations -- Virginia  Search this

Railroad bridges  Search this

Power plants  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photograph albums

Photographs -- 20th century

Citation:

Robert Lee Weide Photographs, 1910-1933, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1012

See more items in:

Robert Lee Weide Photographs

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8acb04f85-18bb-4463-b761-12486a72e636

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1012

Creator:

Walter, Thomas Ustick, 1804-1887  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Names:

United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)  Search this

Extent:

0.3 Cubic feet ( 1 box)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Salted paper prints

Copy photographs

Date:

1855-1862

Summary:

The collection consists of 146 salt-paper prints (structural and decorative details) of the United States Capitol Dome, between 1855 and 1862. Dimensions range from 6 ¾" x 9 ½" to 17 1/8" x 10".

Scope and Contents:

The collection is comprised of 146 salt print photographic copies of original drawings of the United States Capitol dome. Salt print paper was the first and most common photo paper between 1839 and 1860. The prints document both structural and decorative details of the dome. The prints are arranged in chronological order.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into one series.

Series 1, United States Capitol Dome Drawings, 1855-1862

Biographical / Historical:

The United State Capitol dome is situated above the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The Capitol dome was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-1887), the fourth Architect of the Capitol. Walter was responsible for adding the north (Senate) and south (House) wings and the central dome of the Capitol from 1854 to 1866. The original dome, built in 1824, was made of wood. It was considered a fire hazard and was not big enough to complement the Capitol building's growing size.[1]

[1] http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/dome.cfm (accessed on April 9, 2010)

Provenance:

This collection was purchased in 1984 by the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, National Museum of American History (then called the National Museum of History and Technology), from Walter Grossman.

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.

Topic:

Domes  Search this

Architecture -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Salted paper prints

Copy photographs

Citation:

United States Capitol Dome Drawings, dates, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1010

See more items in:

United States Capitol Dome Drawings

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep85ee8404a-c24d-40e9-8788-1434c8692044

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1010

Creator:

Coxe Brothers and Company, Inc. (Drifton, Pennsylvania)  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Extractive Industries  Search this

Engineer:

Coxe, Eckley B. (Eckley Brinton), 1839-1895  Search this

Names:

Coxe, Tench, 1755-1824  Search this

Extent:

100 Cubic feet (55 boxes, 107 map folders )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Agreements

Blueprints

Correspondence

Deeds

Drawings

Glass plate negatives

Legal documents

Maps

Patents

Photographs

Tracings

Place:

Pennsylvania

Date:

1830-1997

Summary:

Collection documents the Coxe Brothers and Company Inc., an anthracite coal producer in Pennsylvania.

Scope and Contents:

The collection contains primarily drawings of mine machinery and buildings, including buildings within the company town such as worker housing and churches and maps, including real estate maps, contour and topographical maps, maps of highways and roads, insurance maps and others. There are some photographs, including glass plate negatives, of mining machinery and operations; deeds, leases, and agreements and papers relating to Eckley B. Coxe's patents and legal matters.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1: Eckley B. Coxe, Jr. Estate Materials, 1891-1969

Series 2: Patent Material, 1871-1902

Series 3: Agreements, Deeds, and Leases, 1882-1949

Series 4: Miscellaneous Documentation, 1866-1950

Series 5: Glass Plate Negatives and Photographs, 1890-1937

Series 6: Drawings, 1885-1991

Series 7: Maps, 1830-1997

Historical:

The Coxe family's connection with Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region is rooted in the prescience of the statesman, author and land speculator Tench Coxe. Recognizing the significance anthracite would play in the development of the newly founded Republic, Tench purchased nearly 80,000 acres of land surrounding outcroppings of anthracite coal in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. He hoped that future generations of the family would profit from the land when the anthracite industry came of age. Indeed, his purchase would secure wealth for the Coxe family and all their mining enterprises well into the twentieth century.

Tench Coxe was born in Philadelphia on May 22, 1755, to William and Mary Francis Coxe, members of a family with a long tradition of land ownership. Tench's great-grandfather, Dr. Daniel Coxe, personal physician to King Charles II and Queen Anne of England, held large colonial land grants in New Jersey and the Carolinas. Though he never visited his property in the new world, Dr. Coxe would eventually acquire the title of Governor of West Jersey. Upon his death, he passed the whole of his North American land holdings to his son, Colonel Daniel Coxe. The Colonel was the first Coxe to leave England for life in America, settling in Burlington, New Jersey in 1702. Inheriting a passion for land, Colonel Coxe distinguished himself by publishing "A Description of the Provinces of Carolana," which in 1722 proposed one of the earliest plans for political union of the British colonies of North America. Tench Coxe explored various career options in his struggle to establish his name in the United States. After considering a profession in law, Tench chose instead to join his father's import-export firm, Coxe & Furman, in 1776. The renamed firm of Coxe, Furman & Coxe operated for fourteen years but was dissolved by mutual agreement after experiencing financial difficulties.

Soon after, Tench and a business partner from Boston established a new commercial enterprise under the name of Coxe & Frazier. After several prosperous years, this firm also disbanded, freeing Tench to pursue a career in public service. Tench's Loyalist sympathies during the American Revolution complicated his political ambitions. Following British General Howe's evacuation of Philadelphia in 1778, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania accused Tench of treason for collaborating with the enemy. Although he swore an oath of allegiance to the United States of America, his Tory leanings would be used repeatedly to undermine his political influence. Despite his Loyalist past, Tench retained the respect of his patriot neighbors. He was selected as the sole Pennsylvania delegate to the Annapolis Convention in 1786, and then selected to the Second Continental Congress in 1788. After the war, Tench became an advocate for the Whig Party, although his politics were often in direct support of the Federalist cause. This was apparent from a pamphlet he wrote in 1788 titled, "An Examination of the Constitution of the United States," which revealed his strong support for the ratification of the United States Constitution.

