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Gutleben Collection, 1916-1959.
MANUSCRIPT 2342-2379
Collection Overview

Title:

Gutleben Collection, 1916-1959
C. T. Gutleben collection, 1916-1959

Creator/Contributor:

Gutleben, C. T. (Christian Theophil), 1883-1968, creator

Creator/Contributor:

Burr, Myron C., 1884-1977

Creator/Contributor:

Gutleben, Dan, 1878-1969

Creator/Contributor:

Hull, Daniel R.

Creator/Contributor:

Jira, Fred.

Creator/Contributor:

Lewis, W. B. (Washington Bartlett)

Creator/Contributor:

MacPherson, James.

Creator/Contributor:

Mather, Stephen T. (Stephen Tyng), 1867-1930

Creator/Contributor:

McAllister, M. Hall.

Creator/Contributor:

Underwood, Gilbert Stanley.

Creator/Contributor:

J. H. Pomeroy & Company

Abstract:

The C.T. Gutleben Collection consists of the business and personal correspondence of C. T. Gutleben, a project engineer for industrial, governmental, corporate and private construction projects during the years of 1916 through 1959. The collection documents the building of bridges, commercial and industrial structures, apartments, residences, hotels, a church, sugar refineries and service stations in California and projects for the federal government in the western states and overseas. Highlighting the collection of Gutleben's work are photographs and drawings of projects in Yosemite National Park during the years from 1916 through 1926, where Glacier Point Hotel, several bridges, a swimming pool, a sewer system, a powerhouse and other park buildings were built. Drawings and correspondence promoting winter sports, the Glacier Point Incline, snowsled design and the Yosemite Boating Development project are available.
Other highlights include the drawings, photographs and correspondence about the false work, arch structure and the approach ways for the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. In addition, engineering projects located in Canada, Kuwait Harbor, Kai Tak (Hong Kong) and Subic Bay (Philippine Is.) are documented with correspondence, maps, drawings and photographs.
There are four series in this collection: Projects, Business papers, Business correspondence, and Personal papers. The Projects, which are arranged alphabetically by original project title, contain the papers associated with each individual engineering project. Within each title there are papers of correspondence, estimates, lists, drawings, cost analysis, vital correspondence and contracts, purchasing invoices, accounting records, photographs, printed material, ephemera and miscellaneous. Several of the projects were originally in a notebook format with divider sub headings. To maintain the integrity of this original style a notebook format has been recreated.
Big Creek Bridge, Big Dann and Cedar Creek Bridges, Big Tajunga Bridge, Burns Creek Bridge, Fresno River Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the Klamath River Bridge represent California Bridge projects. The list continues with Mission Bridge, Rio Hondo Bridge, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, San Luis Rey Bridge, Torrey Canyon Bridge and Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge.
Moffett Field, Fire Island Military Installation (Alaska), Fort Emory, General Storehouse Naval Supply Depot, Regina Pipe Mill, Seward (Alaska), the Bohemian Club; Celite Corporation, Carbide & Carbon Chemical Co., Camas Waste Liquid Disposal (Crown Zellerbach), Columbia Steel Co., Shasta Alpine Lodge, and U.S. Steel Products Co. represent other projects.
Photographs accompany several notable engineering projects in Yosemite National Park. These include the construction of the Glacier Point Hotel, Yosemite Creek Bridge, Half-Dome Stairway, the Museum and the Administration Building.
The Business papers are arranged chronologically, the bulk between 1920 and 1950. They consist of bank papers, bid records, contractor lists, insurance papers, legal papers, patent papers, management outlines and material inventory papers.
Business correspondence is arranged in individual folders from A to Z, which is in keeping with the integrity of author's original order. Of note is correspondence from Stephen T. Mather, Myron C. Burr, M. Hall McAllister, Daniel Hull, Dan Gutleben and J. H. Pomeroy & Co.
Personal papers are arranged chronologically, the bulk between 1930 and 1959. They include correspondence from family members, personal interest news clippings, rental correspondence, retirement papers, tax papers, diary notes, postcards, photographs and ephemera from travels.

