Robert M. Vogel Collection of Historic Images of Engineering & Industry, ca. 1850s-2004 (majority within ca. 1850s-1900)

Summary

Creator:

Vogel, Robert M.

Abstract:

The Robert M. Vogel collection of historic images of engineering & industry contains approximately 22,890 photographs (including 18,500 stereographs), 1220 prints, 13 photograph albums, 11 books, 117 pieces of ephemera, and 15 pieces of realia documenting a wide range of subjects primarily related to 19th-century civil engineering, industrial processes, and mechanization.

Extent:

approximately 22,890 photographs (including 18,500 stereographs), 1220 prints, 13 photograph albums, 11 books, 117 pieces of ephemera, 15 pieces of realia

Language:

English
German
French
Danish
Swedish
Italian
Russian
Spanish
Dutch

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Jakob Dopp, September 2024

Background

Scope and Content:

The Robert M. Vogel collection of historic images of engineering & industry contains approximately 22,890 photographs (including 18,500 stereographs), 1220 prints, 13 photograph albums, 11 books, 117 pieces of ephemera, and 15 pieces of realia documenting a wide range of subjects primarily related to 19th-century civil engineering, industrial processes, and mechanization.

Particularly well-represented topics within the Vogel collection include images of different types of civil infrastructure such as bridges, canals, roads, dams, and tunnels as well as images showing construction projects, various types of machinery, modes of transportation (such as railroads, steamboats, automobiles, etc.), agricultural pursuits, natural resource extraction (including oil drilling, quarrying, mining, and lumbering), textile operations, electrical and hydraulic power generation, manufacturing, metal working, machine shops, and various industrial factory scenes. Many images of important and iconic structures are included such as the Brooklyn Bridge, Panama Canal, Hoosac Tunnel, and SS Great Eastern. Other represented topics include general architectural views, scenes of disasters/accidents, and portraits of notable individuals (such as Thomas Edison, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Robert Stephenson). While predominately United States-focused, the materials are international in scope overall and especially include many images of industrial sites and civil infrastructure in Great Britain. The order of the collection's original arrangement has largely been kept intact.

Examples of items of particular interest include salt prints possibly taken by civil engineer Montgomery C. Meigs documenting the construction of the U.S. Capitol and Washington Aqueduct in Washington, D.C.; a series of portraits of early Baldwin Locomotive Works locomotives; images documenting the SS Great Eastern and USS Niagara steamships; a group of 4 colored stereoviews on glass produced by Frederick Langenheim showing the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge ca. 1850s; images related to specific railroads including the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Mauch Chunk, Mount Washington Cog Railway, and New York City elevated railroad; and half-frame proof prints of stereographs produced by Underwood & Underwood as well as H. C. White & Co.

The following list represents the general subject categories found across the Vogel collection along with relevant box and folder numbers:

Agriculture & foodstuffs

• Box 07.2
• Box 14.1
• Box 14.2
• Box 14.3
• Box 31.2
• Box 52
• Box 56
• Folder 2.10
• Folder 3.08

Bridges--Cantilever

• Box 06.2
• Box 06.3
• Folder 1.08
• Folder 2.15

Bridges--General

• Box 01.1
• Box 03.3
• Box 06.3
• Box 07.1
• Box 28.2
• Box 28.3
• Box 46.2
• Box 57
• Box 58
• Box 59
• Box 61
• Box 63.10
• Folder 1.04
• Folder 2.04
• Folder 2.09
• Folder 2.14
• Folder 2.15
• Folder 2.16
• Folder 3.08

Bridges--Girder & tubular

• Box 06.1
• Box 06.2
• Folder 2.06

Bridges--Masonry

• Box 03.1
• Box 03.2
• Folder 2.17
• Folder 3.08

Bridges--Metal

• Box 03.3
• Box 04.1
• Box 04.2
• Box 04.3
• Box 05.3
• Box 05.4
• Box 06.1
• Folder 3.08

Bridges--Moveable

• Box 05.1

Bridges--Suspension

• Box 01.1
• Box 01.2
• Box 01.3
• Box 02.1
• Box 02.2
• Box 28.3
• Box 43.2
• Folder 3.02
• Folder 3.08
• Folder 3.10

