James Cunningham, Son and Company (Rochester, New York) Search this
Extent:
10 Cubic feet (18 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Rochester (N.Y.)
Date:
1908-1964
bulk 1908-1929
Summary:
The collection consists of glass plate negatives and photographic prints of the glass plate negatives depicting horse-drawn hearses (funeral wagons), carriages, and ambulances and motorized vehicles produced by James Cunningham, Son and Company from approximately 1908 to 1929. The majority of the glass plates and photographic prints depict horse-drawn hearses, but there are some motorized vehicles.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of glass plate negatives and photographic prints of the glass plate negatives depicting horse-drawn hearses (funeral wagons), carriages, and ambulances and motorized vehicles produced by James Cunningham, Son and Company from approximately 1908 to 1929. The majority of the glass plates and photographic prints depict horse-drawn hearses, but there are some motorized vehicles.
There are approximately 335 glass plate negatives and the same number of photographic prints. It is unknown who created the photographic prints, but some of the glass plates were originally held at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
The glass plates are in three sizes: 5" x 7" 8" x 10" and 11" x 14". The glass plates and the photographic prints are arranged by an alpha-numeric system that was presumably developed by the company. In some instances, J.L. Hill is identified as a photographer.
In some instances, the model number, style and date are provided. Most images are side views, although there are some rear and interior views. Some glass plates are unidentified or missing. Some of the descriptions include lamp number information. Many carriages had mounted lamps or lanterns that were oil or battery powered. if a carriage was built for a specific person or company, such as W. H. Graham Company, this information is listed.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series.
Series 1, Glass Plates, A1 to A55, 1908-1929 and undated
Series 2, Glass Plates, B1 to B159, [1913?] and undated
Series 3, Glass Plates, C1 to C50, undated
Series 4, Glass Plates, D1 to D64, undated
Series 5, Glass Plates, E1 to E8, undated
Series 6, Photographic Prints, undated
Series 7: Background Materials, 1930s-1964
Biographical / Historical:
James Cunningham (1815-1886) was born in County Down, Ireland to Arthur and Ann Cunningham. He came to the United States in 1833 from Canada seeking work in the New York City area, where he had an uncle practicing architecture. In Canada, Cunningham had worked in woodwork design in a carpenter's shop east of Toronto in Cobourg, Ontario. Cunningham returned to Canada via Rochester, New York. While in Rochester, he was introduced to George Hanford and J.H. Whitbeck, entrepreneurs who set up the first coach-making shop in Rochester in 1834.
From 1834 to 1838 Cunningham worked as an apprentice and journeyman for George Hanford and J.H. Whitbeck. He formed a partnership with two of his fellow-workers, James Kerr and Blanchard Dean. Together they bought out Hanford and Whitbeck and made cutters, known as one-horse open sleighs and buggies. In 1842 Kerr and Blanchard resigned, and James Cunningham assumed full responsibility.
Cunningham married Bridget Jennings in 1838, and they had three children: Augustine, Joseph, and Margaretta. Cunningham's son, Joseph (1842?-1914) joined his father in the company and as a result, the company reorganized in 1866 as James Cunningham and Son. Joseph Cunningham became a full partner in 1868. Rufus Dryer (1846-1937) became a partner in 1875 when he married Margaretta Cunningham in the same year. There were branch offices with display rooms in Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, Des Moines, Kansas City, Topeka, Denver, and San Francisco. In 1876, Cunningham carriages and a hearse won prizes at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.
In 1882, the firm was incorporated as James Cunningham, Son and Company. It was the largest industrial enterprise in Rochester, New York, both in its plant area and in capital. The firm continued to make carriages until 1915. Joseph Cunningham and Rufus Dryer retired in 1909, and the company, which had become a partnership, was reincorporated. Augustine Cunningham, son of Joseph Cunningham, was president, James Dryer (son of Rufus Dryer) vice-president, and Francis Cunningham (son of Joseph Cunningham) was secretary and general manager.
