Finding Aid to the T.Y. Lin Papers, 1932-1998
Processed by Leah F. Rosenblum and Marilyn Kwock
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
© 2003
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Finding Aid to the T.Y. Lin Papers, 1932-1998
Collection number: BANC MSS 99/308 cz
The Bancroft Library
University of
California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Contact Information:
- Collection Processed By:
- Leah F. Rosenblum and Marilyn Kwock</
- Date Completed:
-
August 15, 2002
- Finding Aid written by:
- Leah F. Rosenblum
© 2003 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
Collection Title: T.Y. Lin papers,
Date (inclusive): 1932-1998
Collection Number: BANC MSS 99/308 cz
Creator:
Lin, T. Y. (Tung Yen), 1911-
Extent:
Number of containers: 6 cartons, 1 box and 15 oversize folders
Linear feet: approximately 7.9
Repository: The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Abstract: The T.Y. Lin papers, 1932-1998, consist of personal and professional records of
Lin's engineering and political work including calculations, drawings, reports and analyses for five
major design projects: the Rio Colorado Bridge, the Intercontinental Peace Bridge, the Ruck-A-Chucky
Bridge, the Gibraltar Bridge, the development of Shanghai's Pudong District and the proposal to retrofit
the Golden Gate Bridge. Additionally, there is incoming and outgoing correspondence, a large amount of
publicity collected by Lin, writings (published and unpublished), photographs, and slides.
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please
consult the Library's online catalog
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English,
Chinese,
German,
Russian,
Spanish,
Bulgarian, and Italian
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library for all materials except for those copyrighted by
T.Y. Lin and materials relating to Pudong. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services
for forwarding. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner
of the physical items and the copyright. For commercial use, permission must first be obtained from
T.Y. or Margaret Lin, or their heirs, successors, or assigns.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], T.Y. Lin papers, BANC MSS 99/308 cz, The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's
online public access catalog.
T.Y. Lin International.
Inter-Continental Peace Bridge, Inc.
University of California, Berkeley. Dept.
of Engineering--Faculty.
Lin Tung-Yen China, Inc.
Bridges--Bering Strait--Design and construction.
Bridges--Costa Rica--Design and construction.
Bridges--Gibraltar, Strait of--Design and construction.
Bridges--California--American River, Middle Fork--Design and
construction.
Structural design.
Structural analysis (Engineering).
Civil engineering.
Prestressed concrete.
Prestressed concrete construction.
Structural engineering.
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.).
United States--Relations--China.
China--Relations--United States.
China--Relations--Taiwan.
United States--Foreign relations--Soviet
Union.
Pu-tung (Shanghai, China)--Buildings,
structures, etc.
Inter-Continental Peace Bridge (Bering
Strait : Proposed).
Ruck-A-Chucky Bridge (Calif. : Proposed).
Faculty papers.
Blueprints.
T.Y. Lin International.
Online Archive of California.
History of science and technology collection.
Administrative Information
Provenance
The T.Y. Lin Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by T.Y. Lin on May 8, 1999. Additions were
made by William Kallas of T.Y. Lin International on March 29, 2000.
Biography
T.Y. (Tung Yen) Lin (b. Fuzhou, China November 14, 1911), is professor emeritus at University of
California, Berkeley and an eminent and pioneering engineer in the arena of prestressed concrete and in
the design and construction of long-span bridges.
Although Lin was interested in studying philosophy and letters, his father was successful in steering him
towards a career in engineering. After earning his Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering at Chiaotung
University in Tangshan, China (1931), Lin completed his Masters degree at Berkeley in 1933. From 1933 to
1945, he served as Chief Design Engineer and Chief Bridge Engineer of Chinese Railways and completed
over 1000 bridges in rugged, mountainous regions of China. In 1941, he married Margaret
Kao and the two came back to California in 1946 at the invitation of University of
California, Berkeley, where he assumed a position as professor of civil engineering. A popular lecturer,
he was known for his ability to teach engineering both at the conceptual and the detail level. He held
chairmanships of the Structural Engineering Division and the campus-wide Board of Education Development
and served as director of the Structural Engineering Laboratory at Berkeley. His excellence as a
professor and administrator earned him the Berkeley Citation, status as a Berkeley Fellow, and, in 1994,
Alumni of the Year, the highest honor of the California Alumni Association.
