The Archival Preservation and Digital Access of the Photographs Created by the Metropolitan Water Works of the Massachusetts Metropolitan Water Board, the Metropolitan Water & Sewerage Board, and the Metropolitan District Commission Water Division, 1895-1926: A Descriptive Collection History of the 7,672 Numbered Dry Plate Glass Negatives and Photographic Prints, and 1,000 other Photographic Images, including their management from the 1890s to 2014, and leading to their Digital Reformatting in 2012-2014 Written and Compiled by Sean M. Fisher, Archivist, DCR Archives, Office of Cultural Resources, Bureau of Planning, Design and Resource Protection, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation [formerly Metropolitan District Commission, 1919-2003] Boston, Massachusetts Compiled mainly between 2000-2003 (significantly updated in 2014) December 2015 Version (with additional text forthcoming) i TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. COLLECTION DESCRIPTION SUMMARY ............................................................................. 1 2. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................ 4 3. DRY PLATE GLASS NEGATIVE COLLECTIONS OF METROPOLITAN WATER WORKS PHOTOGRAPHS ............................................................................................................ 7 A. 7600 METROPOLITAN WATER WORKS SERIES ........................................................................................................... 7 B. MISCELLANEOUS VIEWS, 1897-1898 (UNNUMBERED) ................................................................................................ 8 C. MISCELLANEOUS VIEWS (UNNUMBERED) ................................................................................................................... 8 D. ENGINEERING PLANS (UNNUMBERED) ........................................................................................................................ 9 E. GLASS LANTERN SLIDES............................................................................................................................................. 9 F. 4” X 5” GLASS NEGATIVES THAT MATCH THE LANTERN SLIDES (UNNUMBERED) .................................................... 10 G. 1897 WACHUSETT DAM LOAD TESTING EXPERIMENT ............................................................................................. 10 4. THE UNIQUENESS OF THE MWW PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION IN RELATIONSHIP TO SIMILAR COLLECTIONS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS ...................................................................................... 12 5. WHO TOOK THESE 7,672-PLUS PHOTOGRAPHS? ............................................................ 15 A. BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 B. MWW ARCHIVAL RECORDS DOCUMENT THE NAMES OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS ..................................................... 19 C. PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK SUPERVISORS ....................................................................................................................... 31 6. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT AND PROCESSING METHODS USED TO CREATE THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES AND PRINTS OF THE MWW .................................................................................................................................... 34 A. CAMERA ................................................................................................................................................................... 35 B. NEGATIVES ............................................................................................................................................................... 36 C. CONDITIONS IN WHICH PHOTOGRAPHS WERE MADE .................................................................................................. 37 D. CARRYING CASE FOR CAMERA / PLATE HOLDERS .................................................................................................... 37 E. PHOTOGRAPHER’S SHADOW AND MODE OF TRANSPORTATION ................................................................................ 37 F. PRINTS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 38 G. OTHER PRINT TYPES ................................................................................................................................................. 41 H. CAPTION STYLES ...................................................................................................................................................... 41 I. PLATES WITH CONDITION PROBLEMS AS SEEN ON VINTAGE PRINTS......................................................................... 42 J. GLASS LANTERN SLIDES........................................................................................................................................... 42 K. PHOTOGRAPH LABORATORY .................................................................................................................................... 43 7. SOME OBSERVATIONS OF THE IMAGE SUBJECTS AND SOME UNIQUE IMAGES 45 8. HISTORY OF THE 7600 METROPOLITAN WATER WORKS SERIES OF DRY PLATE GLASS NEGATIVES, 1958-2014................................................................................................. 48 9. DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE BOUND VOLUMES OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS FROM THE 7600 SERIES OF DRY PLATE GLASS NEGATIVES ....................... 53 10. DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED NUMBERED AND UNNUMBERED LOOSE, MOUNTED AND OVERSIZE MWW PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS ............................................................ 56 A. FROM DCR AND MA STATE ARCHIVES (FROM MDC) ............................................................................................. 56 B. FROM MWRA RECORDS CENTER ............................................................................................................................. 58 ii C. MWB’S EXHIBIT AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900 .............................................................................................. 58 D. MWW PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS INTERFILED IN MWW LETTERBOOKS ..................................................................... 59 E. MWW PHOTOGRAPHS IN MWW LETTERBOXES IN DCR ARCHIVES ........................................................................ 62 F. ELSEWHERE OTHER THAN STATE ARCHIVES, MWRA AND DCR ............................................................................. 62 11. ARTIFICIAL NUMBERING OF THE UNNUMBERED MWW IMAGES IN THE DATABASE .................................................................................................................................... 66 12. DESCRIPTION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS (MWB AND MWSB) .................................................................................................................................. 68 13. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MWW PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION ................... 69 14. ASSOCIATED ARCHIVAL RECORDS .................................................................................... 71 15. UNIQUENESS OF THE NON-PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVAL RECORDS OF THE MWW .......................................................................................................................................................... 72 A. MWW LETTERBOOKS AND LETTERPRESS COPYBOOKS OF CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER TEXTUAL RECORDS .... 73 B. REMAINING AT THE DCR ARCHIVES (TO BE TRANSFERRED TO THE STATE ARCHIVES) ............................................ 75 C. MWRA RECORDS CENTER ....................................................................................................................................... 75 D. ACTIVE ARCHIVAL RECORDS SETS OF MWW RECORDS AT BOTH DCR AND MWRA ............................................. 77 E. ENGINEERING INSTRUMENTS .................................................................................................................................... 78 16. RELATED ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS ................................................................................. 79 A. BOSTON / METROPOLITAN WATER WORKS .............................................................................................................. 79 B. METROPOLITAN WATER WORKS, 1895-1926 ........................................................................................................... 86 C. THESES AND DISSERTATIONS .................................................................................................................................... 93 17. PREVIOUS ARCHIVAL PRESERVATION AND ACCESS ACTIONS REGARDING THE 7600 MWW SERIES OF DRY PLATE GLASS NEGATIVES AND BOUND VOLUMES OF PRINTS ........................................................................................................................................... 95 A. DIVISION OF MECHANICAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING (NOW DIVISION OF THE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY), NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ................................................................................. 95 B. WEST BOYLSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ................................................................................................................... 95 C. BOYLSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ............................................................................................................................. 95 D. WEST