Beaumert H. Whitton diary and photographs of Thorne-Loomis Trip through Industrial America

The Beaumert H. Whitton collections consists of photographs and a diary by Whitton of a trip taken with other Massachusetts Institute of Technology students from Boston to Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and back to Boston during which they visited manufacturing plants and military facilities. This trip occured from June 13, 1932 to July 24, 1932, covered 5,500 miles, 23 states in the United States, and visits to 30 plants. Site visits are described in the diary, and photographs complement the written description.

Their trip is called the "Thorne-Loomis trip" in the diary, which refers to trips sponsored by the Thorne-Loomis Foundation, Inc., funded in part by Alfred L. Loomis, a member of the Institute Corporation. Summer trips were sponsored by the foundation and organized through the department of Business and Engineering Administration. A specialized bus equipped with a kitchen and sleeping accomodations for 10 was provided by the foundation for the trip. The first Thorne-Loomis trip at MIT was held in 1931, and included site visits in the United States and Canada. The 1932 trip was the second and final tour of the United States. Subsequent Thorne-Loomis trips toured sites in Europe.