Very exciting/interesting drawings from VMI

[Emmanuel Dabney]

I found this today when posting to another listserv about engineering in the antebellum South.

Thomas H. Williamson (Professor of Engineering for 47 years) taught these students whose drawings can be found here: http://www.vmi.edu/archives/Manuscripts/00203/ms00203.asp. Williamson also served on Jackson's staff during the war.

[ElizabethClark]

Those are wonderful! I really admire the careful "presentation" of each drawing... very illustrative of careful students showing their work clearly, but with a high level of artistry for even simple, "everyday" subjects.

I'm particularly taken with the Farm Scene in Winter, and the little fellow making a toast in the middle of an otherwise very serious excercise.

Thanks for finding this, Mr Dabney! It's bookmarked for me.

[Rev]

Those are wonderful drawings. The care and precsion in them are refreshing. It hearkens to an era when personal pride was instilled in the educational system.

Lawrence Underwood

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

As a recent Alumnus from the Institute, I can vividly remember seeing many of these drawings on display in VMI's Preston Library and in the Collections/Archives of the Institute.

Paul B. Boulden Jr.
VMI '04

[JacobReichwein]

Very cool drawings, Thank you

[And heres a public thanks for finding that stuff on the 48th :) ]

[Huck]

Check out the rest of the site, especially, VMI during the war, war time personal letters from the cadets, orders from Richmond to VMI....etc....


http://www.vmi.edu/archives/cwsource.html

[Dreamer42]

I am reminded how images were embelished with borders and other creative designs. A reminder of a slower, less pressured time in our nation's past. Ahhh, wish I had time to just sit a draw. Notice how many were not just technical drawings, but some had a fair understanding of watercolor painting - not an easy medium to master, either.

- Jay Reid