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San Francisco Department of Public Works Bureau of Engineering records,
SFH 458  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Preferred Citation
  • Provenance
  • Related Materials
  • Processing Information
  • Materials Transferred
  • Administrative History
  • Background
  • Scope and Contents
  • Arrangement

  • Title: Finding Aid to the San Francisco Department of Public Works Bureau of Engineering Records
    Date (inclusive): 1881-[1986?],
    Date (bulk): 1908-1944
    Identifier/Call Number: SFH 458
    Creator: San Francisco (Calif.). Public Works.
    Creator: San Francisco (Calif.). Dept. of Public Works.
    Creator: San Francisco (Calif.). Board of Public Works.
    Creator: San Francisco (Calif.). Bureau of Engineering.
    Physical Description: 41 cubic feet (43 boxes, 1 manuscripts box, 1 map folder)
    Contributing Institution: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
    100 Larkin Street
    San Francisco, CA 94102
    415-557-4567
    info@sfpl.org
    Abstract: Includes correspondence and project and subject files documenting public infrastructure construction in San Francisco, following the 1906 earthquake and fire.
    Physical Location: The collection is stored off site.
    Language of Material: Collection materials are in English.

    Conditions Governing Access

    The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours. Collections that are stored off site should be requested 48 hours in advance.
    Photographs cannot be photocopied. Gloves are required when handling photographs.

    Conditions Governing Use

    All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], San Francisco Department of Public Works Bureau of Engineering Records (SFH 458), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

    Provenance

    Transferred to the San Francisco City Archives from the San Francisco Department of Public Works. Additional materials transferred on Jun 26, 2020.

    Related Materials

    See also San Francisco Department of Public Works Proposed San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridges Records (SFH 87); San Francisco Department of City Planning Records (SFH 465); San Francisco Department of Public Works Photograph Collection (SFP 26); San Francisco Municipal Reports; and Report on Progress of the Works Program in San Francisco, January 1938.
    See also the library's online public access catalog, particularly for departmental and bureau reports; and the San Francisco History Center's subject files.
    See also M.M (Michael Maurice) O'Shaughnessy Papers, BANC MSS 92/808 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. See also Marsden Manson Papers, BANC MSS C-B 416, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Tami J. Suzuki with preliminary processing by Shane Ebbert.

    Materials Transferred

    Some monographs were transferred to the library's book collection.
    1989 Fact Book Summary, Redevelopment Program San Francisco
    Annual Report of the Board of Public Works, City and County of San Francisco, 1912-13
    Before the Committee on Public Lands of the United States Senate, Senate No. 2610, San Francisco: James H. Barry Co., 1913
    Hetch Hetchy Dam Site Hearing Before the Committee on the Public Lands... Part 2, Washington DC: GPO, 1913
    Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Site, Hearing Before the Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate, Sixty-Third Congress, First Session on H.R. 7207... Washington DC: GPO, 1913
    Official Grades of the Public Streets City & County of San Francisco, Duplicate Records, M-Z and Numbered Avenues and Numbered Streets, San Francisco, no date
    Report of the Department of Public Works for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1901, San Francisco
    Report on Progress of the Works Program, Washington DC: Works Progress Administration, March 1937

    Administrative History

    San Francisco's Board of Public Works was created on January 8, 1900 by Article VI of the City Charter, directed by three commissioners. The original four bureaus were: Engineering, Streets, Building, and Light and Water Services. The department was initially tasked with organizing street construction and paving projects throughout the city.
    According to the 1899-1900 report of the City Engineer, "Of the work urgently needed to be done by the city none is probably of greater importance than the systemization of the sewerage and drainage works to fit existing and projected sewers into the lines of main drainage and sewerage disposal, as proposed and adopted during the last year. "This work, as well as the work of extending street line surveys, setting monuments and establishing grades for streets in the outlying rapidly growing districts of the city (also urgently needed) is of a character not productive of revenue. All work of this class will be pushed forward as fast as the available funds will permit."
    The August 1902 annual report notes that the department "may be expected to take on larger dimensions and to comprise additional bureaus, such as for a water system and municipal railways. It also notes expected growth of the City with incidental expansion in street operations. The Bureau of Engineering is described as "concerned with the most important features of municipal material interests." Furthermore, the bureau reports of the "coming ownership and administration by the City of all of the interests classed under the head of Public Utilities."
    C.E. Grunsky was San Francisco's first City Engineer. Marsden Manson was the City Engineer from 1908 to 1912. M.M. O'Shaughnessy was the City Engineer from 1912-1932.
    Long known as the Department of Public Works or DPW, the agency is now known as San Francisco Public Works. It constructs, manages, designs, maintains and repairs the city's public buildings and infrastructure.

    Background

    These records include those from this same body under one previous name, San Francisco Board of Public Works, and one bureau name, San Francisco Bureau of Engineering. The Board of Public Works was created in 1900. The Bureau of Engineering was one of the four original bureaus. By 1902, the agency was also known as the Department of Public Works. As of 2014, the department is called San Francisco Public Works.

    Scope and Contents

    This collection documents the building of infrastructure in San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake, particularly during the administrations of City Engineers Marsden Manson and M.M. O'Shaughnessy. Later records are mainly drawings of Recreation and Parks Department projects. Includes correspondence, project reports, drawings, bids and specifications, surveys, articles, and photographs. Of note are documents on the dismantling and removal of the relief model of the city. Documentation on the Port of San Francisco, O'Shaughnessy Dam, and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir are not included.

    Arrangement

    Organized into four series: Series 1. Correspondence; Series 2. Project Files; Series 3. Subject Files; and Series 4. Legal Files. Correspondence is organized into two subseries: Subseries 1A: Outgoing Correspondence; and Subseries 1B: Incoming Correspondence. Project Files are organized into ten subseries: Subseries 2A: Street Work/Renovation; Subseries 2B: Sewers; Subseries 2C: Bridges and Viaducts; Subseries 2D: Airport Development; Subseries 2E: South Basin-South Basin Canal Reclamation District; Subseries 2F: Water Supply and Auxiliary Water Supply System; Subseries 2G: Transit Tunnels; Subseries 2H: Naval Base Sites; Subseries 2I: Garbage Disposal; Subseries 2J: Parks, Playgrounds and Transportation; and Subseries 2K: Other Projects. Correspondence is arranged chronologically. The majority of the rest of the collection is arranged alphabetically by subject.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Public Works -- California -- San Francisco.
    Bridges -- California -- San Francisco.
    Bridges -- California -- San Francisco Bay -- Design and construction.
    Storm sewers -- California -- San Francisco.
    Streets -- California -- San Francisco.
    Tunnels -- California -- San Francisco -- Design and construction.
    Photographic prints -- 1900-1940.
    Mills Field Municipal Airport.
    San Francisco (Calif.). Public Works -- Archives.
    San Francisco (Calif.). Dept. of Public Works -- Archives.
    San Francisco (Calif.). Board of Public Works -- Archives.
    San Francisco (Calif.). Bureau of Engineering -- Archives.