Papers, 1784-1904, bulk 1820-1834.

ArchivalResource

Baldwin family. Papers, 1784-1904, bulk 1820-1834.

Papers, 1784-1904, bulk 1820-1834.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/84665779

Material reflects the professional activities of the Baldwins. The elder Loammi Baldwin's work on the Middlesex Canal is recorded in a volume of the history of the canal compiled from Baldwin's papers by his son, James Fowle. It contains a list of canal acts, subscribers, and building contracts along with a discussion of the progress of building from an early land survey to letters that consider the construction of canal boats. Letters from William Weston, also an engineer on the project, were copied into the volume. Notices of payment due dates and meeting times and places document Loammi Baldwin's involvement with the Charles River Bridge. Three of the manuscripts contain business accounts related to the construction of the Charlestown Naval Dry Docks between 1827-1834. The waste book (day book), ledger, and "accounts approved" volume all document building materials purchased, prices, and suppliers. Because Baldwin was superintendent of the entire project, other commodities that supported the project are also listed: office supplies, food and drink, hand tools, payroll, etc. Another manuscript deals with Loammi Baldwin, Jr.'s effort to upgrade Boston's water supply. Compiled by Eben A. Lester, it deals with wells in the city. Lester organized his work by street and then listed the name of the owner of the property, the number of wells on each lot, and the quality of the water. It offers information on Boston's pattern of settlement and commercial development. In a manuscript, "The Duke of Bridgewater's Coal Mines at Worseley, 1807," and a series of copies of letters in "stylographic manifold writers," Balwin recounts his experiences on a trip to England. While at Worseley, he journeyed by canal boat into mines, learned how the coal was mined, then brought to the surface, and finally transported to nearby Manchester. In letters, Loammi wrote about such topics as gas lighting, the London Bridge Water Works, and fire fighting in London as well as leisure activities. Two notebook sketchbooks kept by George Rumford record his travels throughout the 1820s and 1830s. The earlier volume includes a few illustrated essays (e.g. "Theory of canal cutting" and "Architecture"), but is mainly a long series of identified sketches, mostly in pen, with a few in watercolor of works and details of civil engineering as well as such objects as weathervanes, wheelbarrows, windmills, and fence posts. Several railways, a rotary pump, the original aqueduct over the Medford River, details of the Schuylkill Canal, and the Essex Bridge at Newburyport are among the places and projects depicted. The second volume is almost entirely filled with sketches in pen, pencil, ink wash, and 40 finished watercolors. The sketches include railroads, dams, canals, locks, bridges, buildings, monuments, etc. The identified locations include Savannah, Washington, Boston, various places in New England, upstate and western New York, and various places in Canada. These sketchbooks lend insight into the training and professional life of a civil engineer. Other volumes in the collection include an inventory of the estate of James Fowle Baldwin, consisting of his financial resources; a record of soundings at various places in Boston harbor in 1867 and 1868 by Benjamin D. Frost, an assistant to George Rumford; a pamphlet describing the gift of the Baldwin Library of Engineering Works to the Woburn Public Library (the material was subsequently transferred to Harvard); and a volume labeled "Cross Section Book." It opens with soundings and borings taken in 1867 and includes a number of diagrams depicting water systems and water flow and distribution.

14 v. and 36 loose items : ill. (some col.)

Winterthur Library