Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Lyman D. Wilbur Papers, 1900-1994
Overview of the Collection
- Title
- Lyman D. Wilbur Papers
- Dates
- 1900-1994 (inclusive)19001994
- Quantity
- 28 linear feet, (30 boxes)
- Collection Number
- MSS 205
- Summary
- The Lyman Wilbur Papers contain reports, correspondence, publications, sketches, maps, notebooks, financial records, and other documents related to his work as a civil engineer for Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc.
- Repository
-
Boise State University Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
1910 University Drive
Boise ID
83725
Telephone: 2084263990
archives@boisestate.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is available for research.
- Languages
- English
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Lyman Dwight Wilbur was a civil engineer and executive for Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. (M-K) He was born in California in 1900. His father, Curtis D. Wilbur, was a California Supreme Court Justice and served as Secretary of the Navy under the Coolidge Administration. Wilbur studied civil engineering at Stanford University, where his uncle Ray Lyman Wilbur was university president. In 1932, Harry Morrison offer Lyman a job in Los Angeles, working on irrigation projects throughout that state. That started a 39 year career for Wilbur, moving up to the positions of Vice President of engineering and president of M-K's International Engineering Company subsidiary; positions he held at the same time. After his retirement from M-K in 1970, Wilbur went into private consulting well into his 80's. He passed away in 2001 at the age of 100.
With decades of work in civil engineering, Lyman Wilbur received many awards and participated in a variety of record breaking construction projects. In 1952, when M-K was digging the Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco, Wilbur designed a system to hold back slipping earth on Russian Hill. In 1966, Engineering News-Record named him Construction's Man of the Year for managing war-time construction in Vietnam for the U.S. That article noted "Mr. Wilbur doesn't fit the stereotype picture of the construction stiff. A tall, courtly man who wears rimless glasses, he likes classical music and gardening, neither smokes nor swears, rarely takes a drink. And to find a man of his age-nearly 66-holding down one of the key jobs in a combat zone comes as a surprise." Also in the 1960s, He managed the deepest pier construction ever for the Tagus River Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal (270 feet below water at high tide). For achievements like these, Wilbur received what his peers considered the highest award for civil engineering: the John Fritz Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1972.
Sources: Engineering News-Record, "Construction's Man of the Year." February 17, 1966 McGraw-Hill. Page 99. EmKayan, "Emkayan Profile: Lyman Wilbur: A Construction Leader of the 20th Century." Morrison-Knudsen Company Inc. January 1992. Page 5.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The Lyman Wilbur Papers contain reports, correspondence, publications, sketches, maps, notebooks, financial records, and other documents related to his work as a civil engineer for Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Preferred Citation