With the new government in place, Tench received a variety of appointments to public office under George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. He was named Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in 1790, Commissioner of the Revenue of the United States in 1792 and Secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office in 1800. After switching his affiliation to the Republican Party in 1803, Tench accepted an appointment from Thomas Jefferson as Purveyor of the Public Supplies, an office that he held until 1812. The duties of his various posts ultimately made Tench an authority on the industrial development of the nation. In 1794 he published a collection of essays under the title, "A View of the United States of America," in which he contemplated the development of commerce and manufacturing in America. These essays reveal his early awareness of coal in Pennsylvania, as he remarked:

"All our coal has hitherto been accidentally found on the surface of the earth or discovered in the digging of common cellars or wells; so that when our wood-fuel shall become scarce, and the European methods of boring shall be skillfully pursued, there can be no doubt of our finding it in many other places."

Anthracite coal was discovered around the year 1769 in Pennsylvania. It is the hardest of the known types of coal, with an average 85%-95% carbon content, as compared to the 45%- 85% range of the bituminous coal found in the western part of the state. The high carbon content in anthracite allows it to burn at much higher temperatures than bituminous coal and with less smoke, making it an ideal fuel for home heating. The only anthracite deposits of commercial value in the United States are located within four major fields in Eastern Pennsylvania and are confined to an area of 3,300 square miles. These four coalfields are commonly referred to as the Northern, Eastern-Middle, Western-Middle and Southern fields. Tench Coxe's awareness of the promise of anthracite coal, coupled with his tenure in the Pennsylvania land office and a family tradition of land speculation spurred him in 1790 to begin purchasing promising acreage. Though he acquired land throughout the country, he particularly focused on land in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania, which he believed held vast underground seams of coal.

Despite large land holdings, Tench Coxe lived most of his life in debt thanks to litigation, tax problems and complications with business partners. Realizing that he would not be able to develop the property in his lifetime, Tench worked diligently to retain the property he believed was enriched with valuable mineral deposits, in hopes that his dreams would be realized by future generations of Coxes. Tench's son, Charles Sidney Coxe, would inherit from his father a passion for land ownership and for the untapped potential of the anthracite coal region. When Tench Coxe died on July 16, 1824, he left Charles sole executor of his estate, which was composed of approximately 1.5 million acres in eight states. Born July 31, 1791, Charles Sidney Coxe was the sixth of ten children of Tench and Rebecca Coxe. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University, Charles was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1812. Charles eventually served as District Attorney of Philadelphia and associate judge of the District Court of Philadelphia, but he remained infatuated by his father's vision.

Charles devoted his life to keeping together the large coal properties handed down by Tench to his surviving children. This monumental task involved paying annual taxes on completely unproductive land, fighting a never-ending battle against squatters and timber thieves, and litigating an endless array of boundary disputes. Charles and his family routinely spent their summer months in Drifton, Luzerne County a location that would eventually become synonymous with the Coxe name. His son Eckley Brinton Coxe gained his first experience in the coalfields at Drifton, accompanying his father as he traced the geology of the area in search of coal veins. Besides introducing Eckley to the "family business", the surveys gave Charles invaluable detailed knowledge that he used to preserve the coal deposits on his family's property. Deposits that he discovered comprised nearly half of the entire Eastern-Middle field. Even as his knowledge grew, however, Charles was unable to develop the land he retained. He saw the pioneers of anthracite mining lose fortunes as the mining technology of the day struggled to catch up with the new demands.

Regular shipments of anthracite began in the 1820s as canals opened the coal regions of Pennsylvania to markets in Philadelphia. The demand for anthracite remained relatively low during the early years of the industry, but as markets developed and demand increased, railroads began to compete in the trade and would eventually come to dominate as carriers to all of the major markets. As the problems of mining and transporting coal and developing a market for it were worked out, the demand for "hard coal" grew substantially. Coal sales increased from 364,384 tons in 1840 to 3,358,890 tons in 1850 and would steadily increase throughout the century to levels exceeding 40 million tons annually. Charles Coxe's witness to the inception of this industry unquestionably spurred his desire to realize his father's dream, but like Tench, he too would have to defer to his sons.

Charles S. Coxe had married Ann Maria Brinton in 1832 and together they were the parents of seven children, Brinton, Rebecca, Anna Brinton, Eckley Brinton, Henry Brinton, Charles Brinton and Alexander Brinton. The eldest son, Brinton Coxe, followed the career of his father, establishing himself in the legal profession. Brinton was a renowned lawyer and writer of constitutional law and served with prestige as president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania from 1884 until his death. The remaining four sons would distinguish themselves in the coal business under the guidance of their brother, Eckley B. Coxe. Born in Philadelphia on June 4, 1839, Eckley B. Coxe entered into a family in which his calling was clear. His aptitude for the calling, however, would astonish the entire industry. Eckley's earl surveying excursions with his father introduced him to the mines, machines and collieries of the anthracite industry. His exposure to local miners must also have made a lasting impression, as his knowledge of their customs and sympathy toward their circumstances proved to be one of his greatest assets as an employer.

Eckley Coxe's formal education began in 1854 at the University of Pennsylvania. Although focusing his studies in chemistry and physics, he took additional courses in French and bookkeeping after receiving his degree in 1858. After graduation, Eckley briefly returned to the coalfields where he was engaged in topographic geological work on his family's land, learning a skill that would later earn him a commission to the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. In 1860 Eckley went abroad to polish his technical education, spending two years in Paris at the Ecole Nationale des Mines, one year at the Bergakademie in Freiberg, Germany and nearly two years on a tour studying the practical operations of European mines. Armed with both practical and theoretical knowledge of his craft, Eckley B. Coxe returned to America and embarked on the mission for which his entire life had prepared him. On January 30, 1865, Eckley, his brothers Alexander, Charles and Henry and a cousin, Franklin Coxe, formed the co-partnership Coxe Brothers and Company.

The company began with a combined capital of $120,000, with Eckley investing $40,000 and the other partners investing $20,000 each. The firm was formed for the exclusive purpose of mining and selling coal from the Drifton property, which they leased from the Estate of Tench Coxe. The Estate had begun leasing property as early as 1852 to various companies, which paid royalties to the estate in return for the coal they mined. Coxe Brothers would operate under a similar lease, but they would, in a sense, be paying royalties to themselves as both partners and heirs. Coxe Brothers and Company began operations in Drifton in February 1865, sending their first shipment of coal to market the following June. Once the operations at Drifton were fully tested and proved successful, Eckley moved to consolidate control over all of his family's land, in order to keep all the mining profits in the family.

