John Ripley Freeman papers

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John Ripley Freeman papers

Bulk, 1876-1932 1827-1952

https://archivesspace.mit.edu/repositories/2/resources/614

The collection documents the activities of John Ripley Freeman, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and later a member of the MIT Corporation. Freeman worked as a consulting engineer for almost sixty years, 1876-1932. Project files containing correspondence, photographs, drafts and published reports, maps, diaries, computation and data, clippings, reprints and transcripts of testimony record his work on over 100 projects in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Panama including the Keokuk Dam in Iowa; the Great Lakes Study for the Chicago Sanitary District; the Charles River Dam Committee and the Metropolitan Water Board in Boston, Mass.; a study of the Catawba Dam failure in North Carolina; improvement of the Grand Canal and prevention of floods on the Yellow and Hwai Rivers in China; and eight major projects in California, including the construction of the Hetch Hetchy Dam. Reports, data, correspondence and notes document his studies and investigations for the Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies; also included are reports and correspondence, drawings, notes, and photographs about his studies on the site and construction for a new MIT campus in Cambridge, Mass. Correspondence, minutes, and reports reveal his activities on the Board of Visitors to the National Bureau of Standards, as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics during World War I, and as a consultant to the National Research Council, as well as in many local New England government and civic organizations. Additional materials record Freeman's promotion of German-American intellectual exchange and influence of these exchanges on engineering in the United States, 1910-1932; his involvement in hydraulics research and hydraulic laboratories; activities in fire prevention and earthquake engineering; and mining speculation and other investment practices. Diaries and autobiographical materials help document both his personal and professional life.

132.0 cubic feet; (125 record cartons, 16 manuscript boxes, 1 half legal manuscript box, 3 flat storage boxes, 3 oversize folders, 1 volume, 5 microfilm reels in one microfilm box)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6358272

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries

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