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Holland Tunnel construction photographs and reports

Call Number

PR 332

Date

1917-1949 (bulk, 1919-1926), inclusive

Creator

New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission

Extent

2 Linear feet in four document boxes and one flat file folder

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The collection includes about 200 photographs and 20 reports and other print matter related to the construction of the Holland Tunnel, which is open to vehicular traffic and runs beneath the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York City. Exterior photographs primarily concern the construction sites at Canal Street in Manhattan and at Jersey City. Interiors primarily include the north and south tunnels, shafts, shields, working chambers, various structural details, and men working on the project. The print matter includes the annual reports of the New Jersey Interstate Bridge & Tunnel Commission to the Senate & General Assembly of New Jersey for the years 1920-1927, the comparable reports from the New York state commission for 1920 and 1921, information for potential bidders for some contracts, and other documents.

Biographical/Historical Note

The Holland Tunnel runs beneath the Hudson River, connecting New Jersey (at Jersey City) and New York City (at lower Manhattan). An initial amount of funding was appropriated in 1919 to begin preparations for construction, which began in 1922. The tunnel was opened in 1927 and completed in 1929. As a bi-state project, construction was overseen by both the New York State Bridge & Tunnel Commission and the New Jersey Interstate Bridge & Tunnel Commission. The documents in this collection appear to have been compiled by one of the officers of the New Jersey Commission, Edward Morgan Barradale. Barradale was named the New Jersey Commission's Assistant Secretary in its earliest months in 1919, and in the mid-1920s he became its Secretary.

The tunnel was originally known as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel. The name was changed in November 1924 in honor of Clifford M. Holland, the tunnel's first Chief Engineer, who had died of a heart attack that year. The tunnel extends about 1.6 miles. It comprises two "tubes," each with two lanes. Although traffic runs eastbound in one tube and westbound in the other, the tubes are referred to in this collection more directly as the north and south tunnels. The tunnel was the first vehicular tunnel to be built under the Hudson River and involved the use of caissons as the tunnels were mined. One of the major engineering challenges the project resolved was that of supplying adequate ventilation to remove the massive amounts of carbon monoxide generated by cars in the tunnel.

(The above note is based on information from the Wikipedia entry for the Holland Tunnel, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's website, and documents from the collection.)

Arrangement Note

The collection is organized first by format, opening with photographs and followed by print matter.

Most of the photographs are numbered and they are arranged in numerical order, which generally follows how they were presented by the donor. Photographs with no number follow those numbered. Although the numbers range from 0144 to 16259, there are many large gaps in the range. It is not known if these numbers ever formed a single sequence.

The print matter is generally arranged by title.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes about 200 photographs and 20 reports and other print matter related to the construction of the Holland Tunnel. There is also a CD provided by the donor of digital images of the photographs and duplicate copies of some of the reports.

The photographs include a combination of interior and exterior views. Exterior views are generally from construction sites at the west end of Canal Street in Manhattan and at the Jersey City tunnel approaches. Some of the exteriors include the river shaft caissons in dry dock and at their launch and positioning in the Hudson River. Interiors include the north and south tunnels, shafts, shields, working chambers, and various structural details. Most of the photographs are captioned and dated, and these are summarized in the folder level notes below in the container list. Some of the photographs include images of the "sandhogs" (i.e., workers doing the mining) and other laborers, some of whom appear to be African-American.

The bulk of the photographs portray the construction and site, and date from 1920 to 1926. There are also several photographs of other aspects of the project, including celebratory events and people other than laborers. These include portraits of Chief Engineer Clifford Holland, New Jersey Interstate Bridge & Tunnel Commission Secretary E.M. Barradale, and others. These events and people are not always identified. These photographs, where dated, range from 1919 to 1946.

Much of the print matter includes the annual reports of the New Jersey Interstate Bridge & Tunnel Commission to the Senate & General Assembly of New Jersey for the years 1920-1927. Two of these reports (1920 and 1923) are in their original typed manuscript form; the others are in their published form. There are only two reports from the New York State Commission; those are for 1920 and 1921. Among other print matter is the 1917 Report to the Executive Committee of Public Service Corporation of New Jersey on the Proposed Vehicular Tunnel Between the Cities of Jersey City and New York; printed booklets concerning four of the project's contracts (detailed below in the container list); and a 1922 memorandum from Clifford Holland on the arrangement of the tunnel plaza in Jersey City.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers. Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. See guidelines in Print Room for details.

Use Restrictions

Permission to reproduce any Print Room holdings through publication must be obtained from: Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West New York, NY 10024. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 270. Fax: (212) 579-8794.

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as Holland Tunnel construction photographs and reports, PR 332, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.

Credit Line: Family of Edward Morgan Barradale.

Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

Gift of Caroline W. Jacobus, November 2016, a descendant of Edward Morgan Barradale, an officer of the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission in the 1920s.

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:27 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information Note

Processed by archivist Larry Weimer in July 2017.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024