John Farrell Metten collection
Creation: circa 1930sAbstract
John Farrell Metten (1873-1968) was a marine engineer and shipbuilding industry executive. This collection contains photographic prints, postcards, documents, drawings, and an identification card pertaining to the career of John Farrell Metten and views of Naval ships built at the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1930s
Creator
Extent
58 item(s)
General Physical Description
58 items: 1 identification card: color; 2 x 3 in. 32 photographic prints: b&w; 5 x 7 in. 6 photographic prints: b&w; 3.5 x 5.5 in. 11 photographic prints: b&w; 6.5 x 4.5 in. 5 photographic prints: b&w; 5.75 x 3.5 in. 2 documents: b&w; 8.5 x 11 in. 1 envelope: brown; 9.5 x 6.5 in.
Biographical Note
John Farrell Metten (1873-1968) was a marine engineer and shipbuilding industry executive. He was born in Kent County, Delaware on December 15, 1873. He began work at the age of twenty-one as a draftsman and soon found employment in the engineering department of the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company in Philadelphia. Metten rose to be chief engineer at Cramp's (1909-1925) and vice president in charge of engineering (1925-1927). When Cramp's ceased shipbuilding in 1927, Metten became president of the Marine Engineering Corporation in Philadelphia. He spent the worst years of the Depression as a consulting engineer (1931-1935) and then became president of the reorganized New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey. He was later elevated to chairman of the board of directors and retired in 1950. Metten received honorary degrees in engineering from Lehigh (1928), the University of Delaware (1942) and Stevens Institute of Technology (1949). He died on September 16, 1968.
Scope and Content
This collection contains photographic prints, postcards, documents, drawings, and an identification card pertaining to the career of John Farrell Metten and views of Naval ships built at the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey. Photographs also include scenic views of rugged woodland and streams, log cabin, and fishing and hunting scenes. Excerpts from a letter from Captain Allen W. Moore, U.S.N. Retired, giving verification of identifications of some of the ships featured in the collection.
"The Porter was sunk in October 1942 in the same battle when the 'Hornet' was lost. The 'Hornet' was the Carrier that took the Doolittle raid to the take-off point. The Porter was in a group of destroyers build as Squadron Flagships; others in the Class were 'Selfridge', 'Balch', and 'Phelps'. They were not the most effective of the combatant destroyers."
"The Light Cruiser (Detroit Class) joined the Fleet in the late teens or early 1920s. One of this Class, the 'Memphis', brought Lindbergh home from Europe in 1927 after his historic flight. These ships were practically obsolete when World War II started. View of ship, under way, does not have any specific identification as a particular ship. Ships in this Class were 'Detroit', 'Raleigh', 'Memphis', 'Richmond', 'Omaha', 'Marblehead', and others I can't remember."
"Battleship: There are no identifying marks, but could be U.S.S. 'Texas', 'New York', 'Arkansas', or 'Wyoming'.
Location
GL Box 1
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- John Farrell Metten collection
- Author:
- Chase Markee
- Date:
- 2013
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository
