Wilkinson, J. Walter (commercial artist) Search this
Extent:
1 Cubic foot (2 boxes, 2 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Audiocassettes
Sketches
Date:
ca. 1932-1935, 1940-1964, 1985-1987.
Scope and Contents:
Originals and copy photographs of advertisements and other commercial art work, original sketches, materials documenting a mechanical drafting instrument patented by the Wilkinson and his son, Walter G. Wilkinson, and a scrapbook of clippings, photographs, awards, and other materials documenting the Wilkinsons' careers. Also included are audiocassettes containing interviews of Wilkinson, conducted by National Museum of American History curator, Larry Bird.
Biographical / Historical:
J. Walter Wilkinson (1892- ) is an award winning commercial artist, perhaps best known for a series of six war bond posters he and his son Walter G. Wilkinson (1917-1971) created for the United States Treasury Department. J. Walter Wilkinson was born on Maryland's eastern shore, received formal academic training in art, and worked on newspapers and at an advertising agency before becoming a free lance artist. In addition to his war posters and other government commissions, he created a number of outdoor and magazine advertisements and many magazine covers. Major products for which Wilkinson did advertising art work included Ivory soap, Pabst beer, and Ballantine ale.
Provenance:
Collection donated by J. Walter Wilkinson, September 13, 1984
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.
Atlanta Water and Electric Power Company Search this
Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of History of Technology Search this
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:
23 Cubic feet (105 boxes; 4 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertisements
Catalogs
Photographs
Trade literature
Place:
Atlanta (Ga.)
York (Pa.)
Date:
1890-1914.
Summary:
This collection documents the products and facilities of the S. Morgan Smith Company through photographs and trade literature.
Scope and Contents:
Archival materials, including photographs, advertising art, catalogs and other trade literature, documenting the equipment, facilities, personnel and products of the S. Morgan Smith Company, engineers and contractors. The subjects of the photographs include engines, fire pumps, generators, paper making machinery, turbines, the construction of a dam and hydroelectric station by the Atlanta Water and Electric Power Company, and the Mathis Dam near Atlanta.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series
Series 1: Company Records, 1877-1961
Series 2: Catalog Art, undated
Series 3: Glass Plate Negatives,
Biographical / Historical:
The S. Morgan Smith Company was an engineering company located in York, Pennsylvania. It was founded by S. Morgan Smith, who patented one of the first washing machines, in 1877. The company became notable for its high-powered water turbines and other hydraulic machinery. The S. Morgan Smith Company later became Allis-Chalmers.
Provenance:
Donated to the National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) in 1968 by the Allis-Chalmers Company.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
6.5 Cubic feet (16 boxes, 188 pieces of original artwork)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white photographic prints
Pastels (visual works)
Advertisements
Business records
Date:
circa 1936-1995
Summary:
The collection documents the development and evolution of the Breck Girl, a highly successful and long-lived advertising campaign whose hallmark was its vision of idealized American womanhood through correspondence, photographs, paintings, and print advertisements.
Scope and Contents:
188 pieces of original advertising art (mostly pastel drawings), and photographs, correspondence, and business records, documenting the development and evolution of the Breck Girls advertising campaign. Original advertising art includes portraits of famous models, such as Cheryl Tiegs, Brooke Shields, Kim Basinger, and Erin Gray. Artists represented include Charles Sheldon and Ralph William Williams. The 2006 addendum consists of approximately one sixth of one cubic foot of papers relating to Cynthia Brown's selection as a Breck Girl, 1988 and her induction into the Breck Hall of Fame.
Arrangement:
Collection divided into four series.
Series 1: Company history, 1946-1990
Series 2: Photographs, 1960-1995
Series 3: Print ads, 1946-1980
Series 4: Original artwork, 1936-1994
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. John Breck is credited with developing one of the first liquid shampoos in the United States, in Springfield Massachusetts in 1908; Breck is also credited with introducing the first ph-balanced shampoo, in 1930. During the early years of the business, distribution remained localized in New England, and the product was sold exclusively to beauty salons until 1946. Advertising for the brand began in 1932, but appeared only in trade publications, such as Modern Beauty Shop.
Edward Breck, son of the founder, assumed management of the company in 1936. Breck became acquainted with Charles Sheldon, an illustrator and portrait painter who is believed to have studied in Paris under Alphonse Mucha, an artist noted for his contributions to Art Nouveau style. Sheldon had achieved some measure of fame for his paintings of movie stars for the cover of Photoplay magazine in the 1920s, and had also done idealized pastel portraits for the cover of Parents magazine. He created his first pastel portraits for Breck in 1936, launching what would become one of America's longest running ad campaigns. When the company began national advertising (and mass distribution) in 1946, the campaign featured Sheldon's 1937 painting of seventeen-year old Roma Whitney, a spirited blonde. Ms. Whitney's profile was registered as Breck's trademark in 1951. When he retired in 1957, Sheldon had created 107 oil paintings and pastels for the company. Sheldon was known to favor ordinary women over professional models, and in the early years of the campaign, the Breck Girls were Breck family members, neighbors or residents of the community in which he worked; company lore holds that nineteen Breck Girls were employees of the advertising agency he founded in 1940. A Breck advertising manager later described Sheldon's illustrations as, "illusions, depicting the quality and beauty of true womanhood using real women as models." The paintings and pastels form a coherent, if derivative, body of work which celebrates an idealized vision of American girlhood and womanhood, an ideal in which fair skin, beauty and purity are co-equal.
Ralph William Williams was hired to continue the Breck Girls campaign after Sheldon's retirement. Between 1957 and his death in 1976, Williams modified the Breck Girl look somewhat through the use of brighter colors and a somewhat heightened sense of movement and individuality. The advertising manager during his tenure recalled that at first Williams continued in Sheldon' manner, but in later years, as women became more independent, he would take care to integrate each girl' particular personality; he studied each girl and learned her special qualities. During these years, Breck Girls were identified through the company's sponsorship of America's Junior Miss contests. Williams work includes pastels of celebrities Cybil Shepard (1968 Junior Miss from Tennessee), Cheryl Tiegs (1968), Jaclyn Smith (1971, 1973), Kim Basinger (1972, 1974) and Brooke Shields (1974) very early in their careers.
