The William L. Clements Library has made available the collection of Robert M. Vogel, which contains more than 24,000 items related to industrial and mechanical engineering.
The finding aid for the collection is now available, and the materials are accessible for research at the Clements.
The Robert M. Vogel Collection of Historic Images of Engineering & Industry includes nearly 23,000 photographs of civil engineering, industrial processes and mechanization of the 19th century, as well as over 1,200 prints, books, ephemera and realia.
Paul Erickson, the Randolph G. Adams Director of the Clements Library, praised the value of the time and expertise devoted by Vogel, a 1954 graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Architecture and Design.
“A collection like Robert Vogel’s could only be assembled over the course of decades and would be impossible to recreate today when so many original images are no longer available,” Erickson said. “I’m deeply grateful to Mr. Vogel for his generosity to the university, as well as to colleagues at the University Library and the College of Engineering, whose visionary support ensured the Vogel Collection would come to Michigan.
“While the first step is to collect and preserve primary sources, the exciting part is supporting and encouraging scholarly investigation.”
Vogel’s vast collection provides uncommon insight into the history and development of industrial engineering. It includes images of civil infrastructure, construction projects, machinery and resource extraction infrastructure, and, of course, transportation infrastructure such as railroads, steamboats and automobiles.
Among his favorite items is a group of images from the 1860s advertising Baldwin locomotives.
“We used to follow railroad fan trips, driving alongside the train and taking pictures,” he said. “I started collecting when I was about 10 while at a summer camp near Bath, Maine. When the staff went into town for groceries, I’d go along and visit the local antique shops, buying stereo cards mainly of the Mount Washington Cog Railway. I was always interested in motors, cars and railroads.”
His fascination with all things mechanical was expanded by the family’s move to Baltimore in 1941 where he enjoyed riding the streetcars. He attended Antioch College and then transferred to U-M.
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He was promptly drafted into the U.S. Army and served two years with the Corps of Engineers. After his Army service, he worked briefly for a firm of Baltimore builders.
His passion for the history of engineering led him to the Smithsonian’s Museum of History and Technology where he was hired as an associate curator of heavy machinery and civil engineering.
He got the job and worked his way up to curator of the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, a position he held until retiring in 1988 after a 32-year career. He oversaw collections that included, “any machines without wheels” and curated numerous exhibits.
Vogel is also responsible for bringing a Dodge Brothers marine engine from the basement of the old U-M engineering building to the Smithsonian, where it remains on display.
In 1971 he became a founding member of the Society of Industrial Archeology. He conducted surveys of regional historic industrial structures and mentored other professionals in the field, securing him the title of “the Father of American Industrial Archaeology” and a term as the society’s president from 1981-82.
After storing these materials in his front porch-turned-office, Vogel donated them to the Clements in August 2022. While seeing his collection packed up was bittersweet, the collection has proved to be invaluable for researchers and students at the Clements.
Even before the collection was cataloged, Clements staff suggested some of the images be used for teaching purposes.
“Stereoscope cards like these, along with other kinds of visual materials, help bring history to new life in the hands of students as they leverage the archive to create new knowledge in new forms,” said Matthew Solomon, professor of film, television and media in LSA.
During the 2024 winter semester, Solomon taught “Film History: Origins to the New Wave.” The 20 undergraduate students worked on a capstone project, which resulted in both a physical installation and an online exhibition, “Living Photography: Finding Film History in the Archive.”
“As part of the exhibition, we were lucky to be able to showcase three early-20th-century stereoscope cards showing firefighters in action that are part of the Vogel Collection,” Solomon said. “These stereoscope cards allow viewers a 3D view of the work of firefighting with striking depth effects.”