By 1879 Coxe Brothers and Company had opened collieries at Deringer, Gowen and Tomhicken, adding Beaver Meadow Colliery two years later. The firm's success exceeded all of the partners' expectations, reaching well beyond the goals set forth in the original Articles of Copartnership. Charles B. Coxe died in 1873 and Franklin Coxe retired from the firm in 1878. In 1885, the remaining partners agreed to extend the life of the firm indefinitely and operate for the purpose of developing the land belonging to the Estate of Tench Coxe.

Even more important to the success of the Coxe family mining interests was the organization of the Cross Creek Coal Company in October 1882. The officers of this company included the three remaining partners of Coxe Brothers and Company, along with a Philadelphia partner, J. Brinton White and the Coxe's first cousin Arthur McClellan, brother of the Civil War General, George B. McClellan. Cross Creek Coal Company took over all of the mining operations on the Estate lands, led by Eckley B. Coxe, president of both companies. Coxe Brothers transferred the mining rights to the Coxe property to the Cross Creek Coal Company but retained control of the Coxe collieries where the freshly mined coal was prepared.

Eckley's shrewd and aggressive management of his family's land proved successful. When his father, Charles S. Coxe died in 1879, Eckley assumed an even more direct role in the management of the property. In addition to receiving the inheritance of his grandfather's land, he, along with his three surviving brothers, became executors of the Estate of Tench Coxe. By 1886, Eckley had brought nearly 3/4ths of his family's property under his direct control. Coal shipments from these properties reached an astounding 1.5 million tons in 1890, a vast improvement from the 27,000 tons sold in its inaugural year. Coxe Brothers and Company did not limit itself to mining operations on the lands of the Estate of Tench Coxe. By 1889, the firm was also leasing lands from the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, West Buck Mountain Coal Company, Anspach & Stanton, the Black Creek Coal Company, and the Central Coal Company. In total Coxe Brothers was operating roughly 30,000 acres of coal property.

Just over twenty years after its inception, Coxe Brothers and Company established itself as the largest individual anthracite producer that was not associated with a major railroad. This distinction, however, made them an obvious target for the expanding railroad industry. Realizing the value of anthracite as freight, railroads entered into a land scramble throughout the region, securing their coal freight by purchasing it before it was mined. This point is perhaps best illustrated by the actions of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which in 1872 purchased 28,000 acres in the anthracite fields. Of the roughly 38 million tons of coal produced in 1888, 29 million had been mined by coal companies linked with the railroads.

The remaining independent producers were forced to negotiate with the railroads to have their coal shipped to market. It was the practice of the railroads to charge exorbitant fees to the independent producers, which in effect reduced the railroads' competition in the coal sale yards. In order to survive, many independent producers were either forced to sell their coal directly to the railroads at the mines or to sell their operation completely to the railroad. Eckley B. Coxe, however, pursued an altogether different means of survival. In 1888, the partners of Coxe Brothers and Company petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission for relief from the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company (LVRR). They argued that the Lehigh Valley Coal Company (LVCC), entirely owned by the LVRR, sold coal at a price that did not net them sufficient funds to pay the fees that were being charged to Coxe Brothers and Company for the same shipping service. The railroads were willing to operate their coal companies at a loss, since they were more than able to absorb the losses with increased railroad freight. As a result of discriminating between the companies it owned and independent operators, the LVRR was found in violation of federal law and was forced to lower its rates in 1891.

The lengthy trial, however, inspired Eckley to build his own railroad, which began operations in 1891. Incorporated as the Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill Railroad, its tracks linked all of the Coxe collieries with connections to most of the major rail lines in the region. With sixty miles of single gauge track, twenty-nine locomotives and 1,500 coal-cars, they forced the railroads to compete for the immense freight being produced by their coal companies. By compelling his adversaries to come to fair terms with victories in both the courts and in the coalfields, Eckley succeeded in securing Coxe Brothers' position as the largest independent anthracite producers in Pennsylvania. In June 1893, Ezra B. Ely and Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. were admitted to the firm of Coxe Brothers and Company. Ezra, a long-time business associate and general sales agent of Coxe Brothers and Company and Eckley, Jr., son of the deceased Charles Brinton Coxe, joined the firm just weeks prior to the establishment of two more Coxe mining enterprises.

On June 19,Coxe Brothers and Company, Incorporated was organized as the selling agency for Coxe coal and purchased from the firm their supply headquarters in New York, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. This same day also saw the formation of the Coxe Iron Manufacturing Company, which took control of the firm's machine shops in Drifton. In addition to being responsible for the construction and repair of Coxe mines and railroads, this company also filled large outside orders for machinery. It was in these machine shops that Eckley proved himself as one of the most brilliant mining engineers of the day. The United States Patent Office records 111 patents either issued directly to Eckley B. Coxe or as a supervisor of employees who worked under his instructions at the Drifton Shops. Seventy-three of these patents pertained to the details of the Coxe Mechanical Stoker, which introduced the first practical means of burning small sizes of anthracite coal. This innovation put an end to the financial loss associated with large culm banks of fine sized coal that plagued collieries as waste. The subject of waste seems to have driven the business and personal endeavors of Eckley B. Coxe.

As a founder and future president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Eckley was appointed to chair a committee to investigate waste in coal mining, which he did thoroughly. His report outlined the waste associated with the extraction, preparation and transportation of anthracite coal. To combat waste in the preparation of coal, Eckley designed and erected the world's first coal breaker made of iron and steel. This fireproof structure, used to separate coal into uniform sized pieces, was also equipped with numerous innovative labor-saving devices, including an automated slate picking chute, improved coal jigs, corrugated rollers for breaking coal and electric lighting for nighttime operations. The breaker at Drifton stood as one of the most revolutionary coal structures in the region until Eckley erected an even more magnificent iron and steel coal breaker at Oneida. In creating more economical methods for preparing and consuming coal, Eckley helped boost the anthracite industry to remarkable levels. Although he secured many of his inventions by patent, Eckley licensed his improvements to many coal operators and created an agency to help install and maintain the complicated machinery at the various collieries. This service reflected Eckley's conviction that the mutual exchange of knowledge in engineering matters would benefit the whole anthracite industry, and in turn would benefit each individual company. That attitude appears to have carried over in his interactions with consumers, as is evidenced by a paper Eckley read before a meeting of the New England Cotton Manufactures, acknowledging that, "It may seem curious that a person whose life has been spent in mining and marketing coal should appear before this association to discuss the economical production of steam, involving, as it does, either the use of less fuel or fuel of less value. But I am convinced that the more valuable a ton of coal becomes to our consumers, the more in the end will be our profit from it."

