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Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records

Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum  Search this
Names:
Anacostia Community Museum  Search this
Extent:
21.6 Cubic feet (consisting of 17 cartons, 2 oversized boxes.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts
Color slides
Exhibition records
Exhibit scripts
Contact sheets
Photographic prints
Correspondence
Place:
Washington Metropolitan Area
Date:
1942-1998
Summary:
These records document the planning, organizing, execution, and promotion of an exhibition exploring the immigration of people of African descent from Central and South America and the Caribbean to the Washington Metropolitan Area. The show was organized and hosted by the Anacostia Museum from August 21, 1994 through August 7, 1995. Materials include correspondence, research files, exhibit script, administrative records, brochures, press coverage, education packets, loan agreements, floor plans, and catalogues.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Black Mosaic exhibition presented by the Anacostia Community Museum measure 21.6 cubic feet and date from 1942 to 1998, with the bulk of material dating from 1990 to 1995. The records include administrative records, publications, research files, floor plans, exhibit text drafts, oral history transcripts, and project files for programs coordinated for or tangentially with the Black Mosaic Exhibit.

Administrative records include advisory board member lists, meeting minutes, agendas, grant proposals, project reports and assessments, correspondence, training material for museum volunteers and docents, and assorted notes. Publications within the series directly relate to the Black Mosaic Exhibit and the Anacostia Community Museum. Correspondence includes both internal correspondence and those with local community members.

Writings and notes were previously scattered throughout the collection have been collocated within the Administrative Records series, and a majority are undated. The notes cover topics ranging from administrative activities to exhibit and research planning. Included are printed documents, scrap paper, and spiral-bound notebooks.

The research files contain background information about numerous immigrant communities within Washington D.C. The community research files were originally organized by country, continent, or region of origin, and then later by subjects that coordinated with the exhibit's designated themes. This organization method has largely been maintained. Research files include scholarly articles, news clippings, event programs, compiled bibliographies, and material related to the study of museology.

The exhibit files include floor plan layouts, photocopies of images, interview transcripts, exhibit literature, and extensive exhibit text drafts. Drafts of the exhibit's text include notes throughout multiple editing stages. Additionally, copies of flip books for different thematic sections of the Black Mosaic exhibit are included and are organized alphabetically by title. Other exhibit literature present is primarily in English with one French copy present.

The project files include training material for collecting oral histories and documenting community folklife, conference records, event records, and records pertaining to related projects at the Anacostia Community Museum. Concurrent projects supporting the exhibit include the Black Mosaic community newsletter and an educational curriculum project. Additional project records that thematically overlap with the Black Mosaic exhibit but extend beyond the timeframe of the formal exhibit are present also.
Arrangement:
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. exhibition records are arranged in four series:

Series 1: Administrative Records

Series 2: Research Files

Series 3: Exhibit Files

Series 4: Project Files
Historical Note:
The exhibit Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. was curated by the Anacostia Community Museum's supervisory curator Portia James, and was open at the Anacostia Community Museum from August 1994 to August 1995. The exhibition explored the immigration of people of African descent from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean to the Washington Metropolitan Area.

Topics addressed in the exhibition include migration, situations faced by Black immigrants, the maintenance of relationships with places of origin, community events and cultural performances, public and private expressions of culture, commodification of culture for economic support, and the expression of multiple identities. Some intentions of the exhibit were to provide forums for discussing culture and identity, provide resources for people learning about communities in the Washington Metro area, and to be a model to other museums and cultural institutions for understanding and interpreting similar immigration and settlement patterns.

The exhibit was designed to be experienced with broader cultural concepts being introduced towards the external part of the exhibit, while personal stories could be experienced further in. Over 100 oral history interviews featured prominently in the exhibit where interviewed individuals explained their immigration experience and how they've adapted to life in the area. The exhibit also included mounted photographs, artifacts, music, and conversations. Artifacts included passport photos, tickets, family photographs, and letters. The exhibit's text displayed in three languages: English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. There were additional exhibition guides provided in Brazilian Portuguese, French, and the Ghanaian languages of Ga, Twi, Akan, and Ewe.

Coupled with the exhibit, the museum coordinated an extensive series of programs to engage various communities in the exploration of issues and traditions. These programs included creating newsletters and a photograph exhibit to keep the community up to date about the progression of the exhibit, working with performance groups, creating multi-institutional partnerships in order to develop more effective methods of collecting oral histories, and collaborating and modeling for the CFPCS African Immigrant Communities project.
Provenance:
Records of Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity Among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C. Exhibition were created by the Anacostia Community Museum.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Immigrants -- United States -- Exhibitions  Search this
Museum exhibits  Search this
Genre/Form:
Transcripts
Color slides
Exhibition records -- 1990-2004
Exhibit scripts
Contact sheets
Photographic prints
Correspondence
Citation:
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
ACMA.03-027
See more items in:
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records
Archival Repository:
Anacostia Community Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa769b48dcf-5b93-4db2-b89e-3e4819fb8f55
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-acma-03-027
Online Media:

Division of Work and Industry Lantern Slide Collection

Creator:
Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence.  Search this
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Civil Engineering Department  Search this
Compiler:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering  Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry  Search this
Extent:
33 Cubic feet (100 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Blueprints
Drawings
Lantern slides
Photographs
Date:
1886-1931
Summary:
A collection of 19th and early 20th century lantern slides collected by the Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Scope and Contents note:
A collection of 19th and early 20th century silver gelatin dry plate lantern slides acquired by the staff of the Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. These materials were collected for research purposes and relate to various engineering and mining subjects. The photographs document engineering activities, equipment, facilities, and projects. Activities include engineering inspection; moving an obelisk; rock drilling and riveting; tunneling; V drive ratio testing; and weighing. Photographs are also of objects including blueprints, boilers, bridges, canals, drawings, Egyptian temples, flywheel governors, and valves.

Images of corporate facilities documented include American Locomotive Company; Fairbanks Morse and Company; Hamiliton; Ingersoll-Rand, Incorporated; and Nordberg Manufacturing Company. In addition, there are images of equipment such as diesels, marine diesel generator set, diesel models, and marine diesel engines.

Images were created by photographers and photographic studios including L. C. Handy Photo, Washington, DC; W. H. Lawrence and B. S. Turpin; Underwood & Underwood; and the Massachusetts Intitute of Technology (MIT) Civil Engineering Department. Locations include various parts of the United States, Cuba, and Africa.

Collection is arranged in five series: series 1, engineering collections; series 2, manufacturing companies; series 3, engineering activities; series 4, equipment; and series 5, projects.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged in five series.

Series 1, Engineering Collections, dates Subseries 1.1, Architecture and Structures, dates Subseries 1.2, Bridges, Cantilever, dates Subseries 1.3, Bridges, Concrete Arch and Beam, dates Subseries 1.4, Bridges, Masonry Aqueducts, dates Subseries 1.5, Bridges, Metal Arc, dates Subseries 1.6, Bridges, Metal Truss, dates Subseries 1.7, Bridges, Movable, dates Subseries 1.8, Bridges, Suspension, dates Subseries 1.9, Canals, dates Subseries 1.10, Hydraulic Engineering, dates Subseries 1.11, Machine Tools, dates Subseries 1.12, Materials Handling, dates Subseries 1.13, Power, dates Subseries 1.14, Railroad Mileage Maps, dates Subseries 1.15, Steam Boilers, dates Subseries 1.16, Steam Turbines, dates Subseries 1.17, Tunneling Machine Tools, dates Series 2, Manufacturing Companies, dates Series 3, Engineering Activities, dates Series 4, Equipment, dates Series 5, Projects, dates

Series 2, Manufacturers, dates
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

For related material on Canals, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Canals, NMAH.AC.0060

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0143

Roland A. McCrady Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0710

Division of Cultural History Lantern Slides and Stereographs, NMAH.AC.0945

Niagara Falls Power Company Records, NMAH.AC.0949

Modjeski and Masters Company Records, NMAH.AC.0976

George Morison Collection, NMAH.AC.0978

Uriah A. Boyden Papers, NMAH.AC.0982

James Forgie Papers, NMAH.AC.0986

William R. Hutton Papers, NMAH.AC.0987

Snake River Irrigation Project Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1031

Silas H. Woodard Papers, NMAH.AC.1038

Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Records, NMAH.AC.1074

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090

New York State Barge Canal Photographs, NMAH.AC.1536

Lackawaxen Canal Survey Profiles, NMAH.AC.1546

Nicaragua Canal Collection, NMAH.AC.1550

For related material on Cantilever Bridges, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Bridges, NMAH.AC.0060

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0143

Nathan W. Morgan Papers, NMAH.AC.0965

George Morison Collection, NMAH.AC.0978

John A. Roebling Collection, NMAH.AC.0981

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090

Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Bridges Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1577

For related material on Concrete Arch and Beam Bridges, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Bridges, NMAH.AC.0060

For related material on Hydraulic Engineering, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Engineering, NMAH.AC0060

Charles Richardson Pratt Papers, NMAH.AC.0958

Rudolph Hering Collection, NMAH.AC.0989

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Glass Plate Negatives, NMAH.AC.1089

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090

For related material on Machine Tools, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Tools, NMAH.AC.0060

Pratt & Whitney Company Scrapbook, NMAH.AC.0093

Max Holland Numerical Control Collection, NMAH.AC.0537

Southwark Foundry and Machine Company Records, NMAH.AC.1107

For related material on Materials Handling, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Materials Handling, NMAH.AC.0060

James J. Childs Numerical Control Collection, NMAH.AC.0420

World War Two Bomb Damage Photographs, NMAH.AC.1535

Norton Grinding Machine Company Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.1551

Paul Steam-Heating System Company Records, NMAH.AC.1554

For related material on Metal Arch Bridges, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Bridges, NMAH.A.C0060

Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Bridges Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1577

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090

For related material on Movable Bridges, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Bridges, NMAH.AC.0060

Henry Grattan Tyrrell and Mary Maude Knox Tyrrell Papers, NMAH.AC.0948

Nathan W. Morgan Papers, NMAH.AC.0965

Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Bridges Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1577

For related material on Panama Canal, see the following collections:

John Frances Little Panama Canal Scrapbook, NMAH.AC.0708

A.R. Van Tassell Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1015

W. A. Fishbaugh Panama Canal Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1021

W. P. Stine Panama Canal Papers, NMAH.AC.1039

Katherine Kingsford Panama Canal Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1040

Richard Fisher Collection of Panama Canal Materials, NMAH.AC.1045

Robert Dearborn Panama Canal Glass Negatives, NMAH.AC.1111

Charles Edwards Wood Panama Canal Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1114

Panama Canal Commission Photonegatives, 1903-circa 1939, NMAH.AC.1116

Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Panama Canal Collection, NMAH.AC.1569

For related material on Steam Boilers, see the following collections:

Frick Company Collection, NMAH.AC.293

Erasmus D. Leavitt Collection, NMAH.AC.0966

Edwin Rust Papers, NMAH.AC.1070

Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company Records, NMAH.AC.1541

For related material on Steam Turbines, see the following collections:

Parke, Davis Research Laboratory Records, NMAH.AC.0001

Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company Records, NMAH.AC.0977

Skinner Engine Company Records, NMAH.AC.1087

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Glass Plate Negatives, NMAH.AC.1089

For related material on Suspension Bridges, see the following collections:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Bridges, NMAH.AC.0060