Date:

1916 (issued)

Contents:

2342: Projects: A - Big Creek Bridge. -- 2343-2344: Big Dann & Cedar Creek. -- 2345: Big Tajunga - Carbide & Carbon. -- 2346: Celite. -- 2347: Church - Colorado. -- 2348: Columbia Steel. -- 2349: Columbia Steel - Feather River. -- 2350: Fire Island - Fox House. -- 2351: Fresno. -- 2352: General Storehouse - Geneva. -- 2353-2354: Golden Gate.
2355: Graceland Cemetery - Keddie. -- 2356: Klamath River. -- Korea. -- 2357-2358: Kuwait (Pomeroy, J. MacPherson). -- 2359: Kyle - Mission. -- 2360: Moffett Field. -- 2361: Mt. Diablo - Pacific Mills. -- 2362: Pacific Naval Air Station. -- 2363: Pacific Sugar - Provo. -- 2364: Pumping plant - Red Bluff. -- 2365: Regina Pipe - S. F. Expo. -- 2366: S. F. Bay Bridge. -- 2367: San Luis Rey. -- 2368: Sanger - Soule. -- 2369: Stockton - Trinity. -- 2370: U.S. Steel - Vallejo. -- 2371: Venezuela - Wheatland.
2372: Yosemite (M.C. Burr, D.R. Hull, F. Jira, W.B. Lewis, S.T. Mather, M.H. McAllister, G.S. Underwood). -- 2373 - 2374: Yosemite (M.H. McAllister). -- 2375-2376: Yosemite (Photographs). -- 2377: Business papers. -- 2378: Business correspondence. -- 2379: Personal papers.

Subject:

n-us-ca
Gutleben, C. T. (Christian Theophil) -- 1883-1968 -- Archives
Gutleben Brothers -- Records and correspondence
Engineers -- California -- Correspondence
Bridges -- California -- Design and construction
Dredging -- Kuwait -- Kuwait Harbor -- History
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Design and construction
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.) -- Design and construction
Yosemite National Park (Calif.) -- History
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Photographs
Moffett Field (Calif.) -- Photographs
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.) -- Photographs
Yosemite National Park (Calif.) -- Photographs

Note:

Negative numbers on some photographs, written on verso.
Christian Theophil Gutleben, known as "C. T." and "Phil", was born in Fontanelle, Nebraska on December 4, 1883. He attended a country school, a small western college and received a classical and engineering education at the University of Nebraska. Migrating to California in 1905, he eventually created the contracting firm of Gutleben Brothers, which operated until 1934, after which he began working for J. H. Pomeroy & Co.
His immediate family listed his wife, the former Emma Wolkenhauer and four children: Chester, Theodore, Emma and Gertrude. Gutleben lived primarily in Oakland where he was an active member of the First Lutheran Church. There was also a residence in Los Angeles.
Business affiliations included the Industrial Association of San Francisco (1923), the Bohemian Club (San Francisco, Calif.), Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce (1923), Pacific Union Club (San Francisco, Calif.), American Society of Civil Engineers, General Contractors of San Francisco, Olympic Club (San Francisco, Calif.) and Engineers' Club of San Francisco (1954). C. T. Gutleben was listed in Who's Who in Engineering (1924-1926) and published several articles.
Later work included travel, which is glimpsed in diary notes written in [1954], where he related "during the past decade the narrator C. T. Gutleben has visited the Near and Middle East and various European countries, as well as the Far East Japan and the Philippines. He has made 20-Pacific and 4-Atlantic crossing[s]; a turn around the world and a side turn to Alaska and Canada..." Gutleben retired as a Senior Vice President of the J.H. Pomeroy & Co, Inc. in 1958, after which he was able to pursue his life long hobby of photography. He passed away in Walnut Creek, May 10, 1968.
C. T. Gutleben Collection, 1916-1959.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Type:

biography
Engineering drawings.
Blueprints.

Physical Description:

print
38 ms. boxes : ill., maps, plans, photographs.

Language:

English

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT 2342-2379

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.