The Ball State University Libraries' Drawings + Documents Archive and Archives and Special Collections both hold extensive archival collections from Muncie's oldest employer, the Indiana Bridge Company, which first opened in 1886. The collections include original architectural drawings, photographs, specification books, and company papers. The collections are divided, with the architectural drawings at the Drawings + Documents Archive and the photographs and manuscript material located at Archives and Special Collections, but they have come together in our
online collection in the Digital Media Repository. There you will find photographs of bridges being built, shop drawings of bridge standards and patterns, company papers, and even a bridge plaque that originally hung on one of the company's bridges.
Image: Through Baltimore Truss Bridge blueprint, ca. 1900. Indiana Bridge Company Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.
