Troy, N.Y. — In an age when there were no railroads operating in America, the Erie Canal was brand new, and the detachable shirt collar was soon to become popular fashion, Stephen Van Rensselaer founded the Institute that bears his name.

For everyone interested in that era — early and mid-19th century — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute now offers a new online archive: five rare books covering Rensselaer's early history. Published between 1855 and 1968, the books detail Rensselaer's founding and development, and place the school in the context of scientific and technological education in the 19th and 20th centuries.

"Rensselaer's past is an important part of who we are today," said Tammy Gobert, project archivist with the Rensselaer Research Libraries.

The documents have broad interest, Gobert explained, because Rensselaer alumni and faculty were involved in a wide range of local, regional, and national projects. "Many alumni and faculty designed and built bridges, railroads, factories, machinery, and much of the infrastructure still in use today."

That kind of impact was just what Stephen Van Rensselaer had in mind when he decided to found the first technical school in America in 1824. In one of the books now online, Education for a Technological Society; A Sesquicentennial History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1968), Samuel Rezneck begins with Van Rensselaer's founding letter:

"I am inclined to believe that competent instructors may be produced in the school at Troy, who will be highly useful to the community in the diffusion of a very useful kind of knowledge, with its application to the business of living." — Stephen Van Rensselaer

A modernizing American society was awakening to the need for technical education. The growth of technical programs in France and Germany spurred the idea further. Benjamin Franklin Greene, the director of the Institute in 1855, framed the objectives of polytechnic education in The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Its Reorganization in 1849-50, Its Condition at the Present Time, Its Plans and Hopes for the Future. By the time he resigned in 1859, he had transformed Rensselaer into a more ambitious, modern form.

In another new online resource, The Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1886 (1887) by Henry B. Nason, readers can find revealing student profiles; some merely capturing vital statistics, others richly detailing early 19th-century life and intellectual networks.

One such account chronicles naturalist Asa Fitch, of Salem, N.Y., and Rensselaer class of 1827. Fitch studied the environment, beginning with his class trip to Lake Erie and throughout a life in medicine and agriculture. He produced the first agricultural survey of Washington County, became noted for his study of insects, was appointed entomologist for New York state, and received a gold medal from the Imperial and Central Agricultural Society of France.

"Making these books available online is part of the Rensselaer Research Libraries' initiative to build digital collections for a 21st-century technological institution. This project addresses preservation, improved access for researchers, and increased visibility for the Institute," said Loretta Ebert, director of the Rensselaer Research Libraries. "The functionality of the online versions creates unique ways to research not possible in the print versions." That benefits anyone interested in local history, genealogists, journalists, academic historians, and RPI students and alumni, Ebert said.

The books are now available at http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections:

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Its Reorganization in 1849-50, Its Condition at the Present Time, Its Plans and Hopes for the Future (1855), Benjamin Franklin Greene.

Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1886 (1887), Henry B. Nason.

A Chapter in American Education: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1924 (1925), Ray Palmer Baker.

History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1934 (Third Edition, 1934), Palmer C. Ricketts.

Education for a Technological Society; A Sesquicentennial History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1968), Samuel Rezneck.

Facts and figures about putting these rare books online:

The five original books contain 1,740 pages of text and images.

They comprise 1,912 digital files totaling 624 megabytes of data.

The online facsimiles are in PDF format and contain 5,849 bookmarks.

The books were digitized by OCLC Preservation Resources in Bethlehem, Pa.

Additional technical information can be found at http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections/RPI_histories.html.

Upcoming projects in the Rensselaer Research Libraries archives include online access to two additional campus publications: The Polytechnic, the student newspaper (1869, 1884-present) and the yearbook, Transit (1865-present).

Contact: Robert Pini
Phone: (518) 276-6050
E-mail: pinir@rpi.edu