DESCRIPTION: Original manuscript trace map by the civil engineering firm of William H. Whitey, Boston. A traced pen and ink map on tracing cloth of an area in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts bounded by the Charles River to the south and Erie Street to the North and from Magazine Street at the west to roughly where Briggs Field now stands. This manuscript trace would have been used to create numerous blueprint copies for Whitney's clients. Whitney was a very early adopter of blueprinting to support his map-making and design business.
The map shows the location of the Boston University Bridge across the Charles River then under construction as well as the proposed location for an additional bridge downstream.
Includes Washington Square, a soap works of J. Reardon and Sons, Hastings Square, Morse School, Captain's Island Playground, Baptist home, and Lammson Memorial Building. By William H. Whitney, Boston Civil Engineer.
William H. Whitney
(1843 - 1909)
During the period 1872 to 1888 Fuller & Whitney Civil Engineers, was conducted as a partnership between J. Franklin Fuller and William H. Whitney. That firm was instrumental in the latter half of the Back Bay fill and development project. Whitney assumed sole control of the firm in 1888 and changed the name to William H. Whitney.
In his autobiography Whitney refers to his work with the latest cutting-edge reprographic technology- blueprinting:
“In September 1881 I received a bronze medal at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association Exhibit for sun or blue prints. I developed a process from the French and used it in illustrating the growth of Back Bay lands. I issued to subscribers monthly schedules and maps showing the changes of ownership, increase in value, improvement by filling and public works.” (The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol 64, January 1910. Number 253. p. lix)
PUBLICATION DATE: 1905
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States
BODY OF WATER: Charles River
CONDITION: Fair+ .
On surveyor's "cloth" tracing paper. A bit worn and grubby but solid.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 25
" x
23 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION:
PRICE: $500
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