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William R. Stone Microwave Oven Papers

Creator:
Raytheon Company  Search this
Stone, William R., 1920-2006  Search this
Donor:
Hoffman, Robin  Search this
Extent:
0.6 Cubic feet (2 boxes )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Articles
Design drawings
Graphs
Memorandums
Notes
Patents
Photographs
Reports
Specifications
Trade literature
Place:
Outer space -- Exploration -- United States
Date:
1967-1989, undated
Summary:
Collection primarily consists of drafts, notes, caluations, reports, correspondence, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) materials, record of inventions, and designs from Stone's work for the Raytheon Company involving industrial applications and home use for the microwave. It also includes literature for the trade as well as educational materials for consumers dating from the 1950-1980s.
Scope and Contents:
Papers documenting William R. Stone's involvement in the invention and development of the microwave for industrial and home use. The collection includes biographical information; patents, and other invention related papers; photographs; design drawings; internal company papers and memoranda; Stone's research and reports, especially on the subject of microwave safety; and trade literature relating to products for both industrial and home use.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1969-1985

Series 2: Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 1981-1985

Series 3: Conferences and Symposiums Conferences and Symposiums, 1969-1980

Series 4: Literature for the Trade, 1967-1986, undated

Series 5: Consumer Materials Consumer Materials, 1979-1980, undated

Series 6: Notes and Drafts 1971-1981, undated

Series 7: Raytheon Company Matereials, 1969-1989, undated

Series 8: Industrial Reports and Statndards, 1951-1984

Series 9: Other Materials, 1971, undated
Biographical / Historical:
William Robert Stone (September 24, 1920-October 26, 2006) was an engineer for the Raytheon Company located in Waltham, Massachusetts. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Nathan Stone (June 30, 1900-January 7, 1968) and Ida Davis Stone (August 1, 1899-July 15, 1990). At the age of twenty-one he registered for the United States Army while working for the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Stone attended Northeastern University where he obtained his Associates of Electrical Engineering degree (A.E.E.) in 1953 and Bachelor of Business Administration degree (B.B.A.) in 1956. He also took classes in the Graduate School of Engineering at Northeastern University from 1956-1958.

In 1951 Stone began working for the Raytheon Company. He was involved in the invention and development of microwave ovens for industrial uses, such as for ink drying, rubber vulcanization, and later for home use. Stone published research on the industrial food applications of microwaves, specifically on oyster shucking and in outer space. In 2006 Stone died in Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Florida at the age of eighty-six.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Product Cookbooks Collection, NMAH.AC.0396

Industry on Parade Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0507

Archives Center Cookbook Collection, NMAH.AC.0510

Servodyne Corporation Records, NMAH.AC.0839

Nordic Ware Collection, NMAH.AC.0980
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2014 by Robin Hoffman, William Stone's daughter.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Engineers -- 20th century  Search this
Microwave equipment industry  Search this
Microwave heating  Search this
Microwave ovens  Search this
Microwave oven industry  Search this
Safety  Search this
Oysters -- Shucking  Search this
Genre/Form:
Articles -- 1950-2000
Design drawings -- 20th century
Graphs
Memorandums -- 1950-2000
Notes
Patents -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Reports
Specifications
Trade literature
Citation:
William R. Stone Microwave Oven Papers, 1967-1989, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1320
See more items in:
William R. Stone Microwave Oven Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8c760eb63-1196-4c03-82fe-5b53d89bce90
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1320

Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers

Donor:
Stansbury, Jacqueline  Search this
Creator:
Stansbury, Benjamin H., 1935-1996  Search this
Names:
Dymo Industries  Search this
Industrial Design Affiliates  Search this
Mattel Toys  Search this
Product Specialists  Search this
Ronco Teleproducts  Search this
Stansbury Company  Search this
Walter Dorwin Teague Associates  Search this
Extent:
5 Cubic feet (15 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Correspondence
Clippings
Memorandums
Manuals
Design drawings
Slides (photographs)
Date:
1955 - 1995
Summary:
The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury. It contains correspondence; photographs and slides; memoranda, manuals and other internal company documents; design drawings; clippings; and trade literature. The bulk of the material relates to Stansbury's work at the Stansbury Company and the PULSAR electric toothbrush.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.

Series 1: Personal Materials, 1954-1983

Series 2: Walter Dorwin Teague and Associates Records, 1959-1971

Series 3: Dymo, 1961, 1966

Series 4: Mattel Toymakers, Inc., 1962-1966

Series 5: Product Specialists, 1962-1971

Series 6: Innovation, undated

Series 7: Industrial Design Affiliates, 1964-1973

Series 8: The Stansbury Company, 1966-1994 (bulk 1978-1990)

Series 9: Ronco Teleproducts, Inc., 1978-1980

Series 10: Pulse Innovations, Inc., 1990-1995
Biographical / Historical:
Benjamin H. Stansbury, Jr. (September 26, 1934-March 11, 1996) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and graduated high school from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (founded in 1883 as an engineering school). He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Architecture, earning a BS in Engineering in 1957. From 1957 to 1961, Stansbury worked for Walter Dorwin Teague Associates in New York as an industrial designer. At Teague, Stansbury worked on a variety of products and missile components. In 1960, he won the Industrial Design Institute Design Award Citation for the Euphorian dental chair (for Ritter Dental). While at Teague, Stansbury met Helen Marie Beheney (December 5, 1935-July 27, 2014) who was a secretary. The couple married in 1961 in California and had two children, Claude and Jacqueline.

Stansbury left New York for Berkeley, California where he joined Dymo Industries, Inc. as Director of New Product Planning from 1961 to 1965. At Dymo, Stansbury crafted a new corporate image and supervised plant and office construction. From 1965 to 1966 he worked for Mattel Toymakers in Hawthorne, California as Director of Corporate Planning and Acquisitions. In 1966, Stansbury, along with John Pylant, formed Product Specialists in Santa Monica. Rudy Hurwich later invested in the company as a three-way partner. Product Specialists focused on product development, manufacturing and marketing. While at Product Specialists, Stansbury developed and built a folding polypropylene boat called the Stowboat (US Patent 4,556,009) available in three sizes (seven, eight and nine feet). His marketing included the phrase, "Let's Go Stowboating!" Stansbury obtained approximately thirty-five patents, many of which were design patents. Almost all of the patents issued to him were assigned to the company who contracted his services. In 1969, Stansbury founded Innovation, a company to take conceptual ideas to the point of commercialization and to then license or sell them.

In 1969, Stansbury was hired by Industrial Design Affiliates (IDA) of Beverly Hills to help turn around the faltering design practice. After years of creative frustration working for someone else, Stansbury left IDA and founded his own design firm, the Stansbury Company, in 1973. Stansbury believed in giving creative people as much freedom as possible and all of his employees were encouraged to be part of the creative process. His company provided full service product development--concept, design, appearance models, engineering development, prototype construction and testing, tool patterns, and pre-production models. A strong emphasis was placed on engineering and manufacturability. Some of the diverse products created included: an exercise bike, roller skates, a smokeless ashtray, a sewage treatment device for boats, cosmetic bottles, surgical rubber gloves, musical toys, a dental chair, packaging (Elvis concert album), and special effects (twenty-four foot alligator) for the film Alligator and miniature sets for the disaster film Meteor. In 1978, The Stansbury Company was awarded the Western Plastics Art and Design Award for the toy category (sun runner roller skates) and the rotational molding category (La Chair). Some of his clients included: Honda Motor Car, Mansfield Sanitary, Procter and Gamble, Max Factor & Company, Mattel Toys, Schlage Lock, Technicolor, Tomy Toys, Redkin, Jaybee Manufacturing, American Hospital Supply Company and Ronco Teleproducts, Inc.

Stansbury was also a senior consultant to the Bender Corporation, which advised large manufacturing facilities about air quality issues and engineering improvements. He worked with the company on matters related to fluid dynamic modeling and to devise optimal air movements/clearance within a structure.

Stansbury was heavily involved in local politics in Beverly Hills, California. He served as traffic commissioner (1973-1977) and as a planning commissioner (1977-1980). In 1980, Stansbury was elected to the Beverly Hills City Council serving as mayor in 1983 and 1988. After leaving politics, Stansbury continued to invent and in 1992, moved to King City, Ontario, Canada to pursue his invention of the PULSAR Electric Toothbrush (US Patent 5,259,083). The patent was later reissued (RE 35,941) on November 3, 1998. Stansbury was an initial shareholder in Pulse Innovations, Inc., a Canadian corporation formed to develop, market, and license the Pulse toothbrush. The other shareholders in Pulse Innovations included Spark Innovations, Inc. (SPI), a Canadian venture capital incubator and other investors. At SPI, Stansbury was Vice-President of technical services and acted as an engineering consultant and technical advisor on other products under development. In 1995, Procter & Gamble was given an exclusive development option for the Pulse toothbrush, but ultimately Procter & Gamble underwent a restructuring and returned its focus to core products which did not include electric toothbrushes. In 1996, Pulse entered into an agreement with Butler Gum, Canada's largest consumer oral care product company. Stansbury's children, Claude and Jacqueline sold their parents' shares in Pulse Innovations to other shareholders. Stansbury returned to the United States in 1995 and died on March 16, 1996, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts related to the Ronco Egg Scrambler are located in the Division of Work and Industry.

Artifacts related to The Mr. Dentist, Pulse toothbrushes, Hayes School Publishing Co. posters for ""Good Manners"" (1957) and Safety (1957), a Sesame Street learning kit and parent guides (1970) are located in the Division of Cultural and Community Life.

A Hayes School Publishing Company poster for ""Good Habit Check Charts"" (1959) is located in the Division of Medicine and Science.

Materials related to Helen Stansbury's volunteer work for the Democratic Party, especially a George McGovern Handbook, 1972 and Mike Dukakis materials, 1988 are in the Division of Political History (now Division of Political and Military History).
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center by Benjamin H. Stansbury's daughter, Jacquelyn Stansbury in 2015.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Toys  Search this
Inventors  Search this
Designers  Search this
Industrial design  Search this
Inventions -- 1950-2000 -- United States  Search this
Toothbrushes  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 2000-2010
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Clippings -- 1950-2000
Memorandums -- 1950-2000
Manuals -- 1950-2000
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Slides (photographs) -- 1950-2000
Citation:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1350
See more items in:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81e436904-f9f7-47c4-816f-cb6ef4a36524
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1350

Crown Central Petroleum Advertising Collection

Creator:
Crown Central Petroleum Corporation  Search this
Names:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969  Search this
Author:
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972  Search this
Extent:
0.66 Cubic feet (1 box, 1 map folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Posters
Design drawings
Advertisements
Letters (correspondence)
Point-of-purchase displays
Date:
1949 - 1996
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes advertising materials for Crown Central's credit card and credit check programs, for gifts (cameras, kitchenware) offered by its service station to repeat customers; a set of posters and a design drawing for them, exhorting drivers to drive safely, featuring images of governors of states, President Dwight Eisenhower, FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover, and others; and a 1955 letter to Eisenhower requesting that he appear on one of the posters.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
The oil company Crown Central Petroleum developed its Governor's Highway Safety Program in the late 1940s.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Crown Central Petroleum. 2016
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Marketing -- 1950-2000  Search this
Service stations  Search this
Advertising history -- 1950-2000  Search this
Gasoline  Search this
Credit cards  Search this
Petroleum industry and trade  Search this
Marketing  Search this
advertising  Search this
Credit  Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters -- 1950-2000
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Advertisements -- 1950-2000
Letters (correspondence) -- 1950-2000
Point-of-purchase displays -- 1950-2000
Citation:
Crown Central Petroleum Advertising Collection, ca.1949-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1398
See more items in:
Crown Central Petroleum Advertising Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8d492a3ff-50a3-423e-8af1-65227d4b9ee9
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1398

Hubbard Harpsichord Records

Creator:
Frank Hubbard  Search this
Names:
Hubbard Harpischords, Inc.  Search this
Extent:
30 Cubic feet (76 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business records
Newsletters
Photographs
Project files
Financial records
Legal documents
Account books
Correspondence
Research
Manuals
Design drawings
Place:
Framingham (Mass.)
Massachusetts
Date:
1930-2003
bulk 1949-2003
Summary:
The collection documents approximately fifty years of the Hubbard Harpsichord business. The records include correspondence, financial and accounting materials, sales and promotional materials, records, newsletters, dealer files, project files, photographs, research files on European instruments, kit manuals, and design drawings.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the approximately fifty years of the Hubbard Harpsichord business. The records include correspondence, financial and accounting materials, sales and promotional materials, records, newsletters, dealer files, project files, photographs, research files on European instruments, kit manuals, and design drawings.

Series 1, Correspondence, 1949-2003, consists of letters among representatives of the company, individuals, churches, seminary schools, musical societies, companies, universities, harpsichord owners and enthusiasts. The correspondence is rich with information about historical issues, construction techniques, ownership genealogy, the early music movement, and Hubbard's importance to the historical building movement. The correspondence is handwritten and typed. There are some loose papers, notes, and postcards. Requests for information on the harpsichord manual kit, harpsichord purchases, and questions/answers pertaining to the building of harpsichords comprise the majority of the series. There are also invoices, checks, and publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Review, and Saturday Review. Correspondents include the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University, Yale University, a number of professional harpsichordists, and dealers of the company. The series is arranged in chronological order, then alphabetically by correspondent's last name or business name.

Series 2, Business Files, 1965-2000, is divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, Annual Meetings and Reports, 1965-2000; Subseries 2, Corporate Affairs, 1960-1997, and Subseries 3, Employee Files, 1967-1997.

This series documents both the development of Frank Hubbard Harpsichords Kit, Inc., the company created to sell "do-it-yourself" kits, and Frank T. Hubbard Harpsichords, the finished instruments company. Hubbard headed the finished instruments company, officially established in 1973, until his death, while Lawrence C. Erdmann headed the kits company. The issue of what role the two separate companies should take was a prominent question before and after Hubbard's death. Diane Hubbard, Hubbard's wife, began running the company after Hubbard's death in 1976 until her retirement in 2000. This series is arranged topically, then in chronological order.

Subseries 1, Annual Meetings and Reports, 1965-2000, documents many of the issues the company faced at the corporate level. Minutes, corporate resolutions, and correspondence highlight yearly financial and operational activities, financial and operations projections, consolidation of the two companies, review of leadership positions, proposed investments, incoming stockholders and activities of the board of directors, and acquired leases.

Subseries 2, Corporate Affairs, 1960-1997, includes property leases the company held from its founding at Moody Street in 1959, until the 1980's. This subseries documents stockholder, stock purchases by Phil Cooper, a major shareholder in the company in the 1990's. Other items include the Hubbard Memorial Committee which documents a memorial concert, the establishment of the Historical Harpsichord Monograph essays, and some of Hubbard's publications. Dr. Howard Schott, author of the Historical Harpsichords series, and Dr. John D. Montgomery, chairman of the Frank Hubbard Memorial Committee are frequent correspondents. A finished instruments schedule documents (Box 21/folder 9), through notes and correspondence, the length of time it took to complete building the harpsichord. The same box holds records of the company's acquisition of a clavichord business (Box 21/folder 10), and a 1997 business plan (Box 21/folder 11).

Subseries 3, Employee Files, 1967-1996, consists of correspondence among representatives of the company, college students searching for internships, and job applicants seeking positions. The materials document the continually changing structure and hierarchy of the company through notes and correspondence. There are materials relating to the employment of Michel Van Hecke, an apprentice craftsman in the late 1960's, and Robert A. Murphy, a piano craftsman, in 1984, which document the company's hiring process over time.

Series 3, Frank Hubbard Harpsichords Kit, Inc., 1964-1997, is divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, Kit Instructions, 1964-1989, undated, Subseries 2, Price Lists and Costs, 1974-1999, undated, and Subseries 3, Catalogues of Hubbard Harpsichords, 1984-1997.

Determined to offer instruments of authenticity and perfection, Hubbard initially created a finished instruments company. In 1963, Hubbard also developed a kit manual which anyone with basic woodworking skills could follow in order to build their own harpsichord. This series is arranged topically, then chronologically.

Subseries 1, Kit Instructions, 1964-1989, undated, consists of the pioneering kit manuals Hubbard promoted while waiting for finished instrument orders. The earliest manual, 1964, is a general purpose harpsichord manual that is most likely an early kit for a French harpsichord. Others include the Flemish harpsichord, fortepiano by Johann Andreas Stein, a German maker of keyboard instruments, English bentside spinet, 17th century Flemish Ottavino, Flemish virginal-museler spinet, and Flentrop chamber organ.

Subseries 2, Price Lists and Costs, 1974-1999, undated, consists of the costs, price, and inventories related to the production of kit manuals.

Subseries 3, Catalogues of Hubbard Harpsichords, 1984-1997, contains Hubbard harpsichord catalogues and price list booklets. Orders for kits are with the packing lists under sales and promotional materials.

Series 4, Research, 1930-1973, is divided into eight subseries: Subseries 1, Notebooks, 1932-1973, undated; Subseries 2, Correspondence and Notes, 1955-1956, undated; Subseries 3 Drawings, 1950-1959; Subseries 4, Publications and Manuscripts, 1930-1974, undated; Subseries 5, Photographs, undated; Subseries 6, Card Files, undated; Subseries 7, Samples, undated; and Subseries 8, Miscellaneous, 1934-1960, undated.

Research files document Hubbard's efforts to perfect his skills building harpsichords in the 1940's and 1950's. Hubbard journeyed to archives in small towns and gathered information there. He also worked as an apprentice at Arnold Dolmetsch's workshop and later with Hugh Gough in England. This research eventually resulted in instruments that had all the qualities of their older models. This series is arranged topically, then chronologically.

Subseries 1, Notebooks, 1932-1973, includes Work and Ideas of Arnold Dolmestch, which paved the way for building harpsichords based on historical principles. Other notebooks include the Ruckers Taskin (an eighteenth century Flemish harpsichord) and Hubbard's notebook on the alteration of a Hemsch Harpsichord in 1972. There are some notebooks titled by volume that relate to the Hubbard and Dowd Company.

Subseries 2, Correspondence and Notes, 1955-1961, undated, consists of letters and technical notes such as workshop methods, the Ruckers Taskin, and notes from the Harding Museum. The majority of correspondence and notes are unidentified.

Subseries 3, Drawings, 1950-1959, undated, consists of tracings, rubbings, templates, and Hubbard and Dowd drawings of harpsichord designs and harpsichord parts. Some drawings depict the construction of harpsichords by earlier builders. The drawings are unprocessed.

Subseries 4, Publications and Manuscripts, 1930-1974, undated, includes loose pages of an "Ars Organi sketch," articles by Edwin W. Ripin, and loose pages of the French Encyclopedia. There are publications in French, such as a biographical note on the "Blanchet" describing Parisian harpsichord makers. Illustrated London News, Le Soir Illustre, Christian Science Monitor, and Cincinnati Enquirer magazine articles are also included.

Subseries 5, Photographs, undated, consists of unidentified photographs of harpsichords.

Subseries 6, Card Files, undated, consists of index cards documenting instruments examined and instrument makers. There is an index for the cards.

Subseries 7, Samples, undated contains DeQuoco harpsichord iron strings, wood samples, DeQuoco harpsichord wire, and soft iron wire samples.

Subseries 8, Miscellaneous Items, 1934-1960, undated, includes a map of Central Europe, sheet music, museum procedure forms, concert programs, Successor Brocco Instruments, a 1950's instrument maker of the fortepiano, and promotional material for instrument makers.