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0143

Nathan W. Morgan Papers, NMAH.AC.0965

Modjeski and Masters Company Records, NMAH.AC.0976

Niagara Falls Bridge Commission Records, NMAH.AC.1060

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Glass Plate Negatives, NMAH.AC.1089

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090

Robinson & Steinman Collection, NMAH.AC.1562

Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Bridges Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1577
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
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:
African American women  Search this
Architecture  Search this
Bearings (Machinery)  Search this
Bridges  Search this
Canals  Search this
Children -- 20th century  Search this
Coal mines and mining  Search this
Engineering  Search this
Hydraulic engineering  Search this
Machine-tools  Search this
Materials handling  Search this
Mining engineering  Search this
Power  Search this
Steam-boilers  Search this
Turbines  Search this
Tunnels  Search this
Laborers  Search this
Rubber -- Ceylon  Search this
Rubber -- Congo  Search this
Rubber plantations  Search this
Tires  Search this
Water-supply  Search this
Genre/Form:
Blueprints
Drawings -- 20th century
Lantern slides
Photographs -- Lantern slides -- 19th century
Photographs -- Lantern slides -- 1900-1950
Citation:
Division of Work and Industry Lantern Slide Collection, 1886-1931, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1013
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep864c4320f-954c-462f-8434-2b79c0ed7159
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1013

Western Union Telegraph Company Records

Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Extent:
452 Cubic feet (871 boxes and 23 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Administrative records
Articles
Books
Clippings
Contracts
Drawings
Photographs
Patents
Newsletters
Photograph albums
Scrapbooks
Specifications
Technical documents
Date:
circa 1820-1995
Summary:
The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.
Scope and Contents:
The collection is divided into twenty-six (26) series and consists of approximately 400 cubic feet. The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Information, 1851-1994

Series 2: Subsidiaries of Western Union, 1844-1986

Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987

Series 4: Presidential Letterbooks and Writings, 1865-1911

Series 5: Correspondence, 1837-1985

Series 6: Cyrus W. Field Papers, 1840-1892

Series 7: Secretary's Files, 1844-1987

Series 8: Financial Records, 1859-1995

Series 9: Legal Records, 1867-1968

Series 10: Railroad Records, 1854-1945

Series 11: Law Department Records, 1868-1979

Series 12: Patent Materials, 1840-1970

Series 13: Operating Records, 1868-1970s

Series 14: Westar VI-S, 1974, 1983-1986

Series 15: Engineering Department Records, 1874-1970

Series 16: Plant Department Records, 1867-1937, 1963

Series 17: Superintendent of Supplies Records, 1888-1948

Series 18: Employee/Personnel Records 1852-1985

Series 19: Public Relations Department Records, 1858-1980

Series 20: Western Union Museum, 1913-1971

Series 21: Maps, 1820-1964

Series 22: Telegrams, 1852-1960s

Series 23: Photographs, circa 1870-1980

Series 24: Scrapbooks, 1835-1956

Series 25: Notebooks, 1880-1942

Series 26: Audio Visual Materials, 1925-1994

Series 27: Addenda
Biographical / Historical:
In 1832 Samuel F. B. Morse, assisted by Alfred Vail, conceived of the idea for an electromechanical telegraph, which he called the "Recording Telegraph." This commercial application of electricity was made tangible by their construction of a crude working model in 1835-36. This instrument probably was never used outside of Professor Morse's rooms where it was, however, operated in a number of demonstrations. This original telegraph instrument was in the hands of the Western Union Telegraph Company and had been kept carefully over the years in a glass case. It was moved several times in New York as the Western Union headquarters building changed location over the years. The company presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1950.

The telegraph was further refined by Morse, Vail, and a colleague, Leonard Gale, into working mechanical form in 1837. In this year Morse filed a caveat for it at the U.S. Patent Office. Electricity, provided by Joseph Henry's 1836 "intensity batteries", was sent over a wire. The flow of electricity through the wire was interrupted for shorter or longer periods by holding down the key of the device. The resulting dots or dashes were recorded on a printer or could be interpreted orally. In 1838 Morse perfected his sending and receiving code and organized a corporation, making Vail and Gale his partners.

In 1843 Morse received funds from Congress to set-up a demonstration line between Washington and Baltimore. Unfortunately, Morse was not an astute businessman and had no practical plan for constructing a line. After an unsuccessful attempt at laying underground cables with Ezra Cornell, the inventor of a trench digger, Morse switched to the erection of telegraph poles and was more successful. On May 24, 1844, Morse, in the U.S. Supreme Court Chambers in Washington, sent by telegraph the oft-quoted message to his colleague Vail in Baltimore, "What hath God wrought!"

In 1845 Morse hired Andrew Jackson's former postmaster general, Amos Kendall, as his agent in locating potential buyers of the telegraph. Kendall realized the value of the device, and had little trouble convincing others of its potential for profit. By the spring he had attracted a small group of investors. They subscribed $15,000 and formed the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Many new telegraph companies were formed as Morse sold licenses wherever he could.

The first commercial telegraph line was completed between Washington, D.C., and New York City in the spring of 1846 by the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Shortly thereafter, F. O. J. Smith, one of the patent owners, built a line between New York City and Boston. Most of these early companies were licensed by owners of Samuel Morse patents. The Morse messages were sent and received in a code of dots and dashes.

At this time other telegraph systems based on rival technologies were being built. Some companies used the printing telegraph, a device invented by a Vermonter, Royal E. House, whose messages were printed on paper or tape in Roman letters. In 1848 a Scotch scientist, Alexander Bain, received his patents on a telegraph. These were but two of many competing and incompatible technologies that had developed. The result was confusion, inefficiency, and a rash of suits and counter suits.

By 1851 there were over fifty separate telegraph companies operating in the United States. This corporate cornucopia developed because the owners of the telegraph patents had been unsuccessful in convincing the United States and other governments of the invention's potential usefulness. In the private sector, the owners had difficulty convincing capitalists of the commercial value of the invention. This led to the owners' willingness to sell licenses to many purchasers who organized separate companies and then built independent telegraph lines in various sections of the country.

Hiram Sibley moved to Rochester, New York, in 1838 to pursue banking and real estate. Later he was elected sheriff of Monroe County. In Rochester he was introduced to Judge Samuel L. Selden who held the House Telegraph patent rights. In 1849 Selden and Sibley organized the New York State Printing Telegraph Company, but they found it hard to compete with the existing New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company.

After this experience Selden suggested that instead of creating a new line, the two should try to acquire all the companies west of Buffalo and unite them into a single unified system. Selden secured an agency for the extension throughout the United States of the House system. In an effort to expand this line west, Judge Selden called on friends and the people in Rochester. This led, in April 1851, to the organization of a company and the filing in Albany of the Articles of Association for the "New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company" (NYMVPTC), a company which later evolved into the Western Union Telegraph Company.

In 1854 there were two rival systems of the NYMVPTC in the West. These two systems consisted of thirteen separate companies. All the companies were using Morse patents in the five states north of the Ohio River. This created a struggle between three separate entities, leading to an unreliable and inefficient telegraph service. The owners of these rival companies eventually decided to invest their money elsewhere and arrangements were made for the NYMVPTC to purchase their interests.

Hiram Sibley recapitalized the company in 1854 under the same name and began a program of construction and acquisition. The most important takeover was carried out by Sibley when he negotiated the purchase of the Morse patent rights for the Midwest for $50,000 from Jeptha H. Wade and John J. Speed, without the knowledge of Ezra Cornell, their partner in the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company (EMTC). With this acquisition Sibley proceeded to switch to the superior Morse system. He also hired Wade, a very capable manager, who became his protege and later his successor. After a bitter struggle Morse and Wade obtained the EMTC from Cornell in 1855, thus assuring dominance by the NYMVPTC in the Midwest. In 1856 the company name was changed to the "Western Union Telegraph Company," indicating the union of the Western lines into one compact system. In December, 1857, the Company paid stockholders their first dividend.

Between 1857 and 1861 similar consolidations of telegraph companies took place in other areas of the country so that most of the telegraph interests of the United States had merged into six systems. These were the American Telegraph Company (covering the Atlantic and some Gulf states), The Western Union Telegraph Company (covering states North of the Ohio River and parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota), the New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company (covering New York State), the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company (covering Pennsylvania), the Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company (covering sections of Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois), and the New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company (covering the southern Mississippi Valley and the Southwest). All these companies worked together in a mutually friendly alliance, and other small companies cooperated with the six systems, particularly some on the West Coast.

By the time of the Civil War, there was a strong commercial incentive to construct a telegraph line across the western plains to link the two coasts of America. Many companies, however, believed the line would be impossible to build and maintain.

In 1860 Congress passed, and President James Buchanan signed, the Pacific Telegraph Act, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to seek bids for a project to construct a transcontinental line. When two bidders dropped out, Hiram Sibley, representing Western Union, was the only bidder left. By default Sibley won the contract. The Pacific Telegraph Company was organized for the purpose of building the eastern section of the line. Sibley sent Wade to California, where he consolidated the small local companies into the California State Telegraph Company. This entity then organized the Overland Telegraph Company, which handled construction eastward from Carson City, Nevada, joining the existing California lines, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Sibley's Pacific Telegraph Company built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. Sibley put most of his resources into the venture. The line was completed in October, 1861. Both companies were soon merged into Western Union. This accomplishment made Hiram Sibley leader of the telegraph industry.

Further consolidations took place over the next several years. Many companies merged into the American Telegraph Company. With the expiration of the Morse patents, several organizations were combined in 1864 under the name of "The U.S. Telegraph Company." In 1866 the final consolidation took place, with Western Union exchanging stock for the stock of the other two organizations. The general office of Western Union moved at this time from Rochester to 145 Broadway, New York City. In 1875 the main office moved to 195 Broadway, where it remained until 1930 when it relocated to 60 Hudson Street.

In 1873 Western Union purchased a majority of shares in the International Ocean Telegraph Company. This was an important move because it marked Western Union's entry into the foreign telegraph market. Having previously worked with foreign companies, Western Union now began competing for overseas business.

In the late 1870s Western Union, led by William H. Vanderbilt, attempted to wrest control of the major telephone patents, and the new telephone industry, away from the Bell Telephone Company. But due to new Bell leadership and a subsequent hostile takeover attempt of Western Union by Jay Gould, Western Union discontinued its fight and Bell Telephone prevailed.

Despite these corporate calisthenics, Western Union remained in the public eye. The sight of a uniformed Western Union messenger boy was familiar in small towns and big cities all over the country for many years. Some of Western Union's top officials in fact began their careers as messenger boys.

Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century the telegraph became one of the most important factors in the development of social and commercial life of America. In spite of improvements to the telegraph, however, two new inventions--the telephone (nineteenth century) and the radio (twentieth century)--eventually replaced the telegraph as the leaders of the communication revolution for most Americans.

At the turn of the century, Bell abandoned its struggles to maintain a monopoly through patent suits, and entered into direct competition with the many independent telephone companies. Around this time, the company adopted its new name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

In 1908 AT&T gained control of Western Union. This proved beneficial to Western Union, because the companies were able to share lines when needed, and it became possible to order telegrams by telephone. However, it was only possible to order Western Union telegrams, and this hurt the business of Western Union's main competitor, the Postal Telegraph Company. In 1913, however, as part of a move to prevent the government from invoking antitrust laws, AT&T completely separated itself from Western Union.