By the 1960s, at the height of its success, Breck held about a twenty percent share of the shampoo market and enjoyed a reputation for quality and elegance. Ownership of the company changed several times (American Cyanamid in 1963; Dial Corporation in 1990). The corresponding fluctuations in management of the company and in advertising expenditures tended to undermine the coherence of the national advertising campaign. In addition, despite William's modifications, the image had become dated. Attempts to update the image misfired, further limiting the brand's coherence and effectiveness. Finally, increased competition and an absence of brand loyalty among consumers through the 1970s and 1980s helped push Breck from its number one position into the bargain bin. The Breck Girl campaign was discontinued around 1978, although there have been at least two minor revivals, first in 1992 with the Breck Girls Hall of Fame, and again in 1995 when a search was begun to identify three new Breck Women.
Scope and Content: The 188 pieces of original advertising art (62 oil paintings on board, 2 pencil sketches on paper, and 124 pastels on paper) and related photographs, correspondence and business files in this collection document the development and evolution of the Breck Girl, a highly successful and long-lived advertising campaign whose hallmark was its vision of idealized American womanhood. The collection is a perfect fit with other 20th century Archives Center collections documenting the efforts of American business to reach the female consumer market. The Estelle Ellis Collection (advertising and promotions for Seventeen, Charm, Glamour and House & Garden and many other clients) the Cover Girl Collection (make-up), the Maidenform Collection (brassieres), and the Tupperware Collections offer a prodigious body of evidence for understanding the role women were expected to play as consumers in the 20th century.
These advertising images also offer fertile ground for research into the evolution of popular images of American girlhood and womanhood. The research uses of the collection derive primarily from its value as an extensive visual catalog of the ideal types of American women and girls, arising and coalescing during a period in which 19th century ideals of womanhood were being revisited (the depression, the war years, the immediate post-war period) and continuing, with slight modifications and revisions, through several decades during which those historical ideals were being challenged and revised.
Related Materials:
Several items of packaging, 1930s-1980s are held in the former Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life); an 18k gold Breck insignia pin is in the former.
Provenance:
The Dial Corporation through Jane Owens, Senior Vice President, Gift, June 1998.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Brumbaugh, Thomas B. (Thomas Brendle), 1921- Search this
Extent:
14 Items (Letters, written in ink, ball point, graphite, typewritter)
Type:
Archival materials
Lithographs
Correspondence
Place:
New York (N.Y.)
Date:
1779-1981
Scope and Contents:
This folder is an amalgamation of letters written and recieved by prominent figures in 19th and 20th century American art. Included in the folder are letters by Ambrose Andrews, Edward Bates, Gifford Beal, Aaron Bohrod, Carroll Clear, Samuel Colman, Josephine Daskam, Daniel Denison Rogers, William Elliot, George de Forest Brush, and Chester Harding. The letters' subjects cover a wide range of topics, including the buying and selling of art, invitations to dinner, and general correspondence.
Arrangement:
Organized alphabetically by author.
Biographical / Historical:
Ambrose Andrews was a portrait, miniature, and landscape portrait who worked throughout New England and the United States. He was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1801 and studied at the National Academy of Design. He exhibited paintings at many different institutions, including his portraits of Henry Clay and Sam Houston. Andrews's work is now in the New York Historical Society.
Edward Bates was a representative for Missouri in the mid-1800s. He served in the War of 1812 as a sergeant in a volunteer brigade, studied and practiced law, attended the state constitutional convention, was district attorney from 1821 to 1826, and was a member of the state senate. He declined to serve as Secretary of War for President Fillmore, but was appointed Attorney General of the United States by President Lincoln, and served from March 5, 1861 to September 1864. Bates died on March 25, 1869.
Admiral Charles Henry Davis was born on January 16, 1807, and served as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation between 1862 and 1865. He then served as Superintendent of the Naval Observatory. He had three ships named after him.
Forbes Watson was an art critic, lecturer, and administrator in New York City in the early 20th century. He served as art critic for the New York Evening Post. In 1933 he was appointed Technical Director of the first New Deal art program, the Public Works of Art Project, which provided work for artists in the decoration of non-federal buildings. He later worked at the Treasury Department of Painting and Sculpture, which administered funding for decorating federal buildings. Watson finally served in the Treasury Department's War Finance Division, where he organized exhibitions and posters by combat artists to promote the sale of war bonds. Forbes Watson's papers are held in the Archives of American Art.
Gifford Beal was an American artist who worked with many organizations for the advancements of the arts, finding inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including holiday scenes, every-day life, and landscapes. Beal loved spontaneity and was influenced by French Impressionists. He was commissioned by the government to paint two murals: one on the post office in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and one in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. Beal's papers are held in the Archives of American Art.
Aaron Bohrod was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 21, 1907, where he studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked for a while in the advertising art department at the Fair Department Store in Chicago, but eventually moved to New York City, where he joined the Art Students League. He died on April 3, 1992. During World War II, Bohrod worked as an artist for the United States Army Corps of Engineer and Life magazine in Europe.
Carroll Cloar was an American realist and surrealist who lived from 1913 to 1993. He grew up in Arkansas, but later moved to Tennessee, travelled Europe, and joined the Art Students League in New York City. During World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, and although he did complete some artwork during this period, none of it survives. Cloar then settled in Memphis. One of his paintings was chosen to commemorate President Clinton's inauguration in 1993. Cloar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 10, 1993, after a long battle with cancer.
