The State Historical Society of Missouri manuscript collections contain many items representing the state’s strong connection to engineering. Among these collections are papers of engineers, records of engineering firms, plans, designs, blueprints, drawings of building records, and records of professional associations. Examples of such collections include the Clair V. Mann Collection, papers pertaining to Meramec Iron Works, records for the School of Mines and Metallurgy at Rolla, the papers of Kansas City civil engineer Robert Patterson Woods, and the papers of Charles E. Boulson, an electrical engineer in Missouri.
Articles from Missouri Historical Review and Missouri Times
- Branch, Mary Emerson “A Story Behind the Story of the Arkansas and the Carondelet.”
Missouri Historical Review 79 (April 1985): 313-331. - Bratton, Sam T. "Coal in Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 22 (January 1928): 150-156. - Caldwell, Dorothy J. “Missouri’s Covered Bridges.”
Missouri Historical Review 61(January 1967): 229-237. - Christensen, Lawrence O. “Pains of Birth and Adolescence: The University of Missouri and Its Rolla Campus, 1871-1915.”
Missouri Historical Review 79 (April 1985): 357-372. - Clevenger, Homer "The Building of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad."
Missouri Historical Review 36 (October 1941): 32-47. - Cozzens, Arthur B. "The Iron Industry of Missouri."
Part I: Missouri Historical Review 35 (July 1941): 509-538.
Part II: Missouri Historical Review 36 (October 1941): 48-60. - Dietzler, John P. "Major General Samuel Ryan Curtis – City Engineer."
Missouri Historical Review 51 (July 1957): 354-361. - Eisenman, Harry J. "Origins of Engineering Education in Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 63 (July 1969): 451-460. - Farr, William F. "Planks for Industry."
Missouri Historical Review 78 (January 1984): 137-143. - Greger, Darling "Garland Carr Broadhead."
Missouri Historical Review 9 (January 1915): 57-74. - Hensley, John R. "In the Shadow of Table Rock Dam: The Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Engineering & Local Communities."
Missouri Historical Review 80 (April 1986): 255-272. - Richardson, Kelli "Caissons and Calamity: The Tragedy and Triumph of Eads Bridge."
Missouri Historical Review 92 (October 1997): 18-26. - Stauter, Mark C. "From the Stacks: Walter Goodwin Swart, Mining Engineer."
Missouri Historical Review 103 (January 2009): 120-123. - Sunder, John E. "St. Louis and the Early Telegraph, 1847-1857."
Missouri Historical Review 50 (April 1956): 248-258.
"Voertman Wood Engravings Are Representative of a Rapidly Vanishing Printer's Art."
Missouri Historical Review 60 (January 1966): 216.
Catalog
Many of the State Historical Society’s holdings are included in the SHSMO online catalog. The State Historical Society holds numerous books on the history of engineering in Missouri, the Midwest, and the United States in general. The broadest term to search for is the subject term “Engineering.” For a more specific search on engineering in Missouri, simply add the subject term “Missouri” to your search.
Historic Missourian Biographies
- Morris Frederick Bell (1849-1929) - Morris Frederick Bell was a prolific architect whose work can be found throughout Missouri and the Midwest. His most notable surviving accomplishment is Francis Quadrangle, which includes Jesse Hall, on the University of Missouri campus. Bell was largely an institutional architect—he built structures related to organizations or institutions such as hospitals, school buildings, correctional facilities, and monuments.
- Carl Boller (1868-1946) and Robert O. Boller (1887-1962) - Carl and Robert Boller were architects who specialized in designing movie palaces during the first half of the twentieth century. Movies provided escape from the dull and the humdrum. Early on, the architecture of movie theater buildings aided in the illusion of stepping into a fantasy world.
- James Buchanan Eads (1820-1887) - James Buchanan Eads spent his life solving difficult engineering problems that made life on and around the Mississippi River safer and more convenient. Eads created a business that removed dangerous debris and shipwrecks from the river. He also designed an armored steamship that helped the Union seize and maintain control of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. His most important engineering achievement was designing and building the first bridge to cross the Mississippi River at St. Louis. His bridge provided a crucial connection between Missouri and eastern cities.
Manuscripts
Society manuscript collections include papers of engineers and records of engineering firms; plans, designs, blueprints, and drawings exclusive of building records; and records of professional associations.
Photographs
Many notable feats of engineering have been constructed in Missouri. These structures include bridges, railways, buildings, and many other works. Click here to view the Engineering in Missouri Gallery on Flickr.
View a selection of engineering photographs from the Columbia Digital Collection here.
Outside Resources
These links will take you outside the Society's website. The Society is not responsible for the content of the following sites:
- American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- Missouri Society of Professional Engineers
- Order of the Engineer – Missouri
- Sigma Phi Delta
- Society of Women Engineers
- Structural Engineer’s Association of Kansas and Missouri
- United States Army Engineer Museum – Fort Leonard Wood