Western Union continued to prosper and it received commendations from the U.S. armed forces for service during both world wars. In 1945 Western Union finally merged with its longtime rival, the Postal Telegraph Company. As part of that merger, Western Union agreed to separate domestic and foreign business. In 1963 Western Union International Incorporated, a private company completely separate from the Western Union Telegraph Company, was formed and an agreement with the Postal Telegraph Company was completed. In 1994, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. was acquired by First Financial Management Corporation. In 1995, First Financial Management Corporation merged with First Data Corporation making Western Union a First Data subsidiary.

Many technological advancements followed the telegraph's development. The following are among the more important:

The first advancement of the telegraph occurred around 1850 when operators realized that the clicks of the recording instrument portrayed a sound pattern, understandable by the operators as dots and dashes. This allowed the operator to hear the message by ear and simultaneously write it down. This ability transformed the telegraph into a versatile and speedy system.

Duplex Telegraphy, 1871-72, was invented by the president of the Franklin Telegraph Company. Unable to sell his invention to his own company, he found a willing buyer in Western Union. Utilizing this invention, two messages were sent over the wire simultaneously, one in each direction.

As business blossomed and demand surged, new devices appeared. Thomas Edison's Quadruplex allowed four messages to be sent over the same wire simultaneously, two in one direction and two in the other.

An English automatic signaling arrangement, Wheatstone's Automatic Telegraph, 1883, allowed larger numbers of words to be transmitted over a wire at once. It could only be used advantageously, however, on circuits where there was a heavy volume of business.

Buckingham's Machine Telegraph was an improvement on the House system. It printed received messages in plain Roman letters quickly and legibly on a message blank, ready for delivery.

Vibroplex, c. 1890, a semi-automatic key sometimes called a "bug key," made the dots automatically. This relieved the operator of much physical strain.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center

Additional moving image about Western Union Telegraph Company can be found in the Industry on Parade Collection (AC0507). This includes Cable to Cuba! by Bell Laboratory, AT & T, featuring the cable ship, the C.S. Lord Kelvin, and Communications Centennial! by the Western Union Company.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Western Union records (Western Union Right of Way and Other Agreements, 1848-1990, bulk: 1910-1989 and the Western Union Locality Files, 1892-1995, bulk: 1910-1989) form part of the MCI Communications Corporation Records, 1849-1999. See accession 2225.

First Data Corporation, Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Records of First Data Corporation and its predecessors, including Western Union, First Financial Management Corporation (Atlanta) and First Data Resources (Omaha). Western Union collection supports research of telegraphy and related technologies, and includes company records, annual reports, photographs, print and broadcast advertising, telegraph equipment, and messenger uniforms.

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867

This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper clippings concerning the expedition; copies of notes on natural history taken by Robert Kennicott; and a journal containing meteorological data recorded by Henry M. Bannister from March to August, 1866.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts (apparatus and equipment) were donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society, now known as the Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Western Union in September of 1971.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. 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:
Communications equipment  Search this
Communication -- International cooperation  Search this
Electric engineering  Search this
Electric engineers  Search this
Electrical equipment  Search this
Electrical science and technology  Search this
Telegraphers  Search this
Telegraph  Search this
Genre/Form:
Administrative records
Articles
Books
Clippings
Contracts
Drawings
Photographs -- 19th century
Patents
Photographs -- 20th century
Newsletters
Photograph albums
Scrapbooks -- 19th century
Scrapbooks -- 20th century
Specifications
Technical documents
Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b72e8493-288c-4bd0-84d5-011155da30a7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0205
Online Media:

Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company photographs and other materials

Donor:
Bethlehem Steel Corporation  Search this
Manufacturer:
Consolidation Coal Company  Search this
Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company  Search this
Extent:
23 Cubic feet (99 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Photograph albums
Window displays
Date:
1885-1940s
Summary:
The collection documents the building, operation and daily life of coal mining communities in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio between 1911 and 1946. The collection is a valuable for the study of mining technology and the social conditions of the time period and regions.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists mostly of photographs depicting Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company mines and mining towns in Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Subjects include worker housing, schools for miners' children, gardens, churches, recreational facilities, health services, company stores, safety, mining machinery, construction of mines and related structures, and the interiors of mines.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.

Series 1: Background Materials, 1904-1933

Series 2: Photographs, 1885-1940s

Subseries 2.1: Photograph Albums, 1885-1932

Subseries 2.2: West Virginia Division, 19091-1917

Subseries 2.3: Glass Plate and Film Negatives, 1911-1940s

Subseries 2.4: Numbered Photographs, 1911-1930

Subseries 2.5: Miscellaneous, 1913, 1916
Historical Note:
The Consolidation Coal Company was started in 1864 to mine bituminous coal deposits in Maryland's Cumberland region. it expanded by acquiring other mine companies as well as rail and other transportation companies. It went into receivership in 1932. The Pittsburgh Coal Company, founded in 1900, took over the firm in 1945 and formed the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company.

The Consolidation Coal Company (Maryland)

The Consolidation Coal Company was incorporated in Maryland on March 8, 1860, for the purpose of effecting a merger of a number of coal operators mining the Georges Creek basin in Allegany County, Maryland. Because of the Civil War, during which Confederate armies frequently blocked the region's only outlet to market, the company was not actually organized until April 19, 1864. Starting life as the dominant operator in this small but significant coal field, "Consol" rose to become the nation's top producer of bituminous coal.

The Georges Creek or Cumberland Coal Field, occupying part of the triangle of western Maryland, contained a high-quality, low-volatile bituminous steam coal which was also, thanks to the Potomac River, the coal of this type most accessible to Eastern markets. Coal had been mined in the region beginning in the 1700s, and the first coal company, the Maryland Mining Company, had been incorporated in 1828. However, large-scale development could not occur until the mid-1840s, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached Cumberland and provided reliable transportation. This also coincided with the development of ocean steam navigation and a rapid growth in the number of railroad locomotives and stationary steam engines. Cumberland coal was ideal for ship bunkering, and much of the output was shipped to New York Harbor. Naturally, New York capitalists and manufacturers played a leading role in developing the field. Lewis Howell's Maryland and New York Iron and Coal Company rolled the first solid U.S. railroad rail at its Mount Savage mill in 1844. The Consolidation Coal merger was put together by New Yorkers such as William H. Aspinwall, Erastus Corning, the Delanos and Roosevelts, and the Boston financier John Murray Forbes, who already had substantial investments in the region.

Upon its formation, the Consolidation Coal Company acquired the properties of the Ocean Steam Coal Company, the Frostburg Coal Company, and the Mount Savage Iron Company totaling about 11,000 acres. The last named company brought with it control of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, which connected the mines to the Baltimore & Ohio and later the Pennsylvania and Western Maryland railroads. In 1870, Consol absorbed the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company of 1840, the next largest operator in the field, and gained an additional 7,000 acres. Further purchases from the Delano interests gave it over 80 percent of the entire Cumberland Field.

Soon after its hated rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad, gained access to the Cumberland Coal Field, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began purchasing large blocks of Consolidation Coal stock to protect its traffic base in 1875, eventually gaining a 52 percent interest. A B&O slate of directors was elected in February 1877, with Charles F. Mayer of Baltimore as president, and the company offices were moved from New York to Baltimore.

Until the turn of the century, Consolidation Coal's mining operations were confined to the small soft coal region of western Maryland. The company purchased the 12,000 acre Millholland coal tract near Morgantown, W.Va. in 1902 and acquired controlling interests in the Fairmont Coal Company of West Virginia and the Somerset Coal Company of Pennsylvania the following year. These acquisitions boosted Consolidation's annual production more than six-fold in only three years. The company purchased the 25,000 acre Stony Creek tract in Somerset County, Pa., in 1904. The Fairmont Coal Company purchase included a joint interest in the North Western Fuel Company, which owned and operated docks and coal distribution facilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In 1906, the Interstate Commerce Commission held a formal investigation of rail ownership of coal companies, which resulted in the passage of the Hepburn Act and its "Commodities Clause," which prohibited railroads from dealing in the commodities they hauled. In anticipation of the new regulations, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad sold its entire holdings of Consolidation stock to a Baltimore syndicate headed by Consol president Clarence W. Watson, J. H. Wheelwright and H. Crawford on April 26, 1906. At the time of the B&O's divestiture, the aggregate annual output of Consolidation's mines totaled more than 10 million tons and the company controlled more than 200,000 acres. The John D. Rockefeller interests began purchasing Consol securities in 1915, eventually securing a controlling interest. The company's offices were returned to New York City in May 1921.

After the B&O divestiture, Consol began expanding into the Southern Appalachian coal fields, which were just being opened by railroads on a large scale. The mines in this region yielded a low volatile coal that provided an ideal fuel source for stationary steam engines, ships, and locomotives. Of equal importance, operators in the remote mountains had been able to resist unionization and thus achieve lower operating costs, while all of Consol's previous holdings had been in the so-called "Central Competitive Field" to the north, which had been unionized in the 1890s. Consolidation Coal purchased 30,000 acres in the Millers Creek Field of Eastern Kentucky in 1909 and 100,000 acres in the Elkhorn Field the next year. In February 1922, Consol secured a long term lease and option on the Carter Coal Company, whose 37,000 acres straddled the borders of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. In 1925, Consol became the nation's largest producer of bituminous coal, excluding the captive mines of the steel companies.

During the Great Depression, Consolidation Coal experienced serious financial difficulties and was forced into receivership on June 2, 1932. The Rockefellers liquidated their holdings at a loss, and the Carter Coal Company was returned to the Carter heirs in 1933. Consol was reorganized and reincorporated in Delaware as the Consolidation Coal Company, Inc. on November 1, 1935, and was able to retain its position as one of the nation's top coal producers. Eventually, stock control passed into the hands of the M.A. Hanna Company group of Cleveland, dealers in coal and iron ore. Although production reached record levels during the Second World War, management feared a recurrence of the collapse that had followed World War I. It also faced the prospect of increased competition from oil and natural gas and the loss of traditional markets such as home heating and locomotive fuel. As a result Consol opened negotiations with another large producer, the Pittsburgh Coal Company, which was the dominant operator in the Pittsburgh District.

The Pittsburgh Coal Company

The Pittsburgh Coal Company was a product of the great industrial merger movement of the late 1890s. In 1899, two large mergers were effected in the Pittsburgh District.

The Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company was incorporated in Pennsylvania on October 1, 1899 to merge the properties of over 90 small firms operating mines along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh. Some of these operations dated to the early 1800s, and all of them shipped coal down the Ohio-Mississippi River system by barge from close to the mine mouth, or later by the railroads built along the river banks. The combination controlled 40,000 acres of coal land, 100 steam towboats, 4,000 barges, and facilities for handling coal at Cincinnati, Louisville, Vicksburg, Memphis, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The Pittsburgh Coal Company was incorporated in New Jersey as a holding company on September 1, 1899 and acquired the properties of over 80 operators located in the areas back from the river on both sides of the Monongahela south of Pittsburgh. The combination was engineered by some of the most prominent Pittsburgh industrialists, including Andrew W. Mellon, Henry W. Oliver, and Henry Clay Frick. It controlled over 80,000 acres and six collector railroads, the longest of which was the Montour Railroad. Most of its output was shipped by rail, with a large share being transferred to ships on the Great Lakes for distribution throughout the industrial Midwest. The company owned coal docks and yards at Chicago, Cleveland, Duluth, West Superior, Sault Ste. Marie, Ashtabula, Fairport and Thornburg. Subsequently, the company expanded in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Hocking Valley of Ohio through the lease of the Shaw Coal Company in 1901 and the purchase of the Midland Coal Company in 1903. Most of the properties were vested in a separate Pittsburgh Coal Company, an operating company incorporated in Pennsylvania.

