Panama Canal - A. B. Nichols Collection

The A.B. Nichols Panama Canal Collection was gathered and organized during the tenure of Aurin B. Nichols as Office Engineer at the Panama Canal. Nichols was first employed by the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1899 to survey the Nicaraguan route. In 1904, he was assigned to the Panama Canal and served as Assistant Engineer at the Gatun site. He was later promoted to Resident Engineer at the Culebra Cut site. In 1906, he was appointed Office Engineer there and retired in 1914. Nichols was from Philadelphia. The bulk of the materials in these notebooks and albums were collected/created by A.B. Nichols, from 1906 to 1917, with additional material added by Nichols during his retirement years, as late as 1923.