Margaret Bourke-White
(American, 1904–1971)
Triphammer Falls, Hydraulics Lab, Cornell University, Winter
Object Details
Artist
Margaret Bourke-White
Date
ca. 1926 (negative), ca. 1965 (print)
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 13 3/8 × 10 7/16 inches (34 × 26.5 cm)
Mat: 18 × 14 inches (45.7 × 35.6 cm)
Mount: 20 1/2 × 16 inches (52 × 40.6 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist, Class of 1927, and LIFE Magazine
Object
Number
65.502
Cornell’s Hydraulic Laboratory was constructed in October 1898 next to the dam forming Beebe Lake.(…)
Cornell’s Hydraulic Laboratory was constructed in October 1898 next to the dam forming Beebe Lake. Originally part of the College of Civil Engineering, the lab was designed to study water purification and the flow over Triphammer Falls. In A History of Cornell, Morris Bishop wrote that the building “adds to the picturesqueness of the cascades, especially when giant streams burst forth from unexpected orifices.” Abandoned after a flood damaged it in the 1960s, the five-story tower collapsed into the gorge in February 2009. (“Margaret Bourke-White: From Cornell Student to Visionary Photojournalist,” curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 24 – June 7, 2015)