[item description], Lyman Wilbur Papers, Box [number] Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
PersonalReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box | ||
| 1 | NAE Washington Meeting |
1968 |
| 1 | Academic |
1966-1967 |
| 1 | Affiliations, Associations, Clubs, Organizations |
1966-1969 |
| 1 | The College of Idaho |
|
| 1 | Family, Stocks, Miscellaneous |
1967-1969 |
| 1 | Ralph W. Olmstead |
1969 |
| 1 | Congratulatory Acknowledgments, Requests for Information |
1968-1969 |
| 1 | G. Jeuffroy, U.S. Visit |
1968-1969 |
| 1 | Political (Len Jordan, James McClure) |
1967-1969 |
| 1 | Society of American Military Engineers |
1967 |
| 1 | Mrs. L.H. Shattuck (Dorothy) |
1964-1969 |
| 1 | Hydraulic Calculator |
1922 |
| 1 | Suleyman Demirel, Honorary Membership, American Society of Civil Engineers |
1969-1970 |
| 1 | Calendars |
1982, 1986 |
| 1 | Boise Water System |
1976 |
| 1 | Engineers Licenses |
1929, 1953-1972 |
| 1 | Construction in Vietnam (speech) |
1966 |
| 1 | Sketch of Dam |
|
| 1 | Curtis D. Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy |
1929 |
| 1 | The Beavers, Awards Dinner |
1956, 1958, 1976 |
| 1 | Correspondence |
1967-1968, 1991 |
| 1 | Harry Morrison, Article |
1954 |
| 1 | James D. McClary, Article |
1972 |
| 1 | Lyman Wilbur, Articles |
1958, 1962 |
| 1 | Lyman Wilbur Interview conducted by Thomas Broussard |
1992 |
| 1 | The Moles' First 50 Years by Bill Youngs |
1988 |
| 1 | Certificates |
1948-1949 |
| 1 | Photographs (McGrath, Wilbur, Kaiser, Bacon, Fox) |
|
| 1 | United Airlines 100,000 Miles Club |
1951 |
| 1 | Handbook of English for Engineers |
1913 |
| 1 | Passports |
|
| 1 | Calendar |
1965 |
| 1 | Notebook (Rock Creek Tunnel, Rock Fill Dam, Culvert Installation, Ridge Route, Tieton Dam, Zion National Park, San Gabriel Dam, Horseshoe Tunnel, Tioga Road, Marion Dragline, Imperial Dam, Arnold Dam, Fort Supply Dam) |
1935-1948 |
| 1 | Steel Construction by American Institute of Steel Construction |
1929 |
| 1 | Civil Engineers' Pocket-Book by Albert I. Frye |
1913 |
| 1 | Board of Registration for Civil Engineers |
|
| 2 | Scrapbook (Camp Roberts, Associated General Contractors, Alexander R. Heron, Don Hull McCreery, Arthur Hook, Kelly McBean, Van Alstine, Tanner, Lee Narver, Don Robbins) |
1940-1944 |
| 2 | Articles |
|
| 2 | Robert Melbourne, Wake Island, Vietnam |
1970, 1994 |
| 2 | George Karcher Reminiscences |
1993 |
| 2 | Afghanistan |
circa 1957 |
| 2 | An Odyssey of an International Engineer: An Autobiography |
1991-1994 |
| 2 | Conference on Construction Operations |
1956 |
| 2 | Southest Builder and Contractor |
1935, 1943 |
| 2 | Lyman Wilbur Interview Conducted by Thomas Broussard |
1992 |
| 3 | Beaver Award |
1961-1962 |
| 3 | Idaho Society of Professional Engineers Award |
1967 |
| 3 | Moles Award |
1973-1974 |
| 3 | American Society of Civil Engineers Award |
1975 |
| 3 | American Society of Civil Engineers Honorary Membership |
1980 |
| 3 | National Society of Professional Engineers Award |
1975 |
| 3 | University of Idaho Honorary Degree |
1967 |
| 3 | Vietnam |
1965-1967 |
| 3 | Diplomas |
1914-1917 |
| 3 | East Bay Municipal Utility District, Turkestan |
1929-1931 |
| 3 | Rotary Club |
1975-1991 |
| 3 | Rotary Foundation |
1985-1986 |
| 3 | National Academy of Engineering |
1970-1983 |
| 3 | Speeches |
|
| 3 | Construction Man of the Year Award |
1966 |
| 3 | Ivory 500 Club |
1981-1985 |
| 3 | Arthur Wilbur |
|
| 3 | Photograph, Civil Engineering Class, Standford University |
