Publicity photographs of musicians and entertainers, mostly jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, but including many rock and even a few classical performers. The collection also contains tape recorded radio interviews conducted between 1970 and 2003. In addition there are posters relating to musical performances.
Scope and Contents:
This collection was formed by W. Royal Stokes in the course of his professional work as a music and arts critic. It is composed primarily of publicity portraits of musical performers, both single acts and groups. The emphasis is on jazz musicians and singers, although many rock stars and groups, and other popular musical performers are included. Even a few classical musicians are represented. The pictures are primarily mass-produced black and white publicity photographs distributed to newspapers, writers, etc., by agents for entertainment personalities. Some prints were made from the original negatives, while others clearly were made from copy negatives after typography was stripped together with a print and re-photographed. However, there are some rarer original photographs included in the collection, such as personal color snapshots, higher quality prints by art photographers, etc. Nearly all the prints are unmounted, and are 8 x 10 inches or smaller in size. The bulk of the photographs date from circa 1970 to 2000, however, a number of the earlier photographs are included as well as slightly later examples.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into nine series.
Series 1, Photographs of Musicians and Ensembles, circa 1970-2000; undated
Subseries 1.1, Musicians and Ensembles
Subseries 1.2, Recording Company Photographs
Subseries 1.3, Unidentified Musicians
Series 2, Photographs of Performances, 1987-2002; undated
Subseries 2.1, Music Festivals, 1987-2002; undated
Subseries 2.2, Concerts, Music Clubs and Other Venues, 1920s-1940s and circa 1980s-1990s; undated
Series 3, Formal and Informal Groups, circa 1980s-2000; undated
Series 4, Photographs of Musicians in Films, Radio, Television and Theater, 1940s-2000; undated
Series 5, Photographs of Subjects and Products related to Musicians and Music, 1970-2000; undated
Series 6, Photographs of Non-Musicians, circa 1980s-2000; undated
Series 7, Interviews with Musicians, 1970-2003
Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1970-2003
Subseries 8.1, Audio Recordings - Audiocassettes
Subseries 8.2, Audio Recordings-Audiotapes
Series 9, Posters, 1976-1990; undated
Biographical / Historical:
Born in Washington, D.C., W. Royal Stokes served in the Army and then embarked on an academic career, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, Tufts University, Brock University and the University of Colorado. He left the academic profession in 1969 and become a writer, broadcaster and lecturer, journalist, and critic and authority on jazz music. A follower of jazz since his teens in the 1940s, Stokes has written about music for such publications as Down Beat, Jazz Times, and the Washington Post, and hosted the public radio shows "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say . . ." and "Since Minton's". Today he is the editor of the quarterly Jazz Notes, and is the author of The Jazz Scene: An Informal History From New Orleans to 1990 and Swing Era New York: The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson.. He is also the author of Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Dr. Stokes lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of Ameican History:
Duke Ellington Collection, 1928-1988 (AC0301)
Herman Leonard Photoprints, 1948-1993
Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints [copyprints], 1923-1972
Jazz Oral History Collection, 1988-1990
Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, 1910s-1970s (mostly 1930s-1960s)
Jeffrey Kliman Photographs
Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, 1984-1987, 2005
Chico O'Farrill Papers
Paquito D'Rivera Papers, 1989-2000.
Louis Armstrong Music Manuscripts, undated
Tito Puente Papers, 1962-1965.
Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz Radio Series, 1981-1982
Mongo Santamaria Papers, 1965-2001
Ramsey Lewis Collection, 1950-2007
Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, 1963-2009
James Arkatov Collection of Jazz Photographs, 1995-2003
Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, 1953-1966
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, circa 1920s-2006
Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2009
Leslie Schinella Collection of Gene Krupa Materials
Provenance:
Donated by W. Royal Stokes to the Archives Center in 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.
Topic:
Jazz musicians -- 1950-2000 -- United States Search this
Primarily audiotapes, sheet music, and photographic images. Also: correspondence, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, itineraries, awards, and ephemera.,Of particular interest are recordings or photographic images, including the personalities listed below, and President and Mrs. Tubman of Liberia; also, two interviews and three recordings of Cat Anderson as guest with various university and college jazz bands.
Arrangement:
Collection is divided into four series.