Samuel Colman was an American painter who belonged to the Hudson River School, and is most well-remembered for his landscapes. He was born in Portland, Maine, in 1832, and began exhibiting at the young age of 18. At 27 he was elected an associate of the National Academy, and later studied abroad in Paris and Spain. He was made a full Academician upon his return to the United States, and both founded and served as the first president of the American Water-color Society. He continued to both study in Europe and exhibit artwork, moving from New York to Rhode Island. Colman is represented in the metropolitan Museum, Chicago Art Institute, and many other collections. He died in New York City in 1920.
Josephine Daskam Bacon was an American writer known for writing about "women's issues" and using female protagonists. She wrote a series of juvenile mysteries and helped pioneer the Girl Scouts movement, writing a guidebook for the organization.
Daniel Denison Rogers is perhaps most widely remembered for the painting that John Singleton Copley completed of his wife, Abigail Bromfield.
Ithiel Town was an American architect and civil engineer who lived from October 3, 1784 to June 13, 1844. He worked in the Federal and revivalist Greek and Gothic styles, and was widely copied. He was born in Connecticut, and built both Center Church and Trinity Church in New Haven. Town patented a wooden lattice truss bridge, which made him quite wealthy. He formed a professional architecture firm with Alexander Jackson Davis. One of Town's most amazing feats was the construction of the Potomac Aqueduct in Washington, D.C., which allowed fully loaded canal boats to cross the Potomac River.
William Parker Elliot designed the old U.S. Patent Office, a very important Greek Revival building, with Ithiel Town.
George de Forest Brush was an American painter who grew up in Connecticut and is typified by his paintings and drawings of Native Americans. Even after moving from Wyoming, where he met the Native Americans, back to the East, Brush still occasionally enjoyed living in a teepee. Brush's artistic style later developed into Renaissance-inspired portraits. He was friends with Abbott H. Thayer, and along with Brush's wife, Mary, and son, Gerome, they all contributed to early camouflage designs. Brush died in New Hampshire in 1941.
Chester Harding was an American portrait painter born in Massachusetts in 1792. He worked in many different professions, finally becoming a self-taught itinerant portrait painter. Harding settled in Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, in a building that now houses the Boston Bar Association (the Chester Harding House, a Historic National Landmark). He studied at the Philadelphia School of Design, later setting up a studio in London, where he befriended and painted for royalty and nobility. Harding finally returned to Boston, where he died in 1866.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2009.06 4
Other Archival Materials:
Thomas B. Brumbaugh research material on Abbott Handerson Thayer and other artists, 1876-1994 (bulk 1960s-1994); Also located at Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Hampson, Albert W., 1911-1990 (artist) Search this
Extent:
6 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Photographs
Sketches
Advertisements
Date:
1926-1968
Summary:
Collection consists of the commercial artwork created by artist Albert W. Hampson dating predominately from during the 1950s and 1960s.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the creation of promotional and advertising materials through photographs, original artwork and completed print advertisements and point-of-purchase displays. The research value of the collection lies in the documentation of this process. Researchers will find that these materials demonstrate how ideas are conceived and then expressed by artists for their clients. Evidence of decision making and collaboration between the artist and the client is illustrated by elements such as color choices or model poses. Often this evidence is lost when the only record saved is the completed advertisement or display. A good example of the developmental/creative process, complete with finished product, is the Tung-Sol Radio Tubes project. Materials also demonstrate the variety and occurrence of advertising projects during the mid-twentieth century. The artist created documents and artwork for different markets, both the consumer and the company.
Materials are arranged first by parent company, then by product or brand name. However, there are a very small number of items, with obscure affiliations to a company listed by product name. Corporate ownership of many of these companies and products has changed since the era that Hampson was working in, but their historical application has been maintained in this container list. Researchers must research product or company names within their historical context.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in five series.
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1928-1980, undated
Series 2, Early Artwork, 1926-1927, undated
Series 3, Commercial Artwork, 1934-1969, undated
Series 4, Artwork for Covers of Publications, 1937-1950s, undated
Series 5, Portraits, 1951-1977,; undated
Biographical:
Albert W. Hampson was born May 20, 1910, in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He demonstrated artistic ability at an early age, winning all of the available school awards. Observing teachers encouraged him to pursue a career as an artist. His mother's death and father's unemployment forced him to get a job while still attending high school. He balanced work, school, and art all through his adolescence.
After his graduation from Northeast High School in June of 1927, Hampson pursued his art education at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (the University of the Arts) until June of 1931. While at the university, he was quarterback of the Germantown Boys Club football team and a semi-pro team in Chestnut Hill, and he attended the Cape Cod School of Art under a scholarship provision, for one year in 1930. Also during his education, and after graduation, Hampson earned a living by providing draft and architectural drawings for several Philadelphia architects. He was driving a bread wagon and preparing advertising layouts for a Philadelphia bakery, the Old Bond Bakery, when he got his first big break: one of his oil paintings was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on November 30, 1934. Between 1935 and 1944, his work appeared on the covers of Post and Look magazines more than a dozen times.
Hampson had been working as a commercial artist for a decade and was well established before marrying Josephine Unger Corson, a jewelry designer and librarian, on February 7, 1945. They had two children, Hillary, born 1945, and Theodore "Ted" born 1956.
In his personal life Hampson was known for his strong political opinions and work ethic, sometimes working eighteen hours a day. He did not believe in short-cuts, and his determination for perfection was evident in his do-it-yourself landscaping, according to his son. He spent time away from home, working five days a week in New York when Ted was young, but Hampson always brought gifts home and was ready for a discussion on politics. He was an active member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the oldest continuing artist organization in the nation. He was remembered by long-time colleague and friend, Fred Decker, as a staunch democrat (borderline socialist) who firmly publicized his views. This tenacious attitude provided him with the abilities of a great salesman, and knowing how to sell ideas can make a great commercial artist, as his son noted. He also had personal success as a father figure, according to Ted.
