There were two firms in Chicago that published a series of books on house plans,
tools, materials, and even a couple of building encyclopedias.  One was the
Radford Architectural Co (1902-32).  I can't remember the name of the other.
Floyd Mansberger, Fever River Research, gave a talk on them at the Pioneer
America Society Annual Conf in Richmond, VA this last weekend.

JH Brothers IV

Kris Farmen wrote:

> Hello list. . .
>
> Anyone know were I could find construction manuals from the early part of this
> century?  Construction terms and methods obviously change over time; I'm
> hoping to be able to describe historic buildings using historic terms, i.e. if
> a structure I'm documenting was built in 1910, I'd like to be able to describe
> it with circa 1910 construction lingo.  Ideally, I'd like to find original
> textbooks from early trade schools (if such a thing even exists).  I have a
> first edition of Dwelling House Construction by Albert Dietz, circa 1946, but
> that's about as far as I've gotten.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
>
> Kris Farmen