circa 1920 |
| 4 | Appointment books |
1935-1946 |
| 5 | Appointment books |
1947-1958 |
| 6 | Appointment books |
1959-1969 |
| 7 | Appointment books |
1970-1981 |
| 8 | Appointment books |
1982-1993 |
| 28 | Awards and Medals |
|
| 28 | Engineers' Level Book |
|
| 28 | Airline Certificates |
1955-1965 |
| 28 | Slide Rule Data |
|
| 28 | Camp Roberts |
1941 |
| 27 | College engineering project |
|
| 28 | High School yearbooks |
|
| 9 | Handbook of Tunnel Engineering: Notes, Research, Drafts |
1972-1975 |
Early ProjectsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box | ||
| 10 | Turkestan: Hetch Hetchy Water Supply Project, Priest Dam, Dumbarton Bridge |
1931-1932 |
| 10 | Job Search |
1931 |
| 10 | St. Lawrence Power Development (New York) |
1931 |
| 10 | The Detroit-Windsor Bridge over the Detroit River by Charles Evan Fowler |
1929 |
| 10 | Puget Sound Navy Yard |
1925-1926 |
| 10 | Hetch Hetchy Water Supply (San Francisco) |
1923 |
| 10 | Hetch Hetchy Water and Power, Report of the Grand Jury Committee |
1931-1932 |
| 10 | Merced River (California) |
1925-1926 |
| 10 | Merced Irrigation District, Exchequer Dam and Power Plant |
1924-1925 |
| 30 | Merced Irrigation District, Exchequer |
|
| 10 | Merced Irrigation District, Yosemit Valley Railroad |
1924 |
| 10 | San Gabriel Dam (Los Angeles) |
1932 |
| 10 | Puddingstone Channel (Los Angeles) |
1927 |
| 10 | Pine Canyon Dam (Pasadena) |
1932-1933 |
| 10 | Jackson Creek Spillway |
|
| 10 | Great American Levees: A Comparative Report on Flood Protection in the Mississippi and Sacramento Valleys Made for the West Sacramento Company |
1913 |
| 10 | Tuolumne River Basin (California) |
1924 |
| 10 | East Bay Utility District, Mokelumne River Water Supply Project (California) |
1926-1929 |
| 11 | East Bay Utility District, Mokelumne River Water Supply Project (California)
|
1926-1929 |
Morrison-KnudsenReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Box | ||
| 12 | Oxbow Hydroelectric Development Idaho Spillway with Fuse Plug Control Model Studies of Fuse Plug Washout, by R.L. Albrook Hydraulic Laboratory and International Engineering Company, Inc. |
1959 |
| 12 | Cost and Revenue Data |
1920-1929 |
| 12 | Cost and Revenue Data |
1940-1979 |
| 12 | Comparison of Bids, Design Curves, Miscellaneous Data |
1931-1942 |
| 12 | Proposed Work |
1970 |
| 12 | Engineering Manual |
1955 |
| 12 | Morocco: press, photographs, correspondence |
1953-1954 |
| 12 | Lisbon |
1966 |
| 12 | Breastboard Jumbo/Broadway Tunnel |
1952 |
| 12 | Ann Morrison Memorial Park |
1957 |
| 13 | Board of Consultants for Conventional Earthwork Construction Methods |
1970 |
| 13 | Sea Level Canal |
1966-1969 |
| 13 | American Society of Civil Engineers |
1967-1969 |
| 13 | San Francisco Bart Job |
1967-1970 |
| 13 | Post-Vietnam Correspondence |
1966 |
| 13 | Travel Expense Vouchers |
1970 |
| 13 | Cost Data |
1932-1948 |
| 13 | Correspondence |
1936, 1958-1967 |
| 13 | Correspondence, Vietnam |
1965 |
| 13 | 40th Anniversary |
1952 |
| 13 | Guide to Field Investigations by International Engineering Company |
1960 |
| 13 | International Engineering Company |
1970 |
| 13 | Public Relations |
1966-1969 |
| 13 | Christmas List (Cards Received Office) |
1969 |
| 13 | Mecca Pass Tunnels, Los Angeles |
1933 |
| 13 | Proposed Morrison-Knudsen Bonus |
1951 |
| 13 | Equipment Rental Rates |
1962 |
| 13 | Report to the Directors |