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060)
Francis M. Mair Papers (AC0548)
Landor Design Collection (AC500)
NW Ayer Advertising Agency Records (AC0059)
Walter H. Voigt Brewing Industry Collection (AC1195)
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Hampson's son, Theodore Hampson, September 1996.
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.
14.07 Cubic feet (consisting of 26.5 boxes, 9 folders, 39 oversize folder, 3 map case folders, 4 flat boxes (2 full, 2 partial), plus digital images of some collection material. )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Ephemera
Business ephemera
Date:
1798-1977
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Periodicals forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
This material consists primarily of periodicals (serial publications), including trade literature, educational, general interest, and leisure publications marketed to children, youths, and adults, plus related subscription information, and advertising information.
It dates from 1811-1966 but the bulk of the material dates from 1850-1920. The periodicals relate to a number of different interest groups including women, children, men, and family. Subjects include farming, the home, horses, advertising, art, railroads, hotels, food, literature, religion, medicine, mining, architecture, fashion and current events. While the majority of these periodicals are directed toward consumers, there are also a number of specialized professional and business publications.
The periodicals are arranged alphabetically by title. Much of the material consists of subscription information directed to readers and information for advertisers including receipts, circulars cards and letters. Individual copies of the publications are listed with their date(s) of issue. Most of these were issued monthly; others weekly or quarterly.
Periodicals provide valuable information about the customs, styles and attitudes of the times and places in which they appear. Many feature elaborate illustrations and photographs by well-known practitioners and articles and stories by notable persons. Advertisements provide insight into social customs, commercial practices, and the evolving complexity of life in the last half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
The first group of materials, Periodicals, consists of copies of periodicals and related materials including receipts, circulars, subscription information, advertising information, letters, notes, and cards; arranged alphabetically by title.
Subscription Agencies and Dealers in Periodicals includes advertising circulars, price lists, and order forms arranged alphabetically by name of company.
Related Materials contains miscellaneous printers and publishers, samples of cover designs, and export/import documents
Materials in the Archives Center:
Archives Center Collection of Business Americana (AC0404)
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Periodicals is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
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.
Genre/Form:
Ephemera
Business ephemera
Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Periodicals, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Papers relating to the development of the flexible drinking straw, Friedman's manufacturing company, and Friedman's other inventions, such as an ice cream scoop, fountain pens, and household appliances.
Scope and Contents:
Papers relating to the development of the flexible drinking straw, Friedman's manufacturing company, and Friedman's other inventions, such as an ice cream scoop, fountain pens, and household appliances. Includes company ledgers, preliminary sketches, blueprints, correspondence, a video cassette, and photographs.
The Joseph B. Friedman Papers encompass the years 1915-2000, with the bulk of the material ranging between 1925 and 1965. This collection is a near complete source for the understanding inventive process of an American entrepreneur. In the case of the flexible straw, the evolution of the invention can be traced from early concept drawings through its manufacture and production, to the development of advertising and marketing materials. Records of necessary design modifications in the flexible straw and legal issues concerning Friedman's invention through its various stages are present here. In addition to providing a detailed linear account of the flexible straw, these papers reflect the varied interests and additional accomplishments of Friedman's invention career. The collection is arranged in three series to reflect the subjects of the material, namely personal papers, invention materials, and corporate records. Materials within each series are arranged by topic and type, and then chronologically.
Series 1: Personal Records (c.1920s-1940) contains family photographs, personal correspondence, education and employment records. Friedman's education records are in Subseries A, while the records of his careers in optometry, insurance and real estate are contained in Subseries B. Subseries C contains personal financial records, including bank statements and income tax returns. Correspondence, photographs, family history items and death certificate are located in Subseries D.
Series 2: Invention & Patent Materials (1915-1967) consists of invention records that include original concept drawings, legal records and patents, marketing correspondence, and the business records of Friedman's sole proprietorship invention business, the Commercial Research Company. It is important for researchers to note that information on the assignment of straw patents and their machinery, all associated legal records to those specific issues, as well as patent defense case research, and straw advertising and marketing after 1938 may be found in Series 3. Series 2 is divided into several subseries. Subseries A - I are patented inventions arranged chronologically by patent issue date, and include research and development, legal records and correspondence, and advertising and marketing materials. Subseries J - M contain unpatented inventions and business records, as well as multiple concept drawings and invention lists that refer to both patented and unpatented inventions. Researchers interested in the conceptual development of the straw should review the information contained not only in Subseries E: Drinking Tube and Subseries H: Flexible Straw, but also in Subseries L: Invention Lists & Drawings for straw ideas that were drawn on lists or sketches with other concepts. Additionally, researchers interested in the manufacturing device for the straw should review Subseries I: Apparatus & Method for Forming Corrugations in Tubing, as well as Subseries K: Unpatented Inventions, for the Flexible Straw & Method of Forming Same information.
Series 3: Flex-Straw Corporate Records (1938 - 1967) includes correspondence relating to the company and its formation, financial statements, tax returns, legal documents, patent assignments, royalty information, patent defense case research and records, and documents pertaining to the advertising and marketing of the flexible straw. Researchers should note that all conceptual and developmental details relating to the straw and its manufacture, as well as the original patents and their specifically associated legal correspondence can be found in Series 2. Series 3 is divided into several topically arranged subseries. Subseries A consists of the organizational materials for the company, including the minutes, by-laws and limited employee records. This subseries also contains two day books belonging to Joseph B. Friedman recording his appointments and personal notes from 1947 and 1950. Subseries B includes company related correspondence, organized by the correspondent. It begins with general correspondence, from 1939 - 1963, and continues with the letters of Bert Klein (1945 - 1950), David Light & Harry Zavin (1938 - 1962), and Betty Friedman (1940 - 1954). Much of the operational information on the company may be found in the letters Betty Friedman wrote and received from her brother. Subseries C holds the financial records of the company, including financial statements, ledgers, bank statements, check books, tax returns and royalty statements. Subseries D consists of legal records and correspondence, including such topics as changes in entity type, patent assignments, fair trade agreements and patent defense. Subseries E contains the advertising and marketing records of the company. This includes published material relating to the Flex-Straw specifically, as well as some advertising for flexible straws in general. Pencil concept drawings of Flex-Straw packaging and advertising art are drawn on the reverse of Pette calendar pages, and international advertising materials for the product are also present. Product testimonials, distributor bulletins, and corporate letterhead that traces the progression of company locations can also be found here.
