What Happened to the Engineering Museum?
Here is a campus mystery I am unable to solve.
Science Hall is one of the older buildings on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. The building now standing on Park Street is the second version.
"Replacing a sandstone-faced, wooden structure that burned on December 1, 1884, Science Hall was completed in December, 1887, and was first occupied by University personnel in January, 1888." <https://geography.wisc.edu/history-of-science-hall/>
An illustration of the new Science Hall building, rebuilt after the fire of 1884.
<https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AWITQTR5TDGPZ28K>
The building still stands and is still in use, but something is missing. Apparently, there used to be an Engineering Museum in Science Hall.
The UW-Madison has plans to renovate Science Hall and looked into the history of the building. According to DFD #20E2A — Science Hall - Advanced Planning Study: Final Report by architects Aro Eberle [Nov 5, 2021] <https://cpd.fpm.wisc.edu/planning/science-hall-advanced-planning-study/>:
Basement / Garden Level
Current Uses: Mix of Nelson Institute and Geography administrative offices and classrooms, office support space, Nelson student lounge, mechanical and utility space, men’s restroom, underground electrical transformer vault, and some Geography administrative offices.
Alterations: This level was originally (1887) used for laboratories, a reading room/museum, restrooms, mechanical, and janitorial.
I found the following in the 1906 “University of Wisconsin Catalogue 1906-1907” on p. 258:
"THE ENGINEERING MUSEUM contains a complete set of Schroeder's models* for descriptive geometry, including shades, shadows, and perspective; also a small collection of Schroeder's kinematic models, besides a number of smaller models, made by students, illustrating problems in kinematics. An excellent industrial collection is in process of development.
"The standards of weight and measure belonging to the state are kept in the civil engineering department, and all official comparisons are made here."
* I looked up Schroeder's models and found an example at <https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/kinematic-curve-models-j-schr%C3%B6der/9AFrdR51bXHTAw>
Entries for the Engineering Museum continued to appear in the catalogues, right up until 1921, then they disappear. What happened to the museum is a mystery.
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| 1906-1907 |
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| 1913–1914 |
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| 1920–1921 |
And then the museum seems to have vanished.
What happened to the Engineering Museum?
I was lucky enough to have taught Technical Communication classes for the College of Engineering for 28 years. As part of my work I ran a K-12 Engineering Outreach Program to teach school children about what engineers do and I was a facilitator for Camp Badger Exploring Engineering for many years.
I spent a lot of time explaining what engineers have done and continue to do and I always thought it was a real shame that there is no place to showcase all the incredible accomplishments of Engineering faculty and students.
Once upon a time, there was an Engineering Museum and exhibits, which must be of historical interest by now.
Now it's a mystery and no one seems to know what happened to it.
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| A "Museum" in Science Hall around 1900—was this part of the Engineering Museum? <https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A3MIQIJBGWW2NP8L> |
Resources:
Feldman, Jim "The Buildings of the University of Wisconsin" 1997
Rademacher, Chelsea "Science Hall: A History" 2023, Nelson institute <https://nelson.wisc.edu/science-hall-a-history/>
Vale, Prof. Thomas "History of Science Hall" UW Geography Dept 1994 <https://geography.wisc.edu/history-of-science-hall/>
Mack, Prof. Jon. G. "Twelve Years Growth of University Equipment" The Wisconsin Engineer Vol. 6, No. 4 May 1902
➩➩Special Thanks to Mackenzie Ryan, University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives Collections and to Kacie Lucchini Butcher, Director of the Rebecca M. Blank Center for Campus History
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