Charles Edwards Wood Panama Canal Photograph Album
name: label: Photographer
content: Wood, Charles Edwards, 1876-1954
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry
label: Donor
content: Wood, Charles E., Jr.
place: label: Place
content: Canal Zone
label: Place
content: Colon (Panama)
label: Place
content: Gatun Dam (Panama)
label: Place
content: Gatun Locks, Canal Zone, Panama
label: Place
content: Panama
label: Place
content: Panama Canal (Panama)
topic: label: Topic
content: Canal construction workers
label: Topic
content: Canals -- Design and construction
label: Topic
content: Dams -- Panama
label: Topic
content: Locks and dams
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated to the Museum's Division of Engineering and Industry (now called the Division of Work and Industry) in 1987 by Wood's son Charles E. Wood Jr.
creator: label: Photographer
content: Wood, Charles Edwards, 1876-1954
abstract: label: Summary
content: An album of photographs taken during the construction of the Panama Canal.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Charles Edwards Wood was born to Robert Sheridan Wood (March 16, 1841 - February 15, 1891) and Susanna Edwards Wood (May 17, 1845 - February 6, 1931) on January 2, 1876, in Washington, District of Columbia.  According to the 1900 census Wood, a twenty-four-year-old clerk, is living with his parents and eight siblings. In 1904, then identified as a civil engineer, he is living in Amsterdam.  He marries Maria Antonia Van Doorninck (October 15, 1880 - June 5, 1953) on April 7, 1905 in Delaware as documented in the United States marriage record. The couple move to Montevideo, Uruguay where their first son Robert Adam Wood (December 16, 1905 - December 27, 2000) is born. The family then move to Charlotte, North Carolina where a second son, John Van Doorninck Wood (August 31, 1907- January 20, 2001), is born.  In 1909 according to United States Panama Canal Zone Employment Records Wood is a foreman in the engineering department.  He is living with his family in Gatun, Panama Canal Zone where his only daughter, Susanna Marie Wood (December 11, 1911 - June 4, 1996), is born.  The family leave Gatun, arrive in New York in October 1912, and then depart on August 8, 1915, for Cristobal, Canal Zone, Panama.  By 1919 the family is living in Salem County, New Jersey where Wood is chief supervisor for DuPont and a fourth child, Charles Edwards Wood, Jr.  (April 18, 1919 - December 28, 2016), is born.  A year later the 1920 census documents Wood as a civil engineer living in Port Huron Precinct 2, St. Clair, Michigan. By 1930 Wood is Deputy Commissioner of the Boys Scouts of America and residing in Washington, DC. Wood retires and lives with his wife, youngest son Charles Edwards Jr., and his family in Monrovia, Los Angeles, California by the time data is recorded for the 1950 census.  Charles Edwards Wood died on March 29, 1954, in Washington, DC at the age of seventy-eight. 

Source: Ancestrylibrary.com
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.15 Cubic feet (1 box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1911-1915, undated
container: label: Container
content: Box 1
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Work and Industry in 2007.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1114
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged in one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, 2024.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1900-1950
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An album of photographs taken during the construction of the Panama Canal. Subjects of the photographs include the earliest digging, tree removal, mosquito control, locks, equipment, Wood's family, a fire in Colon that occurred during the building of the Canal, and the first boats to use the Canal. Photographs include images of the Gatun Dam and locks, and the Atlantic side of the Isthmus.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

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