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 889 items.
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Sch[ool] of Eng[ineering], H[oward] U[niversity] April [19]42 [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Summary
- Group of men working in a laboratory in groups. One group is working with a coil in solution, whilst another is working with a battery. The man in the front left is smoking a pipe. No ink on negative. "2 AGFA SAFETY FILM" edge imprint
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1942
- 1940-1950
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- film manufacturer
- Agfa
- Subject
- Howard University School of Engineering
- Local number
- Box 618.04.91
- AC0618.004.0000846.tif (scan number)
- No Scurlock number
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Sch[ool] of Eng[ineering], H[oward] U[niversity] April [19]42 [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Summary
- Group of men in a laboratory standing around equipment on a table. No ink on negative. "3 AGFA SAFETY FILM" edge imprint
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1942
- 1940-1950
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- film manufacturer
- Agfa
- Subject
- Howard University School of Engineering
- Local number
- Box 618.04.91
- AC0618.004.0000848.tif (scan number)
- No Scurlock number
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Sch[ool] of Eng[ineering], H[oward] U[niversity] April [19]42 [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Summary
- Ten men standing at benches working on experiments in a laboratory. No ink on negative. "3 AGFA SAFETY FILM" edge imprint. No Scurlock number
- Publications
- Used April 27, 2010, on the Smithsonian Photographic Initiative web site, "click! photography changes everything" (http://click.si.edu) to accompany contributor Jeremy Wolfe's (a professor at Harvard School of Medicine who investigates visual attention) story, which reflects on how photography changes what and how much we remember
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1942
- 1940-1950
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- film manufacturer
- Agfa
- Subject
- Howard University School of Engineering
- Local number
- Box 618.04.91
- AC0618.004.0000849.tif (AC scan number)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Winston Churchill at demonstration of the magnetically levitated railway at Bachelet Works [black and white photoprint,] 1914
- Notes
- In Box 1, Folder 12
- Summary
- Photographer unidentified, but possibly by Brown Bros. Churchill is shown in profile, slightly to the right of the center of the image
- Cite as
- Emile Bachelet Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Albert E. Bachelet
- Date
- 1914
- 1910-1920
- Subject
- Churchill, Winston Sir 1874-1965
- Bachelet, Emile (inventor) 1863-1946
- Local number
- AC0302-0000012.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
J. Parker Snow Collection, 1882-1933 (bulk 1930-1933)
- Notes
- Bridge engineer
- Summary
- Snow's engineering notebook, 1882; notes relating to his writings on the history of wooden bridges; drafts and manuscripts for articles he wrote on the development of wooden bridges; and correspondence, especially with engineering journals relating to efforts to get his manuscripts published
- Cite as
- J. Parker Snow Collection, 1882-1933 (bulk 1930-1933), Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1882
- 1882-1933
- bulk 1930-1933
- 20th century
- 1930-1940
- 1850-1900
- creator
- Snow, J. Parker
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 2007.3098 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Engineers & Scientists [black-and-white print advertisement, clipping] July 26, 1965
- Summary
- Advertisement for engineers and scientists by Del Mar Engineering Laboratories
- Cite as
- Del Mar Avionics Holter Monitor Records, 1951-2011, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1965
- July 26, 1965
- 1950-2000
- 1960-1970
- publisher
- Los Angeles Times
- Local number
- AC1249-0000001.tif (AC Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Post Instruction Manual for Versalog Slide Rule
- Description
- This is a later printing of 1978.0800.02. Its citation information is: E. I. Fiesenheiser, Versalog Slide Rule Instruction Manual, with R. A. Budenholzer and B. A. Fisher (Chicago: Frederick Post Company, 1963). The text appears not to have been revised since these three Illinois Institute of Technology engineering professors helped invent the Versalog slide rule and wrote instructions for using it in 1951. Marks inside the front cover indicate this copy was offered for sale in January 1969 for $1.00.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1963
- maker
- Frederick Post Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0097.03
- accession number
- 1980.0097
- catalog number
- 1980.0097.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cladding Fragment from the World Trade Center
- Description
- This crumpled piece of exterior sheathing was recovered from the debris pile of the World Trade Center after the building collapsed following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While the towers withstood the initial damage caused by the impact of the hijacked jet liners being crashed into the structures, the intense fire that then raged proved to be too much.