Unlike the Consolidation Coal Company, which had grown by gradual accretion, the Pittsburgh Coal Company had been created in a single stroke. As with many mergers of the period, its capitalization probably contained a high percentage of "water" in anticipation of profits from future growth. Unfortunately, the years after the merger saw explosive growth in the coal fields of Southern Appalachia instead. Although farther from major consuming centers, they enjoyed several advantages. The coal itself was superior, low-volatile with higher BTU content and altogether cleaner than the high-volatile coals of Ohio and the Pittsburgh District. As already noted, the southern mines were also non-union. With the inroads of Southern Appalachian coal, the Pittsburgh Coal Company continuously lost ground in the crucial Lake and western markets from 1900 to 1915. The company's capitalization proved unwieldy in the unsettled economic conditions following the Panic of 1907. A reorganization plan was devised under which a new Pittsburgh Coal Company was incorporated in Pennsylvania on January 12, 1916 by merging the old Pittsburgh Coal Company of Pennsylvania and the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company. The old holding company was then liquidated and the stock of the new operating company distributed to its stockholders. Dissension between the common and preferred stockholders delayed consummation of the plan until July 16, 1917.

The Pittsburgh Coal Company, which had all its operations in the Central Competitive Field, had a much more difficult time than Consolidation in breaking the 1923 Jacksonville Agreement with the United Mine Workers in 1925-1927 and reverting to non-union status. The three-year struggle ended the company's ability to pay dividends. Pittsburgh Coal survived the Depression without receivership but with ever-increasing arrearages on its preferred stock. By the end of World War II, its managers were just as eager as those at Consol to attempt greater economies through merger. The Pittsburgh Coal Company and the Consolidation Coal Company merged on November 23, 1945, with exchange ratios of 65 to 35 percent. Pittsburgh Coal Company, the surviving partner, changed its name to the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company.

The Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company

After the merger, the M.A. Hanna Company interests of Cleveland became the dominant factor in Pitt-Consol's affairs. Hanna had transferred its pre-merger Consol stock to its subsidiary Bessemer Coal & Coke Corporation in 1943. This led to a restructuring whereby Pitt-Consol acquired Hanna's share of the North Western-Hanna Fuel Company in April 1946 and the Hanna coal properties in eastern Ohio on June 16, 1946 These included large reserves of strippable coal that accounted for about 20 percent of the state's production. Pitt-Consol later acquired Hanna's holdings of coal land in Harrison, Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, on December 30, 1949. It purchased the New York Central Railroad's 51 percent interest in the Jefferson Coal Company, giving it full control, in 1952 and merged it into the Hanna Coal Company Division.

Pitt-Consol sold its last major railroads, the Montour Railroad and the Youngstown & Southern Railway to the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad on December 31, 1946. The Northwestern Coal Railway had been sold to the Great Northern system, and the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad had been sold to the Western Maryland Railway in May 1944.

In addition, a new Research and Development Division was created to fund projects aimed at developing more efficient production methods, new outlets for coal consumption, coal-based synthetic fuels and chemical byproducts. A new coal gasification plant opened at Library, Pa., in November 1948, and the company began the manufacture of a smokeless fuel briquette under the trademark "Disco" at Imperial, Pa., in 1949. An experimental coal slurry pipeline was built in Ohio in 1952.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Pitt-Consol made many changes in its coal holdings, selling high-cost or less desirable properties, diversifying its reserves across many different coal fields, rationalizing property lines to permit large mechanized underground or strip mines and forming joint ventures with steel companies to secure guaranteed customers. Pitt-Consol acquired the Jamison Coal and Coke Company in 1954 and the Pocahontas Fuel Company, Incorporated, a large producer of low-volatile Southern Appalachian coal, in 1956. In the latter year, it sold its Elkhorn Field properties to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. As Pittsburgh District operations became less central, the corporate name was changed back to Consolidation Coal Company in April 1958.

The Consolidation Coal Company, CONOCO and CONSOL Energy, Inc.:

Consol continued to expand into the early 1960s. On April 30, 1962, it absorbed the Truax-Traer Coal Company of Illinois. Truax-Traer also mined lignite in North Dakota, a low-grade but low-sulfur coal that was taking a greater share of the power generation market as environmental laws placed greater restrictions on high-sulfur coal from the Central Competitive Field. The following year Consol acquired the Crozer Coal and Land Company and the Page Coal and Coke Company, owners of additional reserves of low-volatile, low-sulfur steam coal in southern West Virginia.

In 1966, just two years after the company marked its centennial, Consolidation Coal was acquired by the Continental Oil Company (Conoco). This was part of a general trend whereby U.S. oil companies extended their reach by acquiring coal reserves and large coal producers. In turn, Conoco was acquired by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in 1981. This purchase was motivated by DuPont's desire to obtain better control of chemical feedstocks in an era of high oil prices. Consolidation Coal was not a major factor in the Conoco acquisition and did not really fit into DuPont's strategy, especially after coal and oil prices declined. As a result, it was quickly sold off when DuPont was restructured a decade later. In 1991, a new holding company CONSOL Engery, Inc. was incorporated as a joint venture of DuPont Energy Company and the German energy conglomerate Rheinisch-Westfalisches Elektrizitatswerk A.G., through its wholly owned subsidiaries Rheinbraun A.G. and Rheinbraun U.S.A. GmbH. Consolidation Coal Company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of CONSOL Energy, Inc. DuPont eventually sold most of its half interest, so that by 1998, Rheinbraun affiliates owned 94% of CONSOL Energy stock, while DuPont Energy retained only 6%. CONSOL Energy purchased the entire stock of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company on September 22, 1998. CONSOL Energy stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CNX" in 1999, with an initial public offering of more than 20 million shares.

CONSOL Energy produced more than 74 million tons of coal in 1999, accounting for approximately 7% of domestic production. The company currently operates 22 mining complexes, primarily east of the Mississippi River.

Source

Historical note from the Consolidation Coal Company Records, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center

The Archives Center holds a number of collections that document coal.

Coal and Gas Trust Investigation Collection (NMAH.AC.1049)

Hammond Coal Company Records (NMAH.AC.1003)

Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company Records (NMAH.AC.0071)

Lehigh Valley Coal Company Records (NMAH.AC.1106)

Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company Records (NMAH.AC.0282)

Materials in Other Organizations

Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh

CONSOL Energy, Inc. Mine Maps and Records Collection, 1857-2002

AIS.1991.16

The CONSOL Energy Inc. collection contains coal mine maps, related documents and topographical information, as well as surface maps and detailed information on mine accidents. Additionally, there are technical drawings, outside notes on multiple mines, traverse and survey books, information on companies and railroads with which CONSOL conducted business, and a variety of non-print materials including photographs, negatives and aperture cards. Digital reproductions of selected material are available online.

CONSOL Energy Inc. West Virginia and Eastern Ohio Mine Maps and Records Collection, 1880-1994

AIS.2004.22

The CONSOL Energy Inc. West Virginia and Eastern Ohio Mine Maps and Records Collection contains coal mine maps as well as surface maps and detailed information on mine accidents in West Virginia and Eastern Ohio. Additionally, there are technical drawings, related documents, traverse and survey books, publications and photographs.

Consolidation Coal Company Records, 1854-1971, bulk 1864-1964

AIS.2011.03

The Consolidation Coal Company (Consol) was created by the merger of several small operators mining the Georges Creek coal basin in Allegany County, Maryland. The company expanded rapidly in the early twentieth century through the purchase of substantial tracts in the coal fields of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky as well as docks and distribution facilities in the Great Lakes region. By 1927, Consol was the nation's largest producer of bituminous coal. Following a merger with the Pittsburgh Coal Company in 1945, the company pursued a policy of acquiring companies which afforded opportunities for greater diversification while selling off unprofitable lines. In addition, a new research and development division was created to fund projects aimed at developing more efficient production methods and new outlets for coal consumption. The records of the Consolidation Coal Company and its affiliated companies are arranged in seven series. Minute books and contract files provide the most comprehensive documentation in this collection.
Provenance:
Donated to the National Museum of American History in 1987 by Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
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:
Accidents  Search this
Children -- 20th century  Search this
Coal miners  Search this
Company towns  Search this
Churches  Search this
Coal mines and mining -- Safety measures  Search this
Construction  Search this
Dams  Search this
Gardens  Search this
General stores  Search this
Hospitals  Search this
Housing  Search this
Kindergarten  Search this
May Day  Search this
Mine safety  Search this
Mines -- Kentucky  Search this
Mines -- Maryland  Search this
Mines -- Pennsylvania  Search this
Mines -- West Virginia  Search this
Mining corporations  Search this
Mining equipment  Search this
Mining -- Kentucky  Search this
Mining -- Maryland  Search this
Mining and minerals industry  Search this
Mining -- Pennsylvania  Search this
Mining -- West Virginia  Search this
Railroads -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Schools -- school houses -- Classrooms  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Photograph albums -- 20th century
Window displays
Citation:
Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company photographs and other materials, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1007
See more items in:
Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company photographs and other materials
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86027ae9f-9a84-4277-adcf-d0b5e919ac6a
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1007
Online Media:

Audio Visual Materials

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1925-1994
Scope and Contents:
This series consists of 16mm films, 3/4" videotape cassettes, 35mm film elements, and 1/2" VHS videotape cassettes. The bulk of the series is 16mm film.

Employee Training films includes films from the 1920s to the 1940s depicting how Western Union wanted its telegraph operators to do their jobs, how to work accurately and efficiently in order to maintain speed of operation, detailed operation of complex telegraphic equipment, and more recent sales and customer service employee incentive films.

Public Relations/Promotional Films, circa 1929-1980s, includes consumer awareness segments from NBC's "Today" show and WNBC-TV in New York featuring Betty Furness reporting on Mailgram, Telegram, and Money Transfer; and numerous films and videos which emphasize Western Union's wide variety of services, its modernity, and ability to keep up with the changing communications field. Heavily featured are films from the 1970s and 1980s on Westar, the first telecommunications satellite (launched in 1974), and its influence on Western Union service. Several films and videos depict early facsimile machines in the 1940s and 1950s, and two films depict underwater cable laying operations.

Television Commercials, circa 1974-1991, emphasize the ease of use of the company's services, the firms modernity and competitive edge in the telecommunications market; the return of the singing telegram in the 1980s; videoconferencing; satellite communications; and several recent Spanish language commercials.

Acquired Films, circa 1946-1989, includes several videotape copies of the 20th Century Fox production of WESTERN UNION [1941], films produced outside Western Union using Western Union footage or mention Western Union or its products, and depictions of various aspects of the history of telegraphy.

Films Documenting Corporate Activities, circa 1928-1994, contains films made at the building site of Western Union's old New York headquarters during construction; videotapes of various company executives addressing employees on the company's financial situation, restructuring plans, and consequences of the AT&T divestiture in the 1980s; short compilation videos looking back nostalgically at the history of Western Union through archival photographs and footage; films depicting office operations; and a parody of Gone with the Wind about the corporate buyout of Western Union in 1994.

