Scope and arrangement
The Thomas Crimmins Contracting Company project logbooks (in two volumes: 1890-1900, 1900-1906), cover a period of change in the family partnership, showing work of the firms J.D. & T.E. Crimmins; T.E. Crimmins and Thomas Crimmins; T.E. Crimmons; and Thomas Crimmins Contracting Company, almost entirely at sites in Manhattan and the Bronx. There are a few sites in western Queens County, including the Crimmins Realty Company, as well as plans for a trolley line in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Over 200 projects are represented, including large private residences, public libraries, schools, churches, hospitals, municipal buildings, factories, breweries, hotels, and charitable institutions. There are extensive logs for transportation and utility projects reflecting the expansion of the City's infrastructure at the turn of the 20th century, including foundational and paving work for cable and rail roads on major avenues, and the laying of gas, water, electric light and sewer lines. A few include ledger entries for sub-contracted work such as bricklaying; a stonebreakers’ account for the Lexington Avenue and Columbus Avenue Cable projects (1893-1894) lists individual laborers.
Early logs typically contain the project name, contract text, specifications, estimates, notes on the progress of the work, and work completed. These are accompanied by engineering plans for excavations, foundations, paving work, and grading levels, as appropriate. Later logs are usually only titled plans. Plans are in black and white ink, colored ink, colored wash, and pencil. The names of owners, contractors, architects and engineers may be noted; not all have project dates. Loose notes and computations, a 1901 letter of introduction for an engineer, and an oversize loose plan for the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum at Fordham have been removed to separate folders, noting their original page location. Each volume contains an index. Entries identify the street and avenue location, name of owner or contractor, and page number. Projects on p. 260-262 (v. 1) and p. 148-155 (v. 2) are not indexed.