1 Motion picture film (approximately 900 feet, print, black and white, sound, 16mm)
1 Videocassettes (U-matic) (video copy from 16mm film, 3/4 inch)
Container:
Item NAFC 2017.13.5 OF
Item NAFC 2017.13.5 OV/MV
Type:
Archival materials
Moving Images
Motion picture films
Videocassettes (u-matic)
Date:
circa 1960s
Subseries Restrictions:
The material in sub-series (3.4) is restricted until 2063 due to the presence of personal health information (PHI).
Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings.
Collection Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Vivian E. Garrison papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
Filmmaker Ron Simon, MD, Michigan State University
Subseries Restrictions:
Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings.
Collection Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Vivian E. Garrison papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
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
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Search this
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (Calif.) Search this
Extent:
5 Film reels
5 Cubic feet (11 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Film reels
16mm films
Motion pictures (visual works)
Reports
Place:
Detroit (Mich.)
Texas
Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.)
Fremont (Neb.)
Columbus (Neb.)
New York
Boston (Mass.)
Chicago (Ill.)
Death Valley
Date:
1906-2003
bulk 1906-1918
Summary:
Collection documents the engineering firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas through reports prepared for a variety of clients.
Scope and Contents:
These records contain reports (some containing photographs and full size drawings folded) from the New York engineering firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas. Included are typewritten and printed reports for a variety of clients. The bulk of the reports relate to power and transportation. The collection includes five 16mm motion picture films, relating to the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Background Materials, 1960-2003
Series 2: Reports, 1906-1918
Series 3: Moving Image, 1960 and undated
Biographical / Historical:
On January 1, 1885, William Barclay Parsons (1859-1932) and his younger brother Henry de Berkeley Parsons founded a consulting engineering firm in New York City. The brothers combined their talents as civil and mechanical engineers to create a firm that would making a lasting mark on designing and constructing infrastructure. Among the firm's most notable projects were the original IRT line of the New York City Subway, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), the Cape Cod Canal, and the charting the course of a railway in China from Hankow (Wuhan) to Canton (Guangzhou). The firm also designed and built large water supply systems, railroads, hydro-electric dams, refrigeration warehouses, marine terminals, and conducted survey work. Through the years, the firm diversified its engineering competence and knowledge by adding partners: Eugene A. Klapp (b. 1867), chief engineer and bridge specialist; Henry M. Brinckerhoff (b. 1868), a traction engineer; Walter J. Douglas (b. 1872), structural engineer and bridge specialist; and Maurice Quade (1900-1966), structural engineer. The firm had several name changes and became known as Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas with both domestic and foreign offices. Today the company operates in the fields of strategic consulting, planning, engineering, construction management, infrastructure and community planning. Parsons Brinckerhoff was acquired by WSP Global in 2014.
Sources
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas Notes, December 1960.
Bobrick, Benson. Parsons Brinckerhoff The First 100 Years. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1985.
Petroski, Henry. "William Barclay Parsons," American Scientist, Volume 96, No. 4, July-August 2008, pp. 280-283.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Streetcars and Subways (AC0060)
Materials at Other Organizations
New York Public Library
William Barclay Parsons papers, 1880-1939
Collection consists of correspondence, lecture notes, and materials used in preparation of Parsons's book, Engineers and Engineering in the Renaissance, published in 1939. Correspondence, 1881-1900, relates to his student days at the Columbia University School of Mines, appointments to various railroads, and activity as Columbia trustee. Notes on lectures about mining at Columbia, 1880-1881, are illustrated with drawings and plates. Materials used in the preparation of Parsons's book include final typescript, proofs, illustrations, maps, notebooks, and other source materials.
Columbia University
Papers, 1899-1915
Correspondence including letters from Grover Cleveland, Gilbert Parker, and printed monographs and magazine articles. Mr. Parsons' diaries of Panama Canal years and World War I have been catalogued as book manuscripts.
Provenance:
The initial collection was donated in 1967, presumably by the firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas, to the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History).
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
American Telephone and Telegraph Company Search this
Information, Technology and Society, Division of, NMAH, SI. Search this
Extent:
39 Items
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Motion pictures (visual works)
Training films
Date:
1942-1978
Scope and Contents note:
Thirty-nine 16mm films on various subjects relating to telephone systems and communications, such as pole worker safety; party line etiquette; the transition from silent film to sound film; and the application of satellites, lasers and transistors to sound communication.
Arrangement:
4 series: Series 1, Promotional Films; Series 2, Scientific/Educational Films; Series 3, Corporate/Technical Training Films; Series 4, Acquired Films.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Division of Information, Technology and Society, National Museum of American History.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Researchers must view videotape copies.
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.
Duplicate of print in AFI collection: black-and-white 16mm film of the television show "Ghost Town" featuring Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy and other guests. Sponsored by Coca Cola and featuring some Coca Cola commercials.
Local Numbers:
2002.3080 (NMAH Acc.)
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Only reference copies may be used.
Collection Rights:
Reproduction may be restricted due to copyright or trademark. Contact Archives Center staff for more information.
Engineering, Division of (NMAH), Smithsonian Institution Search this
Former owner:
Engineering, Division of (NMAH), Smithsonian Institution Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Motion pictures (visual works)
Place:
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.)
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents note:
A 16mm film, published by Bethlehem Steel Corporation, entitled "Building the Golden Gate Bridge", undated.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
This collection remains unprocessed.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Donald E. Robertson.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment.,Unprotected films 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.
