Blair Birdsall Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection includes the technical documents and historical notes on the projects Birdsall worked on, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Chesapeake Bay Bridge Project. Along with these are collections of both technical reports and structural engineering papers either written by Birdsall or referencing him. A collection of papers from the professional societies to which Birdsall belonged are included in the collection.
Dates
- Creation: Inclusive Dates
Conditions Governing Access
Collection housed remotely. Users need to contact 24 hours in advance.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection is open for research.
Copyright Status
Please inquire about copyright information.
Biographical / Historical
Blair Birdsall was a civil engineer who was an expert in cable and suspension systems. His project history included the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and, at the time of his death in 1997, the Great Belt East Bridge. For most of his professional career he worked with the engineering firms John A. Roebling Sons, a world leader in cable engineering, and Steinman Boynton Gronquist & Birdsall. Birdsall recieved multiple honors including Roebling Awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers and a lifetime of achievement award from the International Bridge Conference of 1989.
Extent
105.0 Linear Feet (180 boxes, 105 linear feet)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains the technical and professional documents of consulting engineer Blair Birdsall. Most of the collection are documents pertaining to the multitude of bridges he worked on, including the Golden Gate, Chesapeake Bay, and Brooklyn Bridges, as a consulting engineer or as a design engineer. The collection spans from 1900 to 2002 covering his entire career and also early Steinman Boynton Gronquist & Birdsall and John A. Roebling Sons Engineering companies.
Arrangement
Processing archivists tried to keep the original order of arrangement in series as projects and subject files as it was kept by Blair Birdsall himself.
Genre / Form
Geographic
- Alvsborg Bridge (Gothenburg, Sweden)
- Ambassador International Bridge (Detroit, Michigan)
- Angus L. Macdonald Bridge (Halifax - Dartmouth)
- Bidwell Bar Bridge (Oroville, California)
- Blaw-Knox Pipe Line Bridge (Charleston, Tennessee)
- Boulder Dam Bridge (AZ) [Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge]
- Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (NY) [Hugh L. Carey Tunnel]
- Bucksport Suspension Bridge (Bucksport, Maine) [Waldo-Hancock Bridge?]
- Chesapeake Bay Bridge (Maryland)
- Chester Bridge (Chester, Illinois)
- Covington-Cincinnati Bridge (Cincinnati, Ohio) [John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge]
- Daule River Bridge (Guayaquil, Ecuador) [National Unity Bridge]
- Deer Isle Bridge (Me.)
- Delaware Memorial Bridge (New Castle, Delaware)
- Delaware River Bridge (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- Dodge Street (Lincoln Highway) Bridge (Omaha, NE)
- East Boston Bridge
- East Fredericktown Vesta Coal Preparation Plant
- Florianopolis Bridge (Hercilio Luz Bridge, Brazil)
- Forth Road Bridge (Scotland)
- Fremont Bridge (Seattle, Wash.)
- Garden State Parkway (New Jersey)
- George Washington Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Glen Canyon Dam (Ariz.)
- Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.)
- Grand Mère Suspension Bridge (Quebec, Canada)
- Hartford Bridge.
- Henry Hudson Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
- Hutsonville Bridge (Hutsonville, Illinois)
- Karnali Bridge (Nepal)
- Mackinac Bridge (Mich.)
- Maldonado Bridge (Uruguay)
- Martin-Pena Canal (Puerto Rico)
- Mount Hope Bridge (Bristol, Rhode Island)
- New York State Thruway (New York)
- Niagara River Bridge
- Panama Bridge (Panama) [Centennial Bridge?]
- Park Avenue Viaduct (New York, N.Y.)
- Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct/Bridge (Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania)
- Sciotoville Railroad Bridge (Sciotoville, Ohio)
- Severn Bridge (England : Railroad bridge)
- St. John’s Bridge (Portland, Oregon)
- Storebaelt Bridge (Denmark)
- Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Tacoma, Wash. : 1940)
- Thousand Islands Bridge (N.Y. and Ont.)
- Verona Island Bridge (ME) [Penobscot Narrows Bridge]
- Walt Whitman Bridge (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
- Williamsburg Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- Blair Birdsall papers SC MS 0175
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Finding aid prepared by Zion Um, Andrew Stahlhut, Greg Edwards and Kevin Augustyn.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' "Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives" Project. Created in 2008, the Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives awards program supports the identification and cataloging of special collections and archives of high scholarly value that are difficult or impossible to locate. It is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources in Washington, D.C. Award recipients create descriptive information for their hidden collections that will eventually be linked to and interoperable with all other projects funded by this grant program.
Repository Details
Part of the Lehigh University Grant Projects Repository
Linderman Library
30 Library Drive
Bethlehem PA 18015 USA
610-758-4506
610-758-6091 (Fax)
inspc@lehigh.edu