In 1991, Dwyer donated his extensive library and collection to the Arthur Lakes Library at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo. Now an Information Center for Ropeway Studies has organized his material and is continuing to collect and preserve documents about this field. In addition, modern reference techniques— a database, web site and reference catalogue on the Internet—are making the material available to the public.
The Ropeway Center was originally intended to support a Department of Engineering research center at the college which never materialized. But the Ropeway Center survived based on the uniqueness of Dwyer’s collection and the realization that the early history of ropeway systems—what some consider to be the cornerstone of the engineering profession—was in danger of disappearing. Today the Center is a repository for all information relative to the history, theory, design and operation of current and past ropeway systems. The collection includes approximately 250 monographs—books, technical reports, symposia, handbooks and standards—seven journal and newsletter titles; a reprint file; a manufacturers’ catalog file; both a modern and a lantern slide collection as well as photographs and videos.
Though the historical and retrospective aspects of the Center are what make it unique, the most-used portion of the collection is in fact the current journals, including, of course, SAM. Some of the historical treasures include J. Bucknall Smith’s 1887 gem, “A Treatise upon Cable or Rope Traction as applied to the Working of Street and Other Railways,” and “The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material,” by George Frederick Zimmer, which was state-of-the-art in 1916.
The historical material held at the Center has the full benefit of 20th-century information storage and access. A web site is being developed for easy access to the Ropeway Database, a comprehensive catalogue that will eventually include both the Center’s own collection as well as related materials held elsewhere by groups such as JenLynn International in Boulder, Colo., and the Swiss Federal Laboratories. The monographs and serial titles are available through the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, a public catalogue on the Internet.
Gifts and contributions to the Center are appreciated, particularly historical materials. Send them to: Joanne Lerud, Arthur Lakes Library, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colo., 80401.