Eckley recognized, however, that the increased demand for anthracite would subvert his battle against waste. The abundance of coal beds in the region gave rise to numerous operators who often sacrificed long-term efficiency for low-overhead and quick profits. Using cheap machinery and incompetent labor, these operators mined only the most valuable and easily available veins, leaving large amounts to waste. Mining practices like these were prohibited in many European countries, where the right to mine had to be obtained from the government. In many countries, mining operations were required to work to full capacity, so long as they did not compromise the safety of the men or the mine. Having witnessed European laws in practice, Eckley was an advocate for comparable laws in this country, calling for a well-educated corps of experts to inspect the mines and manufactories to ensure the protection of life and property. In later years, mining foremen would be required by Pennsylvania law to pass an extensive exam, demonstrating not only practical experience but also specific knowledge of the principles of ventilation. Eckley was also aware that mining legislation alone could not prevent careless miners.

As an employer of skilled labor and a trustee of Lehigh University, Eckley gave a great deal of thought to the issue of technical education. In concluding a paper titled, "Mining Legislation," read at the general meeting of the American Social Science Association in 1870, Eckley insisted "upon the importance of establishing schools for master miners, in which anyone who works in the mines could, while supporting himself by his labor, receive sufficient instruction in his business to qualify him to direct intelligently the underground workings of a mine." His exposure to the finest technical institutions of Europe made Eckley keenly aware of the shortcomings in America of giving its students an equivalent education. In order to prevent future mining foremen and superintendents to grow up without a theoretical knowledge of their work, Eckley established the Industrial School for Miners and Mechanics in Drifton. The school opened its doors on May 7, 1879, providing young men employed by Coxe Brothers and Company with an opportunity to educate themselves outside of working hours. This unique opportunity gave the young miners a chance to combine the scientific knowledge of various disciplines, including trigonometry, mechanical drawing, physics, mineralogy and drafting with the experience gained in their daily toil. Classes were held free of charge at night and during idle days in the mines in a two-story building erected by Eckley Coxe, known as Cross Creek Hall.

In addition to comfortably seating 1,000 people and housing a library and reading room for the residents of Drifton, it also furnished classrooms for the eleven students who enrolled in the school during its first year. The school succeeded in delivering a first-class technical education to its students for nearly ten years before a fire completely destroyed the Hall in 1888. Five years later the school reorganized under the name Miners and Mechanics' Institute of Freeland, Pennsylvania, which soon after changed its name to the Mining and Mechanical Institute of Freeland. The school continues to operate today as the MMI Preparatory School and stands as a testimonial to Eckley's achievements in promoting technical education.

Eckley and the Coxe family gave generously to the people of the anthracite fields. They donated estate lands for churches and cemeteries of various denominations, as well as schools, parks and baseball fields. Eckley also established a scholarship prize of $300 for the best student at his mining school, which would continue for the term of four years if the recipient chose to pursue higher education. Eckley made a point, however, not to confuse business with charity and confined his donations predominantly to gifts of opportunity and knowledge. But, as the people of Drifton affirmed during the opening ceremonies for Cross Creek Hall, "For relieving those who have been disabled by accidents, providing for the widows and orphans, visiting our homes in times of sickness, taking an interest in the education and welfare of our children and providing a free library, to promote our intellectual culture you are worthy of the highest praise we can bestow." One of the most deplorable circumstances in the coalfields was the scarcity of adequate hospitals. Nineteenth century anthracite mining was extremely dangerous, with miners facing hazards from explosions, suffocation, cave-ins and floods.

By 1881, Coxe Brothers and Company employed 1,171 people, who endured their share of accidents, despite the sound mining methods initiated by the company. The closest hospital was in Bethlehem, which was over two hours away. To remedy the situation, at least for his own workers, Eckley established the Drifton Hospital on September 1, 1882, for the benefit of Coxe Brothers and Company employees. The building could accommodate thirty-five patients and in its first sixteen months of operation treated eighty-five people. In later years, a state hospital at Hazleton was built for the miners of the Eastern-Middle field. Eckley was an obvious candidate for the Board of Commissioners of the state hospital, an appointment he received in 1891.

The company also maintained an accident fund for its employees. In the event a Coxe Brothers employee died, the fund contributed fifty dollars to the family to defray their funeral expenses. It also provided the widows of employees with three dollars a week for one year, allowing an additional dollar per week for each child less than twelve years of age. In cases where the employees were disabled, men were given five dollars a week until they were able to perform light work.

In all his endeavors, Eckley B. Coxe held himself to a high standard of honor. His standard of personal integrity created unusual circumstances when he was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in November 1880. Elected a Democrat from the 26th senatorial district, comprised of parts of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, he declined to take the oath prescribed by the state constitution, thereby forfeiting the office. In an address to his constituents in January 1881, he explained that he was not able to swear to the fact that all his campaign funds had been contributed as "expressly authorized by law." He further stated, "I have done nothing in this campaign that I am ashamed of, or that was inconsistent with strict honesty." A detailed examination of his accounts shows expenses that were not considered "expressly authorized," but were also not uncommon for most of the political candidates in Pennsylvania. In holding himself to the strict letter of the law, he earned the respect of both Democrats and Republicans alike. The next year Eckley B. Coxe was again elected to the Senate, this time with a majority three times as large as the previous year.

