This collection contains the papers of William MacFarland Patton, a professor of civil engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The collection includes two manuscript drafts. The first of these, though incomplete and unidentified, represents the supplemental section of the second edition of Patton's A Pratical Treatise on Foundations. The second draft comprises a text book on civil engineering, apparently never published. Together with the manuscript pages are printed pages detached from Patton's A Treatise on Civil Engineering, to be incorporated in the new work. The manuscript is accompanied by a cover letter to the publisher from Patton. Also within the collection is patent documentation for two inventions by Patton: a breakwater and a pneumatic caisson. The collection also contains drawings for a bridge designed by McNairy, Claflin & Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Completing the collection is the cover of a Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical College writing tablet, bearing an early photograph of Academic Building 1 and Academic Building 2.