Series 5, Sales and Promotional Materials, 1961-2000, is divided into six subseries: Series 1, Sales Journals, 1983-1998, Series 2, Instruments on order, 1968-1987, Series 3, Dealer files, 1975-1990, Series 4, Packing lists, 1970-2000, Series 5, Promotional files, 1961-2001, and Series 6, Catalogs of Other Instruments. It is arranged topically then chronologically.

Subseries 1, Sales Journals, 1983-1998, consists of loose pages of expenses and receipts for the instruments produced by the company in the 1980's and 1990's. These include the French harpsichord, the English Bentside Spinet, fortepiano, virginal, ottavino, and organ.

Subseries 2, Instruments on Order, 1968-1987, includes correspondence between representatives of the company and individuals, companies, musical societies, and colleges relating primarily to orders for finished instruments. Requests for kit orders and replacement parts are included. There are also instrument-on-order tracking sheets, invoices, and shipping orders and forms that document the orders that were placed.

Subseries 3, Dealer Files, 1975-1990, contains correspondence between Hubbard representatives and dealers, both domestic and international, who promoted Hubbard harpsichords. The customs broker company, T.D. Downing, is also represented. Other materials include tracking sheets, shipping forms invoices, bills, checks, inventory lists, mail, telegrams, and certificates of insurance between the Hubbard Harpsichords Company and dealers. Dealers include Japanese companies like Arai and Company and German individuals like Klevers. Dealers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and United States are also represented.

Subseries 4, Packing Lists, 1970-2000, consists of the kit orders placed for the French harpsichord, English bentside spinet, fortepiano, virginal, ottavino, and organ the company produced. Some packing lists indicate the number of kits the company packed each year. The numbers on the folders indicate the number of kits produced by the company.

Subseries 5, Promotional Files, 1961-2001, includes correspondence and catalogs from festivals, exhibitions, workshops, and projects that helped the company reach out to the wider public. The Boston Early Music Festival, for which Diane Hubbard was a board member, is well represented. Workshops in skills such as voicing, tuning, repair, and general woodworking classes helped amateur craftsman receive instructions for harpsichord-related activities. The special projects document other activities and venues, such as high school projects, and other activities by the Hubbard's to share their knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, harpsichords.

Subseries 6, Catalogs of Other Instruments, undated, consists of competitors' catalogs for early instruments. Hubbard's notable competitors include Wallace Zuckerman (Zuckerman harpsichords), and Hubbard's former business partner, William Dowd. The subseries is arranged alphabetically by competitor name.

Series 6, Financial Records, 1976-2000, consists of general financial documents, balance sheets, tax information, and payrolls.

Materials include account receivables, kits work in progress, monthly expense budgets, accounts payable, cash disbursements, write-offs and cancellations, bad debts, finished instrument orders and sales, miscellaneous income, monthly totals from sales journals, cash disbursements petty cash statements, kits ordered and shipped, restorations and fixed assets. Balance sheets, tax information, payroll documents, and related income statements complement the general financial documents to document the company's finances. The materials are arranged chronologically, then topically.

Series 7, Legal Records, 1959-1987, undated, consists of memoranda, notes, correspondence, and financial materials relating to legal cases and commercial acquisitions for the Hubbard Harpsichord Company from the 1970's to 1980's. The series is divided into five subseries: Subseries 1, Notes of John Ashby, 1968-1977; Subseries 2, Notes of Henry S. Healy, 1973-1978; Subseries 3, Belt v. Hubbard, 1963-1977; Subseries 4, Correspondence, 1963-1979; and Subseries 5, Acquisitions and Mergers, 1959-1987.

Subseries 1, Notes of John Ashby, 1968-1977, consists of notes of the company's lead attorney John H. Ashby pertaining to legal agreements between Hubbard and Erdmann, Hubbard's estate, Belt v. Hubbard, and general financial matters.

Subseries 2, Notes of Henry S. Healy, 1973-1978, consists of the notes of Henry S. Healy regarding the company's acquisition of commercial real estate and leases.

Subseries 3, Belt v. Hubbard, 1963-1977, consists of correspondence, memos, notes, affidavits, pleading matters, and pending matters used in the Belt v. Hubbard case.

Subseries 4, Correspondence, 1963-1979, consists of general correspondence. Wallets five through nine deal with merger acquisitions and sublease agreements during the 1970's and 1980's. Reviews of the company's financial operations are included in accountant reports, tax returns, and documents for the board of directors meetings.

Series 8, Soundboard Newsletters, 1979-1999, consists of a yearly newsletter with information about the company's activities for harpsichord enthusiasts.

Series 9, Photographs, 1968-1993, undated, consists of two albums of harpsichord photos and slides at events and concert halls.

Series 10, Drawings, undated (unprocessed)
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1949-2003

Series 2: Business Files, 1965-2000

Subseries 2.1: Annual meetings and reports, 1965-2000

Subseries 2.2: Corporate Affairs, 1960-1997

Subseries 2.3: Employee Files, 1967-1996

Series 3, Frank Hubbard Harpsichord Kits, Inc., 1964-1997, undated

Subseries 3.1: Kit Instructions, 1964-1989, undated

Subseries 3.2: Price lists and costs, 1974-1999, undated

Subseries 3.3: Instruments on order, 1968-1987

Subseries 3.4: Catalogues of Hubbard Harpsichords, 1984-1997

Series 4: Research, 1930-1974

Subseries 4.1: Notebooks, 1932-1973, undated

Subseries 4.2: Correspondence and Notes, 1955-1961, undated

Subseries 4.3: Drawings, 1950-1959, undated (partially processed)

Subseries 4.4: Publications and Manuscripts, 1930-1974, undated

Subseries 4.5: Photographs, undated

Subseries 4.6: Card Files, undated

Subseries 4.7: Samples, undated

Subseries 4.8: Miscellaneous, 1934-1960, undated

Series 5: Sales and Promotional Materials, 1961-2001, undated

Subseries 5.1: Sales Journals, 1983-1998

Subseries 5.2: Dealer Files, 1975-1990

Subseries 5.3: Instruments on Order, 1968-1987

Subseries 5.4: Packing Lists, 1970-2000

Subseries 5.5: Promotional Files, 1961-2001

Subseries 5.6: Catalogs of Other Instruments, undated

Series 6: Financial Records, 1976-2000

Series 7: Legal Records, 1959-1987, undated

Subseries 7.1: Notes of John Ashby, 1968-1977

Subseries 7.2: Notes of Henry S. Healy, 1973-1978

Subseries 7.3: Belt v. Hubbard Materials, 1963-1977

Subseries 7.4: Correspondence, 1963-1979

Subseries 7.5: Acquisitions and Mergers, 1959-1987

Series 8: Soundboard Newsletters, 1979-1999

Series 9: Photographs, 1968-1993, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Frank Twombly Hubbard (1920-1976) was an American early instruments maker who with William R. Dowd (1922-2008) and the German harpsichord maker Martin Skowroneck, resurrected historical methods of harpsichord building. Many harpsichord makers in the United States are in debt to Frank Hubbard, his research, and his work with Dowd which became central to the twentieth century revival of harpsichord building in the United States.

Born on May 15, 1920, in New York, Hubbard graduated from Harvard University (Bachelor's, 1942; Master of Arts, 1947). At Harvard, Hubbard met William Dowd (1922-2008) who also had an interest in early instruments. Together they constructed a clavichord, an early stringed keyboard instrument used during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Hubbard and Dowd both decided to leave Harvard to pursue instrument making. In 1947, Dowd went to work with John Challis in Michigan, while Hubbard went to England and became an apprentice at the workshop of Arnold Dolmetsch in Haslemere. Not learning much about the historic harpsichord, Hubbard worked with Hugh Gough in London in 1948. During his one-year stay with Gough, he was able to visit collections of early keyboard instruments around Europe and study the instruments of fifteenth to eighteenth century harpsichord makers.

Hubbard returned to the United States in 1949 and founded a workshop with Dowd, called Hubbard and Dowd, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, which was dedicated to building harpsichords on historical principles. Hubbard and Dowd restored harpsichords in public and private collections (including the Smithsonian) which helped improve their own techniques of design and construction. In 1958 the partnership ended and Hubbard formed his own workshop, Frank Hubbard Harpsichords, Inc. on the Lyman Estate in Waltham, Massachusetts. Dowd opened a larger workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Hubbard held several fellowships--a Fulbright Fellowship (1957), American Philosophical Society Grant (1958) and the Belgium American Educational Foundation CRB Fellowship (1958)--to examine instrument collections in Europe. From 1967 to 1968, he set up the restoration workshop for the Musee Instrumental at the Paris Conservatoire. In the 1970s, he taught courses at Harvard and Boston Universities. Hubbard wrote Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making in 1965. Ralph Kirkpatrick, a harpsichordist, wrote, "Hubbard unquestionably knows more about the history and construction of harpsichords than anyone alive today."

Hubbard developed a harpsichord in 1963 based on a 1769 French harpsichord which was sold as a "do-it-yourself" kit. It included a manual and all the crucial parts. Any person with a good grasp of woodworking and basic knowledge of harpsichord making, with dedication and careful work, was able to produce a fine instrument. Other kit designs followed in subsequent decades, and were marketed and sold under the name of Frank Hubbard Harpsichord Kits, Inc.

Frank Hubbard died on February 26, 1976 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Operations at the Hubbard shop continued under the direction of Hubbard's wife, Diane Hubbard until 2000. Diane Hubbard died in 2009. Approximately 300 instruments were built in the shop, and nearly 4,000 kits were sold to customers around the world.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History

Materials in the Archives Center

Dowd Harpsichord Collection, 1949-1997 (AC0593)

The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life

The division has a Hubbard clavichord and harpsichords built by other makers.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Hendrik Broekman, President, Hubbard Harpsichords, Inc., on September 20, 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Musical instrument makers  Search this
Harpsichord makers  Search this
Harpsichord  Search this
Musical instruments  Search this
Genre/Form:
Business records -- 20th century
Newsletters -- 20th century
Photographs -- 1950-2000
Project files
Financial records -- 20th century
Legal documents -- 20th century
Account books -- 20th century
Correspondence -- 20th century
Research -- 20th century
Manuals
Design drawings -- 20th century
Citation:
Hubbard Harpsichord Records, 1930-2003, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1256
See more items in:
Hubbard Harpsichord Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep845b96f47-f9af-42d9-b1d0-f7ae3d290e54
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1256
Online Media:

Greg Meyer Taser Collection

Creator:
Cover, Jack  Search this
Donor:
Meyer, Greg  Search this
Extent:
0.3 Cubic feet (1 box )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Notes
Test reports
Patents
Photographs
Articles
Design drawings
Eulogies
Date:
1946 - 2009
Summary:
Papers relating to the invention, development, use, and popularization of the Taser, a nonlethal weapon invented by Jack Covers.
Scope and Contents:
Papers relating to the invention, development, use, and popularization of the Taser, a nonlethal weapon invented by Jack Cover. The collection includes biographical information about Cover, Cover's initial concept paper, design drawings, notes and writings, photographs, papers relating to the patenting of the Taser, test results, training materials on the use of the Taser, articles and printed materials, notes to law enforcement officers, response to controversy surrounding the use and misuse of the Taser, and a eulogy. Interaction and use of the Taser by law enforcement mostly focuses on the Los Angeles Police Department.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
John "Jack" Cover (1920-2009) was born in New York, New York. He joined the United States Air Force in 1942, and served as an aeronautical engineer and an aircraft engineering officer. During World War II he was awarded the World War II Victory Medal and American Theater Service Medal. Cover was released from active service in 1946, after which he earned a B.S and Ph.D at University of Chicago. He worked at North American Aviation (NAA), as a contractor for NASA, and was part of the the team that won the Prime contract for NAA from 1961-1962 on the Apollo Moon Landing Program.

As a result of a growing push for law enforcement agencies to use non-lethal weapons in the 1960's, Cover developed and later patented iwhat would become known as the TASER. He named the device the Taser, an acronym for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle. Cover formed Taser Systems. Inc. in 1970 and the Taser was patented in 1974 as a "Weapon for Immobilization and Capture (US 3,803,463). The device was adopted by the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1970s as an alternative to lethal weapons in subduing suspects, particularly those under the influence of drugs or who posed harm to themselves.
Provenance:
Collected donated by Greg Meyer, 2013.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Weapons  Search this
TASER  Search this
Nonlethal weapons  Search this
Stun guns  Search this
Genre/Form:
Notes
Test reports
Patents -- 20th century
Photographs -- 1950-2000
Articles
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Eulogies
Citation:
Greg Meyer Taser Collection, 1946-2009, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1311
See more items in:
Greg Meyer Taser Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep85ca9d718-5f30-4123-b65d-170ae3c12a8d
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1311

Aladdin Industries, Inc. Records

Creator:
Johnson, Victor S., Sr., 1882-1943  Search this
Johnson, Victor, Jr., 1906-  Search this
Aladdin Industries, Inc. (Nashville, Tenn.).  Search this
Names:
Allen, Steve  Search this
Reagan, Ronald  Search this
Extent:
50 Cubic feet (120 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Newsletters
Commercial art
Picture postcards
Laboratory notebooks
Patents
Design drawings
Business records
Advertisements
Scrapbooks
Date:
1889-2003
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of approximately 50 cubic feet of material documenting Aladdin Industries Inc., manufacturers of vacuum ware and lunch boxes. The majority of the material dates from 1947 to the 1970s. The strength of the collection is with the lunch box documentation and product development, marketing, and sales records. There is some interesting labor history—specifically United Steel Workers agreement. The files of Victor S. Johnson, Sr. and Victor S. Johnson, Jr. form the core of the collection and provide rich documentation on the company's activities.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into seventeen series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Materials, 1919-1997

Series 2: Victor S. Johnson Sr. Files, 1916-1945

Series 3: Victor S. Johnson Jr. Files, 1906-1983

Series 4: Employee and Personnel Records, 1910-2001

Series 5: Research and Development Records, 1910-1976

Series 6: Patent Records, 1889-1973

Series 7: Sales Records, 1939-2000

Series 8: Advertising and Marketing Records, 1931-2001

Series 9: School Lunch Kits, 1952-1989

Series 10: Lamps and Kerosene Heaters, 1911-2000

Series 11: Temp-Rite, 1972-2000

Series 12: Competitors, 1963-2001

Series 13: Style Guides, 1966-1998

Series 14: Newsletters, 1943-1998

Series 15: Photographs, 1923-1986

Series 16: Scrapbooks, 1908-1962

Series 17: Audiovisual Materials, 1993-1996
Biographical / Historical:
Victor Samuel Johnson Sr., (1882-1943) was born in Nebraska. As a soap salesman for the Iowa Soap Company, he became interested in kerosene mantle burners. Dissatisfied with the available kerosene lamps, he began selling and dealing U.S. made mantles and incorporated the Mantle Lamp Company of America in Chicago in 1908. Johnson selected the name "Aladdin" from the famous story, "Aladdin; or The Wonderful Lamp." Johnson began research and development of a mantle lamp that gave off a steady white light and did not smoke. The Mantle Lamp Company began manufacturing lamps in 1912, with Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company burners, and marketed them as "Aladdin Lamps." The company diversified in 1917 and began producing insulated cooking dishes, known as Aladdin Thermalware jars, for the U.S. military. These jars had an aluminum or steel jacket wrapped around a heavy glass receptacle. The space between was filled with cork. The introduction of the thermalware began the company's venture into heat and cold retaining receptacles.

In 1919, Johnson organized a subsidiary of the Mantle Lamp Company of America, Aladdin Industries, Inc., to market and sell the Aladdin thermalware jars and vacuum ware. At the same time, Mantle lamp Company of America formed Aladdin Limited in Canada and England to sell thermalware as well as Pathfinder Radio Corporation, Cadillac Photograph Corporation, Aladdin Chemical Corporation, Aladdin Phonograph Corporation, Johnson Laboratories, Inc. (radio components), and Aladdin Radio Industries (magnetic and radio research). Pathfinder, Cadillac, Aladdin Chemical and Aladdin Phonograph all failed. In 1926, the Mantle Lamp Company acquired Lippincott Glass Company of Alexandria, Indiana, where it manufactured and fabricated glass chimneys, shades and lamp bases, mantles, wicks, and metal lamp bases. The Alexandria plant closed in 1952 and eventually moved to Nashville.

In 1943, Victor S. Johnson Sr. died and his son, Victor S. Johnson Jr. (1906-), succeeded him as president of Aladdin Industries Inc. Johnson Jr. moved Aladdin from Chicago to Nashville, Tennessee in 1949 to place the company strategically in mid-America to distribute its products. Aladdin's general offices, vacuum bottle production, and electric lamps and kerosene completed the move by 1952.

In 1950, Aladdin began illustrating flat metal school lunch kits (lunch boxes with liquid containers) with images of popular radio, movie and television figures. Hopalong Cassidy was the first character kit. This innovative marketing decision produced an explosive growth in the lunch kit market and made Aladdin a pioneer in image licensing. Character lunch boxes became a large part of the childhood experience and are collector's items today. Over the years, Aladdin extended the range of characters depicted and began manufacturing plastic and soft, vinyl lunch kits with printed themes. It also introduced "3D" embossing on the flat metal kits. Embossed metal lunch kits were completely phased out in 1986 due to high production costs. In addition to the school lunch kits, Aladdin also introduced wide mouth vacuum bottles (pint and quart size) in 1953. The wide mouth bottles also carried "adult" themes such as the "Angler" fisherman's bottle. The thermosware line eventually moved from metal to plastic jackets and from a glass insulated filler to foam.

In 1965, Aladdin purchased the Stanley steel bottle operation from Landers, Frary and Clark in New Britain, Connecticut. Aladdin's diversification strategy led to the introduction in 1968 of the Temp-Rite® meal distribution plan, an insulated thermal tray service for hospitals, the airline industry, and prisons. The Temp-Rite® system gave rise to a full line of products and services and Aladdin formed a subsidiary, known as Aladdin Synergetics, Inc., to handle its health care and food service operations. Aladdin Synergetics was sold to Welbilt Corporation in 1998; the new operation was named Aladdin Temp-Rite. Other products added over the years included electric lamps, shades, kerosene stoves, and an electronics division in 1956. This division was established from a small technical research group whose function was patent licensing. As a subsidiary of Aladdin Industries, it produced transformers and radio and telephone filters. The subsidiary was sold to Vernitron in October, 1979.

At various times, Aladdin established offices in Alexandria, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland Oregon, Canada; Hungry; France; Australia, New Zealand; England; Iraq, Iran, Brazil, Japan, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Uruguay, France, Germany, Iceland, Sweden, and South Africa to market and sell its products.