The microfilm contains selected reels for Board of Directors Meetings, Executive Committee Minutes, and Subsidiaries. See Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987 for additional materials regarding these executive functions.
Arrangement:
The series is arranged in six subseries:

1. Employee Training Films, 1925-circa 1980s

2. Public Relations/Promotional Films, ca.1929-1993

3. Television Commercials, circa 1974-1991

4. Acquired Films, circa 1946-1989

5. Films Documenting Corporate Activities, circa 1928-1994

6. Microfilm, undated
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 26
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b78e0037-9688-4a4b-8460-539e046f9463
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref10201

Operating Records

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1868-1970s
Scope and Contents:
The Operating Records consist of materials that were produced for and used by Western Union employees for daily operations. These records cover an array of operational activities such as equipment operating instructions and cable code books for cable operators and manuals for specific departments.

The Money Transfer Service/Money Order Books, 1905-1939, instruct operators in the "proper way to send money" and include the names of offices authorized to receive and pay telegraphic money orders. The Operator code books were assigned to operators and each had a specific operating number.

Tariff and Cable information contains the Tariff Check Ledger of July 1874 to May 1877, includes tariff information for Highlands, New Jersey, other areas of New Jersey and parts of New York. The Tariff Bureau book of 1871-1872, contains statements arranged according to states, the amount of business conducted between the states and territories and also the business rates between important offices. There is also additional information about individual states in "remarks."
Arrangement:
This series is divided into eight subseries:

1. Telephone directories, 1929; 1950-1959

2. How to operate booklets, 1918

3. Money transfer service/money order books, 1905-1939

4. Operator code books/cipher books, 1880-1917

5. Rate and wire mileage information, 1863-1957

6. Tariff and cable information, 1871-1975

7. Rules and regulations, 1866-1937

8. Equipment catalogs, manuals and specifications, circa 1894- 1956
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 13
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8bb83173b-301a-4492-80d1-d083e28502d4
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref8060

Plant Department Records

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1963
1867-1937
Scope and Contents:
The Plant Department was responsible for constructing, reconstructing and maintaining domestic telegraph plants; maintaining pole lines, wires and aerial and underground cables; installing and repairing equipment; and operating telegraph buildings.

Plant Instructions consist of two volumes. Volume one contains a numerical and alphabetical index to the various instructions that were issued. The numerical index provides the plant instruction (P.I.) number and a title description, while the alphabetical and cross index of active plant instructions, plant general letters, and plant stencils provides a subject description and reference number. Only numbers 1 to 26 and 41 to 52 of the plant instructions are available. Also, there are Instructions and Rules Pertaining to the Construction and Maintenance of Outside Plant, 1915. These instructions--numbers 20 and 21--are rules and instructions for the guidance of district foremen, general foremen, and section linemen.
Arrangement:
The series is divided into eight subseries:

1. Correspondence, 1916-1940

2. Instructions, 1916-1960

3. Specifications, 1913-1953

4. Inside Plant Catalogues, 1917-1929

5. Outside Plant Catalogues, 1920-1929

6. Equipment, 1867-1936 (not inclusive)

7. Wire and Pole Line Materials, 1874-1915

8. Miscellaneous, 1899-1963
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 16
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep89324c337-9217-4a02-833f-58f52668c7bc
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref8495

Employee/Personnel Records

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1852-1985
Scope and Contents:
The Employee Relations Department, also known as the Industrial Relations Department, administered benefits programs, handled personnel and training matters, and employee communications through house organs such as the Western Union News.

The Employee Benefits Plan Booklets, 1912-1971, tell the story of Western Union pensions and benefits plans. Established in 1913, the plan for employees' pensions, disability benefits, and death benefits was a comprehensive non-contributory plan. This plan appears to have experienced several names changes from "Provisional Pension Plan" to "Plan for Employees Pensions Disability Benefits and Insurance" to Plan for Employees Pensions Disability Benefits and Death Benefits." One booklet, dated 1929, pertains specifically to the Postal Telegraph Cable Company.

Employee Stock Subscription plan materials (1914-1928) include correspondence and printed plans. The correspondence and the plans themselves set forth the regulations and restrictions for employees to purchase stock.

Employee Wage Cards, 1914-1922, consist of twelve shoeboxes. These records were maintained by the Western Union Cable System. They are arranged according to "live" and "dead" files, European side, North American Side, and Cable Office Errors. The records are then divided by geographic location (Ballenskelligs, Bay Roberts, Canso, Duxbury, Glasgow, Halifax, Hammels, Havre, Hearts Content, London Training School, London Western Union House, Liverpool, Manchester, North Sydney, Paris, Penzance, Penzance Training School, Rye Beach, St. Pierre, and Valentia.). The geographic locations are divided by job titles. Within job titles, the cards are arranged alphabetically by surname. There are two types of cards-an employee wage card and an employee service card. Both cards contain the same type of information--first name, surname, date of birth, sex, station employed at, dates of employment, title, monthly rating, special monthly payments, special allowances if any, and general remarks--but they differ in size. Remarks typically contained information about a death, resignation, drawing pensions, or job performance.

Minutes of Employee' Benefits Fund Committee, 1912-1949, consist of reviewed applications for sickness and accident disability benefits, life insurance, and pensions. The committee also determined the applicability of the plan to employees in special circumstances. Western Union established the committee following its 1913 adoption of the Plan for Employees' Pensions, Disability Benefits and Death Benefits as a comprehensive non-contributory plan. The first five volumes (volumes A to E) are indexed with each book. Minutes for the periods July 1920 to May 1925 or January 1937 to March 1942 do not exist.

Job Classification, Contracts, and Agreements, 1966-1973, consists of six handbooks. These handbooks contain wage schedules, job titles, job descriptions, and pertinent employee information set forth in the official contract with Western Union. There is one handbook that deals specifically with an agreement between Western Union and the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO.

The American School of Correspondence, 1911-1921 subseries consists of published "instruction papers" on a variety of topics such as Banking and Banking Law, Direct Current Motors and Telegraph Repeaters. The "instruction papers" were prepared by Western Union divisions such as the Engineering Department or the Commercial Department and faculty members at various colleges and universities in the United States.

Service Records, 1883-1931, consists of four oversized bound volumes numbered one to four; one miscellaneous volume from 1907-1931, and service cards for seamen who served on various cable ships. These bound service records are organized alphabetically according to the name of city and/or town. For example, Grand Fork, North Dakota is followed by Great Falls, Montana. The majority of cities and towns represented are located in the mid west. An alphabetical index of cities for each volume precedes the records. These records, like the employee wage cards, provide similar information--name of office, date office opened, date office closed, name of employee, designation of occupation, rate of pay, date employed, date left service, and remarks. The smaller miscellaneous volume, 1907-1931, is also arranged alphabetically by city/town, but contain only the name of the employee and what appears to be the date employment began. The volume deals with personnel serving in California and Arizona. The service cards, 1921-1922, are arranged alphabetically by cable ship name. The cards contain the name of the seaman, address (name of the cable ship), date of service, date salary became effective, job title, and rate of salary per month.

Employee Clippings contains employee signatures/autographs which consist of two small volumes of collected employee signatures, one dating 1871-1898, the other 1909-1949. The latter volume of signatures appears to be have been assembled for the purposes of the Western Union Museum. The signatures include a wide variety of employees, from presidents to telegraph operators.

*Researchers should consult Series 27: Notebooks, Subseries 7, for an employee work diary of 1942.
Arrangement:
This series is divided into eleven subseries:

1. Western Union Employee History, 1910-1932

2. Employee Membership Cards and Passes, 1885-1940

3. Employee Handbooks, 1912-1971

4. Employee Stock Subscription, 1914-1928

5. Employee Wage Cards, 1914-1922

6. Minutes of Employees' Benefits Fund Committee, 1912-1949

7. Job Classification, Contracts, and Agreements, 1941-1973

8. American School of Correspondence, 1911-1921

9. Service Records, 1883-1931

10. Employee Awards, Citations, Commendations, 1915-1945

11. Employee Signatures and Autographs, 1871-1898, 1909-1949 (includes clippings and obituaries)

12. Telegraph Associations, 1852-1929
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 18
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8ca9d3e6f-ea8e-4f8a-9194-9483da494d7b
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref8584

Public Relations Department Records

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1858-1980
Scope and Contents:
The Public Relations Department, formerly known as the Sales Department, promoted the company through sales, advertising, and marketing, and rate research.

The news clipping books, 1958-1962, were created by Western Union's Public Relations Department to bring to the attention of local editors news about Western Union and to obtain publicity. Each news clipping book consists of photocopies and contains a preface page stating the nature of the clipping(s) and highlighting certain articles. There is no index accompanying these books. Some news clipping books are devoted to a subject. This is noted parenthetically in the container list. Several of the books bear a stamped number and the books have been arranged according to this number. The majority of the news clipping books belonged to Mr. Love, Comptroller for Western Union.

The news clipping binders, 1918-1975, are originals and appear to have been produced by the Public Relations Department. Like the news clipping books, the clippings have been assembled according to topics of interest to Western Union.

The publicity clippings, 1959-1978, were created by the Public Relations and Advertising Department and consist of three folders of photocopied material which is a representative collection of newspaper stories and magazine articles about Western Union services and people

House Organs were publications produced in-house by Western Union for internal dissemination only. These included: Commercial Suggestions, a weekly pickup of sales ideas on "how the other fellow did it" and "how you can do it." Journal of the Telegraph, formerly known as Telegraphic Journal of New York, began on December 2, 1867 and ceased December 20, 1914. The Telegraph & Telephone Age, established in 1883, was a semi-monthly journal dedicated to commercial and railway telegraph, telephone, and submarine cable interests and radio telegraphy. Western Union News was introduced in July, 1914. It was edited by and for employees and provided up-to-date research information forum for more personal and social related matters. Western Union Technical Review began in July 1947.
Arrangement:
This series is divided into fourteen subseries:

1. Now Our Next 100 Years, 1952

2. Marketing Materials, 1959-1965

3. Sales Materials, 1941, 1966

4. Newsclippings, 1869-1956

5. Newsclipping Binders, 1918-1975

6. Newsclipping Books-Numbered, 1958-1962

7. Newsclipping Books--Unnumbered, 1864-1967

8. Press clippings, 1927-1939

9. Miscellaneous clippings, 1894-1954

10. Publicity clippings, 1959-1966

11. Articles, 1935, 1944

12. Advertisements, undated

13. Posters (British), 1858-1936, undated

14. Western Union House Organs, 1867-1980

15. Publications by other companies, 1928-1937, 1963
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 19
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8a007ca07-348a-42ff-977d-70ad6fbcbe05
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref8765

Western Union Museum

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1859-1964
Scope and Contents:
Series contains materials related to the Western Union Telegraph museum, a separate entity within the Western Union Telegraph Company. These materials are of several types. The material was placed in the museum from other divisions or departments of the company and was created by the museum itself. The Western Union Company placed many records into the Western Union Telegraph museum. The provenance of many items is unclear and often inconsistent. Many of the manuscript materials are similar to other materials in the collection. Most of the materials in this series have been marked as museum objects, i.e., they have been given museum identification numbers. Much of this material was assembled and either attached or placed together in notebooks. However, some items in this series are not marked as museum items and it is unclear whether those unmarked items are museum items or company records that came to the museum when the material was transferred.

