Collection is open for research. Access to collection materials requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The NMAAHC Archives can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes.
Collection Citation:
Norma Merrick Sklarek Archival Collection, 1944-2008. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
Archival materials documenting the manufacture and sale of Kit Mobile Homes.
Scope and Contents note:
The records of the Kit Manufacturing Company date from 1951 to 1995. They consist primarily of advertising materials, newspaper clippings, copies of Articles about the company and photographs. The photographs portray many of the models built during the years 1951 1995. Most of the models are named and many show the date of production. Many photographs show internal views. However, some are not identified by either name or date. One photograph shows the company's main plant at Caldwell, Idaho.
The collection also includes an autobiographical publication written by Dan Pocapalia, I Love A Challenge! This is the interesting story of a successful, self made business man whose inborn skills and quick mind, coupled with determination and hard
work, resulted in building a successful new business one that started on the proverbial shoestring and wound up listed on the American Stock Exchange. In the Epilogue, the publication also includes brief references to Mrs. Pocapalia and the five children, as well as short statements about, Arnold J. Romeym, Bill Worman, and Jim Nicholson, all of whom were involved to a major degree in the growth and establishment of the company.
Arrangement:
Divided into 3 series
Series 1: Advertising brochures, newsclippings and articles
Series 2: Photographs
Series 3: Publications
Biographical/Historical note:
Dan Pocapalia in 1994 celebrated a nearly fifty-year association with Kit Manufacturing Company by writing a history of the company that is also the story of his life. Born on December 12, 1916, on a small farm near Santa Monica, California, Mr. Pocapalia is a prototype of the successful self made businessman. His father, born in Pinerolo, Italy, arrived in the United States at the age of 22. His mother, Rosa Camusso, followed shortly thereafter. After working in New York for several years, the young couple moved to California. Named Dante but always called Dan, the boy was the second of four children. One of Dan's earliest pleasure was building things. At the age of 10 or 11 he produced a radio from a pair of earphones found on a dump. His mother died in 1929 and the years of the depression were difficult ones for the family. Dan left school during the sixth grade to help in the fields, picking truck crops that sometimes did not bring enough to pay freight and commission charges on the produce. By 1938, he had decided to leave the farm and see the country before looking for a real job.
His first real job was at Vultee Aircraft Company (later known as Consolidated Vultee) near his father's farm, at that time in Norwalk, California. Talent and a quick mind compensated for lack of education and experience and very quickly, Dan Pocapalia became a valuable employee on Vultee's wartime government contract for planes. Working thirteen to sixteen hours a day meant financial reward for Dan but little else. Several attempts at enlistment in the military failed because he was considered an essential industrial worker. By 1945, however, most of the talk at the plant was about what one hoped to do after the war ended.
In November 1945, a chance meeting with Bill Worman, a former worker at Vultee, determined Dan Pocapalials future. Worman was part owner of a trailer business in a nearby plant on Telegraph Road. He planned to build 60 "tear drop" camper trailers because he had found and bought 60 Fulton hitches. He had chosen the name "Kit" to reflect his marketing plan: the units were to be sold in a knocked down kit, which would be assembled by the
buyer. In less than a week Dan Pocapalia borrowed $800 to buy out Worman's other partner to become a one half partner in Kit Manufacturing Company. The new partners decided to redesign the Kit Kamper to increase the simplicity and eficiency of its assembly. The original Kit Kamper was built while materials were still subject to World War II's War Production Board prioritie's and it and later models illustrate new and creative uses of
aluminum and fiberglass. Dan Pocapalia was responsible for the design; Bill Worman for bookkeeping, sales and promotion. Despite shortages of necessary supplies and the money to buy them, their first appearance at the Gilmore Stadium Show in February 1946 was successful. They booked about 500 orders, with some dealers paying in advance.
The work force expanded to meet the demand and the partners decided to enter into an agreement with Sackett Nicholson of Long Beach, California, to be sole distributor for the Kit Kamper. Although they did not get along, Pocapalia recognized Nicholson's expertise and ability as a salesman even though he did not trust him. Similarly, Bill Worman did not get along with nor trust Arnold Romeyn, the bookkeeper for Sackett Nicholson. Despite these problems, the company expanded production to build 3 bedroom mobile homes, dormitory mobile homes for government projects such as the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, and relocatable classrooms. The tribulation, escapes from bankruptcy, quarrels, and major disagreements among the partners were many but Kit Manufacturing Company became a respected and successful business. When Kit went public in 1969, the shares of each participant in the company were retired for more than $500,000 out for each participant. Dean Witter & Company underwrote the offering of 1,434,839 shares at $14.75 a share. The company was listed on the American Stock Exchange in March 1970.
