Publications
The list of selected staff publications may be searched by keyword or author and can be sorted by year.
A compilation of books, articles, government reports, newspaper stories, and unpublished items that address the environmental implications of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works and regulatory activities.
A compilation of works addressing the history of U.S. federal agency efforts to advance scientific research since World War II.
Reflections on how popular opinions about the appropriate role of public enterprises have devolved since the founding of the American Public Works Association in 1937, and how historical inquiry can contribute to society’s understanding of this trend and its consequences.
A history of how the federal government came to regulate the destruction of wetlands in the United States and the unsuccessful efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restrict the new police responsibilities entrusted to it. Recipient of the Forest History Society’s 1984 Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Award.
A study of how engineering changed from a craft-oriented occupation to a professional occupation in the United States during the nineteenth century.
A biographical sketch of the civil engineer involved in the design and construction of several major suspension bridges in the United States, including San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
A brief history of the world’s largest engineering organization and how its missions have evolved in accord with shifting public values.
A biography of the New York City engineer who championed the contributions of engineers to city planning during the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Examines the combined efforts of the nation’s leading scientific and engineering societies to provide technically trained staff to the U.S. Congress and its support agencies.
A biographical sketch of the chemical engineer renowned for his contributions to the refining of gasoline and aviation
fuels.
A collection of essays that explore the reciprocal influences of technology and the environment during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
A review essay of Mark Wyman’s book, Hard Rock Epic: Western Miners and the Industrial Revolution, 1860–1910.
Reflections on the research opportunities that exist for those historians willing to analyze the interconnections between technology and the natural environment.
A biographical sketch of the San Francisco engineer best known for his work on the controversial dam built in Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy valley.
This history of the largest and most controversial water project ever built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers interweaves analyses of changing environmental values, engineering, and pork-barrel politics. Recipient of the Public Works Historical Society’s 1994 Abel Wolman Award and the 1995 Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award.
A biographical sketch of the first woman to manage a major transit system in the United States. Turner headed the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from 1983 to 1990.
A history of the U.S. government’s support of chemistry instrumentation, 1950–1990.
A collection of essays addressing the history of tunnels and tunneling from ancient times to the present, including discussions of the politics and construction of the Channel Tunnel and the ill-fated Super-conducting Super Collider. This richly illustrated volume also includes a detailed account of the Smithsonian’s Tunnels! exhibition.
Attitudes to public timekeeping in present-day Guyana. Perception of time in the British colonies.
A study of the Stabroek Market in Georgetown, Guyana, and of clocks and bells on other public buildings in the republic.
A study and description of a rare and important American mill clock purchased by NMAH.
