The series consists of photographs of engineering projects managed by the Dept. of Public Works. The photographs were held in the Office of the Senior Bridge Design Engineer and consist of both prints and negatives. The projects photographed include bridges, roads, ferries, machinery, damage, buildings, topography, culverts, miscellaneous structures, portraits, signs, events and accidents. While almost all of the photographs were taken in British Columbia ca. 1913-1954, there are also photographs of engineering projects in the United States. The photographs, including negatives, were kept in envelopes, either large or small, and were filed by a three part number system. The first part of the number refers to a map square, the second part of the number refers to the classification and the third part is the project number. Details about the project were typed on the envelopes along with the file number. Each envelope contains photographs and negatives of that particular project and each photograph has an individual number, usually a sub-set of the file number.
A card index was used to manage the photographs, see the series Index to engineering photographs. As photographs were taken or acquired, they would be entered in the card index and added to the appropriate envelope. Occasionally photographs were removed by Public Works staff and never returned.
British Columbia. Dept. of Public Works