New York State Department of Transportation Division of Waterways Maintenance Computation Books

Most material is arranged by Barge Canal contract number.

The computation books in this series provide two different types of information: survey documentation used to produce maps; and/or plans and construction material documentation used to produce estimates for final costs. Most of the computation books pertain to canal activities from the construction of the Barge Canal through the 1950s in the Mohawk Valley. The series documents preparations for canal improvements and construction in three locations: Syracuse-Utica, Rochester-Buffalo, and Fonda.

The Utica records are especially noteworthy for the documentation of the northern (Adirondack) and southern (Madison County) reservoirs. As part of that documentation, some mid-nineteenth-century monthly estimate books for the Black River Canal were retained as computation books, most likely due to their description of canal structures still maintained by the State.

Also found in this accretion are computation books, mostly dating from the 1920s, which document surveys and construction projects unrelated to canals such as erection of correctional facility and state hospital buildings.

B2075Series B2075, Index to Region 2 Field Books, contains an index to computation books from Region 2

B1908Series B1908, Card Index to Canal Records, indexes computation books from Region 3.

B2423-17 Box 15 contains an index to the computation books.

An itemized list of all of the computation books from Fonda is available at the repository.

Boxes 1 through 14 were last stored at the Lysander facility of the New York State Canal Corporation. They include the computation books that were generated when the canal department was part of New York State Department of Public Works ( later New York State Department of Transportation) Region 3. When the canal offices were transferred to the New York State Thruway Authority in 1992, the Utica canal office (Region 2) was closed and its records merged with those of Region 3 within the Thruway's Syracuse Division.

Boxes 15 through 24 originated in the canal offices that were once part of the New York State Department of Transportation's regional office in Rochester. The 1992 transfer of the canal unit to the New York State Thruway Authority caused these materials to be moved to the Thruway's Buffalo Division office.

Boxes 25 through 28 were found in 2016 at the Fonda section shops of the New York State Canal Corporation.

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