Series 1: Music
Series 2: Original tapes and recordings
Series 3: Photographs
Series 4: Miscellaneous
Biographical/Historical note:
Cat Anderson (Sept 12, 1916 - April 29, 1981) was one of the premier trumpet players of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Known for his effortless high notes, he was a strong section leader and a great soloist whose style exhibited humor and precision. He grew up in Jenkins= Orphanage in Charleston, SC, received basic music training there, and participated in many of their famous student ensembles. He formed and played with the Cotton Pickers, a group of orphanage teens while still a young man. Before joining Ellington in 1944, he played in several big bands, including Claude Hopkins and Lionel Hampton. Anderson left the Ellington organization from 1947 through 1949 again to lead his own group. From 1959 to1961 and after 1971 Anderson free lanced, working with the Ellington orchestra intermittently. He died in 1981 after receiving honors from the US Air Force, the Prix du Disque de Jazz, and the City of Los Angeles.
Related Archival Materials:
Related artifacts include: awards, plaques, mutes, trumpet mouth pieces, and the Jon Williams/Cat Anderson simulator in the Division of Cultural and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life). See accession: 1998.3074.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in January 1998, by Dorothy Anderson, Cat Anderson's widow. It was acquired through negotiations with her, her brother, Mr. John Coffey and her nephew, Andrew Brazington. The materials were picked up from Mr. John Coffey of upper N.W. Washington, DC on January 21, 1998.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Master tapes not available to researchers.
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.
Copyright status of items varies. Signed copies of releases on file.
Papers relating to products developed and marketed by Joseph Enterprises, Inc., including the Chia Pet and the Clapper. The collection includes internal business documentation including correspondence, design drawings, and photographs. Print advertising and packaging samples as well as audiovisual materials make up an important part of the collection. The video collection includes commercials for the Chia and Clapper products as well as clips of product mentions in popular entertainment. In addition, there are two recorded oral history interviews with Joseph Pedott.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the Chia Pet, the Clapper, and other products of Joseph Enterprises, Inc. Other materials include packaging and advertising campaigns by Joseph Pedott Advertising & Marketing for other companies.
While fragmentary and limited in extent, these materials illustrate the progress of Joe Pedott's career from a one-man advertising agency to a modest scale, enduring marketing business. The papers include early advertising work for small local clients and for a national client (Eversharp/Parker Pen) and well as early television for a variety of retail products. There is little on unsuccessful products, often just a few advertisements. The materials are complemented by the oral history interviews.
Arrangement:
Collection organized into eight series.
Series 1: Oral History Interviews, September 2004, April 2008
Series 2: Chia Pet, 1981-2005, undated
Series 3: The Clapper, 1976-1985, undated
Series 4: Scribe Ett, 1981, 1984, undated
Series 5: Eversharp Pen Company, undated
Series 6: Various Products, 1985, undated
Series 7: Newspaper Clippings, 1989-2004, undated
Series 8: Audiovisual Materials, 1979-2005, undated
Subseries 8.1, Commercials, 1979-2005
Subseries 8.2, Promotions, 1996-2001
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph Pedott was born April 14, 1932 in Chicago. He attended the University of Illinois, where he and friend Daryl Peters, began the advertising company, Pedott & Peters. They successfully began producing commercials for automotive and retail companies and made a large amount of money by the time they reached the age of twenty-one. After making a bad business investment the partners focused on completing college. They began building up the company upon graduation.
Pedott and Peters worked together for several years before deciding to dissolve the partnership. Pedott then began working for R. Jack Scott, a Chicago advertising agency. Pedott worked for Scott for just over two years and during that time, out-performed those with more experience in the advertising field. Pedott left Chicago for San Francisco in 1956. He worked briefly at a small firm on commission before forming his own agency, Joseph Pedott Advertising & Marketing. Pedott's firm was innovative in advertising techniques. The company was the first to use "dealer tagging," a technique used at the ends of television commercials. During the last five seconds of the commercial consumers would learn where the advertised item could be purchased.
While attending a Chicago house wares show Pedott noticed the Chia Pet. He spoke with the product owner and learned that while the product was selling well, the owner was losing money on every Chia sold. Pedott bought the name and concept and reworked the manufacturing of the product after a trip to Mexico to witness first hand how the Chias were made. Later pedott moved Chia manufacturing to China. Pedott created a new company, Joseph Enterprises, Inc., (JEI) to manufacture the Chias. Joseph Pedott Advertising ran the advertising campaigns for all of JEI's products while continuing to work for non JEI clients.
After improving the quality of the product, the "new" Chia arrived on the market in 1982 and quickly expanded throughout the country, sold largely at drugstores. Today, the Chia Pet has large name recognition among the American public and continues to be a popular gift, especially at Christmas time. The line has expanded beyond the original ram and bull shapes to include a variety of animals (pig, elephant, kitten, dinosaur, etc.) as well as famous cultural icons such as Jerry Garcia, Bugs Bunny and various Looney Tunes characters, and Homer and Bart Simpson. In addition, the Chia Herb Garden entered the market in the mid-1990s.
