T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection

ABSTRACT

INTERVIEWEE NAME: George "Red" Matthes

COLLECTION: 4700.0461

IDENTIFICATION: Former faculty member and former superintendent of buildings at LSU

INTERVIEWER: Jack Fiser

PROJECT: LSU History

DATES: 24 September 1980

FOCUS DATES: 1920s-1960s

ABSTRACT:

T653

Joining LSU faculty in the 1920s; becoming the superintendent of buildings for the New Campus; architectural drawings for the New Campus; moving from the Old Campus to the New Campus; dorms for male students not completed when New Campus opened -- transported by train from the Old Campus for class; using prison labor to build campus roads; termites causing campus wiring to short circuit; using wooden pipes for sewer discharge line rather than iron and leaks; describes campus tunnel system for utilities; increasing boiler capacity to keep up with new buildings; construction of the Gym-Armory; George Caldwell as campus contractor and quality of his work; discusses the concrete mix used on buildings along the Quadrangle; becoming member of Engineering Department's faculty in 1931; President W. B. Hatcher naming him interim comptroller until Troy Middleton returned from World War II; head of the Mechanical Engineering Department until 1961; Works Progress Administration (WPA) and construction on LSU campus; building stadium and using space under it for housing; working for George Caldwell; landscaping the campus; architectural style of the campus

TAPES: T653

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: .5 hours

PAGES TRANSCRIPT/INDEX: 15 pages trs. / 2 pages idx

RESTRICTIONS: Copyright retained by interviewee and/or his heirs.