Dan and his wife, Mary Ann, lived in an 81' x 331' Kit mobile home for the first two years of their marriage. Their first child was born while they lived there but as other children came along they moved to a new house built by Mary Ann's architect father. In 1995, Dan Pocapalia marked his 50th year of association with Kit Manufacturing Company, and was still active full time as chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center, NMAH, by Mr. and Mrs. Pocapalia in
October 1994.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research and access 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.
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:
Lillian Vernon Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Lillian Vernon Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company (Hartford, Conn.). Search this
Container:
Box 7, Folder 6
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1969
Collection 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.
Collection 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 Citation:
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company (Hartford, Conn.). Search this
Container:
Box 165, Folder 9
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1969
Collection 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.
Collection 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 Citation:
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
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:
Lillian Vernon Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
29.78 cu. ft. (27 record storage boxes) (1 document box) (3 16x20 boxes) (3 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Artifacts
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
circa 1926-1982 and undated
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
This collection consists of the personal papers of Joseph Hirshhorn, documenting his correspondence with artists and dealers, 1946-1981. Also included is his general
and social correspondence; awards, plaques and diplomas; personal newspaper clippings, 1955-1981; fan letters; some biographical material; and many photographs. Not included
in this collection is material relating to his business interests. Artists' correspondence in Boxes 3-7 were donated by Olga Hirshhorn.
Historical Note:
Joseph Herman Hirshhorn was born in 1899 in Mitau, Latvia, the twelfth of thirteen children. His father died when Joseph was still an infant. In 1905 his mother emigrated
with her children to the United States and settled the family in Brooklyn, New York, where she found work in a purse factory, six days a week, twelve hours a day. To keep
the family afloat, the children had to help, and Joseph left school at the age of twelve to sell newspapers. By the age of fourteen, he was an office boy for the firm that
later became the American Stock Exchange. In a short time, he became a chartist, charting stocks for an editor on Wall Street. In 1916 he took a small sum he had saved and
launched himself as a broker, earning $168,000 the first year.
In 1924 Hirshhorn became a broker's broker, dealing in bank stock and unlisted securities. He made his first million long before he reached the age of thirty. In 1929 he
distrusted the booming stock market and pulled out completely with four million dollars just two months before the crash.
In the 1930s, he began to invest heavily in Canadian mining, discovering gold and then uranium. He secretly acquired mining rights to some 56,000 acres, which became two
huge uranium mines. By the mid 1950s, his interests stretched across Canada and the United States, involving him in more than two dozen mining and oil companies. Shortly thereafter,
he began to reduce his business interests. His fortune was once estimated at more than one hundred million dollars.
Although the grinding poverty of his childhood spurred Hirshhorn to create a fortune, he also credited it with his love of art. His mother managed to buy her children a
piano, and an insurance policy with Prudential sent a yearly supply of calendars into the home. The calendars included reproductions of various art works, which Joseph pinned
to his wall.
Joseph H. Hirshhorn with Smithsonian Regent and Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller, at the Museum's First Anniversary, December 9, 1975. When he began to make money, he
began to buy art, both paintings and sculpture. Using only his own tastes as guidance, he bought and bought, until the size of his private collection had grown to some 5,600
pieces. In the 1950s, he hired an art dealer, Abram Lerner, to curate his collection. Even Lerner could not always keep track of the acquisitions. Hirshhorn would sweep into
a gallery and make so many purchases that the dealer felt his head spinning.
Hirshhorn relied solely on his own "feel" for each piece he bought. He once told a dealer who was advising a purchase for investment purposes, "Don't tell me how to make
money. I don't collect art to make money. I do it because I love art." (From Art in America, summer 1958.)
In 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that Hirshhorn would donate his entire collection to the United States along with one million dollars to supplement the collection.
A new museum would be constructed on the Mall as part of the Smithsonian Institution and would be named the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The new museum
opened in 1974 with Abram Lerner as its first director. It was called the most important development in art for the Capital since the Andrew Mellon gift of the National Gallery
of Art.
Hirshhorn's collection includes an international range of sculpture, but its paintings are primarily modern American. The collection has paintings by Thomas Eakins, Jackson
Pollock, and Stuart Davis, and sculpture by Henry Moore, Picasso, and many others.
Hirshhorn was married four times, lastly to Olga Zatorsky Cunningham, who shared his passion for art. His marriages produced four children and two adopted ones. He died
in 1981.
Restrictions:
Box 31 contains materials restricted indefinitely; see finding aid; Contact reference staff for details.
Use of origininal material requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Mildred Constantine papers, 1945-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