Aladdin was financially mismanaged in the 1990s and rapidly declined. Aladdin Industries Inc. reorganized in 1999 and became known as Aladdin Industries LLC. High labor costs and unsuccessful efforts to develop new products led to further decline. By January, 2002, Aladdin had sold its remaining product lines and closed its Nashville plant. Aladdin lamps are still sold today by the Aladdin Mantle Lamp Company of Clarksville, Tennessee.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Cultural History (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds 30 lunch boxes and 28 thermos bottles from Aladdin Industries, Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, there is a pair of lamps. See Accession 2003.0255. Although the children's steel lunch boxes predominate, the collection represents the full spectrum of Aladdin box designs including vinyl, hard plastic, and fabric.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Aladdin Industries in 2003.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the oversize map folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Lunchboxes  Search this
Character merchandising  Search this
Celebrities  Search this
Food containers  Search this
Food container industry  Search this
Thermos bottles  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 20th century
Newsletters -- 20th century
Commercial art
Picture postcards -- 20th century -- United States
Laboratory notebooks
Patents -- 20th century
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Business records -- 20th century
Advertisements -- 20th century
Scrapbooks -- 20th century
Citation:
Aladdin Industries, Inc. Records, 1889-2002, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0844
See more items in:
Aladdin Industries, Inc. Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8fd6fbc8e-2f6e-4e4c-9521-d11b05b2e4de
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0844
Online Media:

S. Newman Darby Windsurfing Collection

Creator:
Darby, S. Newman, 1928-2016 (inventor)  Search this
Darby, Kenneth  Search this
Darby, Naomi  Search this
Names:
Mistral, Inc.  Search this
Windsurfing International, Inc.  Search this
Drake, Jim  Search this
Schweitzer, Hoyle  Search this
Extent:
2.65 Cubic feet (7 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertisements
Sketches
Photographs
Rigging plans
Sail plans
Legal files
Blueprints
Film (performing arts)
Illustrated periodicals
Correspondence
Design drawings
Drawings
Videotapes
Place:
Falls (Pa.) -- 1950-1990
Susquehana River -- 1950-1990
Date:
1944-1998
Summary:
The collection documents S. Newman Darby's development of the sailboard, which became known as the windsurfer through sketches, mechanical drawings, plans, patent specifications, legal documents, photographs, correspondence, notebooks, clippings, periodicals, and an 8mm film.
Scope and Contents:
The S. Newman Darby Windsurfing Collection, 1946-1998, documents the body of Newman Darby's inventive output as well as the development of the windsurfing industry. It consists of sketches, mechanical drawings, plans, patent specifications, legal documents, photographs, correspondence, notebooks, clippings, periodicals, an 8mm film and a videocassette. The collection is particularly rich in the material related to the development of the sailboard, including Darby's personal memoirs. It contains U.S. and foreign patents related to windsurfing as well as records and reports related to Darby's testimony in litigation and the recognition of the priority of his invention. the collections research value lies in the documentation of the invention of the windsurfer and the industry and culture it spawned. It documents the processes of invention and marketing of new devices. It is evidence of the full range of S. Newman Darby's imagination, life and career.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.

Series 1: Biographical materials, 1969-1982

Series 2: Inventions and designs, 1953-1990

Series 3: Darby Industries, 1982-1983

Series 4: History of windsurfing, 1944-1998

Series 5: Photographs, 1946-1997

Series 6: Audio-Visual materials, 1965-1997
Biographical / Historical:
S. Newman Darby is recognized as the first person in the United States to conceive of connecting a hand-held sail rig fastened with a universal joint to a floating platform for recreational use. He called it sail boarding in 1965, when he published his designs in Popular Science Monthly magazine. Although he and his brothers Ronald and Kenneth began manufacturing the boards through their company Darby Industries, they never applied for a patent.

S. Newman Darby (1928-2016) was born in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. He graduated from West Pittston High School in 1946. A sign painter and artist, like his father Sidney Darby, he studied drafting at the Pennsylvania State University extension school where he took chemistry, business, art, and photography courses for one year. His first invention, the Darby Dory, a folding rowboat dates from 1953. The sailboard developed out of Darby's experiments with a personal pontoon catamaran, each hull being big enough for one foot and designed to be operated with a hand-held sail and no rudder. By 1964 he had designed a universal joint that connected a mast to a flat bottom sailing scow. This board had a centerboard, tail fin and kite shaped free sail. Early tests were conducted on Trailwood Lake and the Susquehanna River, near West Pittston.

Today sail boarding is known as windsurfing. It adopted its name from Windsurfer International, a company Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim Drake established on the basis of a patent granted to them in 1970 for a "wind-propelled apparatus." In all essential qualities, their claims duplicated Newman Darby's earlier work.

After Schweitzer bought out Drake's share in 1973, he energetically promoted the sport and licensed manufacturing rights to more than 20 companies around the world. Schweitzer forcefully prosecuted patent infringements he perceived among windsurfer manufacturers and he threatened to sue the 1984 Olympic Committee should it authorize a board produced by a manufacturer not licensed by Windsurfer International. Although he was aware of the growth of the sport and the profits flowing into Windsurfer International through its licensing activities, Darby was unable to mount a legal challenge to Schweitzer. His priority in the invention of the sport was overlooked and almost forgotten.

In the late 1970's, Mistral, a Swiss manufacturer sued by Windsurfer International in Germany, located Darby and presented his "prior art" as a defense. In the early 1980's, courts in the United States were asked to rule on the validity of the Windsurfer International patent. Newman Darby's prior art was at the center of the controversies. The court voided Windsurfer's original patent and Schweitzer was forced to apply for a reissue based on severely limited claims. He lost the use of "windsurfer" as a trademark. Schweitzer retained the reissued patent through further challenges until it expired in 1987. The example of Newman Darby has become a textbook case of the importance of thorough searches for "prior art" for patent attorneys.

Following completion of the patent litigation Darby designed original sail rigs for Mistral in Europe and Horizon in the United States. In 1982 Newman entered into a new partnership with his brothers Ronald and Kenneth and formed NRK, Inc., to design and manufacture windsurfing boards, training devices and to produce written and video documentaries of his contributions to the history of the sport.

Naomi Albrecht Darby, Newman's wife, sewed the first sails for the boards and participated in their testing and marketing. She documented Darby's inventions through the years in photographs and moving images. Over the years, Darby has worked on numerous inventions--most of them related to wind propulsion. Like many independent inventors, Newman Darby conceives of his ideas, executes all of the mechanical plans, builds his own prototypes and tests them. Darby continues to research improvements in windsurfing and to teach courses in boat building and design.
Related Materials:
An original sailboard, rig, mast and daggerboard from the same period are also housed in the Pennsylvania State Museum at Harrisburg.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts relating to S. Newman Darby and his invention of the windsurfer, including an original board, boom and mast, and sail dating from 1964. See accessions #1998.0086 and #1998.0323.
Provenance:
Most of the collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History by S. Newman Darby and his wife Naomi on February 3, 1998.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Sporting goods industry -- 1950-1990  Search this
Sailboats -- 1950-1990  Search this
Patent law and legislation -- 1950-1990 -- United States  Search this
Patent licenses  Search this
Patents (international law) -- 1950-1990  Search this
Boatbuilders -- 1950-1990  Search this
Boats and boating -- 1950-1990  Search this
Boats and boating -- Designs and plans -- 1950-1990  Search this
Inventors -- 1950-2000  Search this
Inventions -- 1950-2000  Search this
Aquatic sports -- 1950-1990  Search this
Darby simulator  Search this
Windsurfers -- 1950-1990  Search this
Windsurfing -- Inventions -- 1950-1990  Search this
Genre/Form:
Advertisements -- 1950-2000
Sketches -- 1950-1990
Photographs -- 20th century
Rigging plans -- 1950-1990
Sail plans -- 1950-1990
Legal files -- 1950-1990
Blueprints -- 1950-2000
Film (performing arts) -- 1950-1990
Illustrated periodicals -- 1950-1990
Correspondence -- 1940-1990
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Drawings -- 1950-1990
Videotapes
Citation:
S. Newman Darby Windsurfing Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0625
See more items in:
S. Newman Darby Windsurfing Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8a1c39256-e51a-4c44-92ca-dc22ec812dbb
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0625
Online Media:

Ralph H. Baer Papers

Creator:
Baer, Ralph H., 1922-2014  Search this
Extent:
16 Cubic feet (45 boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Audiocassettes
Cd-roms
Diagrams
Drawings
Interviews
Videotapes
Correspondence
Sketches
Photographs
Oral history
Notes
Manuals
Date:
1943 - 2015
Summary:
Ralph H. Baer was a German-born ordnance specialist, inventor, and engineer. He was a pioneer of early videogame technology. The papers include autobiographical materials; firearms notes, manuscripts, and photographs; and videogame and television engineering notes, diagrams, schematics, and video documentation.
Scope and Contents:
The Ralph Baer Papers include autobiographical materials and an extended oral history interview. The Papers also include materials about military small arms created by Baer during his World War II service. The largest portion of the collection documents Baer's work on video games.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 12 series.

Series 1: Autobiographical Documents, 1962-2006

Subseries 1.1: Manuscript, book and other documents, 1962-2006

Subseries 1.2: Other Media: CDs, VHS videos, periodical, 1991, 2000-2003

Series 2: WW II Small Arms Documents, 1943-1953

Subseries 2.1: Correspondence, 1950-1953

Subseries 2.2: Writings and notes, 1943-1948

Subseries 2.3: Drawings and schematics, undated

Subseries 2.4: Manuals and encyclopedias, 1943

Subseries 2.5: Photographs, 1945

Series 3: Hans Otto Mauksch Materials, 1944-1964

Subseries 3.1: Personal background information, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1964

Subseries 3.2: Instructional materials, 1944-1946, undated

Subseries 3.3: Ft. Riley, Kansas, 1946, 1953

Series 4: TV Game Documents, 1966-1972

Subseries 4.1: Working notes, diagrams and schematics, 1966-1971

Subseries 4.2: Administrative documents, 1966-1972 Subseries 4.3: Notebooks, 1966-1968

Subseries 4.4: TV game development documentation, 1966-1968

Series 5: Sanders Associates, Transitron, and Van Norman Industries, 1952-2003

Series 6: Product Development Documents, 1974-2015

Series 7: Product Guides and Technical Support, 1943-2011

Series 8: Legal and Patent Documents, 1966-2014

Series 9: Writings and Notes, 1946-1999

Series 10: Miscellaneous, 1961-2012

Series 11: Correspondence, 1983-2014

Series 12: Publicity and Awards, 1979-2015
Biographical / Historical:
Ralph H. Baer (1922-2014) was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1938. A graduate of the National Radio Institute (1940), Baer worked as a radio technician in the New York City area, servicing all types of home and auto radios. During World War II, Baer served in the United States Army, one year stateside, and two years in Europe. He was assigned to Military Intelligence and became an expert on military small arms. Baer returned to the United States with eighteen tons of foreign small arms for use in exhibits at Aberdeen, Maryland; Springfield, Massachusetts Armory; and Ft. Riley, Kansas.

After the war, Baer attended the American Television Institute of Technology in Chicago, graduating with a BS in television engineering. In 1949, Baer joined a small electro medical equipment firm, Wappler, Inc., as their chief engineer. He designed and built surgical cutting machines, epilators, and low frequency pulse generating muscle-toning equipment. In 1951, Baer moved to Loral Electronics of Bronx, New York as a senior engineer, designing power line carrier signaling equipment for IBM. During 1952-1956, Baer worked at Transitron, Inc., in New York City as a chief engineer and later as vice president. In 1956, Baer joined Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire building airborne radar components. He became manager of the Electronic Design Department at Sanders and eventually Division Manager and Chief Engineer for Equipment Design. Baer retired in 1987.

At Sanders in 1966, Baer began an independent project experimenting with ways for consumers to interact with standard home television sets. Development of interactive TV Game (TVG) ideas became a company-supported project continued by Baer and assisted by William H. Harrison and William T. Rusch (download the TV Game chronology prepared by Ralph Baer in 2006). By mid-1967, ping pong videogames were played inside Sanders, patent disclosures were applied for, and hardware was designed. Baer and his associates called the devices they were developing "boxes" and numbered the various versions one through seven. In 1971, Magnavox became Sanders Associates's first videogame licensee. Between 1972 and 1975, Magnavox produced and sold over 700,000 units of Odyssey, a set of games played on its television receivers. Atari became a licensee in 1976 after the first of many lawsuits won by Sanders in pursuit of patent infringements.

During his tenure at Sanders and thereafter, Baer was a prolific inventor. His creations included many electronic toys and games and other consumer electronic products. Among the better known products based on Baer's work are Milton Bradley's Simon, Galoob's Smarty Bear Video, and Kenner's Laser Command. In 2004 President George W. Bush awarded Baer the National Medal of Technology.

Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952 and they had three children, James, Mark, and Nancy. Ralph Baer died on December 6, 2014, at the age of 92.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Ralph H. Baer Innovative Lives Presentation, August 15, 2009 (NMAH.AC.1179)

The presentation documents a moderated conversation about Baer's life and work. Baer reenacts, with his partner William Harrison, the first time he played "Odyssey," the first home video game for the consumer market, which he invented, and answers questions from the audience. Materials include original video (born digital), master videos, and reference videos.

Materials at Other Organizations

Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at The Strong

Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1968-2010 inclusive; 1975-1998 bulk

The Ralph H. Baer papers are a compilation of correspondence, game designs, drawings, notes, reference materials, photographs, product descriptions, digital videos, schematics, electronic components, and manuals utilized by Ralph H. Baer throughout his lengthy career in the toy and game industry. The bulk of the materials are from 1975 through 1998.

U.S. Ordnance Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia

Materials consist of data on foreign small arms brought back from Europe in 1946 by Ralph H. Baer.

Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, New York

Holdings include set of seven recreations of "TV game" prototypes originally created between 1966 and 1969, donated by pioneering game developer Ralph Baer. One of Baer's game prototypes, known as the "Brown Box," was licensed by Magnavox and released in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey, the world's first commercial home video game console.

University of Texas, Austin, Briscoe Center for American History

Ralph H. Baer "Brown Box" replica, 1952-1983, 2006-2012

The Ralph H. Baer "Brown Box" replica includes a fully-functional replica of Ralph Baer's "Brown Box," the prototype video game console that was used as the basis of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. The collection also contains related research materials.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection including early video game prototypes and TV Game products.

TV Game Unit #1 (TVG#1); 1966; vacuum tube spot generator with Heathkit IG-62 Generator (See Accession 2006.0102.01)

Heathkit IG-62; used with TVG #1 (See Accession 2006.0102.02)

TV Game Unit #2 (TVG #2), aka the "Pump Unit," 1967; large aluminum chassis with wooden "pump" handle (See Accession 2006.0102.03)

TV Game Unit #7 (TVG#7), aka "Brown Box," 1967/1968; prototype for Magnavox Odyssey (See Accession 2006.0102.04)

Cardboard program cards for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.05)

Lightgun, 1967/1968; game accessory for Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.06)

TV Game Unit #8, 1968; "de/dt" (velocity responsive) ballgame chassis for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.07)

Magnavox Odyssey (Model ITL200) video game unit, 1972; with all accessories in the original carton (See Accession 2006.0102.08)

Milton-Bradley Company SIMON handheld microprocessor-control game, 1978 (See Accession 2006.0102.09)

Ideal Toy Company MANIAC microprocessor-control game, 1979, in original box with game instructions (See Accession 2006.0102.10)

Golf Game accessory, 1968; golf ball mounted on joystick handle for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.11

"Brown Box" programming card, target shooting, 1967 (See Accession 2006.0102.12)
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Ralph H. Baer in 2003.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Books  Search this
Firearms  Search this
Games  Search this
Litigation  Search this
Inventions -- 20th century  Search this
Machine guns  Search this
World War, 1939-1945  Search this
Weapons  Search this
Video games  Search this
Toys -- 20th century  Search this
Television -- History  Search this
Rifles  Search this
Pistols  Search this
Military intelligence  Search this
Genre/Form:
Audiotapes
Audiocassettes
CD-ROMs
Diagrams
Drawings -- 1940-1950
Interviews -- 2000-2010
Videotapes
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Sketches
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 1940-1950
Photographs -- 20th century
Oral history -- 2000-2010
Notes
Manuals -- 1940-1950
Citation:
Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1943-2015, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0854
See more items in:
Ralph H. Baer Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82f137fe4-60d3-4527-aa78-fed55d4b4fef
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0854
Online Media:

Joseph Pedott Papers

Creator:
Joseph Enterprises, Inc. (San Francisco, California)  Search this
Pedott, Joseph, 1932-2023  Search this
Extent:
2 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertisements
Oral history
Audiotapes
Interviews
Design drawings
Photographs
Packaging
Date:
circa 1976-2005, 2008
Summary:
Papers relating to products developed and marketed by Joseph Enterprises, Inc., including the Chia Pet and the Clapper. The collection includes internal business documentation including correspondence, design drawings, and photographs. Print advertising and packaging samples as well as audiovisual materials make up an important part of the collection. The video collection includes commercials for the Chia and Clapper products as well as clips of product mentions in popular entertainment. In addition, there are two recorded oral history interviews with Joseph Pedott.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the Chia Pet, the Clapper, and other products of Joseph Enterprises, Inc. Other materials include packaging and advertising campaigns by Joseph Pedott Advertising & Marketing for other companies. While fragmentary and limited in extent, these materials illustrate the progress of Joe Pedott's career from a one-man advertising agency to a modest scale, enduring marketing business. The papers include early advertising work for small local clients and for a national client (Eversharp/Parker Pen) and well as early television for a variety of retail products. There is little on unsuccessful products, often just a few advertisements. The materials are complemented by the oral history interviews.
Arrangement:
Collection organized into eight series.

Series 1: Oral History Interviews, September 2004, April 2008

Series 2: Chia Pet, 1981-2005, undated

Series 3: The Clapper, 1976-1985, undated

Series 4: Scribe Ett, 1981, 1984, undated

Series 5: Eversharp Pen Company, undated

Series 6: Various Products, 1985, undated

Series 7: Newspaper Clippings, 1989-2004, undated

Series 8: Audiovisual Materials, 1979-2005, undated

Subseries 8.1, Commercials, 1979-2005

Subseries 8.2, Promotions, 1996-2001
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph Pedott (1932-2023) was born April 14, 1932 in Chicago. He attended the University of Illinois, where he and friend Daryl Peters, began the advertising company, Pedott & Peters. They successfully began producing commercials for automotive and retail companies and made a large amount of money by the time they reached the age of twenty-one. After making a bad business investment the partners focused on completing college. They began building up the company upon graduation.

Pedott and Peters worked together for several years before deciding to dissolve the partnership. Pedott then began working for R. Jack Scott, a Chicago advertising agency. Pedott worked for Scott for just over two years and during that time, out-performed those with more experience in the advertising field. Pedott left Chicago for San Francisco in 1956. He worked briefly at a small firm on commission before forming his own agency, Joseph Pedott Advertising & Marketing. Pedott's firm was innovative in advertising techniques. The company was the first to use "dealer tagging," a technique used at the ends of television commercials. During the last five seconds of the commercial consumers would learn where the advertised item could be purchased.

While attending a Chicago house wares show Pedott noticed the Chia Pet. He spoke with the product owner and learned that while the product was selling well, the owner was losing money on every Chia sold. Pedott bought the name and concept and reworked the manufacturing of the product after a trip to Mexico to witness first hand how the Chias were made. Later pedott moved Chia manufacturing to China. Pedott created a new company, Joseph Enterprises, Inc., (JEI) to manufacture the Chias. Joseph Pedott Advertising ran the advertising campaigns for all of JEI's products while continuing to work for non JEI clients.

After improving the quality of the product, the "new" Chia arrived on the market in 1982 and quickly expanded throughout the country, sold largely at drugstores. Today, the Chia Pet has large name recognition among the American public and continues to be a popular gift, especially at Christmas time. The line has expanded beyond the original ram and bull shapes to include a variety of animals (pig, elephant, kitten, dinosaur, etc.) as well as famous cultural icons such as Jerry Garcia, Bugs Bunny and various Looney Tunes characters, and Homer and Bart Simpson. In addition, the Chia Herb Garden entered the market in the mid-1990s.

Pedott's other success, the Clapper, came about through the advertising campaign for the Great American Turn On. Pedott discovered that the original product did not work properly and felt the owners were cheating their customers. JEI bought the product, including the patent, and reworked the electrical wiring to ensure that the company was selling a high quality product. As with the Chia Pet, The Clapper and its advertising, like the Chia, are familiar to a large number of Americans.