Bridges--Timber

• Box 02.3
• Box 05.2
• Box 06.1
• Box 49.1
• Box 49.2

Canals

• Box 09.1
• Box 09.2
• Box 36.1
• Box 36.2
• Box 39.1

Construction

• Box 08.2
• Box 08.3
• Box 18.4
• Box 28.1
• Box 28.3
• Box 46.1
• Box 53.2
• Box 58
• Box 61
• Box 63.08
• Box 63.11
• Folder 1.03
• Folder 2.16
• Folder 2.17

Disasters

• Box 06.3
• Box 17.3
• Box 20.1
• Box 24.3
• Box 25.1
• Box 28.1
• Box 41.1
• Box 54
• Box 57
• Folder 1.07
• Folder 2.16

Explosives

• Box 11.2
• Box 45.2

Industry--General

• Box 27.1
• Box 27.2
• Box 27.3
• Box 39.2
• Box 46.1
• Box 46.2
• Box 56
• Box 57
• Box 58
• Box 59
• Box 63.02
• Box 63.03
• Box 64.1
• Folder 1.05
• Folder 1.11
• Folder 1.13
• Folder 2.04
• Folder 2.11
• Folder 2.17
• Folder 3.08

Machinery

• Box 07.2
• Box 07.3
• Box 08.1
• Box 08.2
• Box 28.1
• Box 28.2
• Box 43.2
• Box 46.3
• Box 52
• Box 54
• Box 56
• Box 57
• Box 59
• Box 63.04
• Box 64.2
• Box 64.4
• Folder 1.09
• Folder 2.05
• Folder 2.10
• Folder 2.12
• Folder 2.17
• Folder 3.08

Manufacturing

• Box 07.1
• Box 07.2
• Box 13.2
• Box 13.3
• Box 14.1
• Box 27.2
• Box 27.3
• Box 31.2
• Box 32
• Box 33.1
• Box 33.2
• Box 34
• Box 35
• Box 36.1
• Box 37
• Box 39.2
• Box 40
• Box 41.2
• Box 42
• Box 43.1
• Box 43.2
• Box 46.2
• Box 53.1
• Box 53.2
• Box 60.1
• Box 61
• Box 63.01
• Box 63.03
• Box 64.1
• Box 64.3
• Folder 1.03
• Folder 1.07
• Folder 2.05
• Folder 2.06
• Folder 2.11
• Folder 2.15
• Folder 3.03
• Folder 3.08
• Folder 3.09
• Folder 3.12

Miscellaneous

• Box 15.1
• Box 43.2
• Box 44
• Box 55.1
• Box 55.2
• Box 60.1
• Box 60.2
• Box 62
• Folder 1.01
• Folder 1.02
• Folder 1.12
• Folder 3.07

Natural resources--Fossil fuels

• Box 11.2
• Box 11.3
• Box 12.1
• Box 12.2
• Box 13.2
• Box 23.1
• Box 61
• Folder 2.05

Natural resources--General

• Box 11.2
• Box 12.2
• Box 14.2
• Box 63.07

Natural resources--Lumber

• Box 12.2
• Box 12.3
• Box 12.4
• Box 13.1
• Box 13.2
• Box 37
• Box 46.2
• Box 57
• Box 58

Natural resources--Metals

• Box 21.3
• Box 22.1
• Box 22.2
• Box 22.3
• Box 28.1
• Box 39.2
• Box 61
• Folder 2.14
• Folder 2.15
• Folder 3.08

Natural resources--Mining

• Box 23.1
• Box 23.2
• Box 23.3
• Box 24.1
• Box 24.2
• Box 40
• Box 41.2
• Box 50.1
• Box 50.2
• Box 51
• Box 52
• Box 55.1
• Box 55.2
• Box 61
• Folder 1.03
• Folder 2.02
• Folder 2.05
• Folder 2.14
• Folder 3.02
• Folder 3.10