The correspondence of the Western Union Telegraph museum deals with donations of old telegraph equipment to the museum, 1925-1961. All correspondence concerning donations is arranged in the order it was received by the museum. Other correspondence represented in this subseries concerns Western Union Telegraph museum donations to other museums. These include the Franklin Institute, 1933; the Smithsonian Institution, 1913-38, 1959-61; and the U.S. Army Signal Corps Museum, 1954-1956. One folder contains correspondence regarding donations to other museums, 1933-1943. This subseries also contains correspondence of Samuel Morse, 1937-1938, and Henry Sayre Potter, 1930s, regarding paintings for the museum. There is also correspondence with several movie studios seeking the museum's help with several motion pictures, 1938-1939. Also included is correspondence concerning telegraph history. The miscellaneous folders contain correspondence concerning many aspects of Western Union museum administration and business. Acquisitions to the museum consists of notebooks detailing museum acquisitions, 1937-1940. The exhibit information contains a notebook on work and material in museum exhibits, 1936-1940 and a New York Museum of Science and Industry exhibit newsletter. The brochures and pamphlets consist of a variety of German language brochures with a Netherlands and Smithsonian guide. The catalogues in this series describe a variety of telegraph equipment.
Arrangement:
This series is divided into seven subseries:

1. History of the Western Union Museum, 1937

2. Correspondence, 1925-1961

3. Acquisitions to the Western Union Museum, 1937-1940

4. Exhibit Information, 1936-1940

5. Brochures and Pamphlets, 1933-1947

6. Catalogues, 1934, 1942

7. Miscellaneous, 1944-1964
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 20
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82552050d-f42b-4694-a35c-3ca3ff481bcd
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref9211

Photographs

Collection Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1870-1980
Scope and Contents:
The photographs contain a wide variety of images representing all aspects of Western Union and the telegraph industry.

Subseries 1 has photos of Western Union buildings from all over the world, dating from the nineteenth century until 1965. Buildings which are identified include those in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, New York City, Key West, FL, Rochester, N.Y., Hamilton, Ohio, Morristown, N.J., Sacramento, CA, Cumberland, Md., and Sandesville, GA, among others. Unfortunately, most of the photoprints are not captioned.

Poleyards and Construction, contains two folders of photoprints of telegraph poleyards, where poles are prepared for service. There are also photoprints of the locations where the finished poles were used. Some of the locations represented are: Minneapolis, Minn.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Nashua, N.H.; Slidell, La.; Rutherford, N.J.; Tacoma, Wash.; Miami, Fla.; and Elizabethtown, N.J. Folder three contains specifications and photoprints for pole line construction.

Western Union put many photographs into albums. The albums themselves have been taken apart, but the order has been preserved. These albums cover a wide variety of subjects, including antiquated telegraph instruments; Telefax switching systems; switchboard, plugs, and jacks; office interiors; tickers; "Western Union Automatic Telegraph"; and miscellaneous equipment.

The cable station photographs, 1917-1961, are arranged alphabetically by location and include Western Union stations in the United States, Europe, and Caribbean. Also included in this subseries are negatives of the cable stations. The cable ships photographs include Western Union ships-Robert C. Clowry, C.S. Colonia, C.S. Cyrus Field, C.S. Lord Kelvin, C.S. Neptune, C.S. Dellwood, C.S. Silverado-and other unidentified ships.

Telegraph equipment includes: early telegraph tickers, 1866; the Western Union cable boat Robert C. Clowry, 1903; switching systems; "Multifax," c. 1940; equipment from World War II; Varioplex equipment; Carrier systems; Mono Pulse Printing Telegraphic Sets; and Deep-Sea Cable exhibit material. There is also a great deal of unidentified miscellaneous equipment which is not identified.

Western Union "People" consists mostly of messengers and many individuals are not identified. Photographs of Western Union presidents are found in the subseries, including J.L.Egan, John W. Mackay, William Orton, Norvin Green, R.C. Clowry, Newcomb Carlton. Additionally, there are several images of Samuel F.B. Morse. There is a photoprint of a group of telegraphers present at the Battle of Gettysburg, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of that battle. There is also a folder of photos of drawings of Pony Express riders.

The Samuel F.B. Morse photographs consists of Morse Family images and some correspondence.

Cable Photographs, contain many news images transmitted via the facsimile process in the 1920s through the 1940s. These news photos can be found throughout the subseries. There are also many other photos, some in albums, that were transmitted by facsimile, but were not for newspaper use. The majority of facsimile photographs are from Europe and many of the subjects concern World War II such as the bombings in London, the British Royal Family, Adolph Hitler, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and other military and political leaders.

The oversized photographs cover a wide range of topics from portraits to equipment to interior building views. There are some architectural drawings in this subseries for Western Union storefronts and advertisements.
Arrangement:
The series is divided into thirteen subseries:

1. Western Union Buildings, 1900-1965

2. Poleyards and Construction, 1901-1939

3. Western Union Albums (numbered), 1856-1953

4. Cable Station Albums, 1917-1961

5. Cable Ship Albums, 1924-1954

6. Miscellaneous Albums, 1912-1954?

7. Equipment, 1866-1957

8. People, 1869-1940s

9. Samuel F.B. Morse, 1840s, undated

10. Cable Photographs, 1925-1942 (facsimile)

11. Wire Photographs, 1922-1936

12. Slides, undated

13. Oversized Photographs, 1870-1962
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205, Series 23
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8a799cf1b-c1ba-412e-8908-a3b17132803b
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref9517

Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection

Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
American Federation of Teachers  Search this
Department of Defense, Comprehensive Review Working Group  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland  Search this
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives  Search this
San Diego LGBT Pride  Search this
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network  Search this
Smith College  Search this
University of Connecticut  Search this
William Way Community Center  Search this
Biren, Joan E.  Search this
Bushnell, Megan  Search this
Davidson, James, Dr.  Search this
Dietrich, Joe  Search this
Exline, Gregory  Search this
Florence, Laura  Search this
Huebner, David  Search this
Jain, Shawn  Search this
Karazsia, Amy  Search this
Karazsia, William G.  Search this
Lombardi, Angela  Search this
Lynch, Patsy  Search this
Meinke, Mark  Search this
Nitz, Ryan  Search this
Reichard, Bradley  Search this
Robinson, Franklin A., Jr., 1959- (actor)  Search this
Ros, Silvia  Search this
Sabatino, Michael  Search this
Shannon, Michael A.  Search this
Sheets, Justin  Search this
Snodgrass, Adam  Search this
Voorheis, Robert  Search this
Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Other:
Larson, Gordon P., 1910-1988 -- 20th century  Search this
Names:
McWaine, Dwayne, Dr.  Search this
Extent:
71.1 Cubic feet (214 boxes, 22 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Passports
Postcards
Photographs
Posters
Videocassettes
Advertising
Dvds
Songbooks
Periodicals
Place:
Canada -- Description and Travel
Germany -- description and travel
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Washington, D.C. -- history
Los Angeles (Calif.)
New York, New York
Date:
1825-2023, undated
bulk 1960-2023
Summary:
This collection contains a variety of periodicals, photographs, correspondence, business and advertising ephemera (corporate and non-profit, personal), organizational records and ephemera, created by, for, and in reaction to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community.
Scope and Contents:
The Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection contains periodicals, ephemera, posters, postcards, advertisements, photographs, organizational records, publications, correspondence, and other materials related to all aspects of the LGBT community and the civil rights issues pertaining thereto. The collection was created by the Archives Center to bring together materials specifically pertaining to the LGBT community. This collection contains material from communities and individuals throughout the United States. The collection is currently strongest in periodicals, newspapers and ephemera and very strong in material from California and New York. The collection continues to add new items and the researcher would be wise to take a broad view in targeting their research topics in the collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into twenty-eight series.

Series 1: Periodicals, 1937-2023

Series 2: Agencies, Associations, and Organizations, 1965-2023, undated

Series 3: Community Life and Subject Files, 1825-2023, undated

Subseries 3.1: Photographs and Slides, 1870-2009, undated

Subseries 3.2: Ephemera and Buttons, 1969-2022, undated

Subseries 3.3: Posters and Prints, 1825-2018, undated

Subseries 3.4: Subject Files, 1958-2023, undated

Subseries 3.5: Pride, 1976-2023, undated

Subseries 3.6: HIV and AIDS, 1987-2020, undated

Subseries 3.7: Gay Games, 1982-2018

Series 4: Advertising, Business, and Publications, 1912-2023, undated

Subseries 4.1: Advertising, 1970-2018, undated

Subseries 4.2: Business, 1986-2021, undated

Subseries 4.3: Television, Theater, and Motion Pictures, 1978-2023, undated

Subseries 4.4: Bar ephemera and advertisement, 1979-2018, undated

Subseries 4.5: Publications, 1912-2023, undated

Series 5: Biren, Joan E. (JEB), 195-2018, undated

Subseries 5.1: Xerographic Copies of Photoprints, 1971-1995, undated.

Subseries 5.2: Posters and Oversize Advertisement, 1973-2018, undated

Series 6: Dietrich, Joseph A., 1992-2010

Series 7: Mattachine Society Records, 1942-1996, undated

Subseries 7.1: Correspondence, 1952-1991, undated

Subseries 7.2: Board of Directors Minutes, 1954-1974, undated

Subseries 7.3: Organizational Information, 1942-1993, undated

Subseries 7.4: Councils, Chapters, and Committees, 1953-1965, undated

Subseries 7.5: Conventions, 1953-1960, undated

Subseries 7.6: Publications, 1944-1996, undated

Series 8: Rainbow History Community Pioneers, 2003-2012, undated

Series 9: Strub, Sean O., addendum, 1987-2011, undated

Series 10: Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore (GLCCB, 1990-2014, undated

Series 11: Ros, Silvia, 2009-2011

Series 12: Huebner, David, 2009-2014

Series 13: St. George, Philip, 1945-1955, undated

Series 14: Will & Grace, 1995-2006

Series 15: Barna, Joseph T. and Heritage of Pride (HOP), New York, New York, 1910-2014, undated

Subseries 15.1: Photographs, Photographic Negatives, and Slides, 1985-2010, undated

Subseries 15.2: Heritage of Pride (HOP), 1984-2014, undated

Subseries 15.3: Barna, Joseph T., 1910-2013, undated,

Series 16: Becker, John M., 1999-2014, undated

Series 17: Rohrbaugh, Richard, 1972-1986, undated

Series 18: Guest, Michael E., 2001-2009

Series 19: The Fosters, 2013

Series 20: Pride at Work, 1990-2015

Series 21: Sabatino, Michael and Voorheis, Robert, 1980-2016, undated

Subseries 21.1: Archilla, Gustavo A. and Lokkins, Elmer T., 1916-2014, undated

Series 22: Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), 1982-2016, undated

Series 23: Brown, Adele "Del" and Herizon's Bar, 1985-1991, undated

Subseries 1: Changing Herizons, and Herizons Newsletter, 1983-1991

Series 24: Universal Fellowship Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), 1957-2019, undated

Series 25: The Christmas House, Crown Media Family Networks, 2020-2021

Series 26: Cones, Myra L. and Harris, G. Yvonne, 1979-2001, undated

Series 27: Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA), 1993-2004, undated

Series 28: Hooker, Meryl, 1989-1996, undated
Historical Note:
While the quest for equal rights has been pursued by generations, it is generally acknowledged that the modern day Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement began in New York City in June 1969 with the Stonewall Riots. Prior to this time a number of activists, individuals, and organizations such as The Mattachine Society, Daughters of Bilitis and others, fought to bring recognition of LGBT civil rights to the forefront of American society. While the movement was primarily, and most visably, centered in New York City and San Francisco, periodicals, guide books, and ephemeral material interconnected the larger LGBT community throughout the United States. The increased visibility of the LGBT movement inspired affinity groups at odds with the LGBT community's new found visibility and quest for broader civil rights. The challenge to what was termed "traditional" values encouraged these counter-LGBT groups to define and solidfy their constituency and also become more pro-active. This collection comprises material that is generated by individuals and organizations promoting both points of view.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center

Michio and Aveline Kushi Macro-Biotics Collection (AC0619)

The Shamrock Bar: Photographs and Interviews (AC0857)

John-Manuel Andriote Victory Deferred Collection (AC1128)

Archives Center Wedding Documentation Collection (AC1131 )

Division of Science, Medicine, and Society HIV/AIDS Reference Collection (AC1134)

John-Manuel Andriote Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco Collection (AC1184)

Joan E. Biren (JEB) Queer Film Museum Collection (AC1216)

World AIDS Institute (WAI) Collection (AC1266)

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Records (AC1282)

Helping Persons with AIDS (HPA) Records (AC1283)

DC Cowboys Dance Company Records (AC1312)

Bil Browning and Jerame Davis Papers (AC1334)

David Hadley Rockwell New York Disco Ephemera Collection (AC1342)

Leonard P. Hirsch Federal Globe Records (AC1357)

Corbett Reynolds Papers (AC1390)

Mark Segal Papers (AC1422)

The Mattachine Society of Washington "Love in Action" Collection (AC1428)

Academy of Washington Records (AC1458)

Matthew Shepard Papers (AC1463)

I'm From Driftwood Records (AC1503)

The Division of Political History holds artifacts related to gay activist Franklin Kameny and a variety of political buttons. They also hold LGBT related artifacts from Joan E. Biren (JEB).

