Manuscripts Collection
Harley R. Schneider was born in New Ulm in 1909 and graduated from the civil engineering program at the University of Minnesota. Schneider worked as an engineering supervisor for the Work Projects Administration in Brown County from 1935 to 1942. Between 1943 and 1945 Schneider worked on the modification of B-24 airplanes for Northwest Airlines at the St. Paul Modification Center where he was promoted to materials control supervisor. Following the shut down of war work Schneider returned to New Ulm and became the city engineer, a post he held until he retired in 1975. During his long tenure as New Ulm city engineer Schneider became an active member of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers, the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors, the City and Village Engineers Association of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Association of County Engineers. He was particularly active in the local chapters of both the state surveyors and engineers societies.
After he retired as New Ulm city engineer, Schneider worked as a surveyor for Brown County and also as a consultant for the engineering firm of Bolton & Menk in Mankato, Minnesota. He also volunteered as the historian for both the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers and the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors. Schneider started researching archival documents originating from the public land survey of Minnesota prior to his retirement and continued that work well into the latter part of the 1990s. He intended to compile the special instructions issued to Minnesota surveyors in an effort to provide the historical background necessary for later resurveys. Progress on his research was often noted in his reports as historian of the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors. In 1989 he was named surveyor of the year by the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors.
Correspondence (1946-1994), subject files (1943-1998), and printed material relating to Harley R. Schneider, an engineer and land surveyor from New Ulm, Minnesota, including information on the City and Village Engineers Association of Minnesota (1966-1975, 1986-1998), the Countryside Council (Marshall, Minn., 1982-1985), the Minnesota Association of County Engineers (1983-1998), and the Society of American Military Engineers (1989-1998).
Additional materials pertain to Schneider's training and work as the materials control supervisor at Northwest Airlines bomber modification center in St. Paul (1943-1945).
Other materials created by Harley Schneider are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections filed as United States. Work Projects Administration. Area Engineer. District 9.
Records of the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.
Records of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.
Records of the Iowa-Minnesota boundary survey (1852) are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.
Research files compiled by Schneider are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections, cataloged as Research Files on Minnesota Surveys.
Accession numbers: 13,569; 13,775; 14,432; 14,823; 15,017; 15,018; 15,472
Processed by: Bonnie Palmquist, September 1985, January 1987, June 1991, December 1993, June 1994; Monica Manny Ralston, January 2002
Catalog ID number: 09-00021905
Miscellaneous correspondence relating to Schneider, his activities, interests, and membership in professional engineering societies.
Ezra Benham (Ben) Curry worked with Schneider at the Northwest Airlines Northwest-St. Paul Modification Center at Holman Field. The center modified B-24s for different war theaters of operation. Included are three photocopies of photographs, originals of which are presumably in Northwest Airlines archives (see letters of March 2, 1991).
Constitutions, bylaws, minutes, and circular correspondence of an organization formerly known as the City and Village Engineers Association of Minnesota.
Correspondence, meeting notices, and report (1982) of a regional nonpartisan public issue research and education organization serving southwestern Minnesota.
Correspondence, membership lists, meeting notices, and seminar information. Also includes a 1988 copy of the Association's manual of minimum guidelines for condominium plots.
Member directory, annual scholarship program reports, and miscellaneous circular correspondence.
Contains a program for a 10% bond rally held at the Vandalia Modification Center in Ohio on October 18, 1943, Schneider's St. Paul Modification Center employee handbook, training certificates, a photograph of Center personnel, Army and Navy "E" certificate for excellence in production at the St. Paul center, correspondence, airline newsletters detailing Schneider's promotion to material control supervisor, a job description, Schneider's production notes, and miscellaneous production related materials including a memorandum that initiated the shutdown of modification assignments following the surrender of Japan.
Includes organization, personnel, and operational charts for the production planning unit of the Northwest-St. Paul Modification Center. Also includes a spoof engineering drawing of a cast bracket part.
Conference information, meeting notices, and national newsletters. Also includes newsletters published by the Society's Minneapolis-St. Paul Post.