Pedott's other success, the Clapper, came about through the advertising campaign for the Great American Turn On. Pedott discovered that the original product did not work properly and felt the owners were cheating their customers. JEI bought the product, including the patent, and reworked the electrical wiring to ensure that the company was selling a high quality product. As with the Chia Pet, The Clapper and its advertising, like the Chia, are familiar to a large number of Americans.
Note: Material for this section was taken from Joe Pedott Oral History Interview Abstract, September 20, 2004, Joseph Pedott Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Related Materials:
Materials in the National Museum of American History
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts related to this collection (Accession # 2005.3116) that include:
1. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet dog
2. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet ram
3. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia pet bull
4. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia-saurus
5. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Chia Shrek character
6. Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Donkey from Shrek
7. Chia Pet Handmade Clay Decorative Planter with Chia Seeds, Jerry Garcia Chia
8. Bigmouth: A portable, plastic garbage bag holder
9A. CD Mobile antenna with packaging
9B. CB Mobile monitor with box
10. Video recorder with packaging
11. Metal detector with packaging
12. Pen set with frame and packaging
13. Light switch with box
14. Light switch with packaging
15. Jar lid opener with box
16. Tapeless measure with packaging
17A. Pen, engraving
17B. Pen, engraving with packaging
17C. Pen, engraving with packaging
17D. Pen, engraving with packaging
18A. Knife, Pumpkin cutter
18B. Knife, Pumpkin cutter
18C. Knife, Pumpkin cutter
18D. Knife, Pumpkin cutter
18E. Knife with packaging
18F. Pumpkin cutter with packaging
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Joseph Pedott, 2005.
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.
The collections documents the growth and development of the American wine industry, 1996-2002, using the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars as a case study. Materials include oral and video histories, photographs, business records, and printed materials.
Scope and Contents:
The Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC) Documentation Project was conducted by an inter-disciplinary team at the National Museum of American History. It is a part of a larger effort by the Museum's American Food and Wine team to document and interpret the changing ways in which Americans have produced, prepared, and consumed their food and drink, especially in the years after World War II. Team members are Nanci Edwards (Office of Project Management and former Collections Manager of the Museum's Agriculture Collection), John Fleckner (Senior Archivist, Archives Center), Rayna Green (Curator, Division of Home and Community Life), and Paula Johnson (Curator, Division of Work and Industry). Jeff Tinsley of the Smithsonian's Office of Photographic Services accompanied the team and shot many of the slides and color photographs.
This collection chronicles the growth and development of American viticulture and viniculture from its revival in the 1960s to the present. It offers a case study in the art and business of making fine wine from the bud to the bottle. Warren Winiarski, founder of SLWC in California's Napa Valley, is deeply interested in the legacy of American winemaking and his winery's place within its broader history. The Winiarski family has generously participated and financially supported the creation of this collection.
The documentation touches on all aspects of the wine business, including picking grapes in the vineyards, making wine in the cellar, marketing it from the business office, and promoting its sales in the tasting room and around the globe. SLWC employees describe the land, the work, the tools, the technical processes, the passions, and the motivations that create SLWC's world famous wines. The collection also provides insights into wider patterns of American immigration history, agricultural and environmental history, ethnic community development, land use in the West, product marketing, and consumerism.
The archival collection is mainly comprised of recorded oral history interviews, documentary photographs, and video footage created by the documentation team in 1997. It also includes company newsletters, vineyard and winery production data sheets, wine labels, and related printed materials collected in 1997 with additional materials added occasionally.
It is divided into seven series, including interviews and abstracts, audiotapes, photographs and slides, videotapes, business records, and printed materials.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Interview Transcripts and Abstracts, 1997, 2003
Series 2: Oral History Interview Sound and Video Recordings, 1996-1997
Subseries 2.1: Sound Recordings, 1997
Subseries 2.2: Video Tapes, 1996-1997
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1960-2000
Series 4: Video Tapes, undated
Subseries 3.1: Family Photographs: circa 1960-1980
Series 7: Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Thirtieth Anniversary, 2003
Biographical / Historical:
The history of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is a family history. It is also a story, in microcosm, of the development of Napa Valley, California as an international wine region and of the rising global acclaim for California wines. Building on the skills and knowledge of earlier Napa winemakers, Warren Winiarski became one of the most influential vintners in the region and his premium wines some of the most prized.
Winiarski arrived in Napa Valley in 1964 with his wife, Barbara, and their children. Like many Napa winemakers of this era, he left behind another career, in his case, an academic position at the University of Chicago to create a family business in a rural setting. At the time, Napa was just beginning to rebuild its reputation after Prohibition, a devastating vine disease, and the widespread production of cheap wines had soured the image of California wines. After apprenticing with several local winemakers, including Lee Stewart and Robert Mondavi, he purchased the land and winery that would become Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC) in 1972. Winiarski's choice of land was based, in part, Nathan Fay's success in growing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in an adjoining vineyard; Winiarski later added Fay's property to SLWC.