Natural resources--Quarrying

• Box 29.1
• Box 29.2
• Box 30
• Box 46.1
• Box 57
• Folder 1.07

Natural resources--Textiles

• Box 24.3
• Box 25.1
• Box 25.2
• Box 25.3
• Box 26.1
• Box 26.2
• Box 26.3
• Box 27.1
• Box 27.3
• Box 37
• Box 38
• Box 39.2
• Box 40
• Box 41.1
• Box 42
• Box 46.3
• Box 64.1
• Folder 3.06

Natural resources--Water supply

• Box 10.3
• Box 11.1
• Box 11.2
• Box 41.2
• Folder 3.05
• Folder 3.12

Personalities

• Box 01.1
• Box 10.3
• Box 28.3
• Box 39.1
• Box 46.3
• Box 56
• Box 64.2
• Box 64.3
• Folder 2.15
• Folder 3.06
• Folder 3.07

Power--Electricity

• Box 08.1
• Box 28.1
• Box 46.3
• Box 64.2

Power--Hydraulic

• Box 09.3
• Box 10.1
• Box 10.2
• Box 10.3

Transportation--Aerial

• Box 39.1

Transportation--Automobiles

• Box 34
• Box 42
• Box 56
• Box 63.07
• Folder 2.16

Transportation--General

• Box 15.1
• Box 28.2
• Box 31.2
• Box 33.2
• Box 36.2
• Box 54
• Box 58
• Box 64.3
• Folder 2.16
• Folder 3.04

Transportation--Marine

• Box 19.1
• Box 19.2
• Box 19.3
• Box 20.1
• Box 20.2
• Box 20.3
• Box 21.1
• Box 21.2
• Box 21.3
• Box 28.2
• Box 45.2
• Box 46.3
• Box 57
• Box 59
• Box 63.09
• Folder 2.08
• Folder 2.11
• Folder 2.14
• Folder 3.05
• Folder 3.07
• Folder 3.08

Transportation--Railroads

• Box 15.1
• Box 15.2
• Box 15.3
• Box 16.1
• Box 16.2
• Box 16.3
• Box 16.4
• Box 17.1
• Box 17.2
• Box 17.3
• Box 18.1
• Box 18.2
• Box 18.3
• Box 18.4
• Box 28.1
• Box 28.2
• Box 31.1
• Box 35
• Box 46.2
• Box 47
• Box 48.1
• Box 48.2
• Box 49.1
• Box 56
• Box 57
• Box 58
• Box 59
• Box 61
• Box 63.05
• Box 63.06
• Folder 1.06
• Folder 1.10
• Folder 2.01
• Folder 2.03
• Folder 2.04
• Folder 2.06
• Folder 2.07
• Folder 2.10
• Folder 2.13
• Folder 2.16
• Folder 3.04
• Folder 3.07
• Folder 3.10
• Folder 3.11
• Folder 3.12

Tunnels

• Box 28.2
• Box 43.1
• Box 43.2
• Box 45.1
• Box 45.2
• Folder 2.06

Views--General

• Box 08.1
• Box 08.2
• Box 25.1
• Box 28.3
• Box 39.1
• Box 39.2
• Box 46.3
• Box 53.2
• Box 56
• Box 57
• Box 59
• Box 64.2
• Box 64.4
• Folder 1.04
• Folder 2.04
• Folder 2.15
• Folder 2.16

While the Vogel collection general subject categories are generally comprehensive there are still numerous instances of items that could feasibly belong to multiple categories other than the group they are classified under. For instance, there are disaster images found in several groupings other than "Disasters," while bridge construction images can be found in all of the various "Bridges" categories as well as within the "Construction" category. For more detailed descriptions of specific materials, see the box and folder listing in the Contents section below.

Biographical / Historical:

Robert M. Vogel was born in New York City on October 23rd 1930. His family relocated to Philadelphia in 1932 after his father obtained employment as an English teacher. In 1941 the Vogels were on the move again to Baltimore, where the young Robert's enthusiasm for all things mechanical continued to blossom. Following graduation from high school in 1948, Vogel initially attended Antioch College before ultimately transferring to the University of Michigan School of Architecture & Design in order to study architecture. Upon graduating from the University of Michigan in 1954, he was initially drafted into the U.S. Army and served two years with the Corps of Engineers while posted at Fort Belvoir. After completing his service with the U.S. Army, Vogel briefly worked for architectural firm Balto before being hired as the Junior Curator of Heavy Machinery & Civil Engineering at the Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institute, where he continued to be employed until his retirement in 1988 as Curator of the Division of Mechanical & Civil Engineering.

