Guide to the Rudolph Hering Collection

Scope and Contents note

This collection contains pamphlets, reports, conference proceedings and journal articles, collected by Hering, about waste disposal, municipal sewage systems in the United States and other countries, drainage, water flow of rivers, experimental sewage investigations, and sanitary and hydraulic engineering. Some of the writings were authored by Rudoplph Hering, but many were authored by other civil engineers, such as George Waring, George Fuller, George Soper, and Gilbert Fowler to name a few.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1: United States Publications, 1874-1916

Series 2: Foreign Publications, 1871-1951

Series 3: General Publications, 1860-1923

Biographical/Historical note

Rudolf Hering (1847-1923) was born in Philadelphia and educated in Dresden, Germany. He graduated from the Royal Saxon Polytechnic Institute in 1867 with a degree in civil engineering. Hering returned to the United States and worked as a leveler in Brooklyn, New York for C.C. Martin, chief engineer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. From 1869 to 1872, Hering worked as an assistant engineer in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia under J.C. Cresson, but left Philadelphia the same year to join the first topography survey of Yellowstone National Park under geologist, Ferdinand V. Hayden. From 1873-1874, Hering was a resident engineer for the Girard Street Bridge in Philadelphia and later became an assistant engineer (1875 to 1880) for various Philadelphia municipal construction projects, notably bridges and sewers.

To prevent the spread of contagious diseases in the United States, Hering was commissioned by the National Board of Health to investigate European sewage practices from May 10, 1880 to May 25, 1881. Hering's report included a discussion of dry-removal vs. water-carriage systems, but Hering endorsed the water carriage system for the United States, a method for the disposal of wastes, where water carries the wastes from its point of production to the point of treatment for final disposal. Depending on the conditions of a location, Hering advocated that a combination of systems was advisable. Combined systems (one pipe conveyed household waste and stormwater) were best for large cities and separate systems (two separate pipes conveyed household waste and stormwater) were best for small cities. Hering's work was concerned with both the design and construction of water supply and sewage works in the United States and other countries.

Related Materials

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Sanitation (NMAH.AC.0060)