Arrangement:
The collection is ivided into three series.
Series 1: Personal Records, circa 1920s-1940
Series 2: Invention and Patent Materials, 1915-1967
Series 3: Flex-Straw Corporate Records, 1938-1969
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph B. Friedman (1900 - 1982) was an independent American inventor with a broad range of interests and ideas. Born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 9, 1900, Joseph was a first generation American and the fifth of eight children for Jacob Friedman and Antoinette Grauer Friedman. By the age of fourteen, he had conceptualized his first invention, the "pencilite" lighted pencil, and was attempting to market his idea. Over the course of his inventing career, he would experiment with ideas ranging from writing implements to engine improvements, and household products to sound and optic experiments. He was issued nine U.S. patents and held patents in Great Britain, Australia and Canada. His first patent was issued for improvements to the fountain pen on April 18, 1922, (U.S. patent #1,412,930). This was also the first invention that he successfully sold, to Sheaffer Pen Company in the mid 1930s. In the 1920s, Friedman began his education in real estate and optometry. He would use both of these careers at different points in his life to supplement his income while improving his invention concepts. Although he was working as a realtor in San Francisco, California, the 1930s proved to be his most prolific patenting period, with six of his nine U.S. patents being issued then. One of these patents would prove to be his most successful invention - the flexible drinking straw.
While sitting in his younger brother Albert's fountain parlor, the Varsity Sweet Shop in San Francisco, Friedman observed his young daughter Judith at the counter, struggling to drink out of a straight straw. He took a paper straight straw, inserted a screw and using dental floss, he wrapped the paper into the screw threads, creating corrugations. After removing the screw, the altered paper straw would bend conveniently over the edge of the glass, allowing small children to better reach their beverages. U.S. patent #2,094,268 was issued for this new invention under the title Drinking Tube, on September 28, 1937. Friedman would later file and be issued two additional U.S. patents and three foreign patents in the 1950s relating to its formation and construction. Friedman attempted to sell his straw patent to several existing straw manufacturers beginning in 1937 without success, so after completing his straw machine, he began to produce the straw himself.
The Flexible Straw Corporation was incorporated on April 24, 1939 in California. However, World War II interrupted Friedman's efforts to construct his straw manufacturing machine. During the war, he managed the optometry practice of Arthur Euler, O.D., in Capwells' Department Store in Oakland, California, and continued to sell real estate and insurance to support his growing family. Joseph obtained financial backing for his flexible straw machine from two of his brothers-in-law, Harry Zavin and David Light, as well as from Bert Klein, a family associate. With their financial assistance, and the business advice of his sister Betty, Friedman completed the first flexible straw manufacturing machine in the late 1940s. Although his original concept had come from the observation of his daughter, the flexible straw was initially marketed to hospitals, with the first sale made in 1947.
Betty Friedman played a crucial role in the development of the Flexible Straw Corporation. While still living in Cleveland and working at the Tarbonis Company, she corresponded regularly with her brother and directed all of the sales and distribution of the straw. In 1950 Friedman moved his family and company to Santa Monica, California. Now doing business as the Flex-Straw Co., sales continued to increase and the marketing direction expanded to focus more strongly on the home and child markets. Betty moved west in 1954 to assume her formal leadership role in the corporation. Additional partners and investors were added over time, including Art Shapiro, who was initially solicited as a potential buyer of the patent. On June 20, 1969, the Flexible Straw Corporation sold its United States and foreign patents, United States and Canadian trademarks, and licensing agreements to the Maryland Cup Corporation. The Flexible Straw Corporation dissolved on August 19, 1969.
Dr. Joseph Bernard Friedman died on June 21, 1982. He was survived by his wife of over 50 years, Marjorie Lewis Friedman, his four children Judith, Linda, Pamela and Robert, and seven grandchildren
Separated Materials:
"Straw samples and an original dispensing device (ice cream disher) are located in the Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life).
A mandrel prototype from the original flexible straw manufacturing machine is held by the Division of Work and Industry."
Provenance:
Daughters Judith B. Rosen, Linda A. Reiss and Pamela B. Leeds, and son Robert A. Friedman donated this collection and its related artifacts to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History on May 1, 2001.
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.
The bulk of the collection consists of renderings of sewing machines and related products by industrial designers such as Henry Dreyfuss, Robert P. Gersin, Eliot Noyes, and Malcolm S. Park; by designers of Singer's in-house design department; and by consultants to the firm. Materials include decals, photographs, negatives, patents, and renderings and sketches. This collection documents the influence of industrial design on Singer sewing machines as well as other household products such as vacuum cleaners.
Scope and Contents:
The bulk of the collection consists of drawings by industrial designers such as Henry Dreyfuss, Robert P. Gersin, Eliot Noyes, and Malcolm Park; by designers of Singer's in-house design department; and by consultants to the firm. These materials show the influence of industrial design on Singer machines.
Series 1, Photographs, 1927-1979, is divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, Editorial Department, 1927-1979; Subseries 2, Competitors, undated; and Subseries 3, Miscellaneous, 1977 and undated.
Subseries 1, Editorial Department, 1927-1979, consists of camera-ready art presumably for catalogs and advertising created by the editorial department at Singer Manufacturing. The photographs are black-and-white (8" x 10") and depict "cut away" views of the internal workings of Singer sewing machines before the casing was put on the machine. When the machines are not Singer, it is noted. The model number is provided, and the photographs are arranged chronologically.