Eckley's personal character made him a model senator and he took advantage of the opportunity to spread his opinions across the entire commonwealth. Belonging to the minority party in the Senate, Eckley was unable to initiate any legislation, but did remain vocal concerning many of the major issues of the day. He was particularly interested in the "Voluntary Trade Tribunal Statute," which dealt with the vexed topic of labor organizations. In addressing the Senate, Eckley argued, "Though not pretending to be a workingman, or in any way his representative, but, on the contrary, a large employer of labor of all kinds, I feel and admit that he has equal rights with me. What he properly demands, and what he will have, is justice. To be satisfied, he must feel that the bargain is fair, and that it has been reached in an honorable way, without any resort to coercion. He cares more for this than a slight addition to or a deduction from his daily pay. Where the workingman does not get his dues, trouble must ensue, and capital must pay its share of the bill, which is often a large one." Eckley made every attempt to treat his men with the respect they demanded. Even so, he was not immune to strikes, which brought his collieries to a halt on several occasions. When demands for increased wages by a joint committee of the Knights of Labor and the Miners' and Laborers' Amalgamated Association brought operations in the anthracite fields to a standstill in 1887, Eckley remained open to hearing the grievances of his men, but like many coal operators, refused to meet with organizations, as he did not believe they represented the best interest of his men. As labor struggled to organize in the latter part of the century, workingmen were as determined to stand by their unions as operators were to ignore them.

This state of affairs resulted in repeated struggles between labor and capital throughout the country, struggles that were especially bitter in the coalfields. When a congressional committee was appointed to investigate the labor troubles in Pennsylvania in 1888, Eckley testified, "It does not make any difference to us whether the men belong to any association or not. I do not care what association they belong to or what politics they have; it is none of my business; but when it came to the question, I was always willing and anxious to deal with my own men, and I expect to always; but I want to deal with the men who are interested to the particular question that I have got to settle." Eckley continued to remain active in the mining profession through his associations with numerous professional organizations, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Engineer's Club of Philadelphia, the American Chemical Society, the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to name just a few. In 1870, Eckley published a translation of Julias Weisbach's treatise, "A Manual of the Mechanics of Engineering and of the Construction of Machines, with an Introduction to the Calculus." Weisbach was a former professor of Eckley's at the Bergakademie in Freiberg, and an influential voice in the field of mechanics. This capacious volume, used primarily as a textbook, was completed at a monetary loss, but would, however, associate Eckley's name with one of the leading mechanical engineers in the world.

As Eckley continued to advance his own career and the anthracite industry as a whole, he never lost sight of his principal commitment to developing the lands of the Estate of Tench Coxe. In an effort to fully exploit the resources of his family's land, Eckley organized four additional companies in June 1893. The Drifton, Oneida, Tomhicken and Beaver Meadow water companies were organized to supply water to the industries and citizens of Hazle, East Union, Black Creek and Banks Township, respectively. On June 20, 1893, the capital stock of the four water companies, along with the stock of the Cross Creek Coal Company, Coxe Brothers and Company, Incorporated, the Delaware, Susquehanna and Schuylkill Railroad Company, and the Coxe Iron Manufacturing Company were placed into a trust under the control of Eckley B. Coxe, who served as president of them all. The trust was created to secure the continuation of the companies in the case of the death or sale of interest by any of the partners. The ownership of these companies was held in the same interest as that of the firm of Coxe Brothers and Company, being 4/15ths each with Eckley and Alexander Coxe, 3/15ths each vested in Henry B. and Eckley B. Coxe, Jr., and a 1/15th interest with Ezra B. Ely.

With the establishment of the various new Coxe enterprises, the business of the original firm (Coxe Brothers and Company) became limited to the operation of company stores at Fern Glen, Eckley and Drifton. This was no small point, however. By remaining a partnership, the Coxe family was not bound by the corporation laws of Pennsylvania, which prohibited the operation of company stores. But Coxe Brothers and Company stores respected the spirit of the anti-company store legislation. All Coxe employees were paid in cash that they could spend anywhere and not company script, which they would have to spend on overpriced goods at company stores. Eckley instructed his stores to sell goods as cheaply as possible and at no point were store debts deducted from an employee's wages. The various Coxe-owned enterprises remained in Eckley's charge till May 13, 1895, when at the age of 55, Eckley Brinton Coxe died of pneumonia. His death was mourned across the region as the buildings of Drifton were draped in black and Coxe collieries went idle. On the occasion of his funeral, every mine in the region suspended operations as a tribute to their deceased colleague.

Although Eckley was gone, his benevolence lived on through his wife of twenty-six years, Sophia Georgiana (Fisher) Coxe. Sophia undoubtedly served as Eckley's guiding light in his many altruistic endeavors. She was collectively known throughout the region as the "Angel of the Anthracite Fields" and the "Coxe Santa Claus." Sophia earned the latter title by providing the children of the Coxe mining towns with gifts and candy at an annul Christmas Party held in Cross Creek Hall. With the income guaranteed to her in Eckley's will, Sophia embarked on numerous acts of charity, funding additions to the Hazleton State Hospital, White Haven Sanitarium and the Philadelphia Children's Hospital. Sophia also advanced Eckley's work in education as a faithful benefactor of the Mining and Mechanical Institute of Freeland. She endowed the school with a new gymnasium and a trust fund to keep the school operating after her death, which occurred in 1926.

As Eckley's benevolence continued after his death, so too did his mining enterprises. His two surviving brothers, Alexander and Henry Coxe remained active in the business affairs of the Coxe mining companies, as Alfred E. Walter, a business associate, took control of the trust and presidency of the Coxe companies. The trust would subsequently pass to Irving A. Stearns from 1901 to 1905, when the trusteeship was canceled. The mining enterprises continued to expand through the turn of the century under the administration of Alexander B. Coxe. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Alexander had distinguished himself in the Civil War, serving on the staff of Major-General George Meade. After the war, he played a major role in the financial management of Coxe Brothers and Company as the only Coxe partner, other than Eckley, who resided in Drifton. He continued to live near the collieries for nearly forty years.

