Finding Aid for the R. R. Martel Papers 1922-1935
Processed by Nurit Lifshitz.
Caltech Archives
Archives
California Institute of Technology
1200 East California Blvd.
Mail Code 015A-74
Pasadena, CA 91125
Phone: (626) 395-2704
Fax: (626) 793-8756
Email: archives@caltech.edu
URL: http://archives.caltech.edu/
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California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: R. R. Martel Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1922-1935
Collection number: 10215-MS
Creator: Martel, R. R. (Romeo Raoul) 1890-1965
Extent:
3 linear feet
Repository:
California Institute of Technology. Caltech Archives
Pasadena, California 91125
Abstract: The correspondence, manuscripts, reports, photos, and published papers of Romeo Raoul Martel (1890-1965) form the collection
known as the R. R. Martel Papers in the Archives of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Martel was professor
of civil engineering at Caltech from 1918 until his retirement in 1960. Prof. Martel was a pioneer in the earthquake-resistant
design of structures and in earthquake engineering research. He also served as a consulting engineer for the cities of Pasadena,
Glendale, Burbank, Riverside and Los Angeles.
Physical location: Archives, California Institute of Technology.
Language of Material:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
The collection is open for research. Researchers must apply in writing for access.
Publication Rights
Copyright may not have been assigned to the California Institute of Technology Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Caltech Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the California Institute of Technology Archives as the owner of the physical items and, unless explicitly stated otherwise,
is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], R. R. Martel Papers, 10215-MS, Caltech Archives, California Institute of Technology.
Acquisition Information
The small collection of R. R. Martel Papers were donated to the Caltech Archives by Professor George W. Housner in April 2002.
Biography
Romeo Raoul Martel was born in Iberville, Quebec in 1890, and moved to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with his family a year later.
He graduated from Brown University in 1912 and taught civil engineering at Rhode Island State College for a year, and at the
Mechanics Institute in Rochester, New York, for another year.
During 1915-1918, he was engaged in civil engineering work in industry. He worked as an assistant engineer for the Sayles
Finishing Plants in Rhode Island and at the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Amarillo, Texas. In 1918, he was invited
to join the faculty of Caltech, where he became a full professor of civil engineering in 1930.
R. R. Martel served as a consultant on the construction of Pasadena's San Rafael Bridge in 1921 and later consulted on the
designs of the Linda Vista and Colorado Street bridges. He also served as a consulting engineer for the cities of Pasadena,
Glendale, Burbank, Riverside and Los Angeles. He consulted on the design of flood control structures and reservoirs for the
US Army Corps of Engineers in Los Angeles, and served on the Advisory Committee of Engineering of the US Coast and Geodetic
Survey between 1947-1952.
Professor Martel was one of the first engineers interested in the field of earthquake resistant structures. He was one of
the founders, along with Dr. George W. Housner, of the independent non-profit Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, which
was established in 1952 to promote research on safe and economical earthquake resistant structures.
R. R. Martel was a member of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineers, the Seismological Society of
America, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, the Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France,
and a past president of the Structural Engineering Association of Southern California.
R. R. Martel passed away on February 28, 1965.
Scope and Content
The small collection of R. R. Martel Papers comprise four boxes of correspondence, research notes, reports and photographs.
They cover the time period of 1922 through 1935.
About a third of R. R. Martel's collection deals with the Long Beach Earthquake, which occurred on March 10, 1933. A variety
of material regarding that earthquake, from related correspondence to reports, can be found in Series 2.
In 1926, Martel was a delegate of the Southern California Council on Earthquake Protection to the 3rd Pan-Pacific Science
Congress in Tokyo, and again in 1929, to the World Engineering Congress there. Material regarding these conferences and others
can be found in Series 3.
Martel was consultant on the design and construction of many buildings and structures, both public and private. Rare and unique
photos of earthquake damage to a variety of those structures in the U.S.A. and Japan can be found in Series 4.
Rare journals and reprints from the late 1920s to the early 1930s, as well as Martel's remarks on earthquakes can be found
in Series 5.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Correspondence
- Series 2. Long Beach Earthquake (March 10, 1933)
- Series 3. Talks and Conferences
- Series 4. Maps and Photos
- Series 5. Publications
Related Material
Researchers should also examine the Papers of Robert A. Millikan, Don L. Anderson, and John P. Buwalda, as well as the oral
histories of George W. Housner and Donald Hudson, which are deposited in the Caltech Archives.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
California Institute of Technology
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Civil engineering
Earthquake engineering
Earthquake resistant design
Occupations
Civil engineers
Box 1, Folder 1
Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pacific
1927, 1933
Box 1, Folder 2
California Uniform Building Code
1933-1935
Box 1, Folder 5
McLean, Ralph S.