Note: Material for this section was taken from Joe Pedott Oral History Interview Abstract, September 20, 2004, Joseph Pedott Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Related Materials:
Materials in the National Museum of American History

The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts related to this collection (Accession # 2005.3116) that include:

1. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet dog

2. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet ram

3. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet bull

4. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia-saurus

5. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia Shrek character

6. Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Donkey from Shrek

7. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Jerry Garcia Chia

8. Bigmouth: A portable, plastic garbage bag holder

9A. CD Mobile antenna with packaging

9B. CB Mobile monitor with box

10. Video recorder with packaging

11. Metal detector with packaging

12. Pen set with frame and packaging

13. Light switch with box

14. Light switch with packaging

15. Jar lid opener with box

16. Tapeless measure with packaging

17A. Pen, engraving

17B. Pen, engraving with packaging

17C. Pen, engraving with packaging

17D. Pen, engraving with packaging

18A. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18B. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18C. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18D. Knife, Pumpkin cutter

18E. Knife with packaging

18F. Pumpkin cutter with packaging
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Joseph Pedott, 2005.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Novelties  Search this
Toys  Search this
Popular culture  Search this
Marketing  Search this
Genre/Form:
Advertisements
Oral history
Audiotapes
Interviews
Design drawings
Photographs -- 1950-2000
Packaging
Citation:
Joseph Pedott Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0898
See more items in:
Joseph Pedott Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8c1a7ec84-0a30-48f5-9447-f102700bd4b4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0898
Online Media:

Robert Ledley Papers

Creator:
Ledley, Robert S.  Search this
National Biomedical Research Foundation. Georgetown University  Search this
Names:
Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial Scanner  Search this
Computer-Assisted Tomography Scanner  Search this
National Biomedical Research Foundation. Georgetown University  Search this
Extent:
3 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuals
Patents
Photographs
Design drawings
Correspondence
Articles
Diagrams
Slides (photographs)
Notes
Motion pictures (visual works)
Albums
Date:
1972-1990
Summary:
The Robert Ledley Papers document the development of the first whole-body diagnostic imaging system, the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) X-ray Scanner by Ledley in 1973. Also included is material relating to Ledley's company, Digital Science Information Corporation (DISCO), as well as the public and medical communities' reactions to the scanner.
Scope and Contents:
The Robert Ledley Papers document the development of the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) X-ray Scanner, Ledley's company Digital Science Information Corporation (DISCO), as well as the public and medical communities' reactions to the scanner. The collection is arranged into nine series.

Series 1, ACTA Scanner I Schematics, 1973-1975; Series 2, ACTA Scanner I [Computer and Electronics], 1973; and Series 3, ACTA Scanner Tomograph Mechanics, 1973-1974 document the development and design of the ACTA scanner through drawings, notes, memoranda, and product information. More detailed information about these materials is located in the control file. All oversize drawings have been moved to flat storage for preservation concerns.

Series 4, ACTA Scanner Operating Instructions, 1975, is the operating manual created for the scanner used in Ledley's Georgetown lab.

Series 5, ACTA Articles, Clippings, and Press Releases, 1973-1979, is comprised of the aforementioned materials relating to the ACTA Scanner. Newspaper clippings illuminate the public's perception of the scanner, and scientific pieces highlight the medical community's reaction. Ledley's published articles on the scanner and related topics are included.

Series 6, Digital Information Science Corporation (DISCO) material, 1973-1981, documents Ledley's career and his company. A biographical sketch, list of articles, textbooks, and patents highlight Ledley's achievements. Invoices, receipts, contracts, and correspondence illuminate the financial situation at DISCO and the relationship between the company and Pfizer.

Series 7, Computer manuals, 1972-1975, documents the computer systems and software that were used with the ACTA Scanner.

Series 8, Photographic material, 1973-1978, includes an album of photographs depicting the ACTA Scanner and images of the scans it created. This album was disassembled due to preservation concerns. This series also includes a collection of slides featuring the scanner and related equipment in use and images of the scans it created. A detailed description of each photograph and slide is included in the control file.

Series 9, ACTA Scanner film, [1974?], is a 16mm narrated film describing the creation of the scanner, its components, the way they work, the scanner in use, and images of the scans produced.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into nine series.

Series 1, ACTA Scanner I Schematics, 1973-1975

Series 2, ACTA Scanner I [Computer and Electronics], 1973

Series 3, ACTA Scanner Tomograph Mechanics, 1973-1974

Series 4, ACTA Scanner Operating Instructions, 1975

Series 5, ACTA Articles, Clippings, and Press Releases, 1973-1979

Series 6, Digital Information Science Corporation (DISCO) material, 1973-1981, undated

Series 7, Computer manuals, 1972-1975

Series 8, Photographic material 1973-1978

Subseries 1, Photographs, 19731978

Subseries 2, Slides, 1974

Series 9, ACTA Scanner film [1974?]
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Steven Ledley was born in Flushing Meadows, New York in 1926. He received a D.D.S. degree from New York University College in 1948. While attending dental school, he simultaneously studied at Columbia University; he earned a M.A. in Theoretical Physics in 1949. He volunteered for the army and was sent to the U.S. Army Medical Field Service School in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.1 After completing his service, Ledley held a wide variety of research and academic positions in physics, electrical engineering, and medicine.

Ledley was a physicist within the External Control Group of the Electronic Computer Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards from 1953-1954. He was an operations research analyst within the Strategic Division of the Operations Research Office at Johns Hopkins University from 1954-1956. Ledley went on to become an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at The George Washington University from 1956-1960 while also serving as a consultant mathematician at the National Bureau of Standards Data Processing Systems Division, 1957-1960. At this time, Ledley also worked part time at the National Research Council's National Academy of Sciences from 1957-1961. Ledley became the president of the National Biomedical Research Foundation in 1960, a position he still holds today. He was an instructor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1960-1963. He returned to The George Washington University's Department of Electrical Engineering in 1968 where he was a professor until 1970. He then became a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1970. In 1974, Ledley also became a professor in the Radiology Department at the Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1975, he became the director of the Medical Computing and Biophysics Division at Georgetown University Medical Center.

In 1972, the British company Electric and Musical Industries Limited (EMI) released a medical imaging machine for use on smaller areas of the body that were positioned under a water tank. In 1973, Ledley developed the Automatic Computerized Transverse Axial (ACTA) X-ray Scanner (US Patent #3,922,552). This machine was a whole-body diagnostic medical imaging system. He was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health for an engineering equipment project, but the money was never received due to budget cuts. Ledley looked elsewhere for funding. He consulted with Georgetown staff and discovered a neurosurgeon had asked to buy a head scanning machine from EMI. Ledley did not think the images in EMI's brochure appeared clear, and he offered to create a similar machine for half the price. Georgetown agreed to fund this project for $250,000. Ledley secured the services of a machinist at a local machine shop, an electronic engineer, and a programmer/mathematician to assist in the project.2 The ACTA Scanner debuted in February, 1974 and did not require the use of a water tank.

Following the creation of the ACTA Scanner, Ledley organized Digital Information Science Corporation (DISCO) in order to manufacture the system. DISCO began producing scanners as orders were received. Due to financial constraints, DISCO was forced to request $100,000 upon receipt of the order, $100,000 when the scanner was halfway completed, and the final $100,000 payment upon delivery3. In 1975, Pfizer purchased the rights to manufacture the ACTA Scanner from DISCO for $1.5 million.

Ledley is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has earned numerous awards and honors for his work. In 1997, he received the National Medal of Technology from President William Jefferson Clinton for his pioneering work on the whole-body CT diagnostic X-ray scanner. He also founded the Pattern Recognition Society and Computerized Tomography Society.

Sources

1 Ash, J., D. Sittig, and R. Ledley. "The Story Behind the Development of the First Whole-body Computerized Tomography Scanner as Told by Robert S. Ledley." Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2006 Sep-Oct (2006), 465-469, http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1561796. (accessed June 24, 2009).

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.
Separated Materials:
An ACTA Scanner and numerous accessories were donated to the Division of Medicine and Science in 1984.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Robert S. Ledley on September 18, 1984.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Medical innovations  Search this
Inventors  Search this
Inventions -- 20th century  Search this
Biology  Search this
History of science and technology  Search this
Digital Information Science Corporation  Search this
Diagnostic imaging  Search this
Medicine  Search this
Medical technology  Search this
Medical radiology  Search this
Whole body imaging  Search this
Tomography  Search this
Radiology  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuals -- 1970-1990
Patents
Photographs
Design drawings
Correspondence -- 20th century
Articles -- 20th century
Diagrams
Slides (photographs) -- 1950-2000
Notes
Motion pictures (visual works) -- 20th century
Albums
Citation:
Robert Ledley Papers, 1972-1984, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1135
See more items in:
Robert Ledley Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b394c960-d574-4b92-a59f-83868a5cd581
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1135
Online Media:

Andre Piette Collection

Creator:
Piette, Andre, 1934-1984 (ceramic designer, artist)  Search this
Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Ceramics and Glass  Search this
Names:
Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912-2007  Search this
Donor:
Magdoff, Sam  Search this
Extent:
8 Cubic feet (8 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Black-and-white photographic prints
Drawings
Design drawings
Christmas cards
Designs
Clippings
Tracings
Wrapping materials
Date:
1954-1979
Summary:
Collection documents Andre Piette's career as an illustrator and designer. The materials include sketches, drawings, tracings, photographs (color transparencies, slides, and prints), and samples of wallpaper, designs for gift wrap, and a few textiles.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of a wide range of materials documenting Andre Piette's career as an illustrator and designer. The materials include sketches, drawings, tracings, photographs (color transparencies, slides, and prints), and samples of wallpaper, designs for gift wrap, and a few textiles. The materials are the product of the Piette's early years in the United States (1960s) as a landscape artist in New England and as an associate of Norman Rockwell and of his later work for Tiffany & Company as a freelance designer. As an employee of Tiffany, Piette designed the White House china set for Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. Materials documenting this effort—White House China—are the largest series in the collection. Other design work includes cards, silver, parquet flooring, and china. There also are drawings and tracings not associated with specific functional products.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into four series.

Series 1: White House China, 1967-1970, undated

Series 2: Other Designs, undated

Series 3: Andre Piette Scrapbook, undated

Series 4: Oversize, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Piette, artist and designer, spent his early years studying at the Academie Royale De Beaux-Arts in Liege, Belgium. He is noted for his designs of Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and wallpaper. In 1968 he was commissioned by Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson to design a set of White House state china, consisting of 2,500 pieces.
Provenance:
Donated by Sam Magdoff, Dean of Continuing Education, Parsons School of Design, July 29, 1985.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Ceramics  Search this
Porcelain -- 20th century  Search this
Ceramics -- Design  Search this
Design -- United States  Search this
Wallpaper -- Design  Search this
Designers  Search this
White House china  Search this
Christmas card design  Search this
Genre/Form:
Correspondence -- 1940-2000
Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000
Drawings -- 1950-1990
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Christmas cards
Designs
Clippings -- 1950-2000
Tracings
Wrapping materials -- Design
Citation:
Andre Piette Collection, 1954-1979, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0129
See more items in:
Andre Piette Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82bdf2ad8-b5b0-4d6a-9dd8-68f4b5efd798
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0129
Online Media:

Nordic Ware records

Topic:
Bundt Brand Bakeware
Creator:
Nordic Ware Division, Northland Aluminum  Search this
Donor:
Dalquist, H. David  Search this
Dalquist, Dorothy  Search this
Extent:
28 Cubic feet (53 boxes and 25 oversize folders )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Photographs
Legal records
Catalogs
Financial records
Design drawings
Place:
Minneapolis (Minn.)
Date:
1940-2006
Summary:
Records of a family-owned manufacturing firm, best known for kitchenware products including the Bundt Pan and Micro-Go-Round. The collection richly documents the entrepreneurial spirit of the Minnesota firm and its history of product innovation through technical files, marketing materials, and administrative and financial records.
Scope and Contents:
The Nordic Ware collection consists of approximately twenty-eight cubic feet of records from the Northland Aluminum Company, most dealing with its Nordic Ware business. The Dalquist family recognized the importance of record keeping, and this collection documents very well the evolution of an entrepreneurial, family-owned American business from its earliest years.

Of particular interest for researchers may be the Pillsbury and Bundt Cake Pan dual marketing strategies, showcased mainly in Series 3, Marketing and Sales Records, 1948-2004, the introduction of ethnic cookware into American Culture through such dishes as the Rosettes and Timbales set and Taco dinner kit, the segmentation of product lines by price level to target consumers of differing incomes, and the issue of a trademarked term like "Bundt" becoming generic as seen in Series 6, Legal Records, 1962-1978. Series 4, Engineering Department Records, 1950-1994, provide in-depth documentation of the technical development of several of Nordic Ware's innovative products.

Series 1: Historical and Background Materials, 1940s-2006

These materials provide a history of Dave Dalquist as an entrepreneur and how this led to his ownership of Northland Aluminum Products and the Nordic Ware brand. There are histories put together by the company as well financial summaries for some years. The series contains The Nordic Ware Saga, a book edited and produced by the Dalquist family, and America at Home: A Celebration of Twentieth-Century Housewares. Both books have valuable background information on the company and how it fits into the housewares industry. There also are materials from the original business, Plastics for Industry. An undated marketing booklet, published about 1990, briefly describes the company's history and its product line and corporate structure. Additional company history is found in six installments written by Dave Dalquist under the title "From the Skipper" and covering the years 1946 to l985.

Series 2: David Dalquist Files, 1963-1993

David Dalquist, the president and founder of the company, kept these files in his office and home. Dalquist had no formal filing system and preferred to group records together as he used them. This order has been maintained as much as possible to the folder level. Several files contain information and notes from Dalquist's attendance at the National Housewares Shows and the meetings held there with his sales representatives. The annual Housewares Shows in Chicago were key events in this industry and Nordic Ware made them a high priority. The sales meetings materials include speeches Dalquist delivered. This series reveals Dalquist's involvement with every aspect of the company. It portrays an entrepreneur who began with an engineering degree, very limited capital, and no business experience. Dalquist built a multi-million dollar company while insisting on high ethical and business standards.

The several companies owned by the Dalquist family are documented in these files. There is a merger agreement between Northland Metal Finishers and Northland Aluminum. The records show the company went through several phases and had several brands besides Nordic Ware, including Minnesota Ware, DuNord, and Norcast.

Series 3: Marketing and Sales Records, 1948-2004 The Marketing and Sales Records focus mainly on the promotion of the Nordic Ware Brand and the sale and distribution of products, especially to the retail trade industry. There is evidence of how Nordic Ware presented its products to the industry and of other types of promotions to build brand awareness. These records are divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, General and Department Records, 1967-1995; Subseries 2, Promotional and Trade Sales Materials, 1958-2004; and Subseries 3, Public Relations, 1948-1992

Subseries 3.1: General and Department Records, 1967-1995

Dave Dalquist initially handled most of the company's marketing and sales, but as the company grew, a separate department was created. Among other things, this department created sketches of new product ideas that employees submitted as part of the New Product Idea meetings periodically scheduled by Dave Dalquist. Several files contain this artwork and a design notebook. There are also the files of Doug White, a Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Other art renderings, such as line art used in catalogs, are in this series.

Subseries 3.2: Promotional and Trade Sales Materials, 1958-2004

This subseries consists both of advertising geared towards the trade industry and that aimed at the consumer to promote brand image and sales. A 1970s scrapbook is a record of cross-promotional offers in which Nordic Ware and other firms advertised their products together in a single advertisement. The scrapbook also documents Nordic Ware products offered as sales premiums. The advertisements are organized by the brand co-featured in the advertisement. The Bundt Pan was the predominant Nordic Ware product in these advertisements. The Pillsbury file is especially important as it shows the building of the dual marketing arrangement which allowed Bundt Pans to be packaged with Pillsbury mixes. Nordic Ware received national publicity that it would otherwise have been difficult to generate. The Bundt Pan was integrated into magazine recipes and articles and included in mentions of other brands. These records document the remarkably brief time in which the Bundt Pan achieved national recognition.

The trade market was critical to Nordic Ware. The Sales Guides, 1982-2004, were given to regional sales representatives with information on sales promotions and incentives to representatives for sales of Nordic Ware products in specific markets. The Guides also have product descriptions, so that each representative was fully familiar with the products. Along with these guides, Nordic Ware put out trade catalogs, also found in this subseries. Although there is no master list of the catalogs, many have been hand-dated by Nordic Ware employees. Many of the models in the catalogs and the advertisements were members of the Dalquist family, neighbors, and other acquaintances.

Subseries 3.3: Public Relations, 1948-1992

These materials mainly document a series of campaigns created by Sara Jean Thomas, a public relations contractor. She worked with the marketing and sales department to build the Nordic Ware brand and to create a series of television and radio product promotions in the form of household hints. Several scripts are included here along with details of the overall campaigns. There also are files documenting the reach of these promotions. Other materials include a press kit for Chef Tell, a celebrity chef who represented Nordic Ware products for several years and who made appearances at its booth at the National Housewares Shows. New product press releases (with photographs) and general public relations files (1986-1989), along with the Marketing Communication Plans (1987-1989), give details on the planning of other public relations efforts. The trade press clippings scrapbook documents mentions of Nordic Ware and its products, competitors' advertising, and general developments in the house wares industry. Trade press clippings also are found in Series 8, subseries 4.

Series 4: Engineering Department Records, 1950-1994

The Engineering Department was vital to the success of Nordic Ware. Records in this series reveal the process by which a new product idea was developed, built, tested, and turned into a saleable product. Museum staff members selected the records in this series, occupying about five cubic feet, from a much larger group of files, roughly twenty-five feet in extent. The criteria for selection included substantive information on the design development of new products, especially those requiring substantial engineering work, and on product re-design to create cost efficiencies and resolve product problems.

Subseries 4.1: General Records, 1969-1992

These records deal with general departmental business and include incoming and outgoing correspondence and general files kept by individual engineers. They also provide operational information such as source for production materials, work orders processing, and treatment of employee issues in the department.

Subseries 4.2: Laboratory Notebooks, 1972, 1984-1993

Engineers in the department kept these notebooks mainly for developing design ideas and working out the technical logistics of bringing the designs into production. The notebooks also served as evidential records for patent disputes. The engineers signed and dated the pages of their notebooks as proof of when ideas were conceptualized and who recorded them.

Subseries 4.3: Product Files, 1976-1993, undated

These records originally were organized by product number, but no index to the numbering system accompanied the records so files of like products were grouped together. The Micro-Go-Round, Oven-Aire, and Wok are the most thoroughly documented. The records include blueprints at various stages of the products development, work orders for research and development, outside quotations, invoices, quality control tests and guidelines, memoranda to and from other company offices about product development, and other types of operational materials. Most of these products had multiple versions, and evidence of ongoing testing and modification is seen in the records.

These records document some of the innovation that made Nordic Ware an important presence in the housewares industry. The Micro-Go-Round was a particularly revolutionary product at the time, and the records show how the company recognized a need for the product and did what was necessary to develop it, although it had little or no experience with microwave technology. Micro-Go-Round records also are found in Subseries 5 of this series. The Oven-Aire required extensive development efforts to bring to fruition. The idea behind this product was to make conventional ovens cook more evenly and operate like a convection oven. The records include photographs of the original working model, tests done in some of the engineers' home kitchens, and comparison photographs of foods cooked with and without the device. Though the product never took off in the market, the invention and development process is documented here from the perspective of the several parties who worked on it. To a much more limited degree, records for some of the other products -- like the Popgun Popcorn Popper and the Supremer Ice Creamer --demonstrate the design and development process. There is even information about packaging design for some of the products.

