Proceedings of the ... annual convention of the American Railway Bridge and Building Association

the long version

An annual report of the American Railway Bridge and Building Assoc., from 1891 to 1918 the Assoc. of Railway Superintendents of Bridges and Buildings, a voluntary association of men then responsible for maintaining the fixed physical plant, other than track, of North American railroads. While the proceedings of the meting will be of value to historians, the core engineering value is in the reports by committees appointed to investigate current practices, and identify best practice, regarding a range of topics of continuing or current interest. These give snapshots of evolving practice, often in considerable detail. For engineering historians the most valuable part is often in the recorded discussions following these reports: the reactions, additions, and occasional meandering diversions by men of longstanding practical experience of the topic. Needs a copy of the index of committee reports for this volume This is mostly a clean easily readable copy, but has suffered from the application of clean-up techniques optimized solely for text recovery. Thus all photographs and some drawings have been erased. In the records of an engineering profession where visual communication is critical, this removes much of the original information content. Take the 1918 volume as an example, for which this reviewer has an original copy: In the committee reports section, all 20 photographs, 1 of 4 tables, and 5 of 13 drawings are wholly erased, while 4 more drawings are partially erased.