Subseries 2, Competitors, undated, consists of images depicting mostly competitor sewing machines that are mounted on pages with captions. The images are black-and-white (2" x 2") and include companies such as Adler, Bernina, Elgin, Juki, Meister, Necchi, Sewmaid, Veritas, and Zundapp. The series is arranged alphabetically by manufacturer name.
Subseries 3, Miscellaneous, 1977 and undated, consists of black-and-white and color photographs (8" x 10" or smaller) for the 560 machine and a sewing cabinet.
Series 2, Decalcomania, undated, consists of one album of decal samples and loose decal/transfer cards created for Singer sewing machines and other sewing machine companies. Decalcomania is a decorative technique by which engravings and prints are transferred to other materials, such as the body of a sewing machine. Today, the use of the word "decal" is more widely used.
Some of the decals are on tracing paper, tin, and poster board. Some are in color with floral designs, and the size and style of font vary. Other decals include patent marks, the name "Singer Manufacturing Company," "Singer," oil level, and there are custom decals for specific sewing machine companies such as the Camel Sewing Machine Company, Ltd.
The decals are arranged numerically by transfer numbers, and there are two distinct groups of decal design/transfer cards. One group is numbered 63 to 141 (not inclusive) with the majority of the designs in color; the other set of decal cards is arranged in an unbound portfolio book numbered 1 to 41. Many of the decal/transfer cards have additional information about which machine or class of machines the transfer was designed for. For example, transfer #316 was used for the 99-13 machine. Machine 99-13 is also labeled with a sticker titled "SD-37." Presumably this indicates that the decal was Singer design number 37. If a decal was cancelled this is noted with a date.
Series 3, Industrial Designers' Materials, 1936-1983, consists of industrial designers and is divided into twelve subseries: Subseries 1, Henry Dreyfuss Associates, 1964-1978; Subseries 2, Robert P. Gersin Associates, Inc., 1980-1983; Subseries 3, Industrial Design Group and Industrial Design Laboratory, 1970-1975; Subseries 4, Innovations and Development, Inc., circa 1977-1979; Subseries 5, Leo Jiranek, circa 1960-1964; Subseries 6, Monte L. Levin, 1961-1962; Subseries 7, Mezey Macowski, 1967-1969; Subseries 8, Eliot Noyes, 1969, 1978; Subseries 9, Malcolm S. Park, 1936-1978; Subseries 10, Schmitz, 1973; Subseries 11, Eric Schneider, 1980. The series is arranged alphabetically.
Subseries 1, Henry Dreyfuss Associates, 1964-1978, consists of storyboards and renderings (20" x 25" or smaller) in ink, colored pencils and crayon for sewing machines and sewing machine carrying cases. Many of the renderings are preliminary. The subseries is arranged sequentially by assigned drawings numbers designated "D." Drawing D18 is heavily annotated on the reverse side
Subseries 2, Robert P. Gersin Associates, Inc., 1980-1983, consists of twenty drawings mounted on foam core board for various sewing machine concepts from 1980-1983. Many of the drawings depict side and front elevations. Gersin (1929-1989) was an award-winning industrial designer. He founded Robert P. Gersin Associates, Inc., in 1959 and worked on a wide range of designs, including interiors, products and corporate identity programs. In 1984 the company designed the logotype and corporate identity program for Sears, Roebuck & Company, and in 1988 it designed the interior for Casual Corner stores.
Subseries 3, Industrial Design Group and Industrial Design Laboratory, 1970-1975, consists of renderings ( 20 1/2" x 26") and storyboards (15" x 20") created by the the Singer Technical Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The majority of the work is stamped with "Industrial Design Group" or "Industrial Design Laboratory." The storyboards consist of color photographs mounted to poster board and depict a variety of sewing machines, a hand stitcher, and electric pinking scissors. The majority of renderings are not attributed to a specific designer, but some were drawn by designer W. Current.
Subseries 4, Innovations and Development, Inc., circa 1977-1979, consists of renderings created by consultants to Singer Manufacturing of Fort Lee, New Jersey. The renderings are ink on tracing paper (19" x 24") and they are not numbered or dated.
Subseries 5, Leo Jiranek, circa 1960-1964, consists of three drawings (19 1/2" x 24") for a 1964 World's Fair house and World's Fair chair. Jiranek (1900-1990) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He graduated from Princeton University in 1922 and went to work for Turner Construction Company. In 1924 he took over his father's furniture design business. Considered by many to be the "Dean of Furniture Designers," one of the industry's first freelancers, he contributed to more furniture companies than any other designer, including Magnavox, Thomasville, Ethan Allen, Kroehler, Haywood Wakefield, The Lane Co., Bassett, Broyhill and Garrison. In the 1960s, Jiranek founded and was president of the Jiranek School of Furniture Design and Technology in New York City.
Subseries 6, Monte L. Levin, 1961-1962, was an industrial designer who founded Monte Levin Associates in 1945. The renderings (18 1/2" x 22" or smaller) are ink on tracing paper and depict Singer sewing machine cases.
Subseries 7, Mezey Macowski, 1967-1969, consists of seven (14" x 16 1/2") ink- colored drawings depicting a sewing table.
Subseries 8, Eliot Noyes, 1969, 1978, consists of two colored ink on vellum renderings of electric scissors. Noyes (1910-1977) was an American architect and industrial designer who worked on projects for IBM. The renderings for Singer sewing machines (A-E) were done by Gordon Bruce while at Eliot Noyes Industrial Design, Inc.
Subseries 9, Malcolm S. Park, 1936-1978, consists of a 130-page portfolio depicting Park's (1905-1991)work as an industrial designer for Singer Manufacturing Company. The pages are 13" x 16" and materials are mounted on the pages with captions. In some instances, materials have come loose. The types of materials include, patents, patent drawings, ephemera, correspondence, renderings, advertising, photographs for sewing machines, sewing machine cabinets, irons, buttonholers, vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, timers, clocks, and stitching attachments.