Subseries 4.4: New Product Ideas Files, 1976-1993

These records document Nordic Ware's efforts to identify and develop a stream of new products and to involve employees in that process. They include product ideas submitted from outside the firm but primarily relate to New Product Meetings at which employees shared their own ideas. The meetings often included voting for the best ideas and for those that would be most feasible to manufacture. Most of the files contain original artwork, usually brought to the meeting by the marketing department. They also include lists of product ideas and who submitted them, ballots for the voting on the best ideas, and notes taken at the meetings. Several files have memoranda to the employees encouraging submission of ideas outside the annual meeting cycle. Related materials are found in Series 3, Marketing and Sales Records, 1948-2004, Subseries 1, General and Department Records, 1967-1995.

Subseries 4.5: General Research and Development, 1976-1993

This subseries mainly contains files on the development of microwave cookware products and the Micro-Go-Round. Dr. T.K. Ishii, a leading researcher in microwave technologies from Marquette University, served as a consultant to Nordic Ware. He advised on technical problems and explained processes to the Nordic Ware engineers to enable them to develop products. Other materials deal with the application and certification process for Underwriters Laboratories, an independent organization that tested products and certified them as meeting its safety standards.

Subseries 4.6: Patent Materials, 1950-1994

Many records in this subseries deal with the patent application process. An outside legal firm submitted Nordic Ware's applications and negotiated with the Patent Office. The records include correspondence surrounding patent disputes and sworn affidavits by engineers submitted as proof of their work. Several reference files of non-Nordic Ware patents are in this subseries. Many were sent by the law office to Nordic Ware engineers to keep them current on new developments.

Subseries 4.7: Trade Associations, 1977-1994

These records reflect the participation of Engineering Department staff in trade associations, especially The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. Lloyd Keleny and several others were involved with the Microwave Oven Cookware Committee. The Society was concerned with the absence of standards for microwave ovens and the resulting problem that cookware used in these ovens was not always effective. The Committee gathered data and encouraged the microwave industry to recognize that consistency was needed. There also are files from the Frankfurt International Housewares Fair, 1994. Nordic Ware tried to build its presence internationally, and fairs such as this were opportunities to meet foreign manufacturers and distributors. They also enabled the company to see what was happening on a global level.

Series 5: Financial Records, 1948-1982

These records include financial information for Nordic Ware and other Dalquist interests, including Maid of Scandinavia Company, when it was still joined with Northland Aluminum Products, and the Minnesota Brand of Cookware. The intermixing of financial reports, invoices and receivables, petty cash receipts, and bank statements for the various enterprises demonstrates the close relationship of all of the beginning operations of the Dalquist family. There are many examples of consolidated financial information in the records including the balance sheets, combined financial reports, income statements, and the audit reports. Of particular interest is the accounting ledger (1949-1950) for Plastics for Industry, the Dalquist brothers' original company. It has handwritten entries and shows the company's simplified bookkeeping system. It also provides important financial data on the startup capital and the progress in the first year of business.

Reports created by the research firm Dunn and Bradstreet contain information submitted by the Dalquists to prove their credit worthiness to lenders. Several loan agreements document the company's practice of borrowing money on future earnings in order to meet operating expenses and finance innovation. Machinery owned by Nordic Ware is listed in several factory inventories. The firm also leased machinery instead of buying in order to save money. Inventory summaries (1950-1978) detail the numbers and value of the unsold product then on hand.

Though Nordic Ware stock was never traded publically, there was an employee shareholder plan that included profit sharing. Records in this subseries document the evolution and operation of the plan, including one employee's case for a public offering of the company stock. At some point Dave Dalquist did consider making the company public but decided to maintain private ownership. The emphasis on taking pride and ownership in the company was often repeated in memoranda that Dalquist wrote to employees about stock options. The records show that he was very conscious of morale and high standards of work within the company.

Series 6: Legal Records, 1962-1978

The bulk of these records deals with trademark issues, especially Nordic Ware's creation, licensing, and protection of the "Bundt" mark. Included are copies of correspondence with the law firms that handled applications to the Patent and Trademark Office and correspondence from that office. Correspondence and legal papers document licensing negotiations with Pillsbury and others. In several instances Nordic Ware took legal steps when the Bundt Pan trademark was being misused.

Series 7: Recipes and Cookbooks, 1966-2004, undated

This series is comprised of a large selection of cookbooks and recipe files maintained by Dotty Dalquist and reflect her active role in business activities. She did much of her cooking and experimenting in a test kitchen in her own home and was integral to the preparation of foods to be photographed in Nordic Ware products. These photographs demonstrated the use of the products and were included in the advertisements, catalogs, and product or recipe brochures.

Subseries 7.1: Dotty Dalquist Recipe Files, bulk 1950s-1970s, mainly undated

Dotty Dalquist kept recipes, product booklets, notes, and other materials to aid in the development of her own recipes. She organized much of the material by food type, but she also had several files for specific Nordic Ware products. The Bundt Pan was a major product, and the files on it reflect that. As Nordic Ware sought new ways to promote the use of its products, Dalquist's development of new and inventive recipes was a major part of that effort.

Subseries 7.2: Bundt Pan Cookbooks, 1966-2004

Nordic Ware published several books by Dotty Dalquist to promote use of the Bundt Pan. Pillsbury and other firms also published their own books. Pillsbury incorporated its products into the recipes to promote the dual product relationship between the Bundt Pan and the Pillsbury brand of cake mixes. These books were sold in stores and added as premiums to go along with the purchase of the other products.

Subseries 7.3: Other Recipe and Public Relations Materials, 1970-1996, undated

Recipe contests and a cookbook were among the efforts to involve employees with the Nordic Ware products and to generate new recipes and ideas. These files include photographs and entries and correspondence about these employee activities.

A file of correspondence, mainly to and from Dotty Dalquist, concerns problems consumers encountered using specific recipes that she had published. Consumers also wrote about recipes they had tried on their own and could not get satisfactory results with a Nordic Ware product. Dalquist's problem-solving efforts were an example of the personal customer service in which Nordic Ware took pride.

Series 8: Non-Nordic Ware Reference Materials, 1940-2001, undated

The materials in this series were used by Nordic Ware as reference resources. They have been organized into subseries by type.

Subseries 8.1: Sponsored Cookbooks, 1943-1996, undated

Dotty Dalquist collected cookbooks published by a wide range of manufacturers and trade organizations. The cookbooks are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the sponsor. Many companies, such as Pillsbury and General Foods, put out these kinds of books to promote their own brands. This may have influenced Dalquist's creation of her own Bundt Pan cookbook.

Subseries 8.2: Product Guides (some with recipes), 1940-1992, undated

These product guides, for appliances and other items used in Dotty Dalquist's kitchen, include use instructions and, often, recipes. Nordic Ware often included recipes in the print materials packaged with its products and associated with its advertising.

Subseries 8.3: Home and Food Related Ephemera, 1950-1980, undated

These materials include booklets of general household hints, recipe cards published by various organizations, and information on food processes.

Subseries 8.4: Periodicals, 1967-2001

Several scrapbooks in this subseries contain clippings from various trade publications. Some focus on Nordic Ware and Northland Aluminum Products in articles or advertisements while others contain industry, including competitors', product advertisements. There are several issues of trade periodicals with Nordic Ware related stories. Trade press clippings also are found in Series 3, Marketing and Sales Records, 1948-2004, Subseries 3, Public Relations, 1948-1992.

Subseries 8.5: Newsletters, 1961, 1973-1987, undated

Most of these newsletters were for reference use with Nordic Ware's microwave cookware projects. With its extensive line of these microwave products, there was an active effort to stay up to date with the field. The firm also tried to find different kinds of foods and recipes that could be prepared using a microwave oven.

Series 9: Photographs, 1940s-2006, undated

This series consists of a wide range of photographic prints re-housed in archival sleeves and assembled into a single binder. The photographs are arranged roughly by image content and document the Dalquist family and employees; factory and offices scenes, including a series of black and white images by Mel Jacobsen, a commercial photographer; and product displays at trade shows and other locations. The photographs also include a few images of Nordic Ware products and of baked foods and black and white images of plastic molds created by Plastics for Industry. Most of the photographs are undated and many are unidentified. There is a View Master viewer with one viewing card containing photographs assembled for Nordic Ware's sixtieth anniversary in 2006. Series 2, David Dalquist Files, includes five photographs of foods baked in Bundt Pans. Series 3, Marketing and Sales Records, Subseries 1, General and Department Records, 1967-1995, has photographs of a factory outlet store and product displays.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into nine series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Materials, 1940s-2006

Series 2: David Dalquist Files, 1963-1993

Series 3: Marketing and Sales Records, 1948-2004

Subseries 1, General and Department Records, 1967-1995

Subseries 2, Promotional and Trade Sales Materials, 1958-2004

Subseries 3, Public Relations, 1948-1992

Series 4: Engineering Department Records, 1950-1994

Subseries 1, General Records, 1969-1992

Subseries 2, Laboratory Notebooks, 1972, 1984-1993

Subseries 3, Product Files, 1976-1993, undated

Subseries 4, New Product Ideas Files, 1976-1993

Subseries 5, General Research and Development, 1950-1994

Subseries 6, Patent Materials, 1950-1994

Subseries 7, Trade Associations, 1977-1994

Series 5: Financial Records

Series 6: Legal records

Series 7: Recipes and Cookbooks

Subseries 1, Dotty Dalquist Recipe Files, 1950s-1970s, undated

Subseries 2, Bundt Pan Cookbooks, 1966-2004

Subseries 3, Other Recipe and Public Relations Materials, 1970-1996, undated

Series 8, Non-Nordic Ware Reference Materials

Subseries 1, Sponsored Cookbooks, 1943-1996, undated

Subseries 2, Product Guides (with some recipes), 1940-1992, undated

Subseries 3, Home and Food Related Ephemera, 1950-1980, undated

Subseries 4, Periodicals, 1967-2001

Subseries 5, Newsletters, 1961, 1973-1981, undated

Series 9: Photographs, 1940s-2006, undated
Biographical / Historical:
In 1946, the year he returned from Navy service in the Pacific, H. David (Dave) Dalquist (1918-2005) joined his brother Mark to launch a new manufacturing firm, Plastics for Industry, in Minneapolis. The two University of Minnesota graduates soon were making foundry patterns and industrial plastic products for area businesses, as well as aluminum consumer cookware. Among their earliest products were ebelskiver pans, krumkake irons, and rosette irons, essential kitchen tools for the area's large Scandinavian population. Their first employee, Donald Nygren, remained as head designer for many decades.

In 1950, the brothers bought Northland Aluminum Products, a small firm with a line of "Nordic Ware" products including griddles and steak platters. The same year, Dave Dalquist created a cast aluminum, fluted cake pan at the request of two local women, members of the Hadassah organization. The women sought to replicate a heavy mold used in Europe. Northland Aluminum registered the trademark "Bundt" for the new product and began to sell it to local department stores. (The women sold manufacturing "seconds" as a fund raiser for their group.) Mark Dalquist created a firm, Maid of Scandinavia, to market products by mail. It separated from Northland Aluminum in 1963. Over the years, Northland Aluminum increasingly used "Nordic Ware" to identify itself for marketing and public relations purposes.

Northland Aluminum created a subsidiary finishing and coating firm, Northland Color Anodizing Company, in 1962. In 1964, Northland became one of the first to license the use of Teflon from its inventor, DuPont, and non-stick products became an important part of the company's line. Northland also did coating work for many industries including medical, computer, and commercial food processing. For many years Northland also had a division to produce heads for video recording machines. Product sales reached $1,000,000 in 1964.

During the 1960s, Nordic Ware grew slowly, gradually increasing its product line to include specialty baking and cookware items and stove-top cookware. The company also expanded its production capacity and built its sales and marketing capabilities, including a national network of sales representatives working on commission. Dorothy Dalquist, Dave's wife, played a vital role in the company's history. She joined him at crucial annual sales conventions to demonstrate products, tested new products, and developed recipes for them in her home kitchen. Additionally, she represented the firm in public relations activities.

Although the Bundt Pan was only one of many Nordic Ware products, it became a national celebrity in 1966 when a Texas woman used it for her prize-winning Tunnel of Fudge Cake in the immensely popular Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. In 1970, Nordic Ware licensed the Bundt trademark to Pillsbury for use with a line of cake mixes. Customers received a cake pan at a small additional price with the purchase of the packaged mix. Although this pan was spun of light aluminum, not cast like the original models, the Pillsbury promotion was very successful. In addition to the classic Bundt design, the company began producing special designs, including a cathedral, a castle, a rose, a heart, and, in 2006, a stadium shaped pan. The Bundt Pan continues to be the most popular cake pan in America, and the company estimates it has sold sixty million pans over the past six decades.

Despite the steady popularity of the Bundt Pan, Dalquist and his firm knew that the spike in Bundt Pan sales resulting from the Pillsbury promotion was temporary, and they continued their strategy of seeking new products to buoy overall sales revenues. In 1978 Nordic Ware developed a "new thermoset plastic molding technology to create an extensive line of cookware designed to work in both conventional and microware ovens." In these same years, as microwave oven use rapidly spread, Nordic Ware developed its second celebrity product. Designed by the company's own engineers, the Micro-Go-Round was promoted in print and television advertising and is still its most successful product. Since then, Nordic Ware has introduced a wide range of new products, some of them successful (for example, nonstick Barbecue Grill Cookware), others not (including a device to create convection currents in a baking oven and a bicentennial cake platter). Northland Aluminum holds at least twenty-five patents for its products.

Today David Dalquist (born 1949) -- son of founder "Dave Dalquist" and, like his father, an engineer -- heads Nordic Ware. He has been involved with the company for his entire working life with major executive responsibilities since the early 1980s. David Dalquist's mother, Dotty, is on the Board of Directors and serves as Corporate Secretary. David's three sisters—Corrine, Linda, and Susan—are also involved in the business. The firm employs between 200 and 400 people and continues, as a point of pride, to manufacture its products in the United States. The family has refused numerous buyout offers. Nordic Ware has managed to design and market products for the large, low price retailers, including Wal-Mart, and for the upscale, specialty gourmet market. Williams-Sonoma, a leader in the latter field, has exclusive sales for a small number of new Nordic Ware products each year.

For its sixtieth anniversary, Nordic Ware produced a company history, H. David Dalquist, The Nordic Ware Saga: An Entrepreneur's Legacy (Kirk House Publishers, Minneapolis, 2006). The volume provides edited recollections of "Dave," many family members, and other employees drawn from oral history interviews. This finding aid is based largely on that information, other historical sources within the collection, and visits to Nordic Ware offices by National Museum of American History staff members Paula Johnson and Nanci Edwards (June 2006) and Paula Johnson and John Fleckner (August 2006).
Related Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry holds thirty-six objects from Nordic Ware (Accession # 2007.0034), including Bundt Pans in a variety of shapes, foundry patterns and molds for Nordic Ware products, a wood panel display of products manufactured by Plastics for Industry, three versions of the Micro-Go-Round, and other kitchenware products.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Dorothy M. Dalquist and H. David Dalquist in 2007.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Ethnic food industry  Search this
Cookery, American  Search this
Kitchen utensils  Search this
Aluminum  Search this
Kitchen utensil industry  Search this
Baked products  Search this
Bakery equipment and supplies industry  Search this
Baking pans  Search this
Baking  Search this
Genre/Form:
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Photographs -- 2000-2010
Legal records
Catalogs
Correspondence -- 2000-2010
Financial records
Photographs -- 20th century
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Citation:
Nordic Ware Collection, 1942-2006, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0980
See more items in:
Nordic Ware records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep894dc31f0-f3a9-457d-9097-4906863295b5
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0980
Online Media:

James W. Holmes Karting Collection

Creator:
Holmes, James W.  Search this
Di Nozzi, Robert  Search this
Extent:
2 Cubic feet (7 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white photographic prints
Posters
Design drawings
Correspondence
Decals
Microfilms
Programs
Business records
Black-and-white negatives
Specifications
Newsletters
Date:
1961-1979
Summary:
Collection documents James Holmes, an advertising agent who specialized in advertising for the Karting industry. Holmes created magazine advertising, product catalogs and event promotional materials as well as logo and patch designs for manufacturers and karting sport sanctioning organizations.
Scope and Contents note:
The collection spans the years 1961-1979, but the majority of the documentation is from the 1960s. The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1: James W. Holmes Advertising Agency, 1979, consists of invoices from the Holmes Advertising Agency.

Series 2: Manufacturers, ca. 1960s, is arranged alphabetically by manufacturer name (clients Holmes handled) and consists of negatives and some photographs of parts produced by the manufacturers. The negatives were used to create catalogs for various companies selling go-karts.

Series 3: Go-Kart Races, 1961-1978, undated, is arranged alphabetically by the race site. Almost exclusively negatives, there are some photographs and two microfilm reels depicting races throughout the United States.

eries 4: Go-Kart Associations, 1964-1968, undated, contains documentation on associations, councils and clubs associated with the go-karting industry. Of interest are seven issues of the Grand Prix Press, a newspaper published by Meadowdale International Raceways, Inc.

Series 5: Miscellaneous, undated, consists of one folder of material which includes newspaper clippings, business cards, art work, and articles.
Arrangement:
Collection is aranged into five series.
Biographical/Historical note:
The first go-kart was built in southern California by Art Ingels in 1957. Three other individualsBBill Rowles, Duffy Livingstone, and Roy DesbrowBfounded GoKart Manufacturing Company in 1957, and offered the first commercially available kart, the GoKart 400. James Holmes was a prominent advertising agent involved with the karting industry in the midwest from the 1960s to 1980s. He created magazine advertising, product catalogs and event promotional materials as well as logo and patch designs for manufacturers and karting sport sanctioning organizations. Some of Holmes= clients included: G.E.M. Products, Evans Supply Company, Max-Torque, Inc., Rolfe Aircraft Associates, Rupp Mfg., and Simplex Mfg.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by Robert DiNozzi, January 16, 2002. Items donated are from the personal collection of Mr. James Holmes of the James Holmes Advertising Agency
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Go-Karts  Search this
Karting  Search this
Karts (Automobiles)  Search this
advertising  Search this
Genre/Form:
Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000
Posters -- 20th century
Design drawings
Correspondence -- 1960-1990
Decals
Microfilms
Programs -- Sports
Business records -- 1950-2000
Black-and-white negatives
Specifications
Newsletters -- 1950-2000
Citation:
James W. Holmes Karting Collection, 1961-1979, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0787
See more items in:
James W. Holmes Karting Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b7757392-2533-4d5d-8762-4a591db90bb1
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0787

Magellan Systems Corporation GPS Records

Creator:
Magellan GPS  Search this
Extent:
12 Cubic feet (14 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Notebooks
Instructional materials
Design drawings
Photographs
Notes
Memorandums
Manuals
Videocassettes
Reports
Press releases
Advertisements
Clippings
Audio cassettes
Articles
Date:
1978-2005
bulk 1986-1998
Summary:
The Magellan Systems Corporation Records document various aspects of the development of several different Magellan GPS devices through engineering, research, design, manufacturing, and marketing records. Magellan Systems Corporation introduced the first hand-held differential GPS product and the conpany's focus was on research, product engineering, and design activities for GPS receivers. The collection includes correspondence and internal company reports and memoranda; design drawings; research notes; engineering notebooks, technical notes, schematics; photographs, slides and negatives; video and audiocassettes; advertisements; product literature, magazine articles and newspaper clippings; press releases; and user guides and manuals.
Scope and Contents:
The Magellan Systems Corporation Records document various aspects of the development of Magellan GPS devices, including the engineering, research, design, manufacturing, and marketing of the devices. The collection includes correspondence and internal company reports and memoranda; design drawings; research notes; engineering notebooks, technical notes, schematics; photographs, slides and negatives; video and audiocassettes; advertisements; product literature, magazine articles and newspaper clippings; press releases; and user guides and manuals. In Series 1, Operational Materials, Subseries 3, Weekly Reports, 1988-1996, provides an excellent overview of the issues facing the company and what actions/decisions were made and in Series 3, Engineering and Product Development Materials, Subseries 8, Technical Product Development Seminars provide a good foundation for understanding what the product development staff accomplished.

