Research

Scope and Content Note

The series consists of approximately 3,000 drawings, blueprints, plans, diagrams, tracings, and maps, produced and/or compiled by the Superintendent of Public Works and its predecessor the State Engineer and Surveyor, relating primarily to the state's canal system. Chronologically, individual items range from the 1840s-1920s, although the bulk of the material dates from the 1850s to the 1890s. Virtually all the state's canals are represented, but the series is particularly strong with respect to the Barge Canal system.

The series is accessible by means of a card file organized roughly by canal name and/or by type of structure (such as bridges, locks, feeders, dams). In a few cases the cards provide cross references to Map and Plan Books of the Location and Construction of the State's Canal System (Series B0292) and/or canal contracts (Series B0213).

B1567-01: This accretion consists of one map of the Genesee Valley Canal Extension from Olean to Mill Grove Pond. The map appears to be a copy created by William Rumble from an earlier David Vaughan map. The map is on tracing cloth measuring approximately 30" x 102" and is decorated with several cartouches and designs. The card index lists this map (#1174) as having been destroyed in the June 1958 Department of Transportation warehouse fire.