In March 1900, Alexander initiated a series of business maneuvers to streamline the management of the various Coxe companies. He purchased the entire capital stock of the Coxe Iron Manufacturing Company and the selling agency, Coxe Brothers and Company, Inc. for the Cross Creek Coal Company. Now representing the combined capital of three companies, the Cross Creek Coal Company officially changed its name to Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. The new company name distinguished only by the replacement of "and" by "&". Days later, the original firm of Coxe Brothers and Company was dissolved by agreement, with the remainder of its property and assets being assigned to the Cross Creek Coal Company for the sum of $300. The business of the firm would be continued by Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. and the Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill Railroad, both of which were owned in the same interest as the original firm. As both the executor of the Tench Coxe Estate and partner of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc., Alexander was in a unique situation to further consolidate the management of the Coxe properties. On June 24, 1904, the numerous individual leases from the Estate of Tench Coxe to Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. were consolidated into one blanket lease. The lease granted exclusive mining rights to the latter on the Drifton, Eckley, Stockton and Beaver Meadow properties, as well as on portions of the Tomhicken, Derringer and Oneida properties. The terms of the lease were agreed to continue until the coal was exhausted from the property or mining operations became unprofitable.

In 1904 Coxe Brothers was operating roughly 30,000 acres of land, although not all of it came from family leases. In addition to owning small portions of land, they still held leases on additional property from the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, West Buck Mountain Coal Company, Anspach & Stanton, Black Creek Improvement Company and the Central Coal Company. The year 1904 also marked the death of Henry B. Coxe, leaving the sole responsibility of the company and the estate in Alexander's charge. With most of the family leaving the coalfields for homes in Philadelphia and nobody in the family willing to take the reins of the family business, the aging Alexander contemplated giving in to the railroads and selling off the mining operations. The Pennsylvania Railroad approached Alexander with an offer to purchase the entire operation of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc., in an attempt to secure the valuable freight being produced at Coxe collieries. This freight totaled over one 1,500,000 tons of anthracite with 1,000,000 tons being mined directly from Coxe land. The LVRR, however, was not willing to lose its principal independent coal shipper and made Coxe Brothers a matching offer. Fortunately for the LVRR, Alexander Coxe served on its board of directors and in 1905 agreed to sell the whole of the Coxe mining enterprises to the LVRR.

The sale was completed on October 7, 1905, and included all of the property and assets of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. comprising, 1100 miners' houses, real estate in Chicago and Milwaukee, floating equipment in New York harbor, all the mined coal on hand as well as the leasehold rights covered in the 1904 lease. Also included in the sale were the Delaware Susquehanna & Schuylkill Railroad and the four Coxe subsidiary water companies. In return the LVRR paid a total of 18.4 million dollars, $6,400,000 being paid in cash and $12,000,000 in collateral trust four percent bonds, which could be redeemed in semi-annual payments of $500,000. The bonds were issued by the Girard Trust Company, which secured payment with Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. stock, pledged by the LVRR. These bonds would mature in February 1926 at which time the stock was to be transferred back to the LVRR. The sale had the effect of taking the Coxe family out of the mining industry after forty years of successful operations.

The sale also marked the last major land acquisition by the LVRR, which competed in an industry that by some estimates controlled as much as 78% of the entire anthracite output. Nearly all of the other large independent operators had sold-out years ago, leaving the Coxe family operations as a relic of a day gone by. The family, however, would not forget the employees who gave the better part of their lives in service to the company. The Coxe Relief Fund was created by a resolution of the former stockholders of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. on October 31, 1905, and was funded by contributions from the Coxe family. In addition to paying off the sundry debts of the company, the fund provided a pension to numerous Coxe employees. The Coxe family benefited greatly from Alexander Coxe's management of the company. In addition to providing the estates of his former partners with an $18.4 million dollar sale, he secured the Heirs of Tench Coxe a steady income of coal royalties for years to come. The stress and anxiety of such an endeavor, however, had an adverse effect on his health. Just four months after completing the sale to the LVRR, Alexander B. Coxe died.

With all of the original Coxe partners dead, a new generation of Coxe heirs stepped in to manage the affairs of the Estate of Tench Coxe. In January 1906, Henry Brinton Coxe, Jr. and Alexander Brown Coxe, both sons of Henry B. Coxe, became the Estate Agents. The management of the estate's property remained in the hands of agents and attorneys-in-fact for its entire existence, one member of which was always a descendant of Tench Coxe.

Although selling all of its direct interests in mining, the Coxe family retained ownership of the land it leased to Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc., now a subsidiary of the LVRR. Indirectly having control of the leases to the Coxe property, the LVRR subleased the mining rights of the Coxe land to the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, placing Coxe Brothers in the business of preparing coal at the breakers.

For years Federal law had prohibited railroad companies from owning their own coal properties, a law that was easily avoided by placing control of their properties with a coal company whose stock they owned entirely. Laws seeking to put an end to monopolistic trusts were becoming increasingly more stringent, however, placing all of the major rail lines in the anthracite field at risk of prosecution. In June of 1906, the Hepburn Act passed into law. Containing a commodities clause, it explicitly forbade the interstate shipment by railroad companies of any mining product in which they held a direct or indirect interest.

The LVRR became an easy target for the law. The railroad could not readily disguise its ownership of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. because it was paying for the purchase with railroad bonds. A decision in 1911, by the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, affirmed that the LVRR was in violation of the Commodities Clause of the Hepburn Act by its stock ownership of both the LVCC and Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. To evade the clause the Lehigh Valley Coal Sales Company was organized in an attempt to distance the railroad from its mining operations. The sales company purchased Coxe Brothers and Lehigh Valley coal at the breakers and distributed it to the various dealers.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company's entanglement with its coal properties remained obvious nonetheless and in March 1914, the Federal Government filed suit against the railroad for trust evasion, charging it with violations of both the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Hepburn Act. After six years of litigation, a decision was handed down ordering the dissolution of the Lehigh Valley mining combination. The final decree of the court was handed down in November 1923, outlining the exact steps the court required. The decree called for the creation of a trusteeship that would hold the complete voting power of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. stock. The trustee was further ordered not to vote the stock in any way that would bring about a unity of interest or a suppression of competition between the two companies. Under the direction of the Coxe trustee, Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. went through a series of changes in the operation of their property. In 1929 management of the Coxe properties was turned over to the Jeddo-Highland Coal Company, operated by Donald Markle, son of the highly successful retired anthracite operator, John Markle. The change in management took control of the Coxe Brothers property out of the hands of the LVCC, severing the remaining links with the LVRR. The agreement with Jeddo-Highland had been in place for seven years when, in 1936, Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. was given direct control of its mining operations, placing them back in the business of mining coal for the first time since the company was sold in 1905.