- The twin towers of the World Trade Center, a New York City landmark and the tallest buildings in the world when completed in 1973, were noted for their incredible 110-story height and their gleaming exterior. The towers were clad in an aluminum alloy sheathing that gave the buildings a golden sheen at sunrise and sunset. The material covered the closely-spaced exterior steel columns, enhancing their soaring appearance. Architect Minoru Yamasaki choose to use an aluminum alloy after first considering the more expensive alternative of stainless steel. The highly reflective sheathing of the twin towers added to the building's impact as a memorable landmark.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- late 1960s-early 1970s
- ID Number
- 2002.0205.05
- accession number
- 2002.0205
- catalog number
- 2002.0205.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lyman Protracting Trigonometer Signed Heller & Brightly
- Description
- This metal drawing instrument allows civil engineers to translate their measurements into drawings with a minimum of calculation. It consists of a flat steel base bar 81.5 cm (about 32 inches) long, a semicircular protractor with a flat plate along the diameter that slides along the base bar, a long steel arm clamped to the protractor at its center, a brass set square or sliding square that moves along the arm, and a tri-leaved scale (like an architect’s scale) that moves along the arm or along the set square. There are four metal springs, each with its own screw. The two smaller springs hold the protractor plate to the base bar and the two larger ones hold the tri-leaved scale or the set square to the arm. The entire instrument fits in a wooden case. A sheet of instructions is pasted inside the case.
- The protractor is divided by half-degrees and marked by tens from 0° to 90° to 0° and from 90° to 0° to 90°. An attached vernier permits angle readings to one minute of arc. The ratios on the architect's scales range from 1:10 to 1:60. Each scale is divided into tenths of a unit.
- This is a modified form of the protracting trigonometer patented by Josiah Lyman of Lenox, Mass., in 1858, with reissue of the patent in 1860, and extension in 1872 (for an example of the protracting trigonometer, see MA*328738; for an architect’s rule patented by Lyman, see MA*308914). The instrument was made by Heller & Brightly of Philadelphia. According to a Heller & Brightly circular, the instrument sold with either a tri-leaved scale that was 6 inches long or one that was 12 inches long. This instrument has the 12-inch scale, and would have sold in 1878 for $30.00.
- Hobart Cutler Dickinson (1875–1949), a 1900 graduate of Williams College who obtained a master’s degree there and did further graduate work at Clark University (Ph.D. 1910), owned this object. Dickinson worked at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards from 1903 until his retirement in 1945. Dickinson was the father of Anne D. Ross, one of the donors of the instrument.
- References: "Circular of Lyman’s Trigonometer and Universal Draughting Instrument" (Philadelphia: Heller & Brightly, 1878); P.A. Kidwell, “Josiah Lyman’s Protracting Trigonometer,” Rittenhouse, 3 (November 1988): 11–14; Robert C. Miller, “A Lyman Protracting Trigonometer Made by Heller & Brightly,” Rittenhouse 3 (August 1989): 129–131.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- maker
- Heller & Brightly
- ID Number
- 2009.0244.01
- accession number
- 2009.0244
- catalog number
- 2009.0244.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hart House Architectual Elements from Ipswich, Mass.
- Description
- The largest artifact in the museum, this Georgian-style, 2 ½-story timber-framed house was built in the 1760s and stood at 16 Elm Street in the center of Ipswich, Massachusetts, until 1963 when efforts by Ipswich citizens saved it from the bulldozer. The house was carefully taken apart—the frame, chimney, and many other pieces were shipped to the Museum and reassembled.
- Today, the house is the centerpiece of the exhibition Within These Walls , and visitors are able to peer through its walls, windows, and doors to view settings played out against the backdrop of Colonial America, the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the industrial era, and World War II. The exhibition tells the story of five ordinary families, selected from many, who lived in this house over 200 years and made history in their kitchens and parlors, through everyday choices and personal acts of courage and sacrifice.
- Date made
- ca. 1760s
- ca 1760
- resident
- Caldwell, Josiah
- Caldwell, Lucy
- Choate, Abraham
- Choate, Sarah
- Dodge, Abraham
- Dodge, Bethiah
- Lynch, Catherine
- Lynch, Mary
- owner
- Dodge, Abraham
- Caldwell, Josiah
- Choate, Sarah
- Dodge, Bethiah
- Caldwell, Lucy
- Lynch, Catherine
- Lynch, Mary
- resident
- Scott, Mary
- owner
- Choate, Abraham
- ID Number
- DL*64.545
- catalog number
- 64.545
- accession number
- 252318
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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