Reproduction & Preservation

We have mentioned in an earlier post the relationship between architectural reprographic processes and jazz music in New Orleans. Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archive retains the blueprint-laden manuscript collection of local musician John Hyman, aka Johnny Wiggs.

For those interested in large format duplication processes, catalogs published by the Eugene Dietzgen Company provide considerable information. Product number 4310B (top image) was a sheet washer for developing blueprints and negative prints in running water. A clamping device fixed the drawing into a near-vertical position for the washing process. Wet prints could be dried on the rack attached to the top of the washer.

Dietzgen vacuum print frames were sold individually (bottom image) or with high power arc lamps (central image). The company recommended the individual print frame for both electric and sun printing. The frame's vacuum pump connected to a rubber blanket designed to keep the sensitized paper and the trace material firmly in position against the glass plate.

When the vacuum print frame was coupled with the lamps, Dietzgen recommended its use for processing Vandykes and Edco process prints. The latter was the company's method of reproducing original tracings by making a Vandyke negative of the original tracing and then placing the intermediate directly atop a sensitized cloth (called Edco Process Cloth) and exposing the sheets to light as one would do in the development of a blueprint. After the Edco Process Cloth was exposed, the technician would rinse it with water, apply a developing liquid, rinse it a second time, and hang the print out to dry.

Companies such as Dietzgen encouraged architectural and engineering businesses to make duplicates of original tracings for preservation purposes: "This is the best insurance known, for the duplicate may be filed away in a vault, or elsewhere, safe from loss or damage by fire."(1)

(1)Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., Manufacturers Blue Print Papers/Drafting Room supplies/Survey Instruments/and Accessories/Measuring Tapes. Chicago: Eugene Dietzgen Co., 1931, p. 33.

Images above:  Catalog of Eugene Dietzgen Co., Manufacturers Blue Print Papers/Drafting Room supplies/Survey Instruments/and Accessories/Measuring Tapes. Chicago: Eugene Dietzgen Co., 1931.
Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Blueprint Rations

During World War II, the Southern Blue Print Company, operating at 710 Gravier Street in New Orleans, issued a missive to its customers, requesting that they "PLEASE READ CAREFULLY."  The letter outlined the difficulties the company faced in obtaining engineering supplies, drawing materials, and drafting room equipment, and the necessity for obtaining Priority Ratings on all orders:

"A majority of our customers are presently engaged in doing Defense work and they should have no trouble in obtaining Preference Rating and/or Preference Rating Certificates, which ratings should be extended to us in order that we can replenish our stock from our suppliers.  In the case of many items listed in our catalogs, these cannot be supplied except where very high Ratings are extended to us.  In all cases, therefore, we should be furnished with as high a Priority Rating as it is possible for the customer to obtain."

For those customers unable to obtain Priority Ratings, Southern Blue Print Company advised:

"Those of our customers who are not in a position to extend Priority Ratings to us may in the near future be unable to obtain drafting materials for the conduct of their business, however, we feel assured that we will always be in a position to offer some sort of substitute and we will do everything possible to see that these customers are taken care of to the best of our ability.  We wish, however, to impress on all concerned that Defense Plants, vital Government Agencies and essential industries must be supplied first as they form a vital link in our National Defense, and they, first of all, are entitled to materials with which to work.  All users of Blue Prints, Photostat Prints, etc., doing Defense work, should naturally be in a position to furnish us with Priority Ratings and we therefore expect that in all cases where ratings are obtainable, that such ratings are extended to us."

The letter concluded:

"These are trying times for everyone, and we ask your earnest co-operation along the lines requested above.  If you will do your part we assure you of our best efforts in your behalf."

This was not the first time architects had been called upon to cooperate with American war efforts.  During World War I, the Red Cross solicited architect and engineers to surrender their linen tracings for use as bandages.

Southern Blue Print Co., letter "To Our Customers," undated, Guy Seghers Office Records, "Southern Blue Print Co., 710 Gravier Street, 2nd Floor, New Orleans," Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Recycled Architectural Drawings

As reported by The Times-Picayune 7 October 1919:

"A curious war expedient has just been declared no longer necessary and the books are about to be closed on one of the most remarkable makeshifts which were resorted to during the era of universal shortages. One of the most distressing of war needs, we all know, was bandages, and what our war ladies did to supply the deficiency was one of the bright spots in efficiency, but 'over there' it was not as with us merely as a matter of woman-power that was needed, but still more the cloth of sufficient softness and fineness to wrap upon wounds and to bind fractures.

The old rags crop was quickly exhausted and a partial resort was had to various [illegible] that when dried were soft and absorbent and non-septic enough for clinical purposes. But there was still grave need for cloth, especially of linen cloth, and out of the emergency came an idea. It was remembered that thousands upon thousands of architectural and engineering plans were printed on heavily sized linen tracing papers--the kind from which blueprints are made--and also that home builders and engineers have a certain sentimental respect for their used plans, so that instead of casting them into the discard when their purpose is accomplished the architect and engineer are in the habit of rolling up the originals and stacking them on the top shelf, to accumulate dust and dream away the declining years of their lives.

The war idea was to appeal to the builders and surveyors and all others who might have on hand such stocks to sacrifice them for the good of the armies.

The War and Navy Departments, shipbuilding concerns and many other industrial enterprises turned over their stocks, and literally thousands upon thousands of willing donors added to the stacks of materials, described as 'linen, calico, butter-muslin, brown holland, etc.' which were then passed through no less than seven processes before they were freed from their glue and coloring matters and finally were rolled into neat bandages to be shipped to the several military hospitals near the front and in England, where the chief supply of such materials was secured."

To read more, consult America's Historical Newspapers, an online database available through Tulane University's Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. If you are interested in other databases that cover historic Louisiana newspapers, consult the "Databases of Historical Louisiana Newspapers" Research Guide page here.

Blueprints & Jazz

New Orleans' Warren Easton High School was originally founded as a public school for boys, formed by the consolidation of earlier schools located "above" and "below" Canal Street. With a new building designed by E.A. Christy (completed 1913), Warren Easton boasted a centralized Canal Street location and modern educational facilities to match. By the 1930s, the school was particularly noted for its mechanical drawing course.

John W. Hyman (1899-1977) taught mechanical drawing at Warren Easton High School for nearly two decades, from the 1920s-1940s. Tulane School of Architecture faculty member Milton Scheuermann, Jr. was one of Hyman's students, and tells the story of how Professor Hyman and fellow student Pete Fountain (born 1930) used Easton's blueprinting machine to copy music. Hyman and Fountain washed the prints, then "pasted" the wet blueprints on the chalkboard; when the blueprints dried, they naturally detached from the chalkboard and fell to the floor.

During the period he was teaching mechanical drawing, Professor Hyman had an important side gig performing jazz cornet. He made his first recordings under the name "John Hyman's Bayou Stompers," eventually adopted the stage name "Johnny Wiggs" and retired from teaching. Read more about Wiggs in The Jazz Archivist.

Images above: TOP: Wickes Bros. Blueprint Machine, Southern Architect and Building News (March 1919). The Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. BOTTOM: Joan Whitehead, photographer. Johnny Wiggs "Congo Square" and Other Vintage Material Album Cover from OffBeat: Louisiana Music and Culture. URL: www.offbeat.com/2011/01/01/johnny-wiggs-congo-square-and-other-vintage-material-ghb-records/