Management by Coxe Brothers did not prove to be very sound, as strikes repeatedly shut down operations. During a strike in 1938, an operative employed by the company to spy on the men reported, "They say the company is not providing and using props at any place – that no effort is being made to save the roof. They say no coal is being taken which entails the expenditure of anything but the minimum amount of money. This they interpret to mean the abandonment of the company's operations there in the near future is a certainty. This is now the basis for the strike." The poor management of Coxe Brothers under the control of its board of directors, many of whom were directors of the LVRR, did not go unnoticed by the Coxe trustee and in 1940 management of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc., once again, was turned over to the Jeddo-Highland Coal Company. Management of portions of some properties were also granted to the Gowen Coal Company, Wolf Collieries Company, Pardee Brothers and Company, Inc., Sterrick Creek Coal Company and the Haddock Mining Company.

The year 1940 marked the last year that Coxe Brothers had any direct or indirect control concerning mining, selling or transporting coal from its leased property. The anthracite industry saw peak years of production during World War I, but then began a steady decline from which it would never recover. By the 1940s coal operators were becoming increasingly scarce giving the LVRR an opportunity to regain control of the capital stock of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. In 1942 they petitioned the United States Government to end the trusteeship, arguing that Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. acted strictly as a property agent without any control of the operators' policies. They further argued that 82% of the coal on Coxe Brothers property had been removed since the trusteeship was created and with the decreased market for anthracite coal, finding a buyer of the Coxe Brothers stock would be nearly impossible.

The courts handed down a decision in favor of the railroad and ordered the stock of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. returned to the LVRR. The return of Coxe Brothers' stock was authorized by the courts with the explicit requirement that quarterly reports concerning the financial condition and conduct of business be submitted to the office of the Attorney General of the United States. The approval of the Attorney General's office was also required before Coxe Brothers could change the terms or execute any new lease. In its petition to the courts the LVRR alluded to the "short prospective life of Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc." This attitude appears to be confirmed upon the latter's return to LVRR control. A memo from C.E. Hildum, Vice President of the LVRR, in June 1943, stated, "Coxe Bros. presumably could use its cash to continue mining operations, either by its own organization or through management agreements, until its working funds were exhausted, or until its operating leases exceeded the Railroad Company profits from the movement of coal."

The LVRR was once again mining for freight, a practice that ultimately brought about a significant decrease in coal royalties for the Heirs of Tench Coxe. In 1943, Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. leased over 19,000 acres of land, 79% of which was leased from the Estate of Tench Coxe. The remaining portions were either owned in fee or leased from the Deringer Estate, LVCC or the Estate of Charles S. Coxe. For the next seven years Coxe Brothers did not operate any of its collieries but was still required to obtain the heirs' consent before subleasing to tenants. The Estate Agents, however, were unhappy with the way Coxe Brothers was managing their property. The agents believed that Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. was mainly interested in obtaining freight for the railroad rather than obtaining the maximum income from the properties.

Coxe Brothers was further criticized for allowing the Haddock Mining Company to operate the Beaver Meadow, Deringer and Tomhicken properties without paying royalties or taxes for a period of nine months. In 1938, an amendment was made to the 1904 lease in which royalties were to be paid to the estate on a profit-sharing basis, with 2/3 of the net income being paid in royalties. The estate was then permitted to employ accountants to examine the records of Coxe Brothers. The accountants found numerous discrepancies in Coxe Brothers' accounts and in February 1949 the Heirs of Tench Coxe filed a lawsuit against Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. to recover $350,000 due them in royalties. The heirs charged that Coxe Brothers took unauthorized deductions in computing their net income, the basis for establishing royalty payments. The lawsuit, however, was just an example of the animosity that existed between the two interests. It eventually became the clear desire of the Estate Agents to eliminate Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. as a "middleman" by canceling the terms of the 1904 lease.

In 1950, the Estate Agent, Daniel M. Coxe, called a meeting of the Coxe heirs to discuss the canceling of their lease with Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. It was agreed by all parties involved that the result of such an action would create considerable savings on overhead and increased royalties to the Estate. As part of the settlement agreement from the lawsuit filed a year earlier the terms of the 1904 lease were canceled. In addition, Coxe Brothers assigned all of its subleases, titles to culm and refuse banks, its fee land, mining equipment, drainage tunnels and miners houses to the Estate of Tench Coxe. Of particular significance in this agreement was the stipulation that all of the maps, leases, surveys, correspondence and records of every nature relating to the property be transferred to the Estate. The ownership of these records were retained by the Estate until 1968 when they were transferred to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, as a portion of this collection. The courts approved the settlement agreement in July 1950, having the effect of putting Coxe Brothers & Company, Inc. out of business and in line for liquidation. Coxe Brothers was officially dissolved in July of the following year with distribution to its stockholders, the LVRR. The settlement also placed the Coxe family in direct control of its landholdings for the first time in forty-five years.

By 1950, the anthracite industry was a shell of its former self. A deflated market for anthracite led to decreased income for the estate. Under the direction of the agents, new leases were granted to mining operations, including the Jeddo-Highland Coal Company, but finding additional tenants proved to be extremely difficult. Given the state of affairs in the anthracite fields it soon became the clear intention of the Tench Coxe Estate to divest itself of its land holdings.

In 1956, the first major land sale was completed for 2,000 acres, to the Beryllium Corporation of Reading to establish the firm's new Nuclear Division. The land sale trend continued in 1959 with the sale of the Drifton Village and again in 1960 with the sale of Tomhicken. Coal production on estate lands was down to 62,744 tons in 1960 without any hope of future improvements. Facing the prospect that the majority of accessible coal deposits had been exhausted and profitable leases were no longer available, Daniel urged to the heirs to liquidate the real estate of the Estate of Tench Coxe. The large number of individuals, estates and trusts holding an interest in the Tench Coxe Estate, however, made property sales extremely difficult.

