Guide to the Frederick Burt Farquharson Papers
1923-1961

Biographical Note

Frederick Burt Farquharson was an engineer and professor of engineering. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1895. He studied at the University of Washington, earning his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1923. He then spent two years working for Boeing Airplane Company, after which he returned to the University of Washington to earn his Masters degree and begin teaching. Farquharson taught in the University of Washington's Department of Civil Engineering. He was granted the status of instructor in 1927, assistant professor in 1928, associate professor in 1937, and professor in 1940. From 1945 to 1963, Professor Farquharson directed the Engineering Experiment Station of the University of Washington. He retired from the University in 1963, and was made professor emeritus that same year.

Professor Farquharson's professional interests included various aspects of airplane design (especially early in his career), aerodynamics, and the use of wind tunnels for bridge design testing. He is most noted for the use of wind tunnels for his studies of the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse and for the development of the new Tacoma Narrows bridge. He served on a number of committees concerned with engineering education and research for such professional engineering societies as the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education. Professor Farquharson was also a member of the University of Washington Instructor's Association, which created and assessed a survey of salary and promotion facts, and of faculty opinions regarding the fairness of promotions. He was also called for expert testimony in 1957 in a trial concerning a failed spider staging cable used by a painter at the Weyerhauser Pulp Mill in Cosmopolis, Washington.

Farquharson was politically active during the economic depression of the 1930's. He had associations with such organizations as the League for Industrial Democracy and the National Council for the Prevention of War. His wife, Mary, was also active in anti-war and civil liberties movements, and served in the Washington State Senate.

Frederick Burt Farquharson passed away on June 17, 1970.

Scope and Content

Farquharson's personal correspondence documents his political as well as professional activity. Personal and Professional Papers also include Designs and Calculations (which may include some of his undergraduate course work, as well as his work for Boeing), and a Subject File regarding a court case for which Professor Farquharson provided expert analysis and testimony.

The Farquharson papers also include committee records of two engineering societies. The American Society of Civil Engineers records consists of two Task Committees: a Task Committee on Curricula, and a Task Committee on Engineering Education. Farquaharson's records of the American Society for Engineering Education are divided between the Civil Engineering Division and its Committee on Structural Engineering, and the Engineering College Research Council, with its Committee on Relations with Military Research Agencies.

A small body of records of the Instructors' Association at the University of Washington contain a survey regarding faculty salary and promotion histories from 1924 to1934.

Major correspondents include: Adolph J. Ackerman, American Society of Civil Engineers, Continental Committee on Technocracy, League for Industrial Democracy, and the Socialist Party of the United States of America.

Arrangement

The Frederick Burt Farquharson papers have been organized into four series:

• Personal and Professional Papers
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• American Society for Engineering Education
• Instructors' Association (University of Washington)

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Restrictions on Access

Open to all users.

Related Material

These papers were relocated from and relate to records of the University of Washington Engineering Experiment Station accession no. 06-034.

Acquisition Info

Separated from records of the University of Washington Engineering Experiment Station received in 1971 from the Department of Civil Engineering in the College of Engineering.

Processing Info

Processed by Dan Waters; processing completed in 2007.

Inventory