Beginning in 1964, Vogel became deeply involved in the nascent field of Industrial Archaeology. He became one of the founding members of the Society for Industrial Archaeology (SIA) in 1971 while taking a leading role in conducting numerous regional surveys of historic industrial structures and mentoring countless fellow professionals. For these reasons, Vogel is widely considered to be the "Father of American Industrial Archeology."

Helena E. Wright, Vogel's wife, served as Curator of Graphic Arts at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and is currently Curator Emerita in the NMAH Division of Work and Industry. She has also held prominent leadership positions in the governance of SIA.

Acquisition Information:

Majority donated by Robert M. Vogel and Helena E. Wright, August 2022. F-1544 , F-1561 , F-1851 .

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Related Materials

The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives at Cornell University holds the Robert M. Vogel and Helena E. Wright Collection of Textile Industry Photographs, 1916-1929, as well as the Robert M. Vogel Collection of Textile Industry Records, 1720-1937.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Photographs shelf.
Prints shelf.
Accidents.
Aerialists.
African Americans--Employment.
Agricultural equipment.
Aqueducts.
Arch bridges.
Architecture.
Armories.
Automobiles.
Beverage industry.
Boat & ship industry.
Boats.
Brick industry.
Bridges.
Buildings.
Cable ships.
Canals.
Capitols.
Carriages & coaches.
Carts & wagons.
Cast ironwork.
Churches.
Civil engineering.
Communication devices.
Construction.
Coal.
Coal mining.
Cog railroads.
Copper mining.
Cotton.
Dams.
Diesel locomotives.
Disasters.
Eiffel Tower (Paris, France)
Electricity.
Elevated railroads.
Emigration & immigration.
Engineers.
Engines.
Equipment industry.
Exhibitions.
Explosions.
Explosives.
Factories.
Factory workers.
Ferries.
Ferris wheels.
Firefighting equipment.
Fires.
Floods.
Food industry.
Fuel trade.
Furnaces.
Gold mining.
Harbors.
Hoisting machinery.
Homestead Strike, Homestead, Pa., 1892.
Horse railroads.
Ice.
Inclined railroads.
Industrial facilities.
Industry.
Interiors.
Inventors.
Iron mining.
Laborers.
Lifeguards.
Lighthouses.
Lightships.
Loading docks.
Lumber industry.
Machine shops.
Machinery.
Manufacturing.
Masonry.
Metallurgical industry.
Metalwork.
Mines.
Mining.
Money.
Mountain railroads.
Naval yards & naval stations.
Offices.
Ordnance industry.
Paper industry.
People associated with manual labor.
Piers & wharves.
Petroluem industry.
Postal service.
Pottery.
Power plants.
Pumping stations.
Pumps.
Quarrying.
Railroad accidents.
Railroad bridges.
Railroad companies.
Railroad locomotives.
Railroad stations.
Railroads.
Railroads--Rolling stock.
Reservoirs.
Roads.
Rubber industry.
Salt industry.
Sanitation.
Shipping.
Ships.
Shoe industry.
Side wheelers.
Silk.
Silk industry.
Silver mining.
Steamboats.
Stereograph industry.
Stereoscopes.
Stern wheelers.
Stone bridges.
Street railroads.
Strikes.
Strip mining.
Sugar industry.
Suspension bridges.
Telegraph industry.
Telephone systems.
Textile industry.
Thread industry.
Tool & die industry.
Transportation.
Trusses.
Tubular bridges.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Warships.
Water supply.
Waterworks.
Women employees.
Woodwork.
Wool.

