Olivier Models at Union College

Théodore Olivier, Model showing four surfaces: a cylinder, cone, and two conoids, c. 1830-1845, fruitwood, brass, thread, lead weights, 1868.26 UCPC

Union College holds in its Permanent Collection forty-six Olivier models designed in Paris in the 1830s by French professor and mathematician, Théodore Olivier (1793-1853). The models were used in the teaching of descriptive geometry. They allowed students to both visualize and manipulate the intersections of ruled surfaces (such as cylinders, hyperboloids, cones, and planes) in three-dimensional space. Union’s set of Olivier models is one of only three original sets constructed by the firm Pixii Père et Fils. This set is unique in that it was Olivier’s personal set.

Descriptive geometry was a required course for all engineering students through the latter half of the twentieth century. Gaspard Monge (1746-1818), the “father of descriptive geometry,” created models which allowed his students to visualize geometric shapes in three dimensions. Monge’s protégé, Théodore Olivier, developed moveable string models from Monge’s stationary models. With the invention of nearly fifty, articulated string models and numerous gearing models, Olivier bridged the fields of mathematics and engineering.

Professor William M. Gillespie (Columbia College, class of 1834) taught civil engineering and mathematics at Union College from 1845 to 1868, and was responsible for drafting the initial engineering curriculum and program at Union. Gillespie had studied as a post-grad in Paris for a year, where he was acquainted with Olivier. Years later, traveling abroad, Gillespie purchased Union’s collection of nearly fifty models from Olivier’s widow. The College acquired the models after Professor Gillespie’s death in 1868.

Used as teaching aids at the College from 1855 until the end of the 19th century, the models were then rediscovered and restored by Professor William C. Stone (Class of 1942), professor of mathematics at the College from 1942 to 1944 and 1951 to 1991. They have been on display ever since, and are heralded as one of the highlights of the College’s Permanent Collection. In 2015, under then President Stephen Ainlay, the College embarked on a long-term project to conserve all forty-six models with the help of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center in nearby Williamstown, Massachusetts. The conservation work has been meticulously done by Christine Puza, Associate Conservator of Furniture and Wood Objects.

2015-22 RESTORATION OF THE
OLIVIER MODELS
MADE POSSIBLE BY LEAD GIFTS FROM
WILLIAM (1971) AND TERRI PERLSTEIN
IN MEMORY OF JIM PERLSTEIN (1942)
DAVID (1974) AND GAIL MIXER
AND THE GENEROSITY OF OTHER
UNION COLLEGE ALUMNI AND FRIENDS  

Timeline:

1830s These models were made in Paris in by Pixii Père et Fils for French mathematician Theodore Olivier (1793-1853), who invented them to indicate the intersection of ruled surfaces in his teaching of descriptive geometry. Similar stringed models had been created prior to Olivier’s, however his were the first models of this type which were adjustable.

1855 Professor William Gillespie purchased Olivier’s original set from his widow after Union College declined to fund the purchase. True to form, when then President Eliphalet Nott found out about the possibility of purchasing the models for the College, he jumped at the chance, but College Treasurer Jonathan Pearson (Class of 1835), reined in Nott’s enthusiasm, as he did not have board approval. 

1868 Professor Gillespie taught Civil Engineering at the College from 1845 to 1868 and the College acquired the models after his death in 1868, along with many other scientific instruments and books.

Late 1800s The models were used as teaching aids until the end of the nineteenth century.

1910 The models were put on display in Carnegie Hall’s drawing labs.

1930s As part of the National Youth Administration, they were restrung by high students.

Early 1940s Student William C. Stone (Class of 1942), saw the models at some point during his studies at the College.

After WWII The cabinets in Carnegie Hall were removed and the models stored in an attic where they deteriorated.

1950s William C. Stone, now Professor of Mathematics, began using a few of models in his classroom as early as the 1950s.

1956-57 A Smithsonian Museum curator viewed the models stored in the attic, claiming they were priceless and would like to have them for the museum if possible. The Union College Trustees declined, though a few other scientific instruments did indeed go to the collection, and are now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

1958 The models were exhibited in Old Chapel by Wayne K. Nowack, Assistant Professor of Art. Photographs and information about this exhibition was featured in the New York Times Magazine, after which more inquires came, including from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

1960-1980s Professor Stone cleaned and restrung the models, assisted by William Fleming in the machine lab and students Norman Thompson, Class of 1974; David Strom, Class of 1976; and Gregory Mateja, Class of 1982.

1975 The models were exhibited at the Schenectady Museum, now MiSci.

1990s Several models were displayed in the former Science and Engineering department display cases between Biology and the Wold Center, and the rest of the models were stored in Professor William Zwicker’s office, previously Professor William Stone’s office.

1991 Endowed fund in Stone’s name was purportedly established to maintain the Olivier Models.

1995 Stewardship and responsibility of the models was transferred to the Union College Permanent Collection.

2006 Museum-quality exhibition cases were purchased for display of a selection of models in the Mathematics Department, on the second floor of Bailey Hall. The rest of the models were moved to Schaffer Library for storage. Purchase of these cases was made possible through the generosity of the Stone family, in memory of Professor William Stone, who first restored the models.

2010 Museum-quality storage cabinets were purchased to rehouse the models in their current storage area in Schaffer Library. This purchase was funded by the President’s Office.

2015 The conservation project began.

2018 Three conserved models on view in the Mandeville Gallery exhibition, Probability & Uncertainty. The main event held in conjunction with this exhibition was an Olivier model demonstration and talk by Professor Jeffrey Jauregui. During the program, Professor Jauregui spoke about the mathematical principles demonstrated in each of the models, as well as their purpose in the study of mathematics in the early to mid-1800s. The event was featured in the Times Union.

2018 The exhibition cases in the Mathematics Department were separated and moved to the Castrucci Gallery, in the Peter Irving Wold Center, for the remainder of the Science and Engineering building project. The maintenance and additional work on the cases was supported by a number of alumni donors to the Mathematics Department.

2022 The exhibition cases and several models were returned to the Mathematics Department hallway for display, and three new cases were placed in the Castrucci Gallery to hold more models. 

2022 The conservation treatment of all but three of Union’s Olivier Models was completed.

2023 Two more museum-quality exhibition cases were purchased to allow for an even larger display of the Olivier Models in Castrucci Gallery.  

Other Collections West Point, Harvard University, and the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, among others, have examples but Union’s collection is one of the largest, and one of only three original sets made by Pixii Père et Fils in the world. Cornell has second generation examples which were made in the US, and based on our original Olivier’s.