Subseries 10, Schmitz, 1973, consists of one drawing (17 1/2" x 21") for a portable sewing machine called the Easy Egg.
Subseries 11, Eric Schneider, 1980, consists of six ink on tracing papers renderings (17" x 23") for sewing machines.
Subseries 12, Unknown Designers, undated, consists of two renderings (18" x 23") for sewing machines with parts labeled in German and renderings (12" x 16") depicting views of sewing systems, household items, and storage systems. Some of the items include sewing machines, vacuums, cash registers, canisters, intercoms, alarms, and fire and smoke detectors.
Series 4, Design Patents, 1936-1980, is divided into four subseries: Subseries 1, United States Design Patents, 1936-1980; and Subseries 2, Foreign Design Patents, 1961-1968. Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
Subseries 1, United States Design Patents, 1936-1980 consists of design patents that were assigned to the Singer Manufacturing Company by the inventors, Adam Baker Barnhart, Herbert S. Barnhart, Henry Dreyfuss, Christian Julian Felix, Russell A. Fritts, Donald M. Genaro, Hans Hacklander, Lloyd G. Kent, Jr., Monte L. Levin, Abbot Lutz, Michael McCann, L.C. Marsac, Charles F. Neagle, Malcolm S. Park, W. J. Peets, Robert E. Redman, Edgar P. Turner, Julian U. Von der Lancken, Tobin Wolf, Thaddeus J. Zylbert.
The majority of the patents are in patent jackets which were maintained by the Singer Manufacturing Company Patent Department. Patent jackets or patent folders are typically pre-printed with standard information such as patent number, actions, references, assignment, application serial number, and fee paid. This permitted easier documentation for the patent department. The jackets contain correspondence with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, foreign patent and trademark offices, as well as the inventor/designer, company attorneys and other company officials; drawings; photographs; newspaper clippings, and a sample of embroidery stitching. The three-way folders (10" x 15") are designed to house all of the legal documentation about the patenting process. In some instances, patents were abandoned, and this is noted. Additional file jackets include those for foreign applications and patents corresponding with United States application serial numbers. These pre-printed jackets contain the names of countries (such as Great Britain, Brazil, Italy, Japan and Sweden) where Singer Manufacturing was filing for design protection.
The majority of the design patents are for sewing machines and sewing machine cases, but there are some designs for vacuum cleaners, electric scissors, an embroidery attachment, a floor polishing machine, a display stand for needles, and a statuette. For example, the statuette was used as an award in the Singer World Stylemaker Contest and was intended to represent anyone that a person desires as well as signifying the craft of home sewing with an unrolled bolt of cloth draped around the statuette. The United States Design Patents are arranged numerically by design patent number, and the foreign design patents are arranged alphabetically by country, then numerically by patent number.
Subseries 2, Foreign, 1961-1968, consists of foreign design patents from the Congo, England, France and Italy.
Series 5, Utility Patents for Henry Dreyfuss, 1961-1965, is divided into two subseries, Subseries 1, United States Utility Patents, 1964-1965 and Subseries 2, Foreign Utility Patents, 1961-1964. Utility patents are granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new, useful, and non-obvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. The United States and foreign utility patents are issued to industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss.
Series 6, Posters, 1985, consists of two posters from the National Museum of American History's exhibit titled "Industrial Design, An American Case History." The exhibit ran from July 24, 1985 to September 30, 1985.
Series 7, Miscellaneous, 1980, consists of a North Atlantic Consumer Products Group Research and Development Department report about the combination carrying case for 400/500K and 250/362m Series flat bed machines. The report contains project specifications and photographs.
Arrangement:
The collections is divided into seven series.
Series 1, Photographs, 1927-1979
Subseries 1, Editorial Department, 1927-1979
Subseries 2, Competitors, undated
Subseries 3, Miscellaneous, 1977 and undated
Series 2, Decalcomania, undated
Series 3, Industrial Designers' Materials, 1936-1983
Subseries 1, Henry Dreyfuss Associates, 1962-1978
Subseries 2, Robert P. Gersin Associates, Inc., 1980-1983
Subseries 3, Industrial Design Group and Industrial Laboratory, 1970-1975
Subseries 4, Innovations and Development, Inc., circa 1977-1979
Subseries 5, Leo Jiranek, circa 1960-1964
Subseries 6, Monte L. Levin, 1961-1962
Subseries 7, Mezey Macowski, 1967-1969
Subseries 8, Eliot Noyes, 1969, 1978
Subseries 9, Malcom S. Park, 1936-1978
Subseries 10, Schmitz, 1973
Subseries 11, Eric Schneider, 1980
Subseries 12, Unknown designers, undated
Series 4, Design Patents, 1936-1980
Subseries 1, United States Design Patents, 1936-1980
Subseries 2, Foreign Design Patents, 1961-1968
Series 5, Utility Patents for Henry Dreyfuss, 1961-1965
Subseries 1, United States Utility Patents, 1964-1965
Subseries 2, Foreign Utility Patents, 1961-1964
Series 6, Posters, 1985
Series 7, Miscellaneous, 1970
Biographical / Historical:
In 1851, I.M. Singer and Company, with headquarters in New York, was founded by inventor Isaac Merrit Singer and businessman/lawyer Edward Clark. In 1863 the business was incorporated as the Singer Manufacturing Company. After 1867 the company became the dominant firm in the industry despite the fact that it sold more expensive products than any of its competitors. Business expanded in the United States and abroad while designers focused their efforts on making mechanical improvements in the machines in the last half of the nineteenth century. America's industrial design profession emerged during the Great Depression and began to influence the design of the sewing machine. Many compnaies mass-produced technological goods and designers began to play a crucial role in American industry. After the Stock Market crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression, goods were made to look more attractive and increase sales. Many firms, such as Singer Manufacturing Company, employed industrial designers as consultants. Other industrial designers established their own firms and agencies.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Sewing Machines (AC0060)
Landor Design Collection, circa 1930-1994 (AC0500)
Francis M. Mair Papers, circa 1938-1990 (AC0548)
Freda Diamond Collection, 1945-1984 (AC0616)
Lucian Bernhard Advertising Art Collection, 1920s-2000 (AC1161)
Materials in Other Organizations
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Belle Kogan papers, 1920-1986
Philip McConnell typescripts, [circa 1957]
Arthur J. Pulos papers, 1935-[circa 1980s] (bulk 1947-1960)
Oral history interview with Arthur J. Pulos, 1980 July 31-1982 December 5
Oral history interview with Wendell Castle, 1981 June 3-December 12
The Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections
Singer Manufacturing Company Records, 1861-1871
Wisconsin Historical Society
Singer Manufacturing Company Records, 1850-circa 1975
Provenance:
The Singer Company of Fairfield, New Jersey donated the collection on July 17, 1985.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection primarily documents the career of Latino graphic artist and designer Anthony Moreno.