The core team of players who developed, tested and brought to market the GPS devices included: Janice Jones Blankenhorn, Gary Barta, John Foukos, Randy Hoffman, Norm Hunt, Sab Ifune, Don Rea, Dennis Rich, Ed Tuck, Jon Vavrus, Larry Weill, Val Fife Wong, and James Yuan. The majority of the core team were software and hardware engineers as well as mechanical designers. Their energy, enthusiasm, vision, and unwillingness to fail produced the first handheld commercial GPS receiver in 1989 and Magellgan was the first company to make GPS devices affordable to consumers.

Series 1, Operational Materials, 1988-1993, is divided into four subseries: Subseries 1, Organizational Materials, 1988-1994; Subseries 2, Strategic and Operating Plans, 1989-1995; Subseries 3, Weekly Reports, 1988-1996; and Subseries 4, Company Newsletters, 1991-1992.

Subseries 1, Organizational Materials, 1988-1994, consists of an organizational chart detailing Magellan's corporate structure, a document discussing the communication and functional objectives of the company, and a company Christmas card. The Orbital Sciences Corporation profile was prepared by Alex. Brown and Sons Incorporated and provides an overview of the ORBCOMM system technology, a two-way data-only personal communications service.

Subseries 2, Strategic and Operating Plans, 1989-1995, consists of a variety of strategic and operational plans for the company. The plans are arranged chronologically.

Subseries 3, Weekly Reports, 1988-1996, consists of handwritten and typescript reports primarily from Randy Hoffman, president and CEO of Magellan and Gary Barta, Senior Engineer and Vice President of engineering. The reports document issues that include, personnel issues, product development, technological developments, military orders, investments, marketing and sales, financial issues, orders, resource activities, and future activities. The subseries is arranged chronologically and provides an excellent overview of the issues facing the company and what actions/decisions were made.

Subseries 4, Company Newsletters, 1991-1992, consists of two external company newsletters, The Global Navigator, 1991 and The Magellan Explorer, 1992. The Global Naviagtor was created for the marine market and was sent to all NAV PLUS owners as well as dealers.

Series 2, Correspondence, 1989-1994 and undated, is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1, Customer Correspondence, 1989-1993 and Subseries 2, Business Correspondence, 1989-1994 and undated. The customer-related correspondence consists of letters from users of Magellan GPS units (primarily maritime-related) and their feedback about the product. Some color photographs are included. The business-related correspondence consists of records of conversations, invoices, suggestions for strategic planning, correspondence between Randy Hoffman and the Boundary Found, and the agreement and plan for the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and Magellan Corporation in 1994.

Series 3, Engineering and Product Development Materials, 1978-1998, consists of ten subseries: Subseries 1, Product Development, 1989-1994; Subseries 2, Engineering Notebooks, 1987-1996; Subseries 3, Technical Notes, 1978-1994; Subseries 4, Breadboard Design, 1986-1994; Subseries 5, First Generation (NAV 1000/NAV 1200), 1985-1994; Subseries 6, Second Generation, 1988-1996; Subseries 7, Third Generation, 1986-1994; Subseries 8, Swiss Army Chip (SAC) Development, 1987-1995; Subseries 9, Technical Products Development Seminars, 1997-1998; Subseries 10, Specifications, 1992-1994 and Subseries 11, TriQuint Semiconductor Materials, 1986-1992.

Subseries 1, Product Development, 1989-1994, consists of documentation related to product development at Magellan. There are sketches for the third generation of GPS products, descriptive materials for the Meridian Plus and third generation receiver, testing data from the Forest Service using GPS in the wilderness near Missoula, Montana, and position description for the director of product engineering at Magellan outlining the skills and responsibilities.

Subseries 2, Engineering Notebooks, 1987-1996, consists of bound, paginated and handwritten notebooks belonging to two Magellan engineers, Janice Jones Blankenhorn, senior software engineer and Don Rea, director of engineering. Each of Don Rea's notebooks contains a page of handwritten annotations made in 2010 describing the contents. Don Rea's 1987 notebook contains documentation on the original Magellan breadboard, custom digital chip (SAC 1), and the digital board design and test, all of which deal with the first generation of the NAV 1000. Rea's 1986 and 1988 notebook contains information about the first generation of software used, GaAS chips, radio frequency (RF) board, second generation (NAV 5000), design work for Swiss Army Chips (SACs), SAC2 digital chip, SAC2B, and the SAC3 chip. Don Rea's 1993-1995 notebook contains notes on the testing of the SAC5, SAC5M and SAC6 custom digital integrated circuit for the third generation.

Subseries 3 Technical Notes, 1978-1994, consists of handwritten and typescript notes of Gary Barta, Janice Jones Blankenhorn, John Foufos, Janice Intyre, Don Rea, Larry Weill, and James Yuan. Where possible, file level information about what the notes relate to and the Magellan staff member who wrote the notes is listed. Much of the documentation consists of equations, algorithms, sketches, block diagrams, and narrative describing processes and research. The subseries is loosely arranged chronologically.

Subseries 4, Breadboard Design, 1986-1994, consists of memoranda, technical notes, drawings, and sketches detailing the radio frequency breadboard design. Magellan's first-generation breadboard, circa 1987, was developed by the team of Janice Jones Blankenhorn, Val Fife Wong, Ed Tuck, Norm Hunt, Sab Ifune, Gary Barta, Larry Weill, Randy Hoffman, and Don Rea.

Subseries 5, First Generation (NAV 1000/NAV 1200), 1985-1994, consists of technical notes, design notes, memoranda, drawings, and blueprints documenting the development of the first generation (primarily the NAV 1000/NAV 1200), handheld GPS unit produced by Magellan. The first generation of GPS were single channel receivers and were quite simple. The NAV 1000 was 8.75" x 3.5" x 2.25" and weighed only 1.5 pounds. The NAV 1000 converted GPS satellite information into a satellite/navigation (sat/nav) positioning. It used Gallium arsenide (GaAs) a compound of the elements gallium and arsenic, and monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology to reduce its size and power consumption. GaAs is a semiconductor used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circuits, infrared light-emitting diodes, laser diodes, solar cells, and optical windows. The device sold for approximately $3,000 dollars.

Subseries 6, Second Generation, 1988-1996, consists of technical notes, design notes, memorandums, drawings, and blueprints documenting the development of the second generation (primarily the NAV 5000) handheld GPS unit produced by Magellan. The NAV 5000 used five channels working simultaneously to locate and collect data from GPS satellites. The units GaAs circuitry rapidly processed the data received from the satellites to compute current location, altitude, velocity and navigation in under one minute. The NAV 5000 was designed primarily for marine use. Other second generation products included: OEM Brain, OEM 1/2 Brain, Nav 500 Pro, NAV 100M5, Skaynav, Fieldpro, NAV 5200 PM, NAV 5000A, NAV 5000D, DX, DLX, Pro mark V, and the Map 7000.

Subseries 7, Third Generation, 1986-1994, consists of technical notes for the development of the third generation (primarily Meridian and Trailblazer models) of Magellan GPS devices. Third generation models were intended for the lower end of the GPS market and were compact hand-held (size, weight, battery life) and a retail price that was reasonable. Other third generation devices included: the meridian, Trailblazer, AIV10 OEM, Skatblazer, NAV 6500 PM, Meridian/TB/SB XL, NAV 1200 Pm, NAV 1200 XL PM, NAV DLX 10, Promark X, and the Pro Mark X-CM.

Subseries 8, Swiss Army Chip (SAC) Development, 1987-1995, consists of technical notes, diagrams and drawings, and specifications for the development of a digital chip used in Magellan GPS products. Don Rea and Norm Hunt of Magellan are credited with naming the chip. The chip combined several elements--GPS DPS channels, correalators, real time clock, alarm timer, interval timer, keyboard interface, display interface, precise timing, power sequencing, memory decoding, code generators, and beeper driver, to name a few--which allowed the development team reduce the overall power, size, and cost of the chip. Magellan outsourced the manufacture of the SAC.

Subseries 9, Technical Products Development Seminars, 1997-1998, consists of documentation for nine seminars in a series of technology seminars initiated by the product develpment group at Magellan. The seminars were created to keep all staff up to date on past, present, and future technology developments at Magellan. The nine seminars cover the history of Magellan GPS technology and address specific areas of development such as antennas, circuits, signal processing, software, navigation needs, and radio frequency. Other information includes tables providing comparisons for the first, second, and third generations, timelines, SAC chip characteristics, and product shipping dates. The seminars provide a good foundation for understanding what the product development staff accomplished. Researchers should consult Series 8 which documents some of the technical seminars.

Subseries 10, Specifications, 1992-1994, consists of preliminary, functional, and system requirements describing technical characteristics for several Magellan products.

Subseries 11, TriQuint Semiconductor Materials, 1986-1992, consists of materials documenting TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.'s work. TriQuint was a division of Tektroninix, Inc., a manufacturer of analog and mixed signal gallium arsenide (GaAs) integrated circuit products. TriQuint supplied custom radio frequency (RF) and Gallium arsenide (GaAs) chips for Magellan's hand-held GPS systems and tested its chips. Documentation includes trip summaries and observations to TriQuint by Don Rea, a Magellan engineer as well as technical drawings, memorandums, development schedules, invoices, purchase orders, and tests results, production quantity and costs, and specifications. In 1986, Don Rea met Gary Barta, then principal engineer at TriQuint through his frequent visits to the company. Barta led the engineeering development of the an integrated circuit which combined the GPS L-band low-noise pre-amplifier, UHF local oscillator, down converter and high speed digital divisers on a single gallium-arsenide chip. Nothing like this had been done before for a cost senstive commerical application. Barta later joined Magellan in November 1988 as Vice President of Engineering and made the chip he had designed actually work in the environment of a hand-held product.

Series 4, Marketing and Promotional Materials, 1985-1997, is divided into six subseries: Subseries 1, Market Research, 1985-1993 and undated; Subseries 2, Product Literature, circa 1990s; Subseries 3, Advertisements, 1988-1995 and undated; Subseries 4, Press Releases, 1988-1996; Subseries 5, Presentation Materials, 1990-[1997?] and undated; and Subseries 6, Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1988-1996 and undated. The series consists of product literature, advertisements, press releases, presentation materials, and newspaper and magazine clippings about Magellan products as well as competitors.

Subseries 1, Market Research, 1985-1993 and undated, consists of market research data in the form of reports prepared by Merrill Lynch, Simmons Market Research Bureau, J & H Instruments, and others, directed interviews and focus group data. There are directed interviews and discussion documentation from 1986 with Coast Guard Rescue, survival trainers, surveyors, hunters, harbor patrols, expeditionists, and mountaineer trainers providing detailed feedback into experiences with the product. The focus group information consists of transcribed interviews, survey text, selection criteria, participant lists, invoices, and technical drawings and mock-ups for the marine, outdoor and hunting markets.

Subseries 2, Product Literature, circa 1990s, consists of one file folder of product information sheets detailing specifics about Magellan products such as the NAV 1000, NAV 5000DX, NAV 1000 PRO/Geolink, NAV 5200, NAV 1000M, Meridian GPS, ProMARK V, GPS 2000, and the Global Satellite Communicator (GSC) 100.

Subseries 3, Advertisements, 1988-1995 and undated, consists of point of purchase ads, artwork and transfer designs for Magellan products. There are some oversize drawings (copies of blueprints) with the transfer design materials.

Subseries 4, Press Releases, 1988-1996, consists of press releases and one press kit containing biographies of staff members, black-and-white prints of Randy D. Hoffman, President and Chief Executive Officer, prints of the NAV 1000, and press releases introducing the NAV 1000. The marine outdoor press releases also contain 1993 dealer price lists for the Trailblazer, Meridian, NAV 5000DX, NAV 5200DX, and the mimimum advertised price policy for 1993.

Subseries 5, Presentation Materials, 1990-[1997?], consists primarily of staff presentation materials used to promote Magellan products. There is one bound presentation, Magellan Systems Corporation Management Presentation, undated, prepared by Merrill Lynch, that provides documentation about the company (an overview), market segments, competition, sales and marketing, product development, technology, manufacturing, and a financial overview.

Subseries 6, Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1988-1996 and undated, consists primarily of magazine articles. The articles appeared in a variety of publications and included Defense Electronics, Southern Boating, Maritime Reporter, Cruising World, Boating the Journal of the Sport, International Defense Review, and Navigation News. The subseries is arranged chronologically.

Series 5, User Guides and Manuals, 1989-2005 and undated, consists of training, reference, and user guides for the consumer who purchased Magellan products. The guides are primarily spiral bound and some are annotated. Multiple copies of some years exist. The series is arranged chronologically.

Series 6, Financial Materials, 1991-1995 and undated, consists of stock information, a Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement, correspondence, registration rights agreements, preferred stock purchase agreements, agreement and plan of merger documents between Magellan Corporation and Orbital Sciences Corporation (November 1994), and two floppy discs (3 1/2" and 5") containing information about the company and its staff.

Series 7, Photographs and Slides, 1987-1995 and undated, consists of slides, negatives, transparencies, and color and black-and-white prints of Magellan products. Many of the images document early product concepts, and there are some promotional and publicity materials. There is one folder of photographs with images of employees from 1989.

Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1991-1998 and undated, consists of 1/2" VHS, BETA Cam SP, and 8 mm video cassettes documenting technical seminars presented by Magellan Systems Corporation staff and instances of Magellan products featured in news segments. Researchers consult the technical seminar documentation in Series 3, Engineering and Product Development Materials. The series is arranged chronologically.
Arrangement:
Collection arranged into eight series.

Series 1, Operational Materials, 1988-1993

Subseries 1, Organizational Materials, 1988-1994

Subseries 2, Strategic and Operating Plans, 1989-1995

Subseries 3, Weekly Reports, 1988-1996

Subseries 4, Company Newsletters, 1991-1992

Series 2, Correspondence, 1989-1994 and undated

Series 3, Engineering and Product Development Materials, 1978-1998

Subseries 1, Product Development, 1989-1994

Subseries 2, Engineering Notebooks, 1987-1996

Subseries 3, Technical Notes, 1978-1994

Subseries 4, Breadboard Design, 1986-1994

Subseries 5, First Generation (NAV 1000/NAV 1200), 1985-1994

Subseries 6, Second Generation (NAV 5000), 1988-1996

Subseries 7, Third Generation, 1986-1994

Subseries 8, Swiss Army Chip (SAC) Development, 1987-1995

Subseries 9, Technical Product Development Seminars, 1997-1998

Subseries 10, Specifications, 1992-1994

Subseries 11, TriQuint Semiconductor, 1986-1992

Series 4, Marketing and Promotional Materials, 1985-1997

Subseries 1, Market Research, 1985-1993 and undated

Subseries 2, Product Literature, circa 1990s

Subseries 3, Advertisements, 1988-1995 and undated

Subseries 4, Press Releases, 1988-1996

Subseries 5, Presentation Materials, 1990-[1997?]

Subseries 6, Newspaper and Magazine Clippings, 1988-1996 and undated

Series 5, User Guides and Manuals, 1989-2005 and undated

Series 6, Financial Materials, 1991-1995 and undated

Series 7, Photographs and Slides, 1987-1995 and undated

Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1991-1998 and undated
Biographical / Historical:
Ed Tuck of the Boundary Fund, a venture capital firm specializing in technologies founded the Magellan Systems Corporation in 1986 and served as its director from 1986 to 1993. Tuck assembled the initial team of Norm Hunt, Larry Weill, Val Wong, and Sab Ifune to conduct a feasibility study in early 1986 to pursue commercial markets for products based on global positioning system (GPS) technology. Magellan introduced the first handheld commercial GPS receiver in 1989 and was the first company to make GPS devices affordable to consumers. Magellan introduced the first handheld commercial GPS receiver in 1989 and was the first company to make GPS devices affordable to consumers. The company successfully introduced GPS products into the marine, professional, military and automotive and general aviation markets.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) began as a United States Department of Defense Program in the 1960s with a navy system known as Transit (first satellite navigation system). Two other projects soon followed, Timation (satellite to broadcast accurate time reference) and Air Force Project 612B, which began in the 1970s. In 1973, the development of the Navigation Signal Timing and Ranging Global Positioning System (NAVSTAR) began under the management of the Air Force. Designed by the military, the system provided twenty-four positioning satellites under all- weather conditions using passive (non-transmitting) receivers. This kept a user's presence from being detected as a result of the receiver. Although primarily for military use, the system also offered a less-precise coded signal for civilian use.

GPS uses a group of twenty-four earth-orbiting satellites which broadcast continuously. The data being broadcast can be processed by a portable receiver to determine a user's position, velocity and time. GPS has three parts: 1) space part with twenty-four satellites; 2) ground part with monitor and 3) user part with receivers that process the signals and calculate position.

In the spring of 1986, the Magellan team published a specification for a custom mixed signal RF (radio frequency) integrated circuit and by fall 1986, had a breadboard (used in prototyping of electronics) and began software development and testing. Magellan focused its research, product engineering, and design activities on the development of GPS receivers that were application-specific, software-intensive, reliable, lower power, easy to use, and affordable.

From 1986 to 1988, the Boundary Fund provided the venture capital for feasibility studies and the initital product design. By 1988, the company occupied its first stand-alone facility in Monrovia, California with thirty-five employees. In May 1989, the company's first product, the NAV 1000, shipped, and in that same year, the company entered the military market with the NAV 1000M. The company entered the professional market in January 1990 with the NAV 1000 PRO, the world's first hand-held GPS product. By 1991, Magellan moved to a new facility in Dimas, California and introduced advanced five-channel technology. It also incorporated in the United Kingdom (UK) as Magellan Systems to handle product distribution in the rest of the UK and Europe.

The SkyNAV 5000 was introduced in 1992 for the general aviation market, and in the same year, hand-held differential GPS technology for the marine market appeared. Magellan was purchased by Orbital Sciences Corporation in 1994. In 2001, Thales Group purchased the Magellan division of Orbital Sciences, and the company became known as Thales Navigation. In 2006, a private equity firm, Shah Capital Partners, and other investors purchased Thales Navigation, and the company was officially renamed Magellan Navigation. Magellan (also known as MiTAC Digital Corporation) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation and promotes and sells products and services under the Magellan brand name. Magellan is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Related Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry holds related artifacts (GPS receivers, computer electronics boards, computer chips, antennas, packaging, components, circuit boards, keyboards, a Swiss Army Chip (SAC), and receiver brackets). See Accession numbers 2010.0117; 2010.0118; 2010.0151; 2010.0152; 2010.0153; 2010.0154 and 2010.0155.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2010, by MiTAC Digital Corporation through Michael Williams, Director of Marketing and Gary Barta, Janice Itnyre, Jean Tuck McGregor, Donald Rea, Edward F. Tuck, Lawrence R. Weill, and James P. White.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Navigation  Search this
Navigation equipment and supplies  Search this
Global Positioning System  Search this
GPS receivers  Search this
Satellites  Search this
Genre/Form:
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Notebooks
Correspondence -- 2000-2010
Instructional materials
Design drawings
Photographs -- 1980-2000
Notes
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- 2000-2010
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- 1950-2000
Memorandums -- 1950-2000
Manuals
Memorandums -- 2000-2010
Videocassettes
Reports
Press releases
Reports -- 2000-2010
Advertisements -- 1980-2000
Reports -- 1950-2000
Photographs -- 2000-2010
Clippings -- 2000-2010
Photographs -- Color transparencies -- 2000-2010
Photographs -- Color transparencies -- 1950-2000
Audio cassettes -- 1990-2000
Audio cassettes -- 1980-1990
Clippings -- 1950-2000
Audio cassettes -- 2000-2010
Articles
Advertisements -- 2000-2010
Citation:
Magellan Systems Corporation GPS Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1214
See more items in:
Magellan Systems Corporation GPS Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep827a765bf-f29b-450e-89c1-91d8e5777a4a
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1214
Online Media:

A. Bernie Wood Papers

Creator:
Wood, Arthur Bernie, 1921-1986  Search this
Extent:
10 Cubic feet (27 boxes, 2 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Clippings
Negatives
Transparencies
Matchcovers
Placemats
Stationery
Business cards
Business records
Advertisements
Photographs
Drawings
Motion pictures (visual works)
Design drawings
Date:
1942-2001
bulk 1960-1969
Summary:
A. (Arthur) Bernie Wood (1921-1986) was an advertising designer, consultant, and inventor actively involved in the development of the restaurant franchise industry in America during the 1960s and 1970s. Particularly notable is his work with marketing, promotion, and merchandising for the McDonald's Corporation during its formative years.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the post-war development of the franchise business system from an insider's view. Wood participated in almost all aspects of franchising activities from design to ownership. The materials consist of a wide variety of corporate identity elements--primarily visual--developed by Wood under contract to various corporations in the food service industry. Wood delivered his services in design concepts and graphics for advertisers and industrial firms using photo graphics and lithographic media.
Arrangement:
The collection organized into seven series.