To commemorate the American bicentennial in 1976, a blind wine tasting at L'Academie du Vin in Paris pitted the best of America's new wines against French classics. Stunning the international wine community, many American wines outscored their French counterparts, with SLWC's 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon taking first place in its division. The accomplishment brought SLWC and Napa Valley worldwide recognition. It excited a great demand for California wines and a new appreciation for American winemaking techniques, which combined new scientific methods with Old World traditions.
The Paris Tasting added momentum to changes already underway in the cultural, financial, and physical landscape of the Napa Valley. It spurred the development of many new wineries, the expansion of acreage under grape cultivation, and the growth of the region's tourism industry. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was an integral part of these transformations. It continues to play a vital role in the region and the wine industry.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
American Wine History Documentation Project Records, 1976-2002, Archives Center collection # 817, has recorded interviews, photographs, and other documentary materials created and collected by the American Food and Wine History team.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry holds many artifacts from SLWC, including a wine barrel, grape picking knives, shovels, and other vineyard tools; lab equipment used in winemaking; wine bottles, labels, glasses, and other consumer products; and a bottle of the award winning 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon. See accessions: 1998.0181 and 1998.3058.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
The collection is comprised of 139 audiocassettes (original copies only), 80 transcripts and tape summaries, and photographs (including some negatives). The transcripts and photographs also exist in single copies only, but they may be used with care by researchers.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in four series.
Series 1: Original Audio Cassette Tapes, 1983-1986
Series 2: Transcripts/Tape Summaries, 1984-1986
Series 3: Photographs, 1984-1986
Series 4: Reference Tapes and CDs, undated
Biographical / Historical:
In 1985, Joan and Robert Morrison conducted approximately 100 oral history interviews with a wide variety of Americans about their experiences during the 1960s. They also collected photographs of each of their interviewees—one taken during the 1960s and the other taken at the time of the interview. Portions of fifty-nine of those interviews were published in their 1987 book, From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It (Times Books). Some of the new photographs, which were taken by Barbara Beirne, also were exhibited at The New School in 1989.
The interviewees include civil rights activists, anti-war activists, Vietnam War soldiers, Gold Star mothers, Peace Corps members, Weathermen, black leaders, and counter culture figures. Some of the narrators are members of the rank-and-file, others played leading roles. The in-depth interviews focus on three main questions: 1) What motivated you to act as you did in the Sixties? 2) What actions did you take and what were the results? 3) How did your experiences in the Sixties affect the way your life has developed since then?
Source Information taken from memo to National Museum of American History Collections Committee.
Provenance:
The Morrison's donated this collection of audiocassettes, transcripts, and photographs to the National Museum of American History Archives Center in 1989.
Restrictions:
Tape recordings not available for playback until researcher copies are made; researchers must use transcripts until then.
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.
Some original interviews have restrictions; these have been withheld by the Morrisons' until they can get clearances from the interviewees.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Computers, Information and Society Search this
Extent:
43.5 Cubic feet (158 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Interviews
Oral history
Sound recordings
Transcripts
Videotapes
Date:
1969-1973, 1977
Summary:
The Computer Oral History Collection (1969-1973, 1977), was a cooperative project of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and the Smithsonian Institution. This project began in 1967 with the main objective to collect, document, house, and make available for research source material surrounding the development of the computer.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately 43.5 cubic feet of material documenting the development of the computer.
ABC -- Atanasoff-Berry Computer
ACE -- Automatic Computing Engine
ACM -- Association for Computing Machinery
ALGOL -- ALGOLrithmic Language
ALWAC -- Axel Wenner-Gren Automatic Computer
ARPA -- Advanced Research Projects Agency
BACAIC -- Boeing Airplane Company Algebraic Interpretative Computing System
BARK -- Binar Automatisk Rela Kalkylator
BINAC -- Binary Automatic Computer
BIZMAC -- Business Machine
BMEW -- Ballistic Missile Early Warning (System)
BUIC -- Back-up Interceptor Control
CADAC -- Cambridge Digital Automatic Computer
CALDIC -- California Digital Computer
CEC -- Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation
CEIR -- Council for Economic and Industry Research
COBOL -- Common Business-Oriented Language
CODASYL -- Conference on Data Systems Languages
CONAC -- Continental Automatic Command
COMTRAN -- Commercial Translator
CPC -- Card Programmed Calculator
CRC -- Computer Response Corporation
DARPA -- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Series 4: John Vincent Atanasoff's Materials, 1927-1968
Series 5: Audio Tapes, 1967-1974, 1977
Series 6: Video Tapes, 1968-1972
Biographical / Historical:
The Computer Oral History Collection (1969-1973, 1977), was a cooperative project of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and the Smithsonian Institution. This project began in 1967 with the main objective to collect, document, house, and make available for research source material surrounding the development of the computer. The project collected taped oral interviews with individuals who figured prominently in developing or advancing the computer field and supplemental written documentation--working papers, reports, drawings, and photographs. The AFIPS provided the "seed" money to support the project and to aid the Smithsonian with its expenditures. Interviews were conducted by I.B. Cohen, A. Dettinger, Bonnie Kaplan, Elizabeth Luebbert, William Luebbert, Robina Mapstone, Richard Mertz, Uta Merzbach, and Henry Tropp. In some instances, the audio tapes and/or transcripts are not "formal" interviews, but rather moderated panel discussions/meetings, or lectures delivered by interviewees.