Scope and Contents:
Collection primarily documents commercial artwork created by Latino graphic artist and designer Anthony Moreno for United States companies. It consists of client files including original artwork, purchase orders, annual reports, product packaging, magazines, and some promotional materials. In addition, a United States Marine Corps discharge certificate, unemployment documents, a resume, photographs, business cards, and a customized desk notepad are also found among the materials. Information relating to Moreno's personal life is not included in the collection. Most of the materials are undated and are arranged in alphabetical order either by the name of a company or type of materials.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Anthony Moreno was born to Francisco Moreno and Lusinda Moreno on January 30, 1923 in Los Angeles County, California. He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School where he graduated in 1941. Moreno served in the United States Marines from 1943-1946. On October 22, 1949 he married Margaret Carrera and to this union eight children were born. He attended the Art Center College, graduated in 1950 and subsequently embarked on a career as an Art Director. As an Art Director, he worked for numerous United States companies including Global Marketing, Incorporated; Dozier Eastman Company; Weider Health and Fitness, Incorporated; and Ralph M. Parsons. Moreno died on February 8, 1982 at the age of fifty-nine at the Veteran's Hospital in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California.
Source: Information obtained from Moreno's son William Moreno, January 2021.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Margaret Moreno to the Archives Center in 2019.
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.
Fashion drawings and the photographic work of Ming-Ju Sun while as an employee of Garfinckel's Department Store and as an independent artist.
Scope and Contents:
Collection consists of the original drawings and photographic work of Ming-Ju Sun as an employee of Garfinckel's Department Store and as an independent artist. It includes original artwork, newspaper advertisement tear sheets, photographic materials, fashion illustration coloring books, fashion catalogs, and other materials that provide information about the fashion industry and its advertising. The materials document women's fashions dating from 1972- to 2002. The collection is a rich resource for advertising art in the 20th century, fashion and costume design, and fashion history.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in two series.
Biographical / Historical:
Ming-Ju Sun arrived in the United States from China in the 1940s. In the early 1970s, she studied fine art, taking classes on the history of costume and textiles as well as Chinese and Japanese history at the University of Maryland. While earning her graduate degree she worked as a fashion illustrator for the Garfinckel's department store located in Washington, DC. Beginning in the 1980s, Sun worked as an independent artist creating hand-illustrated paper-doll, sticker, and coloring books for Dover Publishing. Her artwork has been shown in galleries in Washington, DC.
Source: Collecting and Discovering Ming-Ju Sun: Paper-doll Cues to a Family History by Rachel Endoso, December 10, 2014.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Carolyn and Donald Grepke Paper Doll Collection (AC0752)
Joseph Magnin Poster Collection (AC0355)
Division of Costume Audiovisual Collection (AC0801)
Priscilla of Boston Collection (AC0557)
California Shop Records (AC0572)
National Cotton Council of America Photographs and Films (AC01177)
Warchaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060)
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Ming-Ju Sun in 2005.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs 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.
This collection features business documents, legal papers, and examples of prints from Martin J. Weber, who pioneered the "Weber Process."
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the Weber Process for printing that made images on paper appear more three dimensional, as well as the photomechanical apparatus Weber developed to implement it . The collection contains patent documents, contracts and business papers, correspondence, design drawings, advertisements for the Weber Process and for his studio, and a paper he delivered to the American Photo Engravers Association. It also contains numerous samples of Weber's work, including magazines covers and advertisements, annual reports from companies featuring images enhanced by Weber, brochures, and other printed material.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series.
Series 1: Articles, 1931-1971
Series 2: Awards, 1931-1971
Series 3: Business Documents, 1931-1971
Series 4: Correspondence, 1931-1971
Series 5: Legal Documents, 1931-1971
Series 6: Prints, 1931-1980
Series 7: Weber Process Documents, 1931-1971
Series 8: Photographs, 1931-1971
Series 9: Large Prints, 1931-1971
Biographical / Historical:
Martin J. Weber was born in 1905 and worked as a graphic artist, inventor and typographer in the commercial art industry into his eighties. He died in 2007 at the age of 102.
Weber invented and patented the Weber Process in 1942, which utilized a photomechanical apparatus that altered images and text photographically to give pattern, texture, and shadow. Also known as Posterization, the process gave two-dimensional surfaces the "illusion of being reproduced in three dimensions" by printing multiple layers offset from one another. Weber helped to define the look of mid-twentieth century American advertising art, offering a "low-cost way of simulating multiple color reproduction." The process revolutionized lithography, screen printing, and standard printing, and later influenced computer typography.
Sources
Heller, Steven. "Martin Weber in the Third Dimension." Design Observer. June 19, 2007. Accessed August 03, 2016. http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=5657.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Martin J. Weber's son, Carl Weber, 2011.
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.
