Engineer's diaries and field books of land surveys and contract work

Diariesarranged by contract, with chronological entries; contract numbers correspond to rough chronological order.

Field booksarranged by survey job; book numbers correspond to rough chronological order.

The series consists of field books (1927-1959) and engineer's diaries (1931-1941) of land surveys and contract work on the Syracuse Psychopathic Hospital, Newark State School and Hospital, Syracuse State Forestry College, the Oneida Fish Hatchery, and for various colonies of the Syracuse State School.

Records include engineer's diaries for contract work on sewers, fire and water lines at the Newark State School (contract 1126, in 1931); on roads and walks at the Syracuse Psychopathic Hospital (contract 2061, in 1932); on retaining walls, sidewalks and gradings at Syracuse State Forestry College (contract 2272, in 1932-1933); and on a water supply dam at the Oneida Fish Hatchery in Constantia, New York (contract 6704, 1941). In some instances, field notes and final accounts are also present. Listed as the engineer-in-charge of the work is either Elmer D. Riley or G.K. Bushnell; the diaries are written and signed by them.

Survey books include a topographic survey of the State Farm at Fairmount (1928, Books 3220 and 3221) including Geddes Creek, cottage, storm sewers and water lines of the assembly hall; a "miscellaneous" group (1927-1947, Book 3211) including surveys of canal lands acquired by Newark State School (1927), of the west line of state property at Split Rock (1927), of George Suiter Farm claim (1931), of damage claims at Chittenango Creek highway and Sylvan Beach (1934), and of various bridges (1947);

topographical surveys of New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse State Armory, and Fairmount Farm (Book 3226, 1930-1937); topographic survey of Antrim and Amos Colonies (Amboy, N.Y.) of the Syracuse State School (Book 3263, 1948); topographic surveys for staff cottages, water systems, and grounds of the girl's infirmary at Newark State School (Book 3301, 1952-1954); and cross sectional, topographic, and building elevation surveys of the Newark State Hospital (Book 3382, 1959).

Several field books have indexes to survey jobs at the fore of the volumes.

Volume list.

These records were found among old office files at OMRDD and sent to the director of the Syracuse Developmental Center in 1983 for addition to collections on the facility's history.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.