Related Materials:
The Archives Center contains several "computer" related collections:
American National Standards Institute, 1969-1979
Association for Computing Machinery Collection, 1958-1978 (Washington, D.C., Chapter)
N.W. Ayer Advertsing Agency Records, 1889-1972
Paul Armer Collection, 1949-1970
Robert G. Chamberlain Numerical Control Collection, 1954-1984
J. Childs Numerical Control Collection, 1952-1970
Computer Standards Collection, 1958-1978
Computer World Smithsonian Awards Collection, 1989-2001
Data Processing Digest Collection, 1955-1974
Max Holland Machine Tool Industry Collection, circa 1941-1990
Grace Murray Hopper Collection, 1944-1965
Information Age Exhibition Records, 1979-1990
Institute for Advanced Study Computer Project Records, 1950-1957
Instrument Society of America Collection, 1911-1969
Odex I Walking Robot Collection, 1973-1986
Jacob Rabinow Papers, 1910-1917; 1947-1990
Terry M. Sachs Collection, 1965-1969
Scientists and Inventors Portrait File, circa 1950-1980
Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Records, 1956-1992
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, circa 1754-1965
Whirlwind I Computer Collection, 1945-1959
B.H. Worsley Collection, 1946-1959
Within the National Museum of American History there are other related collections that may be found in the Division of Medicine and Science. These collections contain both artifacts and documents. Artifacts include: digital computing machines, automatic digital computers and electronic calculators, logic devices, card and tape processors, slide rules, integrators and integraphs, harmonic analyzers and synthesizers, differential analyzers, other analog computing devices, space measurement and representation, time measurement, and combination space and time measurement. Documentation includes the Electronic Computers History Collection and the Mathematical Devices History Collection. Photographs and video materials can also be found. The Smithsonian Institution Archives contains administrative documentation regarding the Computer History Project.
Provenance:
The Computer Oral History Collection was a cooperative project of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and the Smithsonian Institution. This project began in 1967 and was concluded in 1973. This collection was transferred to the Archives Center in approximately 1986 from the Division of Information, Technology & Society, formerly known as the Division of Electricity.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but original audio tapes and videotapes are stored off-site. Reference copies do not exist for all of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Computer Oral History Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Online transcripts for select oral history interviews were made possible by the Morton I. Bernstein Fund and the Association for Computing Machinery, the Special Interest Group on Management of Data (SIGMOD), and the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN).
This collection is primarily the work of one individual, Donald Harvey Sultner, known professionally as Donald Sultner-Welles (1914-1981). The collection forms a written and visual record of Sultner's family, life, and career from 1913-1980. Its major strength is Sultner's photographic documentation of the world during his travels, ca. 1950-1980. Work by other photographers and artists, correspondence, greeting cards, and contemporary memorabilia and ephemera are included, along with fewer than fifty examples of earlier materials, ca. 1790-1900, collected by Sultner.
The entire collection reflects Sultner's lifework and interests. Housed in boxes the collection is organized into eleven series: Personal Papers; Professional Papers; Lecture Materials; Biographical Materials; Transparencies; Photoprints; Photonegatives; Prints, Drawings, Mixed Media; Audio Tapes; Miscellaneous; and Steve Eyster Addenda. The arrangement within each series is based as closely as possi-ble on Sultner's own organization of the materials. However, in several instances similar materials were found separated and have been placed together. In addition, obvious filing mistakes and spelling errors have been corrected. The spelling of geographic place names is based on Official Standard Names prepared by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Office of Geography, U.S. Department of the Interior. Not all names given by Sultner were found in the gazetteers, so there may be errors.
