Between the Covers

Hardcover. Oblong small quarto measuring 10.5" x 7". Black cloth. Contains 385 sepia-toned or black and white gelatin silver photographs measuring between 1.5" x 3" and 6" x 8" with very few captions. Very good album with fading and edgewear with near fine photographs with some creasing.

A photo album compiled by a bridge engineer working for the United Engineering & Contracting Company between 1900 and 1943. The photos show the various stages of bridge construction including shots of materials and men working. Also featured among the the photos are images of large ships used to transport material as well as of early aircraft. One photo is captioned “Automatic unloader from Limestone Transportation Co. unloaded in less than 12 hours.” Many of the photos are taken in New York State including the bridge over the Cornell Dam in Croton, New York which was completed in 1906. The highlight of this bridge was its spillway which combined the natural water flow with engineering to create a unique waterfall, seen here. One series of photos was taken and pasted together to form a panorama of the completed bridge and dam. The album also includes photographs of plans for projects including proposed ideas for Staunton River Hydroelectric development in Virginia and a plan detailing construction of a Pennsylvania Railroad tunnel in New York. The engineer was also interested in building construction and photographed skyscrapers including the Woolworth Building which was the tallest in the world at the time of the photo. The album contains numerous artfully shot photographs of finished bridges and machinery as well as larger group photos of engineers from the 1st annual outing of the Engineer Department of Beth Steel Company in 1915. Another group photo shows a candid of engineers working on plans in an office. Three photos are from the 1940s and show large planes in a hanger. Towards the end of the album are a group of photos from 1917 depicting a bridge that had blown down in a storm that summer.

An extensive collection of photos from an engineer displaying the projects he was involved with including plans, group photos, and numerous images of construction sites.

Item #407592