Rudolph Hering Collection
name: label: Engineer
content: Hering, Rudolph, 1847-1923
label: Engineer
content: Fuller, George W. (George Warren), 1868-1934
label: Donor
content: Greeley, Samuel A. (Samuel Arnold), 1882-1968
label: Engineer
content: Waring, George E., Jr. (George Edwin), 1833-1898
topic: label: Topic
content: Civil engineering
label: Topic
content: Drainage
label: Topic
content: Garbage
label: Topic
content: Hydraulic engineering and engineers
label: Topic
content: Public health
label: Topic
content: Refuse collection
label: Topic
content: Refuse and refuse disposal
label: Topic
content: Sanitation
label: Topic
content: Sewage disposal
label: Topic
content: Street cleaning
label: Topic
content: Water -- Filtration
label: Topic
content: Water -- Purification -- Filtration
label: Topic
content: Water-supply
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Samuel A. Greeley of Greeley and Hansen, 1967.
creator: label: Engineer
content: Hering, Rudolph, 1847-1923
setName: label: See more items in
content: Rudolph Hering Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents, primarily through printed publications, Rudolph Hering's work on waste disposal, drainage, water flow of rivers, sanitary and hydraulic engineering, and municipal sewage systems in the United States and in other countries.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: 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.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 8.1 Cubic feet (32 boxes, 1 map-folder)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1860-1923
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from Division of Work and Industry, 2006.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0989
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Publications
label: Type
content: Reports
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: 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
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2021.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Contracts
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Publications
label: Genre/Form
content: Reports
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: 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.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

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