The bulk of the collection consists of 2-1/4-inch by 2-1/4-inch color transparencies (Series 5). However, the manuscript materials (Series 1-4) provide a detailed complement to the transparencies. For example, from the mid-1950s until the late 1970s, Sultner kept a travel diary (Se-ries 1). Written on the backs of postcards, this stream-of-consciousness journal reflects not only his daily trips, but his impressions of the countries and thoughts on his photography. A juxtaposition of cards with images is especially useful in understanding what Sultner photographed as well as why and how he photographed it. Sultner's professional corre-spondence (Series 2) documents the various types of groups before which he performed and equipment manufacturers dealt with for cameras, projectors, and so on. Notes, drafts, and final lectures (Series 3) present the performance side of Sultner. This material, when viewed with tapes of concerts and slides, begins to recreate the photo-concert as Sultner presented it. Scrapbooks (Series 4), kept by Sultner from the 1940s to the 1980s, present Sultner's life and career in chronological fashion.
The transparency portion of the collection (Series 5), containing over 87,000 images, is especially rich because of its documentation of the countries of the world. People are seen at their daily tasks, such as washing clothes, marketing, shopping, and eating. Cities are documented as they changed over the years. Two areas in particular will be of spe-cial interest to European and Asian researchers. The first is Sultner's USIS Asian tour in 1959. He visited Japan, Java, India, Korea, the Phil-ippines, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The serene, prewar cities and coun-tryside of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam evince nothing of the devastation to come in the 1960a and 70s.
The second area of interest is Sultner's passion for documenting archi-tecture. As a guest of the German government in 1954, Sultner documented the devastation of World War II and photographed both the reconstruction of bombed buildings and the construction of buildings reflecting "new" postwar architectural styles. In addition to photographing post-WW II styles, throughout his career Sultner documented Palladian, baroque and Rococo architecture. This interest manifested itself in several of his lectures.
A third subject area of interest to Sultner was gardens. Among his first lectures following his USIS tour was "Gardens of the World." Sultner de-veloped this theme into an ongoing commitment to ecology, culminating in a filmstrip, "The Time is Now" (Series 10), prepared for the Hudson River Conservation Society in the 1960s. Carl Carmer, a noted author, wrote the text for the filmstrip. Sultner's taped interviews, lectures, and program music (Series 9) complement the transparencies. During his USIS-sponsored Asian tour in 1959, Sultner recorded impressions of his trip on tape. Interviews with people living in the countries he visited, radio interviews, and his own personal reflections are included. Of particular interest are his "No Harm Asking" interviews in Manila (tape #2), his interview of two French hotel managers in Saigon discussing post-French control conditions (tape #9), and--perhaps the most unusual--his discussion with Erna Hanfstaengl about her personal relationship with Adolf Hitler (tape #107). Scripts for lectures (Series 3) round out the documentation of Sultner's profes-sional work.
Because of the arrangement of the transparencies, it is necessary to check several areas for the same subject. For example, Vietnam images are in the "World" section alphabetically under Vietnam (box 81). Sult-ner also lectured on Vietnam, so there are Vietnamese images in the "framed subjects" (Boxes 137-138). Another example, perhaps more compli-cated, but more common to Sultner, was his distinguishing between images of unidentified "People" and identified "Portraits." Transparency stud ies of human beings will be found under the subseries "People." "Subjects --Portraits," various countries in the subseries "World," and "Lectures." There are also individuals in the black-and-white photoprints (Series 6), and photonegatives (Series 8). The painter and print-maker Charles Shee-ler appears in a number of locations, as does tenor Roland Hayes. Another area of complexity with regard to people concerns the transparencies and negatives. Sultner interfiled his transparencies and negatives of iden-tified individuals. For appropriate storage, these two different formats have been arranged in separate series. Therefore, instead of container lists for the two series, there is a combined alphabetical index to both (pp. 166-206).
Of tangential interest are the photoprints (Series 6), etchings, wood-cuts, and other prints (Series 8) collected by Sultner. One particular subseries of interest contains photographs presented to Sultner by Asian photographers during his 1959 tour. Over 45 images were given to Sultner and represent the standards of camera-club photography in the 1950s. Thesecond subseries consists of over 25 prints by the Italian-American art-ist Luigi Lucioni (1900- ). For further information on this artist,see The Etchings of Luigi Lucioni, -A Catalogue Raisonne', by Stuart P.Embury (Washington, 1984). Lucioni also painted Sultner's portrait in1952 and the "People" section of the transparencies contains a number of images of Lucioni at work. Another significant category is the Japanese prints, including two by a major nineteenth-century artist, Ando Hiro-shige (1797-1858).
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eleven series.