1970 |
| 13 | Certified List of Stakeholders |
|
| 13 | Correspondence |
1970 |
| 13 | Consolidated Financial Statements |
1970 |
| 13 | Report of Operations |
1970 |
| 13 | Financial |
1970-1971 |
| 13 | Northern and Central California Chapter of Associated General Contractors |
1966 |
| 13 | YCWA |
1970 |
| 13 | Destruction of Dead Estimate Files |
1969 |
| 13 | Great Salt Lake Crossing, Report on Foundation Investigations and Designs, Quantities, Cost Estimates and Annual Costs of Alternate Structures for Southern Pacific Company |
1953 |
| 14-15 | Atlantic-Pacific Interoceanic Canal/Panama Canal/Sea-level Canal |
1966-1967 |
| 16 | New York Tunnel |
1975 |
| 16 | Broadway Tunnel |
1951 |
| 16 | Dworshak Dam |
1980 |
Dworshak Dam |
1980 | |
| Box | ||
| 29 | Dworshak Dam |
1973-1980 |
| 30 | Dworshak Dam |
|
| 16 | Pioneer Power Plant |
1975-1982 |
| 16 | Bench Sewer District |
1984 |
| 16 | Boise Chamber of Commerce, Energy Committee |
1981 |
| 16 | Small Power Production |
1981 |
| 16 | General-Kimble, Lake Sindelar |
1972 |
| 16 | Virginia Power |
1975 |
| 17 | Committee on Ocean Engineering |
1968 |
| 17 | National Academy of Engineering |
1969-1972 |
| 17 | American Arbitration Association |
|
| 18 | Tarbela Dam, Pakistan |
1974 |
| 29 | Tarbela Dam, Pakistan |
1974 |
| 18 | Tavera Dam, Dominican Republic |
1972 |
| 18 | Sao Simao, Brazil |
1974 |
| 18 | Guri Dam/Hydroelectric Development, Caroni River, Venezuela |
1969-1979 |
| 19 | Guri Dam/Hydroelectric Development, Caroni River, Venezuela |
1969-1979 |
| 27 | Guri Dam/Hydroelectric Development |
1969 |
| 30 | Guri Dam/Hydroelectric Development |
|
| 19 | San Lorenzo Project, El Salvador |
1977-1984 |
| 20 | San Lorenzo Project, El Salvador |
1977-1984 |
| 27 | San Lorenzo Project, El Salvador |
|
| 29 | San Lorenzo Project, El Salvador |
1978 |
| 20 | Itaipu, Brazil/Paraguay |
1972-1981 |
| 21-24 | Itaipu, Brazil/Paraguay |
1972-1981 |
| 25 | Itaipu, Brazil/Paraguay |
1972-1981 |
| 27 | Itaipu, Brazil/Paraguay |
|
| 29 | Itaipu, Brazil/Paraguay |
1976 |
| 30 | Itaipu, Brazil/Paraguay |
|
| 25 | "America's Builders: The Yearbook of Construction"; Vietnam |
1966-1967 |
| 25 | Don Pedro Dam, Modesto Irrigation District |
|
| 25 | Martinez-Benicia Bridge, CA |
|
| 27 | San Fernando Tunnel |
1969 |
| 27 | Harza Engineering history |
|
| 29 | Walla Walla |
|
| 30 | Summit Ranch |
1959 |
| 30 | The Alcan Project |
|
| 28 | Bear River Study |
PhotographsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | |||
| 25 | Fort Supply Dam, OK |
||
| 25 | Hetch Hetchy |
||
| 25 | Lafayette Dam |
||
| 25 | California, Washington DC, Colorado |
||
| 25 | Idaho, Utah, Wyoming |
||
| 25 | Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil |
||
| 25 | Brazil |
||
| 25 | Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands, Chile, Columbia |
||
| 25 | Greece, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon |
||
| 25 | Libya, Morocco, Mozambique |
||
| 25 | Netherlands, Pakistan, Bangladesh |
||
| 25 | Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal |
||
| 25 | Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkestan, Turkey |
||
| 25 | Venezuela |
||
| 25 | Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia |
||
| 25 | Camp Roberts |
||
| 25 | "The Muddy Months" Division 7, Myron B. Persons |
||
| 26 | Scrapbook |
||
| 28 | Scrapbook |
||
| 29 | Scrapbook |
1964-1967 | |
| 26 | Other/Unidentified |
||
