creator:

Iowa State University.  Department of Civil Engineering. Civil Engineering Surveying Summer Camp: “Camp Marston”

title:

Records

dates:

1923-1953

extent:

0.63 linear feet (1 document box, 1 half-document box)

collection number:

RS 11/5/3 

repository:

University Archives Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

access:

Open for research

publication rights:

Consult Head, Special Collections Department

preferred citation:

Iowa State University Camp Marston Records, RS 11/5/3, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

Historical note

The Iowa State College (University) catalog has included civil engineering courses since 1871, but the department was not officially founded until 1898. In the 1880s, they began holding two-week summer camps for students to gain surveying experience in the field. When John S. Dodds joined the faculty in 1917, he sought out  a more remote location for the camp, finally deciding upon an abandoned commercial fishing camp on Rainy Lake, one of the four lakes that mark the border between the United States and Canada, in 1921. Dodds determined that the isolation of the site enabled the group to recreate primitive frontier conditions and have the most authentic surveying experience possible.  

The camp was named for Anson Marston, the first Dean of Engineering at Iowa State, and the first camp was held in 1923. An average of thirty-five men (no women were allowed) per year spent six weeks working twelve hour days at Camp Marston until 1938, when Thomas Agg, Dean of Engineering visited the site and declared it too remote. From 1939 until the 1960s when summer camps were discontinued, the students traveled to Wirt, Minnesota. 

1

1

"Report of 1923 Surveying Summer Camp."

ca. 1923

1

2

"Report of the 1923 Civil Engineering Surveying Summer Camp" by J. S. Dodds

1924

1

3

"Ames Summer Camp, An Account of the 1923 Camp" by R. W. Herreman      

1925

1

4

"Report of the 1924 Civil Engineering Surveying Summer Camp, Rainy Lake, MN, June 7 to July 18, 1924" by J. S. Dodds  (copy 1)

1925

1

6

"Report of the 1925 Civil Engineering Surveying Summer Camp, the 3rd at Rainy Lake, MN, June 12 to July 22, 1925" by J. S. Dodds           

1925

1

7

"Report of 1928 Summer Camp"   

ca. 1928

1

8

"Report of the 1929 Civil Engineering Surveying Summer Camp, Rainy Lake, MN, June 7 to July 20, 1929" by J. S. Dodds          

1929

1

9

"Report of the 1933 Civil Engineering Summer Surveying Camp, Camp Marston, Rainer, MN, June 9 to July 20, 1933" by J. S. Dodds           

1935

1

10

"Report of the 1935 Civil Engineering Summer Camp, Camp Marston, Rainy Lake, MN" by J. S. Dodds

1935

1

12

"Report of the 1936 Civil Engineering Summer Camp" by J. S. Dodds

1936

1

13

"Report of the 1937 Civil Engineering Summer Camp" by J. S. Dodds           

1937

1

14

"Report of the 1938 Civil Engineering Summer Camp" by J. S. Dodds           

1938

1

15

"Report of the 1939 Summer Camp, Wirt, MN" by J. S. Dodds  

1939‑1940

2

1

"Report of the 2nd Annual Iowa State Surveying Camp, Wirt, MN, August 8 ‑ September 14, 1940" by J. S. Dodds 

1940

2

2

Correspondence

1936-1940

2

3

Descriptive Brochures         

1925; 1929

2

4

Enrollment Lists         

1923-1938

2

5

Reports on possible location for Civil Engineering Summer Camp           

1923

2

6

1923 Camp  

1923

2

7

1924 Camp  

1924

2

8

1925 Camp  

1925

2

9

1926 Camp  

1926

2

10

1927 Camp  

1927

2

11

1928 Camp  

1928

2

12

1932 Camp  

1932

2

13

1935 Camp  

1935

2

14

1938 Camp

1938

2

15

1939 Camp

1939

2

16

1953 Camp

1953

2

17

Surveying Teachers Conference Photograph Album Assembled by D.S. Trowbridge

1937

2

18

Gieske, Carole, “Camp Marston: An Iowa State treasure in Minnesota’s Northwoods” VISIONS Summer 2001 (photocopy)

2001

Map

Case

Location Survey, East Brown Scenic Loop, Camp Marston - -- Ranier, MN                

June 1938

Vide     002 374

State Historical Society of Iowa: “Life at Camp Marston”  (3/4” video)

1995

VIDEO

Vault

Voyageurs National Park presents Memories of Camp Marston

2001