{"id":4048,"date":"2024-02-29T10:50:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T15:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/source\/?p=4048"},"modified":"2024-03-05T09:28:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T14:28:48","slug":"ceas-librarys-historic-murals-engineering-a-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/source\/ceas-librarys-historic-murals-engineering-a-restoration\/","title":{"rendered":"CEAS Library’s historic murals: engineering a restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Ted Baldwin, Director of the College of Engineering and Applied Science Library<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the top floor of University of Cincinnati\u2019s Baldwin Hall, the College of Engineering and Applied Science Library provides a sanctuary for study, learning and inspiration. (Read more<\/a> about CEAS Library in the June 2023 Source<\/em>). Throughout this space, many pieces from the university\u2019s art collection adorn the walls, including paintings connected to Cincinnati history and the history of technology.\u00a0The CEAS Library\u2019s historic reading room, the original engineering library and a dedicated quiet space for study, contains a beautiful panorama of painted canvases showcasing technological innovations from more than 100 years ago. A larger panel in this vista, however, has been a blank wall for many years.\u00a0A mystery surrounded both its absence and the engineering feat that was once visible there.\u00a0In very recent developments, discoveries from archival collections have revealed more details on this missing panel, thereby opening up opportunities to once again make the piece whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The CEAS Library murals represent the first University of Cincinnati student-funded art acquisition. In May 1916, the senior class of engineering raised the funds for the work through a very successful Ohio River boat cruise that included live orchestra and dancing. The murals were completed and dedicated a year later. Francis Wiley Faig, painter of the murals, was well-regarded in Cincinnati art circles. Faig had been a favorite student of Cincinnati\u2019s famed painter Frank Duveneck, who also attended the dedication of the murals. Faig also held deep connections to the college and its disciplines. Her husband, John T. Faig, was a professor of mechanical engineering at the UC College of Engineering from 1906-1918 and later the President of the Ohio Mechanics Institute (1918-1951).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Herman Schneider, former UC President and Dean of the College of Engineering and founder of UC\u2019s groundbreaking model of cooperative education or \u201cco-op,\u201d stated in a 1917 College of Engineering annual report that the murals are \u201cthe romance of engineering \u2026 worked into beautiful scenic canvases.\u201d In total, the mural panels measure 60\u2019 wide x 7\u20195\u201d tall. They were significant due to their combination of artistic expression and technological achievements and in their holistic presentation of innovation that spanned the continental United States. East and West coasts are placed on the side panels, with the far west represented on the now-missing panel. Cincinnati\u2019s bustling Midwestern city scape is in the center, above and adjacent to the reading room\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Technological achievements (1860s – 1910s) that are visible in the murals: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n