Lin founded TY Lin International, a consulting engineering firm that employs over
500 people in more than 5 countries, in 1954. Upon his resignation from TY Lin
International in 1992, he founded the Lin Tung-Yen China Company in
California. His most famous projects had their birth at TY Lin International, and
include the Puente Rio Colorado, an upside-down suspension bridge across a deep gorge in Costa Rica; the
Ruck-a-Chucky Bridge, a 45( angled, cable hung bridge over the North Fork of the American River in
California; his plans to bridge the Gibraltar Strait, uniting Europe and the continent of Africa; and
the development of the Pudong District of Shanghai. Perhaps his most famous project, though never
constructed, is the Intercontinental Peace Bridge (ICPB). Lin's dream-to bridge the United States and
the Soviet Union across the Bering Strait-brought him international praise for promoting peace,
communication and understanding between nations as well as providing a method of economic development
for the rich natural resources of the region.
His efforts with the ICPB were especially significant in light of the arms race and Cold War that raged
during the life of the project. Although the urgency of the project lessened as relations between the
United States and Soviet Union improved and interest in developing the region waned (the project
dissolved in 1996), President Ronald Reagan conferred the National Medal of Science upon Lin in 1986. In
recognition of his excellence in bridge building and prestressed concrete, Lin was awarded the American
Consulting Engineers Council Award of Merit (previous recipients include to Herbert Hoover and Dwight D.
Eisenhower), the coveted Freyssinet Medal from the International Federation for Prestressing, the Prix
Albert Caquot from the French Association of Construction and was elected a member both of the Chinese
Academy of Science and of the National Academy of Engineers. He has earned four honorary doctorate
degrees in the US and in China.
Scope and Content of Collection
The T.Y. Lin papers, 1932-1998, consist of personal and professional records of Lin's engineering and
political work including calculations, drawings, reports and analyses for five major design projects:
the Rio Colorado Bridge, the Intercontinental Peace Bridge, the Ruck-A-Chucky Bridge, the Gibraltar
Bridge, the development of Shanghai's Pudong District and the proposal to retrofit the Golden Gate
Bridge. Additionally, there is incoming and outgoing correspondence, a large amount of publicity
collected by Lin, writings (published and unpublished), photographs, and slides.
Biographical and personal materials are minimal in the collection, consisting of lists of awards,
professional and personal activities, personal interviews that Lin granted to the media, and some
miscellaneous correspondence, including a letter from William Randolph Hearst.
Highlights include a photocopy of a photo album presented to Lin by workers after he completed work on
Chinese railroads in 1937, postage stamps honoring his work on Taiwan Bridge and some information on the
Lin family genealogy. There is one folder of notes from courses that Lin taught at the University of
California, Berkeley.
Lin's written work-as student, professor, and professional structural engineer-is a testament to the
innovation and achievement of Lin's research, design, and building projects. This written work, which
spans more than six decades, also illustrates Lin's impact on global politics and his passionate
involvement. Most of the writing in this section of the collection is published in journals, though
there are occasional drafts and unfinished notes. One of the collections many treasures, and the oldest
document in the collection, is Lin's 1932 report on the truss and foundation of a proposed bridge. More
unpublished (and some published) writing can be found throughout the collection, much of it attached to
sketches and calculations.
Documents from Lin's non-academic career make up the bulk of the collection, specifically those that were
generated by Lin's projects at T.Y. Lin International: the Intercontinental Peace
Bridge (ICPB), Rio Colorado Bridge, Ruck-A-Chucky Bridge, Gibraltar Bridge, the development of the
Pudong District of Shanghai, and a retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge. Most of the corporate documents
relate to fundraising, government and media relations, and the various administrative work attendant to
the major projects. Drawings, calculations and plans are most concentrated in files relating to the
Ruck-A-Chucky and Gibraltar Bridges but are present for every project. Aside from working on the ICPB
from the design side, Lin founded ICPB, Inc., a foundation dedicated to promoting
the project. This corporation was funded both privately and by T.Y. Lin
International. He was also heavily involved with the Inter-Arctic Development
Corporation (IADC), which was dedicated to development of the northern Alaska and
Siberia, the two lands that Lin hoped to bridge with the ICPB. In addition to English, which is the
dominant language, some materials are written in Russian, Chinese, Italian, Bulgarian, German and
Spanish. Treasures include a US Airlines in-flight magazine covered in Lin's detailed drawings and notes
and his grandson Erik Lin's research report on the Gibraltar Bridge.
Lin was active in politics, working on behalf of peace between the United States and the Soviet Union
during the Cold War, for the possible unification of China and Taiwan and for better China-United States
relations. Evidence of his political work is found throughout the collection (concentrated heavily in
the ICPB and Pudong Development documents) but is the primary concern of his research materials and
correspondence in his subject files on China. These materials are written primarily in Chinese.