| 26 | College |
||
| 26 | Family |
||
| Box | |||
| 26 | 1 | Afghanistan |
|
| 26 | 1 | Ajo House |
|
| 26 | 1 | Arlington Pipeline |
|
| 26 | 1 | Arnold Dam |
|
| 26 | 1 | Bay Crossing |
|
| 26 | 1 | Beach |
|
| 26 | 1 | Boulder Dam |
|
| 26 | 1 | Bridge |
|
| 26 | 1 | Cajalco, Fontana Pipeline |
|
| 26 | 1 | Cajon |
|
| 26 | 1 | Calavaras Dam |
|
| 26 | 1 | Cerro de Pasco Tunnel |
|
| 26 | 1 | Ciceroz Dam - Turkey |
|
| 26 | 1 | Coachella Valley Road |
|
| 26 | 1 | Colejio Tunnel Jumbo, Columbia |
|
| 26 | 1 | Contract 506 |
|
| 26 | 1 | Contract 515 |
|
| 26 | 1 | Coolidge Dam |
|
| 26 | 1 | Crocker-Huppman Dam Merced |
|
| 26 | 1 | Don Pedro |
|
| 26 | 1 | Dumbarton |
|
| 26 | 1 | El Capitan Dam |
|
| 26 | 1 | Exchequer |
|
| 26 | 1 | Firga Road |
|
| 26 | 1 | Flood |
|
| 26 | 1 | Fort Supply |
|
| 26 | 1 | Fortier Mixer Placer |
|
| 26 | 1 | Griffiths Siphon |
|
| 26 | 1 | Goeschenenalp Dam, Switzerland |
|
| 26 | 1 | Gunite |
|
| 26 | 1 | Hamilton Dam, Texas |
|
| 26 | 1 | Hetch Hetchy |
|
| 28 | Hetch Hetchy |
1922 | |
| Box | |||
| 26 | 1 | Houston, Texas |
|
| 26 | 1 | Imperial Dam and Pipeline |
|
| 26 | 1 | Istanbul |
|
| 26 | 2 | Karnafuli |
|
| 26 | 2 | Kingman Airport |
|
| 26 | 2 | Lisbon |
|
| 26 | 2 | Madera Inn District |
|
| 26 | 2 | Mammoth Lakes Bridge |
|
| 26 | 2 | Mecca Pars and Morango Siphon |
|
| 26 | 2 | Mecca Pass Tunnel |
|
| 26 | 2 | Merced Irrigation District |
|
| 26 | 2 | Metropolitan Water District |
|
| 26 | 2 | Monighan |
|
| 26 | 2 | Morengo, Pine Canyon Dam, Santa Ana River Bridge |
|
| 26 | 1 | Morocco |
|
| 26 | 2 | Multnomah Falls |
|
| 26 | 2 | Pictures Sent to National Geographic |
|
| 26 | 2 | New Orleans |
|
| 26 | 2 | O'Shaughnessy Dam |
|
| 26 | 2 | Pilot Knob |
|
| 26 | 2 | Pine Canyon Dam |
|
| 26 | 2 | San Gabriel Dam |
|
| 26 | 2 | Santa Ana River Bridge, Cajalco-Fontana Pipeline |
|
| 26 | 2 | Soledad Canyon and Debris Basin Cleanup |
|
| 26 | 2 | Southern Pacific Railroad Highway Bridge |
|
| 26 | 2 | Teton Dam |
|
| 26 | 2 | Troga Road |
|
| 26 | 2 | Tulare Lake and FOlsom Place Mine |
|
| 26 | 2 | Tunis Airport |
|
| 26 | 2 | Union Pacific Railway Bridge over Mojave River |
|
| 26 | 2 | Vietnam |
|
| 26 | 2 | Yosemite and Mammoth |
|
| 26 | 2 | Yosemite Claim |
|
| 26 | 2 | Yuma |
|
| 26 | 2 | Unidentified |
|
| 26 | 3 | Stereoscopes: Kavai, Princeville, Salt Lake Fill, Payette Lakes |
|
| 26 | 4 | Family: Christmas, Mexico, Portugal, Bogus Basin, The Netherlands, Denmark, |
|
| 28 | Family: Curtis D. Wilbur, Edna May Wilbur, Lyman Wilbur |
1900 | |
| 27 | Itaipu |
||
| oversize_drawers | drawer | ||
| 9034 | 1 | Itaipu |
|
| Box | |||
| 28 | Broadway Tunnel, San Francisco |
||
| 28 | Wishon Diversion Tunnel |
||
| 28 | Morrison-Knudsen Board |
||
Harry Morrison, Bob Bray, Wally (Turk) Hunter, Sherman Duckel, Lou Wheeler, Carl Larson, Ted Johnston, Harry Kirmond, John Erdle, George Partridge, Ole Singstad, Ralph Wadsworth, N.F. Yde, R.H. Owens |
|||
| Box | |||
| 28 | Camp White, Medford, OR |
1942 | |
| 28 | Unidentified |
||
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Construction industry
- Dams
- Dams--Design and construction
- Engineering
Corporate Names
- Morrison-Knudsen Company, inc.
Geographical Names
- Boise (Idaho)
Form or Genre Terms
- Photographs
Cheryl Oestreicher and Jim Duran
2014; updated 2023
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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