Available for use in the Manuscripts Division reading room. Advance notice is requested.
There are no restrictions on the use of materials in this collection. Copies can be requested if the condition of the originals warrants it.
George L. Levin collection (N 55), Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.
The collection was donated to the Northwest Architectural Archives in 1977 by the estate of George L. Levin.
The collection is arranged into three series:
Drawings
Photo Albums
Microfilm
George Lloyd Levin was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 31, 1918. He was educated in the Minneapolis Public Schools and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor's degree in 1939 and a Master's degree in architectural engineering in 1941. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1941 to 1946 and worked as Engineering Superintendent at the Naval Air Station, Moffett Field, California from 1946 to 1947. In 1947 he returned to Minneapolis and was employed by Fegles Construction Company as a structural engineer for two years, after which he opened his own private practice in St. Paul.
Levin associated with Paul F. Bredow (a civil engineer) from 1951 to 1966 when they formed a partnership - Levin & Bredow, Inc. The partnership dissolved in 1972 and Levin continued in his own practice until his death on August 28, 1977.
The collection contains office records (correspondence, general financial accounts, and other material) on 16 mm microfilm and drawings for almost every project on 35 mm microfilm, all dating from the beginning of Levin's practice. There are also sets of original drawings and prints, plus financial records and job files, which are not duplicated on film and extensive photographic coverage (prints and slides) of his work, together with written reports of projects on which he worked and consulted.
Most of the projects consist of conveyor systems, grain terminals, barge terminals, warehouses, dust control mechanisms, and port facilities. Levin's clients included B.W. Harris Manufacturing Company, Ralston-Purina, I.S. Joseph, Honeymead Products Company, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Allied Mills and the St. Paul Port Authority. The collection is complex but very complete in its documentation and thus gives an excellent picture of the daily activities of a contemporary structural engineer.
An unpublished finding aid with detailed contents is available in the Manuscripts Division.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.