Carton 1
Series 1:
Personal,
1937-1998
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Scope and Content Note
The series contains TY Lin's biographical and personal materials from 1937-1998. Materials
include awards, various lectures given and symposia participated in, one folder of notes for
courses he taught at UC Berkeley interviews written up in several publications, family reunion
notes (1996), general and miscellaneous correspondence.
carton 1, folder 3-5
Biographical and Interviews
1960-1996
carton 1, folder 6
Chinese Railroad Bridges [photocopy of photograph album]
1937-1938
carton 1, folder 7
Civil Engineering 134 and 144
1972-1976
carton 1, folder 9
Miscellaneous Correspondence
undated
carton 1, folder 10
Taiwan Bridge Postage Stamps
1986
Carton 1, Oversize Folder 1
Series 2:
Writings,
1932-1997
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject, and then chronologically.
Scope and Content Note
This series consists of materials that document both Lin's career at Berkeley and in the
professional engineering world. It includes various publication lists and Lin's written work,
both published and unpublished, from the 1930's to the 1990's in ascending order of date. Much
of the writing between the late 1940's to the end of the 1970s concerns pre-stressed concrete.
After that, it becomes focused on Lin's specific projects and Chinese political interests.
Languages other than English include German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Spanish and
Chinese. Additional notes, outgoing correspondence and drafts are interfiled throughout the
entire collection.
carton 1, folder 11
Publications List
1952-1982
Cartons 2-6, Box 2, Oversize Folders 2-15
Series 3:
Professional,
1957-1998
Arrangement
Arranged hierarchically by company, further arranged chronologically by project start date.
Scope and Content Note
This series is dedicated to Lin's work with TY Lin International, a steel
and concrete bridge engineering firm that Lin founded in 1953, and Lin Tung-Yen
China, another consulting firm that Lin founded after leaving T.Y. Lin International
in 1992. The series is divided into two sub-series: T.Y. Lin International
and Lin Tung Yen China. The first sub-series is further divided
into seven categories: publications (arranged alphabetically by subject), publicity (arranged
chronologically by publication date), Intercontinental Peace Bridge (arranged chronologically),
Rio Colorado Bridge (arranged chronologically), Ruck-A-Chucky Bridge (arranged chronologically),
Gibraltar Strait Bridge Crossing (arranged chronologically), Pudong Development (arranged
chronologically), and Golden Gate Bridge Retrofit (arranged chronologically). Lin's work on the
Pudong Development took place at both at TY Lin International and Lin Tung Yen China.
Included in materials about the Intercontinental Peace Bridge are the work of Illinois architect
Myron Goldsmith and his graduate student Peter
Seger, public relations specialists James Murray and
Robert Wagstaff, Dennis Corrin, USSR
politician Vladmir Mironov and David Billington of
Princeton University. The Lin Tung Yen China series contains a
corporate brochure describing both the mission and past work of the company.
T.Y. Lin International,
1957-1998
Publications,
ca. 1960's-1990's
carton 2, folder 3
Lin Tee-O-Gram/Engineering Bulletin (TY Lin International Newsletters)
1960-1990
Publicity,
ca. 1950's-1990's
carton 2, folder 6-13
News Clippings
1950s-1990s
Intercontinental Peace Bridge (ICPB),
1957-1996
carton 2, folder 17
Bering Strait Area Map Requests to US Geodetic Survey
1968
carton 2, folder 18
Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws
1968; 1986
carton 2, folder 19
Tax Information
1968-1974; 1986-1987
carton 2, folder 20
Statement of Project
1969
carton 2, folder 21
Cost and Vital Statistics
1969-1970
carton 2, folder 23
Public Relations
1970-1992
carton 2, folder 24
Lim Hong Lee Research Project
1971
carton 2, folder 25
Trans-Alaska Pipeline
1971-1972
Oversize folder 2C
Trans-Alaska Pipeline
1971-1972
carton 3, folder 1
Integrated Pipeline Transportation System Publicity
1974
carton 3, folder 2
Integrated Pipeline Transportation System Correspondence
1974
Oversize folder 3A
Integrated Pipeline Transportation System Correspondence
1974
carton 3, folder 3
Peter Seger Research Report
1980
carton 3, folder 5
Myron Goldsmith
1980-1981
Oversize folder 4C
Myron Goldsmith
1980-1981
carton 3, folder 6
Peking to Paris Overland Expedition
1981
carton 3, folder 7
ICPB, Inc. Annual Report Information
1982
carton 3, folder 8
Peace Bridge Drafts and Documents
1982
carton 3, folder 9
Media Relations
1982-1990
carton 3, folder 10
T.Y. Lin International: Financial Support of ICPB, Inc.