Series 1: Personal Materials, 1942-1986, undated

Series 2: Business Materials, 1959-2001, undated

Subseries 1: Franchise information, 1961-2001

Subseries 2: Design work, undated

Subseries 3: Reference materials, 1959-1972

Series 3: McDonald's Corporation, 1957-1985

Subseries 1: Background materials, 1963, 1985, undated

Subseries 2: Corporate materials, 1960-1984

Subseries 3: Newsletters, 1960-1964, 1983

Subseries 4: Advertising and marketing materials, 1957-1978, undated

Subseries 5: Packaging, 1964, undated

Subseries 6: Sales materials, 1963, 1964, [1972?], undated

Subseries 7: Drawings, 1960s-1970s

Series 4: Client Files, 1958-1984

Series 5: Patent and Trademark Materials, 1962-1976

Subseries 1: Patents and patent applications, 1962-1969, 1975-1976

Subseries 2: Trademarks, 1964-1970

Series 6: Photographs, Slides and Negatives, 1963-1975, undated

Subseries 1: Biographical, 1964, 1975, undated

Subseries 2: Client Work, 1963-1968

Subseries 3: Slide Presentations, 1963-1969, undated

Series 7: Audio and Moving Image Materials, 1963, 1964, 1968

Subseries 1: Audio Materials, 1963, 1964, 1968

Subseries 2: Moving Image Materials, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Arthur Bernie Wood (1921-1986) was born in Council Grove, Kansas. Wood graduated from Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1939 and subsequently attended several junior colleges and business and trade schools. Wood held a variety of positions in typesetting and lithographic services from 1940 until military service in the United States Navy (1942-1945). In the Navy, Wood served as a Laboratory Technician, 1st Class Photographic Specialist at the Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois. While in the Navy, Wood produced patentable material for a photo-litho process for instant printing techniques through photosynthesis. After being discharged from the Navy, Wood worked for an art studio that serviced advertising agencies. This work involved reproduction art, direct mailing services, mail order books, and newspaper art for Marshall Field's. From 1958 to 1960, Wood established the A. Bernie Wood Studio in Chicago to provide finished photographic art for leading advertising and print publications and television.

In 1961, Wood founded Admart, Inc., Advertising. As the president and creative director of Admart, he created, promoted, and merchandised the new fast-food corporate image of McDonald's Carry-Out Restaurants. While working for McDonald's, Wood designed interior food service floor plans, a logotype, direct mailing materials, posters, newspaper mat campaigns, and radio taped productions (1963-1964). Wood obtained several patents--beverage cup holder (1964), candy box (1967), finger-grip food product containers (1967), and a refreshment tray-forming template (1964) and trademarks--"Chick'n-2-Go" (1968);"NEATRAE" (1967); and "Ma and Pa's Country Candy Store" (1966). Wood, and Donald Conley formed Neat Containers Associates to promote the use of "Neatrae" and license it.

In 1965, Wood founded a franchise business called Ma and Pa's Country Candy Stores in Arlington Heights, Illinois, which he owned and operated with his wife Marilyn until 1972. They also owned another unit in Long Grove, Illinois. As the director and co-founder of this franchise, Wood was responsible for creating names, trademarks, copyrights, and image materials. He sold franchise rights to others, and there were other Ma and Pa's Country Candy Stores located in the United States, especially in St. Louis. He also designed store interiors and exteriors for other clients and supervised construction. From 1964 to 1965, Wood was a freelance designer and consultant on design, marketing, and franchising issues for restaurants and drive-ins. Other corporate images designed by Wood include: Prince Castle, Neba Roast Beef, and Friar Fish's Fish and Chips. Wood expressed his goal to design an image/logo as one "that would be recognized and one that would relate to products, packaging, properties, people, procedures and promotion. Put together, these elements communicated and coordinated the corporate image."

Wood also developed the concept Dial "All Wood," the use of a memorable association of letters rather than phone numbers (255-9663) and requesting specific phone numbers from the local Illinois Bell Telephone.

Wood married Marilyn Dewar (1923-1981) on May 27, 1942, in Kansas City, Missouri. They had five children: Ronald W.; Rhonda C.; Randall S.; Rayne Ann; and Rodger L.

Wood died on April 5, 1986.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Rayne Ann Wood, daughter of A. Bernie Wood, on February 25, 2007.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Restaurants  Search this
Trademarks  Search this
Patents  Search this
advertising  Search this
Franchises (Retail trade)  Search this
Genre/Form:
Slides (photographs) -- 20th century
Clippings -- 20th century
Negatives
Transparencies
Matchcovers
Placemats
Stationery
Business cards
Business records -- 1950-2000
Advertisements -- 20th century
Photographs -- 1950-2000
Drawings
Motion pictures (visual works) -- 20th century
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Citation:
A. Bernie Wood papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0962
See more items in:
A. Bernie Wood Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8cfc4a0c6-0591-4be1-81c6-9a0a45f0fb25
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0962
Online Media:

Servodyne Corporation Records

Creator:
Servodyne Corporation  Search this
Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Information, Technology and Society  Search this
Donor:
Gunnarson, John  Search this
Extent:
1 Cubic foot (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Articles
Correspondence
Design drawings
Financial records
Minutes
Date:
1955-1971
Summary:
The Servodyne Company attempted to develop a prototype of the household microwave. The business records cover the operations and meetings of the company, as well as the corporation's financial troubles and liquidation following its bankruptcy in 1968. Also included are design details and photographs of the ovens.
Scope and Contents:
Records of the company that developed an early microwave oven. The business records include documents such as Board of Directors meeting minutes, stockholder meeting minutes, correspondence, legal documents, financial papers, publications, photographs, drawings and specifications, and other business papers. Also included in the collection are newspaper and magazine clippings featuring stories about the safety and use of microwave ovens.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Minutes, 1961-1968

Series 2: Correspondence, 1961-1968

Series 3: Legal Documents, 1965-1966

Series 4: Financial Materials, 1960-1965

Series 5: Publications, 1955-1971

Series 6: Photographs, 1955, 1971
Biographical / Historical:
John Gunnarson, a former employee of Raytheon, formed the Servodyne Company (1960), which made prototypes of the microwave oven. The company sought to bring microwave technology into the home for everyday use in a time when microwaves and their safety were under scrutiny. Developed by Gunnarson, Roger F. French, and Donald R. Lester, this prototype utilized klystrons instead of the magnetrons used by competitors. The company applied for a patent in 1966, but the oven was never successful. Servodyne Company struggled with financial issues and leadership changes, and the business folded in 1968 due to lack of funding. The liquidation process lasted until 1971.
Separated Materials:
A prototype microwave is in the Division of Work and Industry. See Accession 2003.0107.01.
Provenance:
Collection donated by John A. Gunnarson in 2003.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Microwave equipment industry  Search this
Microwave ovens  Search this
Genre/Form:
Articles -- 1950-2000
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Financial records
Minutes
Citation:
Servodyne Corporation Records, 1955-1971, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0839
See more items in:
Servodyne Corporation Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep89af4788a-c1f7-4d84-8c8a-b55737a0f1d8
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0839

Safko International, Inc. Records

Creator:
Safko, Lon S.  Search this
Extent:
12.6 Cubic feet (34 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Design drawings
Magnetic disks
Audiovisual materials
Financial records
Legal documents
Correspondence
Marketing records
Photographs
Business records
Floppy disks
Date:
1984 - 1996
Summary:
The records of Safko International, Inc., document an assistive computer technology company created by Lon S. Safko to produce and sell the environmental control systems he invented for the physically disabled, specifically quadriplegics. Through the use of a computer and alternative input devices, the physically disabled were able to overcome physical barriers which inhibited them from attaining an autonomous lifestyle.
Scope and Contents:
Spanning 1984 to 1998, the Safko International, Inc. Records are divided into seven series and consist of approximately 12.6 cubic feet. Collectively these series document the routine affairs of Safko International, Inc., a company created for the production and distribution of the assistive technology inventions of Lon S. Safko from its formation in 1986 to its dissolution in 1995. During the lifespan of this company there was a growing awareness of and sensitivity towards disability issues within American society. Two significant events associated with this change in American society, were the American with Disabilities Act, 1993, and Christopher Reeve's riding accident in 1995, documented within this collection. In addition to documenting the intersection of American society with the assistive technology field, this collection documents how one man's vision of society and that of his company, in conjunction with perseverance and sacrifices, can transform the lives of individuals such as Franklin Halwood and Liz Jimenez. Lastly, this collection documents the evolution of assistive technology devices to provide for the specific needs of the physically and cognitively disabled.

Executive Records, 1986-1998, is approximately 3.6 cubic feet of documents, the majority of which are correspondence and reports. Other documents include: business cards, faxes, form letters, printed emails, brochures, check stubs, invoices, photocopied newspaper and magazine clippings, blank applications, memoranda, license agreements, scrap paper notes, promotional materials, private placement memoranda, annual reports of other corporations, resumes, receipts, deposit slips, meeting notes, directories, press releases, stock listings, maps, non-disclosure covenants, organizational charts, airline ticket stubs, by-laws, stock certificates, and stock warrants. This series is subdivided into eight subseries, each documenting the operational affairs of Safko International, Inc.

Files within the first subseries, Corporate history and formation, provide background information on the incorporation of Safko International, Inc. and its reformation as Synosure, Inc. in 1996. Other files contain documents listing employees and their positions, biographical sketches, facts about the company and products produced, corporate structuring, and Safko International, Inc.'s by-laws. Files found within the second subseries, Administration, contain operational records, the majority of which deal with the company's relationship with its employees. The third subseries, Correspondence, also deals with operational issues, such as recycling and preparing for conferences. Note that correspondence is found throughout the collection, not just in this subseries. Safko filed most correspondence by names and topics, but correspondence found within this subseries was labeled general correspondence and arranged by year. The next subseries, Business plans, are of drafts and final copies of reports that were revised every two years providing information about officers, legal and financial advisors, descriptions of the SenSei system and its market potential, its business and marketing strategies, foreign business relations, cash flow, distribution, sales history, restructuring strategy, its reseller status of other computer products, and pilot projects. The fifth subseries, Minutes, is comprehensive in coverage except for the period between 1990 and 1992. The most information about company decisions and discussions made at these meetings can be found in the minutes spanning 1992 to 1995.

The next two subseries, Board of Directors and Personnel, are not comprehensive in coverage and contain very few documents. Also, files for some of the employees and Board of Directors are not found within these subseries. Employee files include: Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer (Safko), SenSei Program Director (Martindale), Marketing Assistant (Montgomery), Computer programmer (Hirota), Chief Executive Officer and President after Safko resigned (Schembs), Vice President of Sales and Marketing (Zinn), Vice President of Sales and Marketing (Bowman), and Director of Sales (Owen). Within the two files about Safko is correspondence of a personal nature, his biographical sketch, and curriculum vitae. The final subseries, Business relationships, contains files about individuals and companies whose relationship to Safko International, Inc. was unclear or who had a relationship with the company that covered many areas of business. For instance, although Westinghouse Investment Management Company invested in other businesses, it had a "non-financial" interest in Safko International, Inc. Another example is the Apple Corporation, which provided technical support for Apple Computers that Safko International, Inc. resold, but it also marketed Safko's SenSei System in its Aisle 17 publication.

Financial Records 1987-1998, is approximately 1.3 cubic feet of documents, the majority of which are spreadsheets and reports about the company's financial status and correspondence with companies and individuals about investment opportunities. Other documents include: form letters, faxes, financial charts, resumes, memoranda, confidential summary memoranda, executive summaries, photocopied checks, photocopied newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, financial spreadsheets, stock warrants, agendas, private offering memoranda, confidential summary memoranda, drafts and final copies of financial statements, deposit slips, and business cards. This series is subdivided into four subseries, each documenting the fiscal difficulties that Safko International, Inc. encountered and its strategy for overcoming these difficulties.

The first subseries, Bookkeeping, includes records of liabilities, assets, expenses, inventories, payroll, stock transaction history, plans for preventing bankruptcy, and auditing procedures. The other three subseries deal specifically with the pursuit of Safko International, Inc. for financial assistance. The distinction between the third and fourth subseries is significant. The third subseries, Investors, documents individuals and companies that invested in Safko International, Inc. through loans or purchases of stock. The fourth subseries, includes files of individuals and companies from whom Safko requested financial assistance, but either rejected Safko's plea outright or never responded. It may be that some of these files are of companies and individuals that did in fact invest in Safko International, Inc., but there is no documentation within the files themselves to identify these individuals and companies as investors.

Legal Records, 1986-1997, is approximately 1.5 cubic feet of documents, the bulk of which is correspondence. Other documents in this series include: reports, licenses, payment vouchers, receipts, court summons, memoranda, photocopied newspaper clippings and magazine articles, newsletters, business proposals, faxes, promotional flyers for other products, brochures, meeting minutes, agreements, business cards, thirteen 5.25" computer diskettes, fourteen 3.5" computer disks, and phone messages. This series is divided into five subseries, each documenting the attempts of Safko International, Inc. to protect itself and its product.

The first subseries, Poor mans' patents, are packets of certified mail that Lon S. Safko sent to himself from 1986 to 1994 to provide proof of his status as the inventor of SoftVoice and other assistive technology devices. The second subseries, Legal documents, provide background information about the SenSei trademark and copyright application process. It also includes proof for the status of Safko International, Inc. as a legitimate and registered company having been granted the authority to conduct business. The third subseries, Legal representation and counsel, are files of documents created in the course of business between Safko International, Inc. and its various legal representatives pertaining to specific issues including: advice about copyrights and compliance with the American with Disabilities Act, capitalization, liability insurance program, loan and stock agreements, personal service agreements, pledge agreements, a prospective business venture with the Saudi Amoudi Group, articles of incorporation, and dissolutions. Most of the issues discussed within this subseries are administrative or financial.

The fourth subseries, Disputes, deals with legal battles that do not appear to have reached litigation. Documentation can be found about the contractual relationship with the Austin McDaniel Corporation and its subsequent dissolution, a challenge to the intellectual property copyright to "SenSei," Safko International, Inc.'s payment in arrears to other businesses, and the attempt of a board member to seek financial compensation from the company. The final subseries, Research file, is background research into the legal ramifications of the American with Disabilities Act, possible copyright infringements by other companies, copyright status of companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Motorola and their relationship to Safko International, Inc., information on how to deal with software licenses, and incoming and outgoing correspondence with software creators asking for their permission to incorporate their inventions as a part of the SenSei system.

Research Development, and Production Records, 1984-1996, is approximately one cubic foot of documents. It includes: correspondence, promotional materials, catalogs, drawings, photocopied newspaper clippings and magazine articles, manuals, circuit board diagrams, receipts, newsletter, brochures, six 3.5" computer disks, seventeen 5.25" computer floppy diskettes, invoices, faxes, business cards, agreements, photographs, fact sheets, and labels. This series is divided into five subseries, each documenting the revisions and adaptations of SoftVoice and the SenSei System for marketability purposes.

The first subseries, SoftVoice, consists of seventeen 5.25" computer floppy diskettes and some documents. The only documents found within this subseries are in two files, the majority of which are in the SoftVoice telephone file. In contrast, the second subseries, SenSei, consists mostly of documents and only one 3.5" computer disk. Among this subseries are files providing information on other complimentary products that Safko resold as a part of the SenSei System, instructions for installers and users of the system, adaptations of the system to meet particular needs, and information on suppliers, unit costs and suggested retail prices. As a part of the third subseries are five 3.5" computer disks. The strength of this subseries is its documentation of the Siptroller. The fourth subseries, Proprietary relationships, documents the pursuit of and/or actual relationship between Safko International, Inc. and other companies involved in selling, manufacturing, and/or distributing assistive technology devices. Depending on the individual needs of the client, Safko International, Inc. offered and sometimes sold these hardware devices and software programs as a part of the SenSei System. Ways in which the system was or could have been adapted through proprietary relationships include: establishing fire alarm and medical alert systems, programming languages, graphics, European modifications, word prediction software, iconic keyboards, and alternative input devices. The final subseries, Research concerning product development, is like the aforementioned subseries, but there is no documentation to prove that the companies contained within this subseries ever had a proprietary relationship with Safko International, Inc. In fact, within this subseries are files about companies that competed with Safko International, Inc. in the field of voice recognition and imitation. A third aspect of this subseries is that it contains research on technologies, like virtual reality, which were ways in which the SenSei system could be enhanced. This subseries contains documentation of Safko International, Inc.'s involvement in pilot studies to assess how assistive technology devices and systems like SenSei can make a difference in the work field.

Marketing, Publicity, and Sales Records, 1986-1996, is approximately 3.1 cubic feet of documents, including: correspondence, faxes, memoranda, drafts and final copies of agreements, reports, press releases, advertisements, fact sheets, agendas, photocopied newspaper clippings and magazine articles, transcripts, photographs, award applications, diagrams, annual reports, business cards, presentation outlines, notes, delivery slips, invoices, inventory lists, and diagrams. This series is divided into twelve subseries, each documenting an important part Safko International, Inc's. efforts to sell and create public awareness of their products. Also documented is that Safko International, Inc's. marketing to hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and consultants, nursing homes, insurance companies, government agencies, and individuals through mailings, advertisements, telephone calls, and personal relationships.

The first subseries, Product and company information, contains documents that are similar to those in the first subseries of Executive Records. The main difference is that these files are not the master copies. Also, very few files of this subseries actually focus on company history; the majority are documents created to assist individuals, other businesses, and company employees in providing background information about the product, finding funding to purchase a system, and understanding how the SenSei System works. The second subseries, Sales records, provides information on sales transactions. Some of the delivery slips and invoices within this subseries are also located in client files. The third subseries, Marketing agencies and agents, documents the relationship Safko International, Inc. had with public relations agencies. Of all the subseries, this is the one with the majority of information. It reveals the techniques the company and its public relations agents used in trying to initiate contact with other individuals and companies. For instance, there is detailed information about the construction of promotional materials along with timelines and progress reports assessing the work of the marketing agents in meeting the needs of Safko International, Inc. The fourth subseries, Promotional materials, contain documents whose purpose was to sell the Sensei system and other assistive technology inventions created by Lon S. Safko. Unlike the first subseries, Product and company information, the purpose of these documents was to persuade prospective customers. The fifth subseries, Advertisements and publicity, records publicity garnered through magazines, newspapers, video, television, and radio. The sixth subseries, Awards, documents publicity of a different sort. It documents the recognition Lon S. Safko and his inventions received for benefiting society. Within this subseries, one of the files documents the creation of a museum display at the Arizona Science Center. In addition to creating public awareness of the SenSei System, this series documents the training of sales representatives, sales transactions, and distribution.