With over fifty-seven distributees, representing 108 heirs on two continents, the fractional interests of the estate were getting smaller as the number of heirs multiplied with each generation. To avoid the lengthy task of securing consent from all of the individual family members, the heirs and owners of the Tench Coxe properties executed a trust agreement, which conveyed their authority to sell the family property to a group of trustees, which included Daniel M. Coxe, Eckley B. Coxe, III and Tench C. Coxe, Jr. The trust was organized under the name Tench Coxe Properties Liquidating Trust in December 1961.

Initially, the trust was able to sell only small portions of the property, but nonetheless actively pursued a buyer for the large acreage that remained. The trust liquidated the last remaining portions of the estate lands in 1966, with the sale of 16,400 acres to Butler Enterprises, Inc., owned by the prominent Philadelphia real estate developers, Philip and Nathan Seltzer. Butler Enterprises was drawn to the area due in large part to the efforts of Can-Do, Inc., (Community-Area New Development Organization). This citizen-sponsored organization was established in 1956 with the intention of drawing new industries to the Hazleton region, which Philip Seltzer described as being one of the "great progressive areas of Pennsylvania." Can-Do, Inc. functioned with assistance from the Coxe family, which had a great deal to gain from increasing the vitality of the region.

The assistance was also very much characteristic of the Coxe family's tradition of providing support for the social and economic development of the region. The transfer of title to Butler Enterprises marked the end of an era for the Coxe family, an era spanning over 150 years of direct involvement with the people and geology of the area. An example of this relationship between labor and capital can be seen today at Eckley Miners Village, a historic site representing a nineteenth century company mining town or "patch town." The site is maintained by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, on land once owned by the Estate of Tench Coxe. The family's impact will also continue to be felt at MMI Preparatory School, which continues to benefit from contributions from the Heirs of Tench Coxe and the Sophia Coxe Charitable Trust.

Although the Coxe family has long since left the coalfields of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the potential still exists for the Coxes to return to the region, through the auspices of Tench Coxe, Inc. Established in 1968, this company holds the gas and oil rights to roughly 13,000 acres of property included in the sale to Butler Enterprises. Although the prospect of discovering gas and oil may not be substantial, large domes discovered on the property in the 1950's may prove to be valuable storage sites for natural gas surpluses pumped into the Northeast during summer months. The domes are situated at depths of 18,000 feet, which do not make them economically useful to date.

Source

Coxe Family Mining Papers, Background Notes, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2001. (last accessed February 28, 2022, http://www2.hsp.org/collections/coxe/findingaid.html)

Related Materials:

Materials at Other Organizations

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Coxe Family Papers, 1638-1970 (inclusive), 1730-1900 (bulk)

The collection is broken into three major series of papers. They include the Tench Coxe section, 1638, 1776-1824, 1879; the Charles Sidney Coxe, Edward Sidney Coxe, and Alexander Sidney Coxe legal papers section, circ 1810-1879; and Third Party Papers, circa 1722-1815. The Tench Coxe Section is broken down further into four series: Volumes and printed materials; Correspondence and general papers; Essays, addresses and resource material; and Bills and receipts

Coxe Family Mining Papers, 1774-1968

The Coxe family mining papers document the history of what once was the largest independent anthracite coal producer in the United States

The William J. Wilgus Collection, 1915-1916

Documents the valuation conducted by William Wilgus during 1915 and 1916 on land and property either owned or leased by Coxe Brothers and Company, Inc. Coxe Brothers was a company that mined and leased anthracite coal lands in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Tench Coxe Properties through Daniel M. Coxe, Senior Trustee to the Division of Extractive Industries, National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). The exact date of the acquisition is unknown, but it is presumed to be pre-1978.

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.

Topic:

Anthracite coal  Search this

Coal mines and mining  Search this

Coal mines and mining -- Pennsylvania  Search this

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Genre/Form:

Agreements

Blueprints

Correspondence -- 19th-20th century

Deeds

Drawings -- 19th century

Drawings -- 20th century

Glass plate negatives

Legal documents -- 19th century

Maps

Patents -- 19th century

Photographs

Photographs -- 19th century

Tracings

Citation:

Coxe Brothers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1002

See more items in:

Coxe Brothers Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8e29ebe7f-2837-4d3e-938e-6f844f019642

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1002

Collector:

Wilson, Raymond E.  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this

Donor:

Millington, Ruth H.  Search this

Creator:

National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges.  Search this

Extent:

3 Cubic feet (9 boxes, 1 map folder )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Blueprints

Books

Clippings

Newsletters

Pamphlets

Photograph albums

Photographs

Slides (photographs)

Date:

1912-1980

Summary:

The collection documents covered bridges in America and Europe.

Scope and Contents:

The collection relates to covered bridges in America and Europe. It includes hundreds of slides (with index) of photographs of covered bridges; an album of prints of photographs of covered bridges in Germany, Switzerland and Austria; books and pamphlets, both national and regional, about covered bridges; newsletters from covered bridge organizations, both national and regional, such as the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges; drawings; notes; copies of patents, an album of photographs entitled Trusses; articles and clippings; correspondence about covered bridges; and blueprints of plans for repair work on bridges.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into one series.

Biographical / Historical:

Mechanical engineer and covered bridge enthusiast.

Provenance:

Donated by Wilson's daughter in 1983 to the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, now called the Division of Work and Industry.

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.

Topic:

Bridges  Search this

Covered bridges  Search this

Covered bridges -- Austria  Search this

Covered bridges -- Germany  Search this

Covered bridges -- Switzerland  Search this

Covered bridges -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Blueprints

Books

Clippings

Newsletters

Pamphlets

Photograph albums -- 20th century

Photographs -- 1950-2000

Slides (photographs) -- 20th century

Citation:

Raymond E. Wilson Covered Bridge Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0999

See more items in:

Raymond E. Wilson Covered Bridge Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8540ade10-141e-4a75-9ac7-ee5ed2bd4401

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0999