1933-1934
Box 1, Folder 7
Miscellaneous correspondence
Scope and Content Note
- Burne, Stanley 1933
- Clay Products Institute of California 1928
- Derrick, C. J. 1934
- Doolittle, H. L. 1931
- Erick, Murray undated
- Garrett, J. A. 1933
- Gregory, S. M. 1933
- Hadley, Homer M. 1933
- Hayes, J. E. 1935
- Maher, T. J. 1933
- Naito, T. 1927
- Querida, Quinta 1933
- Simons Brick Company 1933
- Whittlesey, H. C. 1933
- Wilder, Robert M. 1933
Series 2.
Long Beach Earthquake (March 10, 1933)
Box 1, Folder 16
"Estimates of cost for rehabilitation of Los Angeles City schools," excerpt from
Southwest Builder and Contractor
1933 Dec
Box 1, Folder 17
Report: "Certain information pertaining to the problem of reconstructing, rehabilitating, and strengthening school buildings
of Los Angeles City"
1934 Jan 5
Box 1, Folder 18
Report: "Structural problems in connection with the design of earthquake resistive school buildings," [by] C. H. Kromer
1934 Apr 14
Box 1, Folder 19
School Safety Bonds
1933-1934
Box 1, Folder 20
Brochure: "Safety with economy in school buildings"
1934 Aug
Note
Prepared and published by National Lumber Manufacturers association.
Box 1, Folder 21
Diagram: Beverly Hills High School
undated
Box 1, Folder 22
"Preliminary notice: Earthquake of March 10, 1933"
1933 Apr 4
Box 1, Folder 23
"Engineering lessons of the quake," by R. R. Martel
1933 Apr 12
Note
Presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Symposium on the Long Beach Earthquake of March 10, 1933.
Box 1, Folder 24
"What happened geologically," by J. P. Buwalda
1933 Apr 12
Note
Presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Symposium on the Long Beach Earthquake of March 10, 1933.
Box 1, Folder 25
"What happened seismologically," by H. O. Wood
1933 Apr 12
Note
Presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Symposium on the Long Beach Earthquake of March 10, 1933.
Box 1, Folder 26
"The Southern California earthquake as affecting automatic sprinkler fire protection"
1933 Apr 12
Box 1, Folder 27
"Building Department of the City of Long Beach repairs by Gunite, specification no. 1"
1933 May 4
Box 1, Folder 28
"Effect of Southern California earthquake upon building of unit masonry construction," by Raymond E. Davis
1933 May 31
Box 2, Folder 1
"Abstracts of reports received regarding the earthquake which occurred in Southern California on March 10, 1933"
1933 Jun 15
Note
Prepared by the Department of Commerce, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Box 2, Folder 2
"Report concerning earthquake of March 10, 1933"
1933 Jun 26
Note
Submitted by Harry H. Baskerville to the Los Angeles City Board of Education.
Box 2, Folder 3
"Condensed report of the damage done by the earthquake of March 10, 1933, and subsequent shocks to the Lyons Van Storage warehouse,
Long Beach, California," compiled by E. S. Marsh
1933 Aug 1
Box 2, Folder 4
"The Southern California earthquake," by Victor A. Endersby
1933
Box 2, Folder 5
"Report of the Southern California earthquake of March 10, 1933 in the design of steel storage tanks"
1934 Jan 11
Note
Prepared by the California District Sub-Committee on Tanks.
Box 2, Folder 6
"Report of the structural damage to the Wilmore Apartments, Long Beach, California," [Prepared by] Edward L. Mayberry
probably 1933
Box 2, Folder 7
"Report on California First National Bank building, First & Pine, Long Beach"
probably 1933
Series 3.
Talks and Conferences
3
rd Pan-Pacific Science Congress, Tokyo, Japan 1926
Box 2, Folder 8
"Notes: Reconstruction of Tokyo and Yokohama"
[1927]
Box 2, Folder 9
"Discussions on construction of earthquake proof frame buildings," by Dr. Tachu Naito
undated
Note
Translated from Japanese.
