You are in the Virtual Invention Factory. We are building an online science center while we are preparing for the first phase opening of the actual science center in Trenton, New Jersey, USA, in 1997. This is the information desk for the Roebling Online History Archive.



The Online History Archive is a self-guided tour of some of the history of the John A. Roebling's Son's Company. They made wire rope here in Trenton for over one hundred years. They brought us the Brooklyn, Golden Gate, and George Washington bridges and had a hand in making pretty much anything you can think of that needs wire. The archive is for scholars, teachers, families, and other historians. The archive is full of primary source documents from Roebling. It also contains some secondary materials from our historian. So enjoy, tell us what you think, bookmark, and come back soon.



General History of the Roebling Company
Primary Source Materials
Introduction to the Roebling handbook
The Roebling Story
The Writings of Washington Roebling
Secondary Source Materials
Roebling Timeline
Roebling Walking Tour
Roebling Genealogy
Roebling - A Select Bibliography
Biographies


Social History of the Roebling Company
Primary Source Materials
Roebling Safety Notice - Common Injuries, Common Solutions
Menu of the Month - From Roebling Magazine
Now You're Set for Life - Roebling Oral Histories
Roebling economic Primer - From Roebling Magazine
Roebling School of Economics - From a Roebling Poster
Rossi Sports Photograph Gallery
Roebling, New Jersey - An American Community


Wire and Wire Rope Products


Primary Source Materials
Introduction to Wire Rope
The 80-Ton wire Rope Machine
Wire Engineering
Wire Roping the Germans - A Roebling Publication
The Empire State Building
Roebling Welding Wire
Chicago's Board of Trade Building
The Washington Monument


The Roebling Bridge Division
Primary Source Materials
The Howard W. Hills Suspension Bridge Photograph Gallery
Writings of John A. Roebling
Suspension Bridge Technical Data
Building the George Washington Bridge (photographs)
Suspension Bridge Terminology (photographs)
Secondary Source Materials
Building the George Washington Bridge
Complete List of Roebling Suspension Bridges
Suspension Bridge Terminology
Rom Dog's Brookyn Bridge Homepage Live Camera
Bridge Fact Sheets




The Roebling Online History Archive is a project of the Invention Factory and was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. We would like to thank them for their support.


We like to thank the Roebling Alumni and their families who have made generous contributions to the Roebling History Archive.

We would especially like to thank:
The Princeton Area Community Foundation
The Trentoniana Collection at the Trenton Public Library
Peter Rossi
Charles Brenner
Donald Perkins
Robert Donner
Donald Hirst
Harold Hills
Martha Moore
and the members of the Advisory Committee:
Dennis Starr, Rider College
Charles Webster, Trenton Free Public Library
Stephen Klein, Educational Testing Service
Bruce McGraw, Lawrence Township Public Schools
Candy Mucioli, Cent'Anni Restaurant
Finally, we would like to acknowledge T. J. Thornton and Anthony Anastasio for their volunteer work on the archive.



The Roebling Online History Archive has been optimized for use with Netscape's Navigator 2.0. The page was designed for use with frames, but if your browser does not support them, you will still be able to view the site. You can dowload Netscape's Navigator here.

Many of the pages are graphics intensive, but we have done our best to keep loading times down. Let us know if you experience delays with any particular graphics. The site loads reasonably quickly with a 28.8 modem.

Please let us know if you have any technical difficulties or suggestions as to how we can make this a better site.



To print from the site, first break out of frames.


Some America Online browsers may not support transparent GIF files and may load images with backgrounds. Please let us know if you have this problem with any images in the archive.


Microsoft was, shall we say, in a hurry when they put out the first couple versions of the Internet Explorer. That's why everything looks a little bloated and strange viewed through them. Please download either the new version of the Internet Explorer or Netscape's Navigator (below).


Netscape has developed a system of frames which divide the browser window into independent sections. We have designed the Archive to support frames because it enables you to keep the menu at left while viewing the item selected there in the right window. The banner may be resized to give more reading room simply by clicking on the edge of the section you wish to see more or less of and then dragging to expand or contract the window. If you are navigating in frames and wish to go back within a particular frame: right click in frame, and select "Back in Frame". If your browser does not support frames, you can download the Netscape Navigator.