The Steam Engineering School and the Battle of Midway

By Scott Smith, Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian

A bronze plaque on the Hudson Street side of the Lieb Building recognizes the structure’s being the site of the United States Navy Steam Engineering School. The school, designed to train Navy officers for World War I and staffed entirely with Stevens faculty, opened in 1918 and closed in 1919. 

Lieb Building was constructed by the Navy specifically to house the school and was sold to Stevens after the school closed.  Among the graduates of the Steam Engineering School was an officer who played a key role in the United States’ outwitting the Japanese navy in the World War II Battle of Midway. Joe Rochefort, who had joined the Navy straight out of high school

in 1917, enrolled in the Steam Engineering School at Stevens in 1918. Several years after his training there, Rochefort took a Navy cryptanalysis class. Subsequently, he joined the Navy intelligence department, where he learned Japanese and developed his cryptology skills.

When the U.S. entered World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Rochefort was the Officer in Charge of the Hawaiian intelligence station. His team of analysts, working with British and Dutch codebreakers, helped crack the Japanese navy’s main fleet cipher. This intelligence work revealed plans for an upcoming attack; however, opinions differed concerning where it would take place: some thought the Aleutian Islands, others thought Papua New Guinea, still others thought the west coast of the United States. Rochefort was convinced that it was Midway Atoll.

One of Rochefort’s staff members had an idea to send an unencrypted message with the information that Midway was having troubles with its desalination equipment. As hoped, the Japanese navy intercepted the message, and when the U.S. Navy intercepted and decoded a Japanese message calling for an increase in desalination supplies, they knew that Midway was the target. Further work by Rochefort’s team determined the date of the attack as either June 4 or June 5, 1942. Japan had lost its advantage, and the ensuing U.S. victory at Midway cost Japan its naval supremacy in the Pacific for the remainder of the war.

Two books in the Stevens library tell the story of Midway and Joe Rochefort:

Pacific Crucible : War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll

Joe Rochefort’s War : the Odyssey of the Codebreaker who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway by Elliot Carlson.

Introducing the New Archives and Special Collections Librarian: Leah Loscutoff

Ourida Oubraham, director of the Samuel C. Williams Library, is proud to announce the appointment of Leah Loscutoff as the new Archives and Special Collections Librarian.

Leah comes to the library from the Brooklyn Historical Society, where she worked as the Digitization Archivist and Project Education Coordinator. In this position she supervised the creation of the Brooklyn Visual Heritage website, a collaborative project among the historical society, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Pratt School of Information and Library Science. Prior to that, Leah processed the Woodlawn Cemetery archive for the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts library at Columbia University. She has also held archivist positions at the University of California, Irvine, and the National Park Service in San Francisco.

Originally from California, Leah received her Masters of Library and Information Science, with a concentration in Archives and Records Management, from San Jose State University in 2008, and her B.A. in History from San Francisco State University.

Hoboken Public Library to Celebrate the life of Martha Bayard Stevens

  
On March 20, 6:30 PM, the Hoboken Public Library will be having a  special Women's History Month celebration of the life and contributions of Martha Bayard Stevens, New Jersey Philanthropist and Social Reformer. Library Director, Ourida Oubraham and Assistant Curator Doris Oliver will be attending the event. The Samuel C. Williams Library also provided some archival material for the event.

Who was Martha Bayard Stevens?

From the main Stevens webpage: "Martha Bayard Stevens, the second wife of the University’s founder, Edwin Stevens, was influential in building Stevens into the renowned national research university that it is today. When Edwin provided for the establishment of Stevens in his will, it was Martha – one of three executors of his estate – who insisted that the University be geared toward science and engineering.

"Martha also made significant contributions to the community before her husband’s death. She provided funding for the establishment of the Hoboken library and organized and endowed the Industrial Education Association, which taught young women in Hoboken life skills like home economics and savings. Martha also founded the Martha Institute for training boys in industrial skills and was instrumental in the founding of Church Square Park, Hudson Square Park and Elysian Park."

 You can RSVP for the event on Eventbrite, or via email: hobkref@bccls.org or phone 201-420-2347.

Celebrate International Women's Day!

Today we reflect on the struggle for equal rights and accomplishments in history by and for women.  At the library we wanted to share two items from our collections about Lenore Schupack.  She was not the first woman to attend Stevens but graduate with a degree. Maria Grato was the first in 1971.

Here's the article from The Stute May 3rd Volume 71, Issue 27:

 

And here's the Happy Graduate getting her diploma from The Link:

 

You can see back issues of The Stute Here

History of Stevens Class Visits Burial Site

This semester the Library is collaborating with Professor Lee Vinsel's class Thinking Stevens: The History of A Family, A School, and a City  to share and educate students about the rich history of the Stevens family and the Institute in general. This is the first time the class has been offered and students are working on projects that will utilize the library's archives.