Formats:

Advertisements.
Albumen prints.
Aquatints.
Bird's-eye views.
Books.
Calendars.
Cartes de visite.
Catalogs.
Cabinet photographs.
Chromolithographs.
Clippings.
Collodion silver printing-out paper prints.
Collotypes.
Color photographs.
Cyanotypes.
Drawings.
Engravings.
Ephemera.
Etchings.
Facsimiles.
Gelatin silver prints.
Glass negatives.
Group portraits.
Halftone photomechanical prints.
Intaglio prints.
Journals.
Landscape photographs.
Lithographs.
Magazines.
Maps.
Newspapers.
Night photographs.
Stereographs.
Paintings--Reproductions.
Pamphlets.
Photograph albums.
Photographic prints.
Photogravures.
Photomechanical reproductions.
Platinum prints.
Portrait photographs.
Process photographs.
Proofs.
Realia.
Relief prints.
Reproductions.
Salted paper prints.
Signs (Notices)
Woodburytypes.
Wood engravings.

Names:

Baldwin Locomotive Works.
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
Calumet and Hecla Mining Company.
Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)
Crystal Palace (Great Exhibition, 1851, London, England)
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.
Ellis Island Immigration Station (N.Y. and N.J.)
Erie Railroad Company.
Exposition universelle (1900 : Paris, France)
Fairmount Water Works (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Great Eastern (Steamship)
Mount Washington Cog Railway.
New York Elevated Railway Company.
Northern Pacific Railway Company.
Pennsylvania Railroad.
Smithsonian Institution.
Steinway & Sons.
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn.
World’s Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)
Asher & Adams.
Cornell University.
E. & H.T. Anthony (Firm)
H.C. White Co.
Keystone View Company.
Underwood & Underwood.
Brassey, Thomas, 1805-1870--Portraits.
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, 1806-1859--Portraits.
Brush, Charles Francis, 1849-1929--Portraits.
Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919--Portraits.
Darrah, William C. (William Culp), 1909-1989--Portraits.
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931--Portraits.
Ericsson, John, 1803-1889--Portraits.
Faraday, Michael, 1791-1867--Portraits.
Field, Cyrus W. (Cyrus West), 1819-1892--Portraits.
Ford, Henry, 1863-1947--Portraits.
Lawrence, Abbott, 1792-1855--Portraits.
Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937--Portraits.
Rockefeller, John D., III (John Davison), 1906-1978--Portraits.
Roebling, John A. (John Augustus), 1806-1869--Portraits.
Roebling, Washington Augustus, 1837-1926--Portraits.
Stephenson, George, 1781-1848--Portraits.
Stephenson, Robert, 1803-1859--Portraits.
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901--Portraits.
Westinghouse, George, 1846-1914--Portraits.
Ashmead, Henry Buckley.
Beer, S.
Bennett, H. H. (Henry Hamilton), 1843-1908.
Bonine, Elias A., 1843-1916.
Brigandi, Philip, 1873-1945.
Forsyth, N. A. (Norman A.), 1869-1949.
Germon, W. L. (Washington Lafayette)
Huntley, Victoria Hutson, 1900-1971.
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942.
Kilburn, B. W. (Benjamin West), 1827-1909.
Kuhler, Otto, 1894-1977.
Langenheim, Frederick, 1809-1879.
Mather, John A. (John Aked), 1829-1915.
Meigs, Montgomery, 1847-1931.
Robbins, Frank, 1846-1924.
Treadwell, T. K.
Watkins, Carelton E., 1829-1916.
Wright, Helena, 1946- .

Places:

Baltimore (Md.)
Britannia Bridge (Wales)
Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Canada.
Croton Aqueduct (N.Y.)
England.
Europe.
Forth Bridge (South Queensferry, Scotland : Railroad bridge)
France.
Germany.
Great Britain.
High Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Hoosac Tunnel (Mass.)
Menai Suspension Bridge (Wales)
Midwest (U.S.)
New England.
New York City (N.Y.)
New York Harbor (N.Y. and N.J.)
Niagara Falls (N.Y. and Ont.)
Panama Canal (Panama)
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Queensboro Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Soo Locks (Mich.)
South (U.S.)
Suez Canal (Egypt)
Sweden.
Switzerland.
United Kingdom.
Wales.
Washington Aqueduct (Md. and Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
West (U.S.)