Box 2, Folder 10
Miscellaneous research material regarding Japan earthquake Sep 1, 1923
World Engineering Congress, Tokyo, Japan 1929
Box 2, Folder 11
"On earthquake and building construction," by Dr. Kenzaburo Mashima
1929
Note
Presented at the World Engineering Congress, Japan, 1929.
Box 2, Folder 12
"On the vibration curves of high framed structures," by A. Mizuhara
1929
Note
Presented at the World Engineering Congress, Japan, 1929.
Box 2, Folder 13
"Earthquake-resistant building construction in Japan in theory and practice"
1929
Note
Abstracts of papers presented at the World Engineering Congress, Japan, 1929.
Box 2, Folder 14
Photos of Japanese buildings and structures
probably 1926
Note
Students' classwork dated Jan-Apr 1929 on reverse side.
Box 2, Folder 15
Postcards of Japanese buildings
undated
Note
Students' classwork dated Jan-Apr 1929 on reverse side.
Box 2, Folder 16
Excerpts from
Engineering News-Record regarding Japanese structures
1929-1930
Box 2, Folder 17
Glass slides for Martel's lecture
Scope and Content Note
- Box 1: 6 b/w slides of Tokyo, Japan undated
- Box 2: 7 b/w slides of Tokyo, Japanundated
- Box 3: 5 b/w slides of Yokohama, Japanundated
- Box 4: 5 colored slides of Japan, generalundated
Box 2, Folder 18
"Strengthening buildings for earthquake stress," talk given at University of Southern California
1934 May 31
Box 2, Folder 19
Structural Engineers Association of California Annual Convention (4
th: Fresno)
1935 Oct 18-19
Box 2, Folder 20
"Two years of experience in the application of the Field Act"
1935 Nov 7
Note
Paper presented before the Industrial Section of the California State Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles.
Series 4.
Maps and Photos
Box 3, Folder 1
Map: Los Angeles District
undated
Box 3, Folder 2
Map: Depleted groundwater basins in metropolitan area
1931 Aug
Box 3, Folder 3
Photos: Seismographic records
1922, 1928
Box 3, Folder 4
Photos: Santa Barbara earthquake damages
1925-1929
Box 3, Folder 5
Photos: First Trust Building, Pasadena, California
undated
Box 3, Folder 6
Photos: The New Edison Building, Los Angeles, California
undated
Box 3, Folder 7
Photos: Southern California earthquake damages
1933 Mar 10
Box 3, Folder 8
Photos: Earthquake damage to a house in Compton, California
undated
Box 3, Folder 9
Photos: Gold Medal Creamery Building, East Anaheim near Ohio
undated
Box 3, Folder 10
Photos: Unidentified buildings photos
undated
Box 3, Folder 11
Photo: Apparatus, unidentified
undated
Box 3, Folder 12
Building Economy, vol. 6, no. 6
1930 Jul
Box 3, Folder 13
California Highways and Public Works
1933 Apr, Jul-Aug
Box 3, Folder 14
The Conference Bulletin
1933 Apr, Jun; 1934 Jan
Box 3, Folder 15
The Engineering Magazine, vol. 1, no. 4
1930 Dec
Box 3, Folder 17
Pipe Progress, vol. 18, no. 2
1933 Apr
Box 3, Folder 18
West Coast Builders
1933 Mar
Box 3, Folder 19
"The rigidity and strength of flame walls," by George W. Trayer
1929 Oct 7
Note
Accompanied by a letter dated May 2, 1933 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.
Box 3, Folder 20
"Report of flame and bond tests made upon Thermax insulating board for the Thermax Corporation, Chicago, Illinois"
1932 Jan 14
Note
Report no. 2282 of the Committee on Testing, Department of Civil Engineering, Columbia University.
Box 3, Folder 21
"Report on effects of Southern California earthquake on Lamella Roof Construction"
probably 1934
Box 3, Folder 22
"The dynamics of oscillating structures," [by] L. M. Hoskins
undated
Box 3, Folder 23
"Earthquake provisions for First Trust Building, Pasadena, California," [by R. R. Martel]
probably 1927
Reprints and Miscellaneous
Box 4, Folder 1
R. R. Martel reprints
1929, 1933
Box 4, Folder 2
Reprints of others
1924-1934
Box 4, Folder 3
Binder: "Notes on earthquakes" by R. R. Martel
1933-1934
Box 4, Folder 4
Broschure:
When earthquake comes-good construction wins!
probably 1934
Note
Published by Portland Cement Association.
Box 4, Folder 5
Excerpts from
Engineering News-Record and newspaper clippings
1927-1933