In 1908 the company began automobile production, not for the popular market, but for the type of customer that bought its carriages. The company did not mass-produce their automobiles. Intially, it made only automobile bodies and assembled the rest of the car from engines, transmissions, axles, and radiators made by proprietary companies. By 1910 it produced the entire automobile. In 1916 Cunningham produced a V-8 engine, and the Cunningham car became outstanding for its clean, classic lines. It was the first car to not have running-boards, using instead steps of brass-framed aluminum.
In the late 1920s Cunningham entered the aviation business and created a subsidiary, the Cunningham-Hall Aircraft Corporation. The primary aim of the corporation was to build an airplane that would combine stability with speed. The first Cunningham-Hall plane designed with these requirements was a modified biplane: the lower wing was considerably larger than the upper and slotted, so that a current of air could be made to flow between its surfaces. This enabled the plane to land at low speeds. It was first tested in the small town of LeRoy, New York. Cunningham-Hall continued to make aircraft until 1938. Its X-14324, produced in 1934, was a low-wing monoplane made entirely of metal. The company also produced primary trainers, a six-place cabin plane, other passenger and cargo craft, and experimental planes for the Army and Navy. By the early 1930s the company had ceased to produce automobiles and funeral carriages/hearses.
Over the years Cunningham made a wide variety of products. During World War II, Cunningham found a temporary role in defense production. Prior to the war the compaay had produced a variety of odd products: safety belts for aircraft, diving helmets, even belt buckles for Boy Scout uniforms. During the Civil War the company made carriages for the Union armies, and the First World War, ambulances and automotive windlasses for observation balloons. More significant had been its experience of producing armored and tracked vehicles. In March 1928, Cunningham's first tank was tested at Aberdeen, Maryland. Equipped with a revolving turret and armed with a 37 millimeter cannon and a .30 caliber machine gun, it traveled twenty miles an hour, faster than any tank produced up to that time. In 1933, Cunningham developed a tank track, with light-weight rubber-block treads that allowed for even greater speeds. Cunningham also developed experimental half-tracks, cargo carriers, armored cars, and a weapons carrier for a 75 millimeter Howitzer.
In 1940 James Dryer retired. The corporation was dissolved in 1941 and replaced by a partnership, with Augustine and Francis Cunningham as co-partners. After World War II, the firm produced small farm and garden machines such as sickle-bar mowers, tractors, and rotary tillers. Cunningham also designed and produced a complete line of plumbing fixtures for house trailers in a constant effort to retool and redefine itself in the post-war years.
By 1952, the firm met Andrew W. Vincent, an electrical engineer with Stromberg-Carlson in Rochester. Vincent devoted himself to perfecting a small dial telephone system. The heart of this system was the crossbar switch. The company acquired Vincent's initial designs and patent applications and hired him as a consultant. The company restricted its production to creating prototypes of switching devices. The Cunningham crossbar was versatile. It had the ability to switch electrical information from low-level DC signals to 100 megacycles, reliably and at high speeds.
In 1968, Peter F. Cunningham, then president of the company, sold controlling interest to the Gleason Works, a Rochester-based manufacturer of machine tools. Under Gleason Works, the company was renamed Cunningham Corporation. In 1977, all Cunningham-related activities ended.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History, Division of Work & Industry
1929 Cunningham touring car. See accession #:310671.
National Air and Space Museum Archives
Cunningham-Hall Collection, 1917-1940 (bulk 1928-1930)
Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Trade Literature Collection
Trade catalogs from James Cunningham Son & Company (See SILNMAHTL_12462)
Materials in Other Organizations
Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages
Includes drawings, a trade catalog, a cart, and a buggy from James Cunningham and Sons.
Detroit Public Library
Papers of the James Cunningham Company, 1902-1964 (bulk 1909-1946)
Includes notebooks of G. Carson Baker, chief designer and David Fergusson, chief engineer, patent applications, correspondence, drawings and blueprints related to Fergusson's work, parts and instruction books for early automobiles (including electric automobiles), photographs of Cunningham factories, military vehicles and motor trucks.
Rochester Museum and Science Center, Libraries and Collections Department
Local Business History vertical files hold items related to James Cunningham, Son and Company as well as books.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 1973 by the Cunningham Company to the National Museum of American History, Division of Transportation.
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.
