Title: Milton C. Steuber Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1900-1976

Creator:

• Steuber, Milton C., 1889-1978

Call Number: Mss 685

Quantity: 0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Milton C. Steuber, a civil engineer, who was a native of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. The collection illustrates Steuber's high school and college years, and his career as a rural school teacher, inventor, and professional engineer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Madison, Wisconsin. Included are school papers and notes, employment applications and personnel records, personal and a few professional papers from Steuber's work for the Defense Plant Corporation and the Wisconsin Bureau of Public Roads, and patent records and technical drawings for an automobile automatic transmission developed by Steuber.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00685

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Milton Carl Steuber was born and raised in the village of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. His father was William F. Steuber. Following graduation from high school in 1905, Steuber received his teaching certificate based on his high school grades and a certification exam. He taught in country schools for five years, supplementing his teacher's salary with work as a bricklayer and farmer. In 1910, Steuber left teaching and enrolled in Gem City Business College and Institute of Shorthand and Typewriting, and Normal Penmanship in Quincy, Illinois, where he studied general business, typing, and stenography.

Within a year of graduating from Gem City, Steuber entered the University of Wisconsin to study civil engineering. While at the University he taught stenography nights at the Madison Continuation School, predecessor of Madison Area Technical College. Steuber concluded both his degree and his teaching career in 1916.

Upon graduation Steuber accepted a position as a structural engineer with the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. About this time he married Ottilie L. Schirmer of Baraboo, Wisconsin. In 1918, Steuber joined the U.S. Army and after a brief stay at Camp Grant, Illinois, was shipped to France. He eventually earned the rank of sergeant.

Discharged in 1919, Steuber returned to Pittsburgh. In 1926, he began his own consulting firm, National Engineering Services, Inc. However, the failing economy forced Steuber to sell the firm in 1929. Out of work, Steuber repeatedly applied for civil service positions. In 1934, Steuber accepted a temporary position with the Wisconsin Highway Commission.

During this period, Steuber undertook a series of design projects as an avocation. Among his projects was development of an automatic transmission for an automobile. Steuber developed his idea into a workable model and fitted one to his car. The idea proved practical and Steuber patented the idea in 1935. Despite attempts to sell the patent no buyers were found.

By the late 1930s, Steuber had moved to Washington, D.C. to work in the federal government. He worked for a number of agencies before settling into the Defense Plant Corporation in 1941, where he remained until 1945. Late in 1945, with the decreased defense production, Steuber transferred to the Bureau of Public Roads. Working as a field engineer and supervisor in the Wisconsin district, Steuber remained with the Bureau until his retirement in 1959. Following retirement, Steuber lived in Madison, Wisconsin until his death in 1978.

The collection documents the career of a professional engineer during the second quarter of the twentieth century, as well as his earlier education and teaching career. Steuber's papers briefly illustrate the problems of a young professional who lost a business and joined the federal civil service during the Depression. The files have been arranged in chronological order.

Steuber's high school papers consist of report cards, compositions, physics and history notes, book reports, and a “History of the Class of 1905.” The file on his school teaching career includes his certificates to teach in Wisconsin common schools, contracts, recommendations, and correspondence, including letters indicating that he taught for a few months in 1911 at Kewanee Business College, Kewanee, Illinois, and concerning his position with the Madison Continuation School. In 1909, Steuber took federal civil service examinations through the National Correspondence Institute; copies of the examination papers, instructions, and a certificate are also present in the collection. Records of Steuber's work at Gem City Business College include samples of penmanship and shorthand, grade reports, and letters of recommendation. Throughout his career, Steuber applied for various positions with the federal and state governments. This is documented in the civil service file through applications for engineering positions, resumes, letters, and records of examinations. His career at the University of Wisconsin is illustrated by a project report from the 1915 summer surveying camp at Devil's Lake, a hydrological investigation of the Menominee River, a senior civil engineer's trip report, grade reports, and a 1916 class directory.

Records of Steuber's work with McClintic-Marshall Construction Co. include his letter of appointment and employment agreement, and a drafting department banquet program, 1921. Illustrating Steuber's service in the U.S. Army are his discharge certificate and a transport order. His American Society of Civil Engineers records consist of a printed code of ethics, a letter informing Steuber of his selection as a life member of the society, and other papers. Steuber's business, National Engineering Services, Inc., is represented in the collection only by a certificate of incorporation and stationery. Following the failure of his business, Steuber used the Engineering Societies Employment Service, for which there are his vitae. Regarding his employment with the Wisconsin Highway Commission's Bridge Department, there are letters and telegrams. From Steuber's tenure with the Defense Plant Corporation are copies of letters, form letters, project reports, and other papers, while from his service with the Wisconsin Bureau of Public Roads are letters, personnel documents, position descriptions, performance reports, and an application for retirement.

Steuber's project to develop an automobile automatic transmission is illustrated by graphs, engineering designs and technical drawings, correspondence and specifications regarding patents and attempts to market the product, letters of patent, and copies of patents of other designs. Steuber also designed other products and entered them in contests; these are also represented in the collection.

Acquisition Information

Presented by William F. Steuber, Jr., Madison, Wisconsin, 1980. Accession Number: M80-368

Processing Information

Processed by Rick Kehrberg and Joanne Hohler, 1984; and by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, 1986.

Box   1 Folder   1	High School Papers, 1901-1905
Box   1 Folder   2	School Teaching Records, 1905-1911, 1914-1916
Box   1 Folder   3	National Correspondence Institute Examination Papers, 1909-1910
Box   1 Folder   4	Gem City Business College Papers, 1910-1911
Box   1 Folder   5	Civil Service, 1911-1916, 1934-1938, 1941-1953
Box   1 Folder   6	University of Wisconsin Records, 1912-1916
Box   1 Folder   7	McClintic-Marshall Construction Company Records, 1917-1921
Box   1 Folder   8	United States Army Records, 1918-1919
Box   1 Folder   9	American Society of Civil Engineers, 1926, 1959
Box   1 Folder   10	National Engineering Services, Inc., Certificate of Incorporation, 1926-1929
Box   1 Folder   11	Engineering Societies Employment Services Employment Forms, 1931
Box   1 Folder   12	Wisconsin Highway Commission, Application and Acceptance of Employment, 1934-1935
Box   1 Folder   13	Defense Plant Corporation, 1942-1944
Box   1 Folder   14	Bureau of Public Roads, 1945-1959
	Automatic Transmission Project
Box   2 Folder   1	Working Papers, 1933-1937
Box   2 Folder   2	Correspondence with Harnes, Dickey, Pierce, and Hann, 1934-1935
Box   2 Folder   3	Letter of Patent for Power Translating Device #2022058, 1935
Box   2 Folder   4	Correspondence with Bendix Products Corporation, 1936-1937
Box   2 Folder   5	Miscellaneous Patent Correspondence, 1933-1952
Box   2 Folder   6	Automatic Transmission Patents
Box   2 Folder   7	Contest Correspondence and Designs, 1929, 1930, 1953
Box   2 Folder   8	Miscellaneous Technical Drawings, undated