Directory of History Resources

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Civil engineering was developed as a discipline around the middle of the 18th century. John Smeaton was the first person to actually call himself a "Civil Engineer". He formed the Smeatonian Society the forerunner of the first engineering society, the Institution of Civil Engineers in England. The term “ Civil “ was used to describe engineering works which were not exclusively military in nature and included the design and building of a range of structures such as roads and bridges, canals, railways, tunnels, water supplies and sewers. The first charter of the Institute of Civil Engineering read as follows: "the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man, as the means of production and of traffic in states, both for external and internal trade, as applied in the construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navigation and docks for internal intercourse and exchange, and in the construction of ports, harbours, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses, and in the art of navigation by artificial power for the purposes of commerce, and in the construction and adaptation of machinery, and in the drainage of cities and towns."

Subcategories

• Bridges
• Canals
• Dams
• People
• Railroads
• Roads
• Tunnels
• Wastewater

Resources in This Category

• Built in America

  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/
  This collection includes digitized images of measured drawings, black-and-white photographs, color transparencies, photo captions, data pages including written histories, and supplemental materials. From The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).

• Civil Engineering and Public Works.

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AGL5111
  Full text of this 1870 publication by William Blake. Reports on the 1867 Paris Universal Exposition. Includes topics such as construction materials and the Suez maritime canal.

• Construction History Society

  http://www.constructionhistory.co.uk/
  Exists to focus the attention of the construction industry and associated professions on the importance of preserving the records of our built environment. Includes membership details, newsletter, journal and events.

• Cruquius Site

  http://www.cruquiusmuseum.nl/
  Group of volunteers restoring and maintaining one of the pumping stations which drained the Haarlemmermeer. Site describes the history, the technology, and the restoration.

• Engineering Timelines Map of The British Isles

  http://www.engineering-timelines.com/
  Searchable data on significant projects and engineers in the British Isles.

• Pocket-Book for Railroad and Civil Engineers

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJS1974
  Facsimile of an early calculation assistant which contained methods for laying out railroad curves, switches, frog angles, and crossings, the staking out of work, levelling, and the calculation of cuttings and embankments. Produced by Oliver Byrne in 1864.

• Syllabus of Lectures on Civil Engineering in the University of Georgia

  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa;idno=AJQ7546
  Facsimile of this 1853 publication by Charles Francis McCay. Provides an interesting insight into early engineering education.

• Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Engineering Construction and Building

  http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/310.html
  Covers a range of topics including roads and bridges, ports and harbours, and construction during the settlement period. From the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

• The Jerwood Photography Project - Making the Modern World

  http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/photographicproject/modernworld.html
  A project to make accessible and preserve the British Library's photographic collection which records the progress of early construction projects. Includes samples from the collection.

• The National History Committee of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

  http://www.ryerson.ca/~amackenz/history/
  Record for preservation, significant works of earlier generations of civil engineers. Includes illustrated listings of historic sites.

• The Surveyors Historical Society

  http://www.surveyorshistoricalsociety.com/
  Dedicated to the preservation of historical surveying instruments, artifacts, records and memorabilia and educating the general public about the history of surveying.

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