Duke Construction Company.

These photographs were taken during the initial construction of Duke University, 1925-1932. According to the specification books for individual buildings, the contractor was to "furnish to the Architect each month during the construction of the structure, three photographs in duplicate, showing the progress of the work during the preceding month, taken from three different points to be agreed upon and always from the same points. These photographs shall be 8 x 10 inch, mounted on linen, with a hinge on the left hand margin of the photograph."

The Duke Construction Company was formed in 1927 on the advisement of the Building Committee of the Duke Endowment. In a letter to Duke president R.L. Flowers, N.A. Cocke, Assistant Secretary of the Duke Endowment, wrote:

"It is hardly practicable to conduct the operations in the name of the trustees of The Duke Endowment for the reason that The Duke Endowment has no separate entity apart from the trustees, it not being a corporation. On the other hand while the title to the property is in Duke University the Will and Trust Indenture contemplate that the trustees shall erect the buildings for Duke University and turn same over when completed. With the idea, therefore, of establishing some medium for the purpose of carrying on this construction, it has occured to us that it would be wise to form a corporation, known as the "Duke Construction Company" for the sole purpose of constructing these buildings, with a nominal capital stock so that it will clearly appear that this corporation is merely an agency for carrying out this work."

The Duke Construction Company was active in the 1930s and into the 1940s, but it then became dormant and was officially dissolved in 1957.

From the guide to the Duke University Progress Pictures Collection, 1925-1932, (University Archives, Duke University)