Dempwolf Architectural Drawings

Through a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) the YCHT library arranged for the photographing of nearly 2,000 original architectural drawings dating from the 1880's to the 1930's. The drawings are of buildings and bridges as designed by two York County architectural firms, J.A. Dempwolf, and Charles A. Williams. They are invaluable for restoration and historical research. Johnson Imaging Systems, Inc.; in Camp Hill used an Opti-Copy camera system to photograph and produce an easily handled macromaster set. The firm is one of the few on the east coast that can archivally photograph large architectural drawings. Each drawing was photographed; and a macromaster negative was created from which a positive contact print was made. The prints will increase public accessibility to the drawings while preserving the originals. The photography is complete and volunteers are currently organizing the prints for access by patrons. The database is complete and a worksheet version is available for viewing on this site.