The seventh subseries, Sales representatives' materials consist of documents used to assist in training the representatives. The eighth subseries, Sales representatives, is of files organized according to the name of the representative. Besides invoices for sales transactions, these files also contain agreements outlining responsibilities, a listing of who to go to for answers to legal questions, information on conventions, and definitions of pertinent medical terms necessary for a sales representative to know. Note that not all files are comprehensive or provide the same kinds of information. The ninth subseries, Conferences and demonstrations, are of presentations given by Safko International, Inc. to inform others about their products and to build relationships with other companies. Representatives of Safko International, Inc. attended to learn from other companies. One such conference was an Innovative Thinking Conference, in which the attendees were involved in brainstorming new marketing ideas.

The tenth subseries, Distribution, documents the expansion of the SenSei System into domestic and foreign markets. Included is background information about various companies and markets, agreements made with other companies, and the process for buying back equipment that distributors were unable to sell. The eleventh subseries, Prospective clients and business contacts, are files for which there is no definitive relationship built with Safko International, Inc. Within these files are letters to prospective clients asking to give them a demonstration, or letters of appreciation for a demonstration given, but no evidence of a follow-up.

Some of the files are of contacts initiated with marketing agencies or distributors that do not appear to have developed into an actual relationship. The last subseries, clients, is composed mostly of invoices and correspondence pertaining to the purchase or lease of SenSei Systems by school districts, individuals, churches, hospitals, and rehabilitation facilities. Information about: who the product was shipped to, the cost, representatives or distribution companies responsible for the sale, notes of adaptations to the system for individual needs, assessments by consultants, brief history of some of the individuals who purchased the systems, installation notes, and problems they encountered are found here. Like other files found elsewhere, this subseries is not comprehensive. Many files only include the invoices, but others include more information.

Photographs and Scrapbooks, 1987-1995, is approximately 0.9 cubic feet. Contained are: photographs, negatives, pins, thank you notes, photocopied newspaper clippings, agendas, programs, calendars, memoranda, correspondence, mailers, exhibitor ribbons, stickers, and newsletters. This series is divided into two subseries, each documenting the routine affairs of Safko International, Inc. and the individuals involved.

The first subseries, Photographs and negatives, is mostly promotional photographs of the products or individuals using the products. The second subseries, Scrapbooks, are mostly photographs, but includes other types of documents, and some artifacts. Most photographs found in the scrapbooks are not found elsewhere, but there is some overlap with the first subseries. Photographs in this subseries document board meetings, employees at work, assembling the mass mailings, wall hangings, inside and outside of Safko International, Inc.'s offices, Austin McDaniel Corporation offices, attorney's offices, meetings with TeleNova and InfoLogics, an investment reception, products Safko International, Inc. sold, system modifications, computer screens, the packaged product, setup for taking promotional photographs, setup for presentations, demonstration in a hospital setting, conferences, television interviews, Franklin Halwood, and unidentified individuals. In both subseries, very few of the photographs are captioned.

The seventh series, Audiovisual Materials, 1986-1996, is approximately one cubic foot of materials, encompassing twenty-nine 1⁄2" VHS tapes and four standard audio cassette tapes. Accordingly this series is divided into two subseries, Audio cassettes and Audio visual tapes, both documenting the marketing of the SenSei System. Additionally the second subseries also documents presentations given by Safko International, Inc. representatives and instruction manuals showing how to use the SoftVoice and SenSei systems.
Arrangement:
This collection is divided into seven series.

Series 1: Executive Records, 1986-1998

Subseries 1.1: Corporate history and formation, 1986-1997

Subseries 1.2: Administration, 1988-1996

Subseries 1.3: Correspondence, 1988-1995

Subseries 1.4: Business plans, 1989-1996

Subseries 1.5: Minutes, 1987-1997

Subseries 1.6: Board of Directors, 1988-1992

Subseries 1.7: Personnel, 1988-1998

Subseries 1.8: Business relationships, 1986-1998

Sub-subseries 1.8.1: Apple Corporation, 1986-1996

Sub-subseries 1.8.2: Consultants, 1989-1994

Sub-subseries 1.8.3: Professional contacts, 1987-1995

Sub-subseries 1.8.4: National, 1987-1996

Sub-subseries 1.8.5: International, 1988-1998

Series 2: Financial Records, 1986-1998

Subseries 2.1: Bookkeeping, 1986-1996

Subseries 2.2: Bookkeeping, 1988-1996

Subseries 2.3: Investors, 1987-1998

Subseries 2.4: Investors, 1987-1998

Series 3: Legal Records, 1986-1997

Subseries 3.1: Poor man's patents, 1986-1994

Subseries 3.2: Legal documents, 1987-1994

Subseries 3.3: Legal representation and counsel, 1988-1995

Subseries 3.4: Disputes, 1987-1997

Subseries 3.5: Research file, 1986-1995

Series 4: Research, Development and Production Records, 1984-1996

Subseries 4.1: SoftVoice, circa 1986

Subseries 4.2: SenSei, 1987-1995

Subseries 4.3: Other inventions, 1988-circa 1992

Subseries 4.4: Proprietary relationships, 1986-1996

Subseries 4.5: Research concerning product development, 1984-1995

Series 5: Marketing, Publicity, and Sales Records, 1986-1996

Subseries 5.1: Product and company information, 1986-1995

Subseries 5.2: Sales records, 1987-1995

Subseries 5.3: Marketing agencies and agents, 1989-1995

Subseries 5.4: Promotional materials, 1987-1995

Subseries 5.5: Advertisements and publicity, 1986-1995

Subseries 5.6: Awards, 1987-1996

Subseries 5.7: Sales representatives' materials, 1990-1995

Subseries 5.8: Sales representatives, 1988-1996

Subseries 59: Conferences and demonstrations, 1987-1995

Subseries 5.10: Distribution, 1986-1996

Subseries 5.11: Prospective clients and business contacts, 1987-1996

Subseries 5.12: Clients, 1986-1996

Series 6: Photographs and Scrapbooks, 1987-1995

Subseries 6.1: Photographs and negatives, 1987-1995

Sub-subseries 6.1.1: Administration, circa 1988-1995

Sub-subseries 6.1.2: Promotional, 1987-1995

Sub-subseries 6.1.3: Demonstrations and trade shows, 1988-1995

Sub-subseries 6.1.4: SoftVoice and SenSei System, 1988-1995

Subseries 6.2: Scrapbooks, 1986-1994

Series 7: Audiovisual Materials, 1986-1996

Subseries 7.1: Audio cassettes, 1991-1994

Subseries 7.2: Audio visual tapes, 1986-1996
Biographical / Historical:
Founded by Lon S. Safko in 1987, Safko International, Inc. was formed in response to the encouragement Safko received from demonstrating SoftVoice, his environmental control system. At first, Safko was merely fulfilling a promise to help a quadriplegic, Herb Smith, regain control of his environment. As Safko encountered the many difficulties of adapting existing voice recognition software to communicate with hardware devices, such as lamps, he understood that the only way to fulfill his promise was to invent his own system. Shortly after his first demonstration, on March 3, 1986, he was so inspired at the success of his invention that he decided to continue his work. In October of that year, Safko was contacted to install a system for Leon Mutch, a man who had lost his will to live after being paralyzed from an automobile accident. After installing the system, Safko heard nothing for a few weeks. Then after being telephoned to retrieve the system, he was surprised to find that Mutch had in fact regained some arm mobility, and more importantly, Mutch had regained the hope that he had lost. Less than six months later, on March 6, 1987, Safko International, Inc. was formally incorporated in Kennewick, Washington, to develop, produce, market, sell, and distribute Safko's inventions, primarily SoftVoice and its successor, the SenSei System.

Although Safko International, Inc. was officially incorporated in 1987, the company did not fully develop until its relocation to Chandler, Arizona, in 1989. During 1987 and 1988, Lon Safko continued to work in the computer retail business and as Senior Systems Engineer for the United States Department of Energy, under Westinghouse Electric Company, to produce an Artificial Intelligence computer system. From August to November, 1987, Lon Safko was repeatedly contacted by Debra Purcel, a physical therapist who wanted to purchase the system for one of her patients, a sixteen year old girl with a spinal tumor whose last request was to communicate her thoughts and feelings to others who were suffering from similar circumstances. Safko was reluctant to sell her the system because the girl was using a respirator and therefore would be unable to speak clearly enough for a computer to recognize her voice. Eventually, Safko realized the solution was to modify his system through the use of alternative input devices. He created HeadMouse, an input device modified from an existing model. He named the modified system SoftVoice II. In August, 1987, Safko's environmental control system was renamed the SenSei System. After modifying the system to provide for the needs of the young girl and its successful demonstration, Safko decided to give the system free of charge to her. Unfortunately when he returned to surprise her, he was too late. Her life support systems had been unplugged two days before.

Shortly thereafter, in March of 1988, Safko returned to Safko International, Inc. with a greater determination to reach those individuals trapped by circumstances beyond their control. Also in 1988, Safko International, Inc. was given office space in which to continue research and development of Safko's assistive computer technology systems through the assistance of Westinghouse Electric Company. As of 1988 Safko was President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Stan Colson was Vice President and on the Product Development team, Bruce Jorgenson was the Secretary and Treasurer in charge of the Finance and Administration division, Bob Hennig was on the Product Development team, and Keith Fischer served as Director of Engineering. The Marketing and Sales division was composed of Roger McDowell and Melanie Strege.

During 1988, Safko International, Inc. began clinical testing at hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. In addition, the company signed a contract with Boyd Fricke of the Austin McDaniel Corporation granting an exclusive international sales and marketing rights to Safko International, Inc.'s products in exchange for financial assistance. Later, Austin McDaniel Corporation attempted to coerce Safko International, Inc. through financial pressure to give up product rights. In 1990 Safko regained sales and marketing rights of the SenSei System. In May of 1988 there was also an attempt to merge with Datex Inc, but the merger did not succeed.

On June 15, 1989, the company officially moved the corporate headquarters, along with the engineering and manufacturing division, to Chandler, Arizona. Also in 1989 the company signed Value Added Reseller agreements with computer companies such as Apple Computer, Inc. and Computerland/ DataPhaz of Phoenix, Arizona.

In the following year, Safko International, Inc. expanded from domestic to international markets. The company built relationships with TeleNova AB, a subsidiary of the Swedish Telecom Group of the Swedish government and InfoLogics, an artificial intelligence computer division. Through the marketing and distribution efforts of TeleNova and its president Tommy Naslund, Safko International, Inc. was able to install SenSei systems in Sweden. In 1990 Lon Safko traveled to Sweden to help InfoLogics translate the SenSei computer system software into Swedish.

In 1991 Safko International, Inc. acquired contracts to construct interfaces which correspond with hospital beds. In particular, the Borg Warner Electronic Hospital Bed interface was created on the behalf of the Veterans Administration Hospital and the Smith and Davis Electronic Hospital Bed interface on the behalf of the Rusk Institute. Additionally, the Environmental PAL was developed in 1991. In regards to corporate structuring Richard L. Bourke became Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and John B. Zinn was Vice President of Marketing.

On February 24, 1992, Safko International, Inc. became an official Arizona corporation. Also during this year, the portable Safko Server and Power Now System were created.

In May 1993, Allen J. Emsley became Secretary and Treasurer of the company and then became Chief Financial Officer from November 1993 until August 1994. In November of 1993 the research and development office was moved from Chandler to Tempe, Arizona.

In January 1994 Safko International, Inc. was acquired by Safko Industries Inc., of Wyoming and Safko Sales International was formed. By 1994 Safko International, Inc. had sales representatives covering Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Washington, Illinois, California, and New York. Reflected in the company's active marketing campaign and its significant increase of personnel, from 1994 to1995 Safko International, Inc. was at its peak in terms of corporate growth.

In 1995 Safko International, Inc. received Veterans Administration and Medicare approval. In the research and development division the company enhanced the SenSei System to be functional for the visually disabled and blind. As of 1995 Sakfo, Bowman, Emsley, Fischer, Honacker, and Hirota remained at the company. New employees included: Teresa Caldwell, Michael Montgomery (Marketing Assistant), Kahn Beal (contract employee), Jill Lund (Secretary), Carl E. McKowan (Vice President Financial), Marjory Bain (Administrative Assistant). Due to financial difficulties, in October of 1995 the entire staff was laid off and only Safko, Bowman, and Fischer continued to work for the company. Conditions only got worse and in November of 1995 Safko, Bowman, and Fischer were forced to leave their office space and work out of their cars and homes.

On May 28, 1996 Lon S. Safko officially resigned from the company and shortly thereafter the company shut down. Immediately following Safko International, Inc.'s closure, Synosure, Inc. was formed and given all rights, copyrights, and trademarks to the Safko International, Inc. products. One of the significant aspects about the company during this time was its attempt to finalize distribution plans with Great Britain, but the momentum was lost. Synosure, Inc. only lasted a year. On June 23, 1997 it dissolved.

Lawrence "Lon" S. Safko was born on August 1, 1955, in Yonkers, New York. He completed his General Equivalency Diploma (G.E.D.) in 1976 and graduated from Westchester College in 1978 with a three year advanced degree in Civil Engineering. Safko also took courses at Mercy College, Pace University and Hofstra University.

In the spring of 1982, Safko began his entrepreneurial career by forming Civil Consultants, a firm to provide the first ever engineering services using computers. The company specialized in surveying, coordinate geometry, earthworks, highway and transportation design, traffic analysis, and hydrologic computations. In 1985, Safko sold Civil Consultants and relocated to the Pacific Northwest. Wanting to work more closely with computers, he became the general sales manager for two Apple Computer, Inc. retail outlets.

That same year, Safko designed a voice activated environmental control system for the disabled called SoftVoice Computer System. On March 6, 1986, Safko founded Safko International, Inc. and began field testing the SoftVoice Computer System. During 1987, Safko designed an artificial intelligence computer system for the United States Department of Energy and the Westinghouse Electric Company, on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in Washington State. This system compiled thousands of reports developed by the five uranium and plutonium production companies on the nuclear reservation, analyzed this information, and reported to the operator any signs of potentially hazardous patterns that could result in a nuclear disaster. In 1988, Safko began research and development of a Macintosh-based SenSei Computer System for the Disabled.

Safko holds United States Patent # 7,072,949 for a, "System and method for providing paper models over a wide area computer network," and several copyrights and trademarks. Currently, Safko is a professional speaker, trainer, and consultant for Better Homes Seminar and Innovative Thinking, L.L.C. He also is President and founder of Paper Models, Inc., providing corporate specialty advertising and educational paper models.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center

Disbaility Reference Collection (NMAH.AC.1319)

Materials at Other Organizations

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA holds several artifacts related to Lon Safko. Accession Lot # X3342.2006 contains:

First RCA TV Sip Controller

First Hospital Bed Nurse Call

Sip Puff IR Controller

Production Version Sip Puff Controller

Smith & Davis Electric Hospital Bed Controller

Sip Puff Modified Mouse

Computer Controlled Telephone

HeadMouse

First SenSei Server (Mac)

Prototype SenSei Server (Mac)

Sip Puff IR Controllers

Sip Puff Accessory Pack

Final SenSei Server Production Model

Final SenSei Server Production Model

SyQuest SenSei Software Back Ups First CD SenSei Software Back Ups
Separated Materials:
The Division of Information, Technology, and Society (now Division of Medicine and Science) holds 18 artifacts related to this collection as accession number 2005.0291 including:

1 Computer, with detached cord

Apple II cpu/keyboard

External Drive, ""Apple Disk II""

External Drive, ""Distar""

Magnavox computer monitor 80

4 Diskettes, ""SoftVoice""

Super Disk Demo 1

Super Disk Demo 2

SoftVoice Trainer

1 PC Daughter Board, ""Speech Recognition for Apple II""

1 Mouse Emulator, ""Head Master,"" with parts and manual in shipping box made by Prentke Romich Company

1 Trackball, ""Kensington TurboMouse""

1 Siptroller Case, Prototype, ""Safko International Inc.""

1 Puff Stick Base, ""Gravis"" with a hand piece and a chin piece only

1 Production Sensei Server, ""Version 2.0 Safko International Inc.""

1 Nurse Call Box

2 Remote Chimes, X-10 Powerhouse, Model SC546

2 Modules: 1 for a lamp and 1 for an appliance

1 Headset, ""MicroMint""

1 Phone with appliance module, ""DuoFone 102, Electronic Telephone Amplifier System"" (appliance module, ""Model no. X10-Am286"")
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Lon S. Safko, 2006.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
Topic:
Home automation  Search this
Social medicine -- Sweden  Search this
Assistive computer technology  Search this
User interfaces (Computer systems)  Search this
Computers -- 1950-2000  Search this
Computerized self-help devices for people with disabilities  Search this
Rehabilitation technology  Search this
People with disabilities  Search this
Genre/Form:
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Magnetic disks
Audiovisual materials
Financial records -- 20th century
Legal documents
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Marketing records
Photographs -- 1950-2000
Business records -- 1950-2000
Floppy disks
Citation:
Safko International, Inc. Records, 1984-1998, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0911
See more items in:
Safko International, Inc. Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8a7780235-0be3-46ef-a620-b6da2f61ca23
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0911
Online Media:

Mortimer Spiller Company Records

Creator:
Spiller, Mortimer  Search this
Mortimer Spiller Company  Search this
Donor:
Spiller, Harley  Search this
Extent:
2.25 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertisements
Newsletters
Business records
Design drawings
Photographs
Print advertising
Point-of-purchase displays
Clippings
Correspondence
Notebooks
Price lists
Date:
1954 - 1989
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the Spiller Company's work in developing print advertising and advertising novelties such as advertisements placed on balloons, blotters, clipboards, calendars, hats, etc. Many of the products they developed advertisements for were toys and novelties. The collection includes design drawings, a notebook, business records, correspondence, photographs, trade literature, point of purchase displays, and newsletters.
Arrangement:
Collection is unarranged.
Biographical / Historical:
Advertising company, Batavia, New York.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2016 by Harley J. Spiller.
Restrictions:
Collection is unprocessed.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Marketing -- 1950-2000  Search this
advertising -- 1950-2000  Search this
Advertising history -- 1950-2000  Search this
Advertising agencies -- 1950-2000  Search this
Toys  Search this
Novelties  Search this
Popular culture  Search this
Genre/Form:
Advertisements -- 1950-2000
Newsletters -- 1950-2000
Business records -- 1950-2000
Design drawings -- 1950-2000
Photographs -- 1950-2000
Print advertising -- 1950-2000
Point-of-purchase displays -- 1950-2000
Clippings -- 1950-2000
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Notebooks -- 1950-2000
Price lists -- 1950-2000
Citation:
Mortimer Spiller Company Records, 1954-1989, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1387
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep80bcf45ed-9fd7-4e33-bee0-002da5abf2e1
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1387
Online Media:

1950/2000 theater of Italian creativity

Author:
Comitato organizzatore salone del mobile italiano  Search this
Istituto nazionale per il commercio estero (Italy)  Search this
Physical description:
111 p. : chiefly col. ill. ; 28 cm
Type:
Exhibitions
Place:
Italy
Date:
2003
[2003?]
20th century
Topic:
Design--History  Search this
Call number:
NK1452.A1 A16 2003
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_940265

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