Guide to the Papers of Lydia G. Weld MC.0570 This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit August 7, 205 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections MIT Libraries Building 4N-8 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, Massachusetts, 0239-4307 67.253.5690 mithistory@mit.edu
Table of Contents Summary Information... 3 Biography... 4 Scope and Contents of the Collection...5 Administrative Information...5 Controlled Access Headings...6 Bibliography...7 Collection Inventory... 8 - Page 2 -
Summary Information Repository Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections Creator Weld, Lydia G. Title Lydia G. Weld papers Date circa 890-966 Extent 0.3 cubic feet ( manuscript box) Location Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use. Language English Citation Lydia G. Weld Papers, MC 570. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Archives and Special Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts. - Page 3 -
Biography Lydia Gould Weld, 878-962, was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 898 to 903 and earned the S.B. in Course XIII, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. She was the first woman to earn an engineering degree from MIT. Weld worked in the engineering division of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company from 903 until 97, when she resigned due to illness. She managed a ranch with her brother in Antelope Valley, California, from 98 to 933, before retiring to Carmel. After World War II began, she came out of retirement to work as a senior draftsman at Moore's Dry Dock Company in Oakland. She retired to Carmel once again in 945, where she remained until the late 950s, when she moved to San Francisco. The following obituary and tribute published in 962 in the MIT alumni magazine, Technology Review, provides further details about her life and achievements. Lydia G. Weld, Course XIII, died in San Francisco on January. She was the first woman to receive a degree from the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and one of the first women to receive an engineering degree from any school in the United States. She started her professional career in 903 with the Newport News Shipbuilding Company where she was one of five "charge men" under the chief draftsman, Engine Division. It was the duty of the division which she headed to get out finished plans of all machinery as installed in all naval ships. This required a lot of tracing and checking on the ships and as time went on the work increased in volume and the number of workers in her division rose. She found the work interesting and the company good to work for. With the approach of World War I, the yard activity greatly increased and the work became more strenuous. Time was the essence of the contract and work went along at full speed. The winter of 97 was a terrible one; she became a victim of tonsilitis and sore throat and had to quit. In January, 98, after a stay in a hospital in Connecticut near her sister, she went West and began the development of her brother's 320-acre ranch in Antelope Valley, 80 miles from Los Angeles. She had been there but four months when she was asked to go to San Francisco to help set up the offices of the Emergency Fleet Corporation on the West Coast. After devoting two months to getting the office started, she returned to the range and operated it from 98 to 933. She applied herself to ranching with the same vigor she had shown in shipbuilding, cleared the land of sagebrush, drove wells, and got the land into alfalfa. That the ranch prospered is shown by the fact that she gathered in some 204 prize ribbons in such varied lines as fruit, grains, poultry, and animals. At the same time she took an interest in the community affairs such as the Farm Bureau, school board, etc. - Page 4 -
When the ranch was sold in 933 she retired to Carmel and built a house overlooking the Pacific on land which she had purchased some years earlier. Here she got into community life, joined the League of Women Voters and became a member of the Advisory Committee to the County Zoning Committee. She was an ardent baseball fan and stamp collector. Miss Weld was a member of the American Society of Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. She leaves many nephews and nieces. Commital services were held in Boston, January 27. Scope and Contents of the Collection The Lydia G. Weld papers contain mostly correspondence to and from Lydia Weld, who is also addressed by her family nickname, Rose. The bulk of these letters, which span from her time away at school in the 890s to her retirement in the 950s, can be found in the folders titled "Letters to and from Aunt Rose." Correspondence in these folders is mostly personal, sent to and by family and friends around the world. Additional personal correspondence is located in other folders, as it had been separated that way by Weld's family. A separate folder of condolence letters sent to her family includes memories of and reflections on Weld, as well as confirmation of her professional affiliations. Also included is a folder of correspondence from the assistant naval architect at the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut, who wrote to Weld about hiring a woman to be in charge of the company's tracing department. These letters are especially interesting because they provide a glimpse into what it was like to work for a company that designed ships and submarines during World War I. One highlight of this collection is a letter Weld wrote to the MIT Women's Association in the mid-950s, which summarizes her memories of MIT and the significance of her career. Another highlight is a letter she wrote to "Mrs. Richards" in 907. Mrs. Richards was Ellen Swallow Richards, the first female graduate of MIT. In addition to correspondence, this collection contains news clippings, photographs, photocopies of Weld's completed forms for the MIT Women's Association, and a document titled "Memories of Lydia Gould Weld," written by her niece, Anna Weld Dice. Administrative Information Publication Information - Page 5 -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections Revision Description 205 Access note The collection is open for research. Intellectual Property Rights Access to collections in the Institute Archives and Special Collections is not authorization to publish. Separate written application for permission to publish must be made to the Institute Archives. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection. Controlled Access Headings Corporate Name(s) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Women's Forum Massachusetts Institute of Technology Personal Name(s) Weld, Lydia G. Subject(s) Massachusetts Institute of Technology--History Massachusetts Institute of Technology--Women. Naval architecture--study and teaching. Women engineers. - Page 6 -
Bibliography Weld, Lydia G. "Progressive speed trial of the tug boat, Juno." S.B. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 903. Bix, Amy Sue. Girls Coming to Tech!: A History of American Engineering Education for Women. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 204. Gurba, Norma. Legendary Locals of the Antelope Valley. Mount Pleasant, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 203. - Page 7 -
Collection Inventory Box Overview materials compiled by MIT Museum 908-99 "Memories of Lydia Gould Weld," as compiled by her niece, Anna Weld Dice undated Clippings and biographical materials approximately 907 to 966 Clippings 907-967 Correspondence approximately 908 to 966 Letter to Mrs. Richards 907 February 7 Correspondence, Electric Boat Company 95 March to April Letter to MIT Women's Association approximately 956 Letters to and from Aunt Rose approximately 890s Letters to and from Aunt Rose 908-90 Letters to and from Aunt Rose 9-93 Letters to and from Aunt Rose 94-96 - Page 8 -
Letters to and from Aunt Rose undated Condolence letters 962 Family documents 962 - Page 9 -