As part of Founder's Day, Prof. Vinsel's class visited the burial site of many of the Stevens Family. This trip was sponsored by the College of Arts and Letters and greatly assisted by the Athletics department for lending a van for transport.


Assistant Curator Doris Oliver was able to locate two documents in the archives pinpointing that the family was buried in Hoboken Cemetery. The first document was an article from the Jersey Journal (below). Do not let the name fool you, however - the cemetery is located in North Bergen approximate 4.4 miles away.

On the ride to the cemetery Prof. Vinsel explained how the cemetery had been owned by the Stevens Family and was previously a orchard.  Once we arrived beyond a gated stone entrance, the class walked up a snow covered short hill to an area that was bordered by a stone wall and sloped down a hill. This was was the location of the Stevens Family burial site.

To help us find where particular family members are buried, we used a map from the library archives:

The burial site was lined with celtic crosses, making reference to the Stevens Family's Scottish Heritage. The burial site was well-tended and in surprisingly good shape considering the age of the cemetery.  The group walked around the site reading the names on the tombstones. At the bottom of the hill we found the burial site of Basil Stevens and toward the top of the hill, we were able to discover the cross for the burial site of Edwin A. Stevens, the founder of Stevens Institute of Technology.

After our group had some more time to explore and reflect, Prof. Vinsel gathered us together to pay respects. Student and Library worker Owen Jappen read a prepared statement in honor of the founder of Stevens:

Edwin Stevens was born on July 28th, 1795. Among the Stevens, Edwin was the peacemaker. Surrounded by men who built, invented, and raced boats, sturdy and reliable Edwin kept the ship steady. In a family of engineers and sportsmen, Edwin quietly tended to the family's land and real estate and kept their businesses on course. In the process, he helped transform Hoboken from a place of swamps and marshland to a modern city. Together with his wife Martha Bayard Stevens, Edwin created many charitable and community institutions, including churches, schools, an orphanage, and the public library. When Edwin died in 1868, his will provided that, within three years of his death, his executors should "establish the institution for the benefit, tuition, and advancement in learning of the youth residing, from time to time hereafter, within the State of New Jersey." His executors decided that it should be a school of the mechanical arts, since the family had always struggled to find adequate technical knowledge for their ventures. And, so, on February 15, 1870, the Stevens Institute of Technology was incorporated as an institution of higher learning. Today is its 143rd anniversary.

On Founder's Day, we pay honor and tribute to Edwin A. Stevens and the entire Stevens family for having the integrity and vision to create the Stevens Institute of Technology, a place that has given us all the opportunity to grow, work, study, and learn. By laying these flowers here at Edwin's grave, we say thank you once again.

After the laying of the flowers by student Megan Webb, students went around the graves to take impressions of the names that couldn't be made out. Prof. Vinsel said that "most of the students who went on this trip were upper classmen who have a strong sense of school pride, and they realize their formative experiences here would not have been possible without Edwin A. and Martha Bayard Stevens. Going on this trip allowed them to feel a new and deeper sense of connection with the Stevens family."

In the coming months this blog will have student contributions based on the research the students have done in the library archives.  If you would like to see a Research Guide for this class you go here. 

Discover the new Media Room and Gifts from Alumni and the 1870 Society

The Samuel C. Williams Library is happy to announce that students can now reserve and use a new Media Room (209). The room and technology is a gift  from the Class of 2010.  The room is fully equipped with an interactive board and over head projector. It is spacious and perfect for collaborative work. Students can reserve the room by inquiring at the Circulation Services Desk and they can pick up the interactive pen, special dry-erase markers and eraser, batteries, etc. The full specs:

• Table seats 10 people
• Interactive board
• Please ask at the Circulation Services Desk for the special dry-erase markers, interactive pen, batteries, and eraser

Students: for same-day reservations, please inquire at the Circulation Services Desk to use this room
for advance reservations, please contact Linda Beninghove, John Cruz, or Nydia Cruz.


Also, a collaboration between students and the Office of Development was recently formed called the 1870 Society.  It has been formed to encourage undergraduate students to make a contribution to Stevens for initiatives that will immediately enrich the University while they are currently enrolled students by making a donation of $18.70.  This past year, the 1870 Society has made available in the library white boards, dry-erase markers & erasers, and power strips, which are available at the Circulation Services Desk.  Students can check them out for in-library use.

Spring Semester is Here! Sign Up for Workshops Now

Intro to Research Tools for Graduate Students

This training workshop will introduce graduate students to the professional and scholarly library research databases available to all Stevens students through the library website which will help you find journal articles, books, and other publications.  This workshop is highly recommended for all graduate students. Thursday, February 7th at
4pm-5pm  RSVP Here

Manage Your References with RefWorks

RefWorks helps you organize and manage your references as you work on a paper or project.  Learn how to move references directly from the databases to your own RefWorks account, cite your sources easily, create bibliographies, and insert references into your research paper as you write it.  This workshop will meet in library. Thursday, February 21st, 4pm-5pm  RSVP Here

 

See a full listing of Spring library workshops here