TITLE: Book Launch of "Lighthouses" and "Bridges"
SPEAKER: various speakers
EVENT DATE: 05/09/2007
FORMAT: Video + Captions
RUNNING TIME: 61 minutes
TRANSCRIPT: View Transcript (link will open in a new window)
DESCRIPTION:
The Library of Congress and W.W. Norton & Company celebrated the publication of "Lighthouses" and "Bridges" with a special program.
"Lighthouses" by Sara E. Wermiel and "Bridges" by Richard L. Cleary are the fourth and fifth volumes in the Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture Design and Engineering series. They join "Barns" by John Vlach, "Canals" by Robert Kapsch and "Theaters" by Craig Morrison.
"Lighthouses" conveys the romance and beauty of these iconic navigational aids while explaining their development and structure. The book covers lighthouses from all parts of the United States from the late 18th century to the 1940s, when control of the lighthouses was transferred to the Coast Guard and after which few new ones were built. Images of lighthouses from coast to coast provide examples of striking design and setting as well as celebrating technological achievement and the work of important engineers.
"Bridges" surveys these ubiquitous structures, from familiar monuments to modest designs. It categorizes American bridges from coast to coast in terms of four fundamental structural types (beam, arch, truss and suspension) as well as movable bridges (swing, lift and bascule). The volume includes "A Call for Preservation" of the engineering heritage of the American bridge, written by Eric DeLony, former chief of the Historic American Engineering Record at the National Park Service.
The May 9th program features illustrated presentations by the authors, book signings and a reception. The event is made possible by the Library's Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering, Publishing Office and Science, Technology and Business Division in cooperation with W.W. Norton, the Latrobe Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and the National Capital Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