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1923-1981
Series 2: Professional Papers, 1954-1980
Series 3: Lecture Materials, 1952-1980
Series 4: Biographical Materials, 1954-1980
Series 5: Transparencies, 1947-1980
Series 6: Photoprints, 1913-ca. 1980
Series 7: Photonegatives, 1929-1981
Series 8: Prints, Drawings, Mixed Media, ca. 1790-1979
Series 9: Audio Tapes, 1947-1980
Series 10: Miscellaneous, 1947-1980
Series 11: Steve Eyster Addenda, 1937-1980
Biographical / Historical:
Donald Harvey Sultner was bom in York, Pennsylvania, on April 13, 1914, the son of Lillian May Arnold Sultner and Harvey A. Sultner. In 1923 Sultner attended the Lewis Institute in Detroit, Michigan, to overcome a speech impediment. He entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1932 and graduated in 1936. Sultner studied merchandising and sang in the glee club, then under the direction of composer Harl MacDonald. Sultner, a baritone, continued his interest in music and studied voice with Reinald Werrenrath and with Florence Benedict and Bruce Benjamin in New York City. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he appeared in concert with accompanists at schools, clubs, and resort hotels along the East Coast.
It appears that photography was always an important part of Sultner's life. Using a small format (120) camera, he recorded his vacation travels around the United States and Canada, parties, and his family. While living in New York, Sultner continued photographing friends and family and began photographing the famous people he encountered on his concert tours. In the early 1950s he began taking 2-1/4-inch by 2-1/4-inch color transparencies (slides) of landscapes and architecture as he traveled giving concerts.
Sultner, who had taken the stage name of "Sultner-Welles," began what was to be his lifework as a professional "photo-lecturer" in 1952. He illustrated his talks on nature, art, architecture, and the environment with his color slides. In 1954 Sultner toured West Germany as a guest of the Bonn government, and in 1959 he lectured in Asia under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. He was dubbed the "camera ambassador." Constantly adding new material to his collection of slides, Sultner traveled extensively throughout the United States, speaking before garden clubs, cultural organi-zations, and schools. He also appeared aboard various ships of the Holland-America line during a number of cruises abroad.
Sultner had established his performance style by the early 1960s. He expanded his lectures to include a combination of art, words, and music. The expanded presentation resulted in the "photo-concert," a unique synthesis of light and sound that Sultner frequently per-formed with a symphony orchestra. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra commissioned "Concertino for Camera and Orchestra" by Eric Knight with Sultner in mind. The world premiere was in Baltimore in March 1979. While he spoke on many art, garden, and architectural topics, Sultner specialized in subjects relating to the baroque and rococo periods and Palladian architecture.
Sultner died of cancer in York, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 1981, at the age of 67.
1914 -- April 13, born York, Pennsylvania.
1929 -- In Detroit at Lewis Institute to overcome a speech impediment.
1932 -- To University of Pennsylvania.
1935 -- Summer trip to Roanoke (VA), Picketts, Hershey (PA); fall trip to New England for fraternity (AXP) convention.
1936 -- Spring glee club trip; graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; summer trips to Newport News (VA), northern trip to Canada, Picketts (PA).
1937 -- Fall trip to Williamsburg (VA), Duke University (NC); Sultner family begins building "Glen Hill" (Dover, PA).
1938 -- Summer at home, and Picketts (PA), Camp Pratt.
1939 -- Spring trip to Washington, D.C.; September trip to The Homestead (WV), Hot Springs (WV), Virginia; Lake Mohonk (NY).
1940 -- Summer trip to New Orleans, Blowing Rock (NC); winter trip to Skytop Club (NY); fall trip to Atlantic City (NJ), Philadelphia (PA), Annapolis (MD).
1941 -- Winter 1941-42 appearance in "Hit the Deck." Lake Mohonk (NY) with Ted Walstrum (Sept. 22-23); Skytop Club (NY) (February); summer trip to Canada, Lake Chazy (NY) (Aug. 17-23).
1942 -- Spring in Atlantic City (NJ); summer to Buck Hill Falls, Lakes Chazy and Mohonk.
1943 -- Summer trip to Mohonk (NY).
1944 -- Summer: To Toronto (Ontario), Muskoka Lake, Bigwin Island, Montreal (Quebec), Mohonk (NY).
1946 -- To Mohonk (NY), Ogunquit (ME), Old Saybrook (CT), Nantucket (RI).
1947 -- Singing tour of Canada and New England; winter-spring tour to Georgia and Florida.
1948 -- To Florida and Nassau, Feb.-Mar., Vermont, July-Aug.; Nassau-Havana-Miami-Bermuda, October.
1949 -- Singing tour of North and South Carolina.
1950 -- Summer trip to South.
