I am currently writing a dissertation on highway construction in New York
State from 1890 to 1956.  I am primarily interested in the politics and
economics of road building at the state and local levels, though my
interests extend as well to the social transformation that the highways
helped bring about.  I have done extensive research at the New York State
Archives and Library, as well as the Science, Business and Technology
branch of the New York Public Library.  The unpublished State Highway
Department records are spotty however before the 1940s, and county records
are even harder to pin down.  Does anyone have any knowlede of local
repositories of early roadbuilding records?  Or, would anyone like to share
information about particular roads (political battles,
construction/contractor information, labor strife, etc.) from the good
roads movement of the 1890s, through the 'golden age' of state road
building in the 1920s, the New Deal public works road projects or grade
crossing elimination projects of the 1930s, or the Thruway in the 1940s?
(One note:  I am hoping to maintain a focus in this project on New York
State and the early state highway system, rather than tackle New York City
and its environs.  Robert Moses is already the subject of a very large
book, and I plan to concentrate my efforts elsewhere.)

Thank you in advance,

Michael Fein
Dept. of American History
Brandeis University
--------------------------------------
Michael R. Fein
Research Associate
Harvard Business School

(v) 617-496-7385
(f) 617-496-7366
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