The exhibition highlighted the roles of the architects, builders, and workers who erected the great tower. Architects SHREVE, LAMB, AND HARMON headed a team-design approach that involved the close collaboration of the owners, builders, engineers and other consultants. Key to the stunning speed of construction was the organizational genius of the general contractors. STARRET BROTHERS AND EKEN, the premier skyline builders of the 1920s. The exhibit displayed documents from the builders' records, including photos, progress schedules, and a daily job diary.

Of particular interest is a 1931 scrapbook that detailed in both text and pictures the organization of the work site. In conjunction with the exhibition and in association with W.W. Norton, the museum has published a facsimile of this unique historical document, introduced by essays by the museum's director and curator Carol Willis and structural engineer Donald Friedman. (Building trhe Empire State, Carol Willis, ed., W.W. Norton, 1998) Also featured in the show were more than a hundred dramatic photographs of construction workers, including many by the renowned photographer Lewis Hine, who was hired by the owners to record the project for their public relations and for an exhibition mounted in the building's street-level windows in 1931.

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