1985
carton 3, folder 11-12
Drawings and Calculations
undated
carton 3, folder 13
TY Lin International ICPB Meetings
1985-1986
carton 3, folder 14
Project Descriptions and Justifications
1985, undated
carton 3, folder 16
Engineering Bulletin
1986
carton 3, folder 17
ICPB, Inc. Board of Directors Meetings
1986-1988
carton 3, folder 18
International Arctic Development Corporation Correspondence
undated
carton 3, folder 19-23
International Arctic Development Corporation
undated
carton 3, folder 24
Dennis Corrin, ICPB, Inc. Executive
Secretary
undated
carton 3, folder 25
Slides, Negatives and Photographs
1986, undated
carton 3, folder 27
Government Relations, James Murray
1988-1989
carton 3, folder 28
Government Relations, James Murray and Robert
Wagstaff
1989-1990
carton 3, folder 29
Tunnel Under Bering Strait
1989-1995
carton 3, folder 30-32
Responsive Energy & Technology Symposium &
International Exhibition (RETSIE) Conference
1990-1991
carton 3, folder 33
Finance and Administration
1990
carton 3, folder 34
Other Arctic Proposals
1990-1991
carton 4, folder 1
Development Proposal by Peace Race Society
1990
carton 4, folder 2
Vladmir Mironov Papers
1991-1992
carton 4, folder 3
ICBP, Inc. Board of Directors
1991
carton 4, folder 6
Alaska Rotary Club Banquet
1992
carton 4, folder 7
Dissolution Papers
1995-1996
Rio Colorado Bridge, Costa Rica,
1966-1967
carton 4, folder 8
Drawings, Calculations and Papers
1966-1967
Oversize folder 5C
Drawings, Calculations and Papers
1966-1967
Ruck-A-Chucky Bridge,
1972-1978
carton 4, folder 9
Design of Hanging Arc
undated
carton 4, folder 12
Development of Hanging Arc
1975-1976
Oversize folder 6A
Development of Hanging Arc
1975-1976
carton 4, folder 13
Analysis of Hanging Arc
1975-1978
Oversize folder 7B
Analysis of Hanging Arc
1975-1976
carton 4, folder 18
EQ Piers, Hanging Arc
1976
Oversize folder 9A
EQ Piers, Hanging Arc
1976
carton 4, folder 21
Costs and Correspondence
1976-1977
carton 4, folder 22
Articles and Publicity
1976-1977
carton 4, folder 23-24
Final Design Report
1977-1978
Gibraltar Strait Bridge Crossing,
1982-1997
carton 4, folder 26
Proposals and Design
1982-1991
Oversize folder 11C
Proposals and Design
1982-1991
carton 4, folder 29-30
Design and Administration
1984-1992
carton 5, folder 1-2
Design and Administration
1984-1992
Oversize folder 12B
Design and Administration
1984-1992
carton 5, folder 5-7
Studies, Reports and Analyses
1984-1992
carton 5, folder 13-14
Bridge Comparisons-1
1985-1986; 1991
carton 5, folder 15
Images and Research
1985-1990
carton 5, folder 18
National Company for Studies of the Straits (SNED)-Spanish Company for Studies
of a Fixed Link Across the Straits of Gibraltar (SECEG)
1990-1991
Oversize folder 15C
Plans and Drawings
1990-1992
carton 5, folder 20
Finance and Administration
1991
carton 5, folder 21-22
International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering
[IABSE] Paper Award
1993-1994
carton 5, folder 23
Post Resignation Materials
1992-1993
carton 5, folder 24
Papers and References
1994-1996
carton 5, folder 25
Erik Lin; David Billington
1996
Pudong Development,
1985-1998
carton 6, folder 6
Planning and Finance
undated
carton 6, folder 7
Planning and Background
1993, undated
carton 6, folder 9
Shanghai Correspondence and Publicity
1998, undated
carton 6, folder 11
Slides and Photographs
[ca. 1990's]
Golden Gate Bridge Retrofit,
1989-1991
carton 6, folder 12
Articles, Correspondence, Legal
undated
carton 6, folder 13
Corporate Brochure
[ca. 1990s]
Carton 6
Series 4:
Subject Files: China,
1982-1997
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Content Note
Chinese language materials, arranged in alphabetical order by folder title. The series consists
of information pertaining to Lin's interest in the politics of his native China and possible
unification with Taiwan and the creation of a new constitution. There is also information
regarding Sino-United States relations, specifically correspondence between Peoples Republic of
China leaders and information on United States-China policies.
carton 6, folder 14
Analysis of China's Future
1996-1997
carton 6, folder 15-18
China Constitution
1988-1995
carton 6, folder 19
China/Taiwan Unification Correspondence
1992-1997
carton 6, folder 20-21
Constitution, Unification
undated
carton 6, folder 22
Non-China Constitutions
1982-1995
carton 6, folder 23-24
Peoples Republic of China Leaders Correspondence
[ca. 1983-1998]
carton 6, folder 25-26
Related Chinese Publications
[ca. 1990s]
carton 6, folder 27
United States-China Policy Report
1995-1997
