Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview
Not many museums collect houses. The National Museum of American History has four, as well as two outbuildings, 11 rooms, an elevator, many building components, and some architectural elements from the White House. Drafting manuals are supplemented by many prints of buildings and other architectural subjects. The breadth of the museum's collections adds some surprising objects to these holdings, such as fans, purses, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, and other objects bearing images of buildings.
The engineering artifacts document the history of civil and mechanical engineering in the United States. So far, the Museum has declined to collect dams, skyscrapers, and bridges, but these and other important engineering achievements are preserved through blueprints, drawings, models, photographs, sketches, paintings, technical reports, and field notes.
"Engineering, Building, and Architecture - Overview" showing 6 items.
- No Image Available
Lockwood-Greene Records, 1883-2004 (bulk 1915-1930)
- Notes
- Lockwood-Greene is one of the nation's oldest engineering firms, tracing its roots to 1832, when Rhode Island native David Whitman began a machinery repair service. In the years of the early industrial revolution in textile manufacturing, Whitman added mill design services, which began a flourishing consulting business. He traveled throughout New England advising industrialists on the placement, design and construction of factories and the layout of the complicated system of machinery they contained. Whitman died in 1858. Amos Lockwood took over the business which he relocated to Boston. Stephen Greene joined the business in 1882, and the firm's scope expanded to supplying all necessary architectural and engineering services. Greene became president upon Lockwood's death in 1884. Eventually the company designed and built the first factory operated electrically from a remote power plant, as an alternative to steam power. They continued expanding, and eventually were designing a wider variety of structures, including newspaper plants, automotive factories, convention halls and schools. In the 1960s, the company's headquarters relocated to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 2003, CH2M Hill, a global provider of engineering, construction services, and operations services, acquired the company
- Summary
- 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
- Cite as
- Lockwood-Greene Records, 1883-2004 (bulk 1915-1930), Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1883
- 2004
- 1883-2004
- bulk 1915-1930
- 1890-1900
- 20th century
- 21st century
- creator
- Lockwood-Greene Company
- designer
- Lockwood, Amos
- Greene, Stephen
- creator
- Whitman, David
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Greene, Stephen
- Local number
- 1997.0021 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2008.3059 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
J. G. Berger Papers, circa 1929-1936, 1952
- Notes
- New Jersey consulting engineer
- Summary
- These papers contain engineering reports from the estate of J. C. Berger, New Jersey consulting engineer, chiefly concerning highway relocation and railroad crossing appraisals
- Date
- 1929
- 1952
- circa 1929-1936, 1952
- 20th century
- 1920-1960
- author
- Berger, J. G
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Llewellyn N. Edwards Papers, 1925-1964
- Notes
- Edwards, bridge designer and engineer, worked from 1901 to 1943 for the Boston Bridge Works, the Boston and Maine Railroad, the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, the Toronto Department of Works, the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads, and the Maine State Highway Commission. Edwards also was interested in the history of bridge engineering, particularly early American bridges
- Summary
- The papers include captioned photographs of dirt roads in North Carolina and Mississippi, 1913; articles, including reprints from engineering journals; typed and handwritten notes on bridges; a handwritten, bound bibliography on bridges; typed notes on bridges and bridge history, including some drawings; correspondence, most relating to his research on the history of bridges but also relating to other topics; reports on landslides in California; a partial manuscript (L-Z) for a glossary of terms relating to bridge engineering and construction; a typescript of "A Manual of Bridge Construction;" a manuscript of "Bridge Construction in America"; and extensive correspondence with J. P. Snow on the history of wooden bridges
- Date
- 1911
- 1911-1950
- 1925-1964
- 20th century
- author
- Edwards, Llewellyn N. 1873-1952
- collector
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 2007.3077 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Alaskan Railroad and Bridge Construction Collection, 1909-1910
- Summary
- Photographs of the Miles Glacier, 1909; Copper River and Northwestern Railway; and the Copper River Railway. Also includes the Copper River Bridge Engineer's Report, 1910, with drawings, notes, and date
- Date
- 1864
- 1864-1883
- 1909-1910
- 20th century
- 1900-1910
- 19th century
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Copper River Railway
- Copper River and Northwestern Railway
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Donald M. Burmister Papers, 1927-1974
- Notes
- Burmister, engineer and university professor, taught civil engineering at Columbia University from 1928-1963, specializing in soil mechanics and foundation engineering. He also worked as a consulting engineer beginning in 1936
- Summary
- Reports, studies, diagrams, and articles relating to consulting projects undertaken by Burmister concerning beach erosion, building and bridge foundations, airports, highways, docks, piers, bulkheads, and land development
- Cite as
- Donald Burmister Papers, 1927-1974, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1927
- 1927-1974
- author
- Burmister, Donald 1895-
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 2007.3138 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
The Foundation Company Records, circa 1887-1962
- Notes
- The Foundation Company was a New York subaqueous concrete construction firm
- Summary
- These records include sketches, drawings, blueprints, contracts, and reports relating to highway and railroad bridges, tunnels, subways, mine shafts, canals and waterways, dams, concrete buildings, concrete construction, derricks and derrick barges, cranes, caissons and caisson construction, air locks, pumps, jacks, engines, and turbines; also photographs, photograph albums, and newspaper clippings concerning projects for office building and power plant foundations, docks, dry docks, and piers, and work for the Ohio Edison Company, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the Boston Common Underground Garage
- Date
- 1887
- 1962
- circa 1887-1962
- 20th century
- creator
- Foundation Company (The)
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Chase Manhattan Bank
- Ohio Edison Company
- Local number
- 2007.3088 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH