The collection is arranged into one series.
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.
The collection is comprised of ninety black and white photographs documenting various bridge construction projects, including projects in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Warren and Springfield, Massachusetts. One photograph is clearly marked as the Copper Creek Bridge (1908) and another as the Washington Street Bridge (1911). Other photographs are listed by job number or location. The collection includes images of bridges in various phases of construction. There are also images of construction and ironworker crews and machinery used in the building process. Many photographs in the collection are unidentified and are undated. Photographs that are dated are arranged in chronological order followed by undated materials.
Victor C. Darnell Construction Photographs, 1908-1913 and undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
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.
This collection was donated by Victor C. Darnell, October, 1987.
Victor C. Darnell, 1921-1999, was a pioneering civil engineer. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1943 and spent thirty-one years, most of that time as chief engineer, working for the Berlin Steel Construction Company.
Throughout his life, Darnell assembled a large collection documenting the history of structural and civil engineering in America. He researched and wrote extensively on the subject, including A Directory of American Bridge-Building Companies 1840-1900 which was published by the Society for Industrial Archaeology in 1984.
At the time of the donation, the collection also included photographs of naval vessels, which were transferred to the Division of Armed Forces History (now Division of Political and Military History). The bridge photographs were transferred to the Archives Center in 2007.
The Archives Center also holds materials relating to the Berlin Construction Company, 1904-1957, AC1032. Victor C. Darnell's large collection of photographs, ephemera, design books, catalogs, advertising magazines and working blueprints are located at the Huntington Library in California.
Donated to the National Museum of American History's Division of Engineering and Industry, now the Division of Work and Industry, in 1988. At the time of the donation, the collection also included photographs of naval vessels, which were transferred to the Division of Armed Forces History. The bridge photographs were transferred to the Archives Center in 2007.
Processed by Julie Ruel, (intern), July, 2010; supervised by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist.
Photographs
Photographs
Photographs