The photographs in the Engineering Collection, 1890-1948 provide unique views of public works projects and buildings in the City of Newton.

More than 2000 images, documenting projects such as the construction of the water system, roads, and depression of the railroad tracks, were taken by unknown individuals in the Engineering Department of the City.

Although focusing on specific projects, added information from streetscape and landscape views provides a striking record of a developing city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Original prints and the glass plate negatives are in the Engineering Department archives at Newton City Hall.

Visual access to this collection is through a slide collection made in 1983 as part of a project sponsored by Historic Newton, Inc. and the Newton Historical Commission. This project was made possible by grants and contributions from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities and the Newton Real Estate Board.

Two sets of 35mm black and white negatives were made, along with a full set of black and white slides. The slides and one set of negatives, from which prints can be made, are kept at The Jackson Homestead; the other set is kept in the City Archives vault. In addition, there is a small set of contact prints made directly from the glass negatives by Steve Rosenthal.

The original card index, which was arranged alphabetically by street and subject, has been entered in a database. The resulting index, completed in January 1997, provides access by number and by street or subject heading. The first numbered images have no dates and in some cases numbering does not appear to be chronological. The earliest given date is 1890; the latest about 1948.

Subject series in this collection include:
Accidents: 1920s and 30s
Assessor's Views (of houses): 1920s and 30s
Highway Construction: 1902, 1910, 1912, 1921-2
Laundry Brook Construction: 1908
Newton Water Works: 1890-1
Newtonville Drain: 1924
North-side Grade Crossings and Depression of Tracks: 1895-7
Park Views: no date
Public Buildings: 1893, 1920s and 30s
Reservoir Construction: 1917
Sewer: 1890-1897
South-side Grade Crossings and Depression of Tracks: 1905-6
Oak Hill Park: 1946-48