The Division of Medical and Science holds objects donated from Dr. Renee Richards, Sean O. Strub, and Leonard Hirsch.

The Division of Entertainment and the Arts holds objects donated by The Fosters, Will & Grace, and The Christmas House.
Provenance:
This collection was assembled by the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, beginning in 2004.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
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:
Women's music  Search this
Transgender people -- Identity  Search this
Sexual orientation  Search this
Political activists  Search this
Lesbianism  Search this
Lesbian and gay experience  Search this
Gay activists  Search this
Homosexuality  Search this
HIV and AIDS  Search this
Feminism  Search this
Bisexuality  Search this
Bars (Drinking establishments)  Search this
Gay Pride  Search this
Genre/Form:
Passports
Postcards
Photographs -- 2000-2010
Posters
Videocassettes
Advertising
DVDs
Photographs -- 20th century
Songbooks
Periodicals
Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep80327b53b-2daa-47d1-8c11-89a7b3f4e1bd
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1146
Online Media:

Correspondence and envelopes of Philip St. George

Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
Collection Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Extent:
176 Items
Type:
Archival materials
Letters
Date:
1945 to 1953
Scope and Contents:
These letters are clues to a secret life. This is a series of letters and addressed envelopes sent to Philip St. George (?-1997) of New York City who, from all indications, identified as being a closeted gay man. George's correspondents, who may have also have been gay or bisexual, tell of their experiences in the armed forces after World War II and their life after the war, 1945-1953.
Arrangement:
In Box 84, Folders 1 - 10.
Local Numbers:
AC1146-0000117-01 to AC1146-0000273 (AC Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
Collection 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:
LGBT  Search this
Homosexuality  Search this
Genre/Form:
Letters
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection / Series 13: St. George, Philip / 13.1: Correspondence and envelopes
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep859ce5d95-b8bb-4f26-8d04-1541e00c1ac2
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1146-ref2773
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  • View Correspondence and envelopes of Philip St. George digital asset number 1

Cones, Myra L. and Harris, G. Yvonne

Collection Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
Collection Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1979-2001
Scope and Contents:
This series contains materials collected and created by Myra Lynn Cones and her wife, G. Yvonne Harris. The series includes photographs, emphemera, periodicals, magazines, programs and commemorative materials from musical groups (The Village People) and television shows (Queer as Folk) as well as materials relating to marches (A Simple Matter of Justice, 1993), the AIDS Quilt, the women's festival Sisterfire, and an original poem.
Biographical / Historical:
This short biography was submitted by the donors Myra Lynn Cones and G. Yvonne Harris in October 2022

"Short Biography from 1981-2022

We first met in 1980, at on a military base in Hampton, Virginia. We were both working at the Arts and Crafts Center. We became friends first, through our love of art and being artists ourselves.

Soon there after we discovered that this was not the first time we had met. While discussing one day about our lives in Hampton, we discovered that we went to the same kindergarten school, at the same time! The conversation started like this:

Yvonne: I went to Jones Kindergarten. Myra: So, did I. Yvonne: Do you remember the Humpty Dumpty play at the end of the year? I played one of the soldiers in the group. Myra: Yep, I was a soldier too. Do you remember the Christmas party? Yvonne: Yeah, I do. Myra: Well, my dad played Santa.

That's when we knew this was too special to ignore.

In March of 1981 we moved in together as roommates. By May, we were a couple.

We were invited to our first lesbian bar, by a couple who could not believe in the three years we were together thus far, we had never been to one. We went to a place in Norfolk, Virginia called the Her She Bar. Funny how we describe the night like that scene in the Wizard of Oz, when the film is in black and white and the door of the bar opened up and there was color. And that was the start of our foray into the Gay and Lesbian scene in the 80's. We came out to our family in the 80's. Considering both of us coming from Christian raised families, they did very well with their acceptance.

We became part of the community, by participating in art shows at the local women's bars, and women events at the local college. Later we ventured outside the area to do shows at other women's events in Norfolk, Richmond, and the famous Women's festival Sisterfire.

We decided that we wanted to move to Washington DC, because there was an active artists and LGBT community. We both worked retail, we found that we could transfer through our companies.

In 1990, we both moved to Washington DC. While starting out in DC Yvonne had a part-time job at the well known LGBT bookstore Lambda Rising, owned by Deacon MacCububbin, and then Lammas Women Bookstore, owned and operated by Mary Farmer. We were learning about the community, participating in Pride events, and living our best LGBT life. We stayed for 10 years in a little one-bedroom apartment and later bought our first home in 2000.

After Washington DC legalized gay marriage in 2010, We decided to jump the broom. We were first going to have the ceremony done at the justice of the peace. But remembered that we had a client, who was a patron of our work who was not only clergy, but was also Lesbian. We contacted the Reverend Bonnie Berger. Reverend Bonnie conducted many weddings, and after the announcement of legalized marriages came through, she was indeed a busy woman. So, we gave her a date and she was ready to do the ceremony on May 9, 2010. We had a boat at the time, and thought that having the ceremony at the marina would be great. So, we had our boat at the dock and the guests on the pier. Not only did the invited guess come, but we were surprised to see all the folks we knew at the marina, our fellow boaters. The guys and their wives and girlfriends showed up for support and love.

As of this year 2022, we have been together 41 years. And we have enjoyed being in the city, in the heart of the artistic world, galleries, and museum that continues to feed our creativity, and seeing the advances that have been made in rights and visibility in the LGBTQ community. We've seen a lot in these 40 odd years. One doesn't realize that until you have a conversation with a 20 something year old young gay man, who looks at you in astonishment when they discover that you've been an out lesbian in the 80's.

Co-worker: How long have you two been together Yvonne: We've been together 41 years, married for 12 Co-worker: (eyes wide) Wow, that long. That was at a time when it was hard, being out in the 80's. Was it scary?

That is how far we've come. Wizard of Oz, black and white to color!"
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146, Series 26
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8eb565972-afaf-4486-ba58-1aa659ebfa86
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1146-ref3188

Hooker, Meryl

Collection Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
Collection Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1989-1996, undated
Scope and Contents:
Materials collected by Meryl Hooker in a variety of activities as an activist, organizer, performer, and amateur historian. The material contains programs and ephemera from Pride celebrations, the 1993 March on Washington, and other events. There are also materials from Hooker's thesis centering on The Furies a Washington DC woman's collective of twelve young lesbians the early 1970s. These include interviews with the remainging Furies and a copy of Hooker's thesis.
Biographical / Historical:
Meryl Hooker (1971--) was President of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi Alliance at The George Washington University from 1992 – 1995 and helped coordinate the student activities for the 1993 March on Washington. In spring 1994, she was a volunteer with Stonewall 25 in New York. She was the recipient of the 1995 Baer Award for Individual Excellence by the George Washington University Office of Student Life. From 1996 – 1997, she worked as the Event Coordinator at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In the late 1990's she worked at Lammas Women's Books and More, produced some of the early DC drag king shows with Puss 'N Boots Productions, and helped to build community through the True Spirit conferences (1998 – 2003). She was an activist, organizer, performer, and amateur historian of the queer community in Washington, DC until 2023.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146, Subseries 28
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8284238ba-6924-40c6-aa08-a2a287f0699e
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1146-ref3380

Mattachine Society

Collection Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
Collection Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1942-1996
undated
Scope and Contents:
This series contains advertisements, posters, maps, and ephemera related to and produced by a variety of bars and discos.contains material generated or collected by the Mattachine Society. The Mattachine Society Foundation was founded in 1950 and the society was founded in 1953 as a chartered non-profit corporation in California. Chapters were established throughout the United States. These papers were predominately those owned by Harold L. Call (1917-2000), editor of the Mattachine Review and are incomplete but give a broad scope of the beginnings of Mattachine and its eventual demise.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146, Series 7
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8d82580b8-4552-4c84-bc65-4e17eb2f0c04
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1146-ref763

Publications

Collection Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
Collection Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
undated
1944-1996
Scope and Contents:
This series contains many publications authored by James Kepner, science fiction, poetry writer and founder of what eventually became the ONE Archive. Many of these were sold with benefits going to fund the on-going work of the archive. This subseries contains publications that would have been produced by the Mattachine Society or found in their library.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146, Subseries 7.6
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection / Series 7: Mattachine Society
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep812c8d5e2-cdfa-46d1-8d6b-9dac6d1f13f3
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1146-ref834

Ros, Silvia, photographic prints

Collection Collector:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this
Collection Donor:
Becker, John M.  Search this
Gay Officers Action League. GOAL  Search this
Heritage of Pride (HOP)  Search this
Rohrbaugh, Richard  Search this
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA)  Search this
Collection Creator:
Hirsch, Leonard  Search this
Guest, Barbara  Search this
Barna, Joseph T.  Search this
Guest, Michael E.  Search this
Cruse, Howard, 1944-2019  Search this
Container:
Box 83
Type:
Archival materials
Prints
Date:
2009-2011
Scope and Contents:
This series documents Ros, a professional photographer from Miami Shores, Florida. She specializes in artwork, artwork installation, architectural and editorial photography and has made a particular effort to document the Latino LGBT community. These photographs comprises nearly 100 images spanning her career, documenting marches, protests, and individuals not only in Florida, but in California and Washington, D.C. as well.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.

Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1146, Series 11
See more items in:
Archives Center Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8396a3ab0-f112-410d-8964-3990064d235a
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1146-ref947

Burt Chernow papers

Creator:
Chernow, Burt  Search this
Names:
Housatonic Community College (Bridgeport, Conn.)  Search this
Housatonic Museum of Art  Search this
Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection  Search this
Westport-Weston Arts Council (Westport, Conn.)  Search this
Arman, 1928-2005  Search this
Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this
Christo, 1935-  Search this
Hendricks, Barkley L., 1945-  Search this
Jeanne-Claude, 1935-2009  Search this
Johnson, Lester, 1919-2010  Search this
Peterdi, Gabor  Search this
Woodham, Jean, 1925-  Search this
Zúñiga, Francisco, 1912-1998  Search this
Extent:
21.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Transcriptions
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Photographs
Date:
1930-2002
Summary:
The papers of Burt Chernow measure 21.8 linear feet and consist mainly of research materials gathered and produced in the course of writing Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography over an extensive period of close contact with the subjects, from the early 1980s until Chernow's death in 1997. Research materials for the biography include photocopies of personal documents of the Christos, hundreds of recorded interviews with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, their family members, and their associates, transcripts of interviews and research on interview subjects, other collected research material compiled chronologically, drafts of the biography written by Chernow, drafts of the biography and its epilogue produced after Chernow's death, and business records related to the book's production, which include significant correspondence with the Christos. Also found are the published German and U.S. editions of the biography, printed materials and photographs related to the book's subject matter, and fabric samples from five of the Christos' projects undertaken during Chernow's association with them. Chernow's career as an art critic, writer, educator, and arts advocate, primarily in Southern Connecticut, is documented in Chernow's other writings, organizational records, printed materials, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Burt Chernow measure 21.8 linear feet and consist mainly of research materials gathered and produced in the course of writing Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography over an extensive period of close contact with the subjects, from the early 1980s until Chernow's death in 1997. Research materials for the biography include photocopies of personal documents of the Christos, hundreds of recorded interviews with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, their family members, and their associates, transcripts of interviews and research on interview subjects, other collected research material compiled chronologically, drafts of the biography written by Chernow, drafts of the biography and its epilogue produced after Chernow's death, and business records related to the book's production, which include significant correspondence with the Christos. Also found are the published German and U.S. editions of the biography, printed materials and photographs related to the book's subject matter, and fabric samples from five of the Christos' projects undertaken during Chernow's association with them.

Chernow's career as an art critic, writer, educator, and arts advocate, primarily in Southern Connecticut, is documented in Chernow's other writings, organizational records, printed materials, and photographs. Other writings include drafts of articles, lectures, exhibition reviews, and catalog essays, some of which include research material gathered on the subjects. Artists written about by Chernow include Arman, Milton Avery, Barkley Hendricks, Francisco Zuñiga, Lester Johnson, Gabor Peterdi, and Jean Woodham, among many others, and including many Connecticut artists. A recorded interview with Arman, as well as transcripts of multiple interviews with Zuñiga, are filed with these writings. Also found are many writings and lectures related to the value of visual art in public life and in elementary and higher education. Numerous lectures by Chernow about several of the Christos' large-scale projects are also found, one of which, on the Wrapped Reichstag, is recorded on video.

Organizational records document Chernow's involvement in various art education organizations, his years of teaching at Housatonic Community College, his development of the Housatonic Museum of Art collection, and his work with several local arts organizations in Westport, Conn., including the Westport Arts Advisory Council, the Westport Arts Center, the Westport Schools Permanent Art Collection Committee, and the Westport Weston Arts Council. Types of documents found include correspondence, clippings, photographs, flyers, and notes.

Printed material includes many of the books written by Chernow, and monographs and magazines which included essays on specific artists by Chernow. A file of clippings about Chernow spanning his career is also found. Photographs include prints, negatives, and contact sheets, and consist mainly of photographs of artists, many of which were taken by Chernow, and many of which are signed by the artists with a personal note to the Chernows. A handful of personal photographs of the Chernows are also found.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged as 5 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Research Material for -- Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography -- , 1930-2002 (17.1 linear feet; Boxes 1-17, 23, OV 24)

Series 2: Other Writing, 1962-1999 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 17-19)

Series 3: Organizational Records, 1963-2000 (1.1 linear feet; Boxes 19-20, 23, OV 24)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1960-2002 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 20-21, 23)

Series 5: Photographs, 1950-1997 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 21-23, OV 24)
Biographical / Historical:
Burt Chernow was an art historian, writer, educator, collector, and dealer who founded the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and who, upon his retirement from Housatonic Community College, became the authorized biographer of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which he researched through close contact with the Christos from 1984 until his death in 1997. Although he had not completed the biography when he died, his wife Ann Chernow saw the manuscript through to publication, and the biography, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography, was first published in Germany in 2000, and then in the United States in 2002.

Born in New York City in 1933, Chernow earned a master's degree in art education at New York University in 1960, and began his career as an art teacher in the Westport, Connecticut public schools, later joining the faculty of the Art Department at the Housatonic Community College, where he eventually became the department's director. He also taught at the Museum of Modern Art, organizing the Children's Art Carnival in Harlem through the museum, and at Silvermine School of the Arts, the A.B.C.D. Arts Center in Bridgeport, Conn., and the Stamford Museum. While on the faculty at Housatonic Community College, he began collecting original artworks, mainly through donations directly from the artists, for what eventually became the Housatonic Museum of Art. Over the course of nearly 30 years he amassed over 4000 works for the collection, the largest of its kind for a community college, and remained the museum's Emeritus Director until his death. He remained active in civic arts organizations in Westport as well, where he was a founding member of the Westport Arts Center, served on the Westport Arts Advisory Council, and helped to establish the annual Westport Arts Awards.

Upon his retirement from the Housatonic faculty in 1984, Chernow approached Christo and Jeanne-Claude about becoming their authorized biographer. He had participated in their project Surrounded Islands in Miami in 1983, and had played a role in exhibitions and artist talks by Christo at the Aldrich Museum (1981) and the Wadsworth Atheneum (1978) as well. He and his wife Ann Chernow attended and helped to document the Wrapped Pont Neuf (1985) in Paris, and then visited Christo's family in Bulgaria in 1986. It was after their Bulgarian trip that Christo and Jeanne-Claude agreed to authorize him to write their biography, and Chernow's research began in earnest. He conducted hundreds of interviews with them, their family, and associates, participated in the major large-scale projects that took place between 1985 and 1995, and completed a draft of the biography up to the year 1982 before he died suddenly in 1997. After his death, his wife Ann Chernow saw the biography through to publication. It was published with an epilogue by Wolfgang Volz, the Christos' official photographer, bringing the Christos' story up to date from where Chernow had left off, first in Germany, and later in the United States and Italy.

Chernow wrote many books, catalogs, and articles about other artists as well, including Milton Avery, Francisco Zuniga, Gabor Peterdi, Will Barnet, Jean Woodham, and Lester Johnson, among others, and published and lectured widely on the subjects of art education and public art.
Provenance:
Donated 2002 by Ann Chernow, the widow of Burt Chernow.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Connecticut  Search this
Art critics -- Connecticut  Search this
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Authors -- Connecticut  Search this
Educators -- Connecticut  Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Transcriptions
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Photographs
Citation:
Burt Chernow papers, 1930-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.cherburt
See more items in:
Burt Chernow papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9b0f96b06-f802-418f-9058-619da6096571
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-cherburt
Online Media:

Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project Interviews

Creator:
Collins, Martin  Search this
Names:
Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project for Research in Space History  Search this
Project Apollo (U.S.)  Search this
Atwood, John Leland, 1904-1999  Search this
Bradshaw, Delmer  Search this
Burnett, James  Search this
Demitriades, Paul  Search this
Doll, Edward  Search this
Downey, Peter  Search this
Duff, Brian.  Search this
Elms, James C., 1916-  Search this
Fletcher, James  Search this
Gilruth, Robert  Search this
Glennan, Thomas Keith, 1905-1995  Search this
Jacobs, Donald  Search this
Mettler, Ruben F., 1924-  Search this
Miller, Mark  Search this
Mueller, G. E. (George Edwin), 1918-  Search this
Phillips, Samuel  Search this
Ramo, Simon  Search this
Seamans, Robert C.  Search this
Shapley, Willis  Search this
Silverstein, Abe  Search this
Soergel, David  Search this
Storms, Harrison A., Jr., 1915-1992  Search this
Webb, James E. (James Edwin), 1906-1992  Search this
Wilson, Thorton  Search this
York, Herbert F. (Herbert Frank)  Search this
Extent:
3.01 Cubic feet (16 boxes )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts
Date:
1985-1990
Summary:
This collection consists of the transcripts for the Glennen-Webb-Seamans Project (GWS), which examines various aspects of NASA management practices during the Apollo program. This project constitutes one of several oral history projects conducted within the Department of Space History, NASM. The principal investigator for the GWS was Martin Collins and the interview set contains 193 hours of interviews with 22 individuals. The central thread of this collection was the problem of configuring new political relations among the space sciences and sponsors. The following individuals were interviewed: J. Leland Atwood; Delmer Bradshaw; James Burnett; Paul Demitriades; Edward Doll; Peter Downey; Brian Duff; James Elms; James Fletcher; Robert Gilruth; T. Keith Glennan; Donald Jacobs; Ruben Mettler; Mark Miller; George Mueller; Samuel Phillips; Simon Ramo; Robert Seamans; Willis Shapley; Abe Silverstein; David Soergel; Harrison Storms; James Webb; Thorton Wilson; and Herbert York.
Scope and Contents:
The Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project Interviews consist of 193 hours of interviews with 26 individuals. The audio cassette tapes of these interviews have yet to be remastered and, due to their fragility, are unavailable to researchers. Transcripts are available to researchers, though there are restrictions placed on a number of them. A NASM staff member will advise the patron which transcripts are available for copying or viewing and how to order copies of transcripts and/or CDs.
Arrangement:
The Glennan-Webb-Seamans (GWS) Project Interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewee. Boxes 1-11 (Series 1) contain the interviews on audio cassette tapes. These tapes have yet to be remastered and, due to their fragility, are not available to researchers.

Boxes 12-16 (Series 2) contain the transcripts for these cassette tapes. Most of these transcripts are available to researchers, though restrictions are placed on a small number of them. Transcripts with user restrictions are highlighted in bold type.
Biographical / Historical:
This collection contains the interviews of the Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project (GWS). These interviews analyze a variety of facets revolving around NASA management and its handling of contractors during the Apollo program. The individuals listed as part of this collection's name refer to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) first two administrators and the agency's deputy administrator during much of the 1960s. The principal (though, by no means the only) interviewer for this project was Martin Collins and the interview set consists of 193 hours of interviews with 26 individuals. These interview subjects represent some of the most influential decision-makers at NASA, the aerospace industry and academia. The following were interviewed for this project: J. Leland Atwood; Delmer Bradshaw; James Burnett; Paul Demitriades; Edward Doll; Peter Downey; Brian Duff; James Elms; James Fletcher; Robert Gilruth; T. Keith Glennan; Donald Jacobs; Ruben Mettler; Mark Miller; John Moore; George Mueller; Samuel Phillips; Simon Ramo; Robert Seamans; Willis Shapley; Abe Silverstein; David Soergel; Harrison Storms; James Webb; Thornton Wilson and Herbert York. Among the myriad of topics discussed in these interviews is the Apollo 1 [204] fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee on January 27, 1967, during a test at the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The GWS Project constitutes one of a number of oral history efforts endeavors conducted by the National Air and Space Museum's (NASM) Department of Space History.
General note:
This collection consists of the interview transcripts, not the tapes.
Provenance:
Department of Space History, Transfer, 1999, 1999-0036, Varies
Restrictions:
Various restrictions apply.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, Please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Topic:
Astronautics  Search this
Genre/Form:
Transcripts
Citation:
Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project Interviews, Acc. 1999-0036, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.1999.0036
See more items in:
Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project Interviews
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg2b7e41532-4a23-4378-911d-9b486fd8d79f
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-1999-0036
Online Media:

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