1951 -- To District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, [New Jersey?], New York, Vermont.
1952 -- January 9: first public photo-concert, Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, Philadelphia; trips to Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont.
1953 -- To Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont.
1954 -- Guest of German government for a study tour in the fall. To District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia.
1955 -- To Holland; Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia.
1956 -- To California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia.
1957 -- Holland-America Cruise to Germany, Austria, Italy. To Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia.
1958 -- Holland-America Cruises to Germany, Austria, Holland, Italy, Switzerland. To Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota., Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin.
1959 -- United States Information Service (USIS)-sponsored tour of Asia: Burma, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam. Also visited Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Spain; Alaska, California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania.
1960 -- Holland-America Cruise to Austria, Belgium, Caribbean, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Morocco. To Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
1961 -- To Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland; Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode.Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.
1962 -- Portfolio, "Autumn in Vermont," with introduction by Carl Carmer, published in Autumn issue of Vermont Life. Holland-America Cruise to Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden. To Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia.
1963 -- Holland-America Cruise to Caribbean, Canada, Sweden, Thailand. To Alabama, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, N;w York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington.
1964 -- Holland-America Cruise to Germany, Canada, England, Holland, Wales. To Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia.
1965 -- Holland-America Cruise to Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Wales. To Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia.
1966 -- Holland-America Cruise to Caribbean, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland. To New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia.
1967 -- Holland-America Cruise to Caribbean, Austria, Denmark, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Wales. To Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia.
1968 -- To Germany; Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia.
1969 -- To England, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland; Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia.
1970 -- Holland-America Cruise to Caribbean, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden. To Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia.
1971 -- Holland-America Cruise to Caribbean, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Sweden. To Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania.
1972 -- Holland-America Cruise to Asia, Pacific, Caribbean, Africa, Austria, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Turkey. To California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia.
1973 -- Holland-America Cruise to Austria, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Sweden. To California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont.
1974 -- To Germany, Switzerland; California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia.
1975 -- To Austria; California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia.
1976 -- To Canada; Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah.
1977 -- To Canada, Germany; New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia.
1978 -- To Scotland; Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina.
1979 -- To England; Florida.
1980 -- To Florida.
1981 -- March 25: Sultner dies of cancer, York, Pennsylania.
Introduction:
The Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection, ca. 1790-1981, came to the National Museum of American History in 1982 from the estate of Mr. Sultner. The collection was created by Sultner over his adult life and represents one of the most extensive collections of color transparencies created by one individual and held in a public repository. Sultner's emphasis was on world culture. He took the majority of his photographs in the eastern United States, western Europe, and Asia. Gardens, architecture, and people are the three major subject areas represented in the collection. Of additional interest are Sultner's taped impressions of his 1959 United States Information Service (USIS)-sponsored Asian tour. The collection occupies 309 boxes and covers more than 83 cubic feet.
The Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection is open to researchers in the Archives Center, third floor east, of the National Museum of American History, between 12th and 14th Streets, on Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20560. The Archives Center is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Written and telephone (202/357-3270) inquiries are welcome and researchers are encouraged to contact the Archives Center before their arrival. The FAX number is 202/786-2453.
This is the eleventh in a series of occasional guides to collections in the Archives Center. Finding aids to other collections are available. The Guide to Manuscript Collections in the National Museum of History and Technology (1978) and an updated compilation contain brief descriptions of all archival holdings in the Museum. All current Archives Center holdings are available for search on the Smithsonian Institution Bibliographic Information System (SIBIS), an online database.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but a portion of the collection 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.
A small number of letters and photographs are restricted until the year 2031. Identification list in box.
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 donation consists of 156 separate interviews or sound sources collected by Elgen Long while he was researching and writing his book, Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved which promotes the theory that Amelia Earhart's aircraft came to rest at the bottom of the ocean near Howland Island.
This collection is in English.
Scope and Contents:
The donation consists of 156 separate interviews or sound sources, some comprising two or more tape sides. Most of them are interviews conducted by Long, including interviews with: crew members of the Coast Guard Cutter Itasca; Naval and Coast Guard officials; mechanics and engineers involved in the maintenance of Earhart's aircraft; New Guinea and Australia residents and radio operators; friends, family and associates of Earhart and Noonan; and advocates of alternative disappearance theories. There are also radio interviews and a few movie soundtracks and miscellaneous items. The total running time of the collection is 13,209 minutes (220sca hours). This donation also includes a hard drive which holds 387 audio files in .mp3 or .mp4 format (each file is an interview with the possibility of multiple interviews per tape).
Arrangement:
Arrangement by donor.
Biographical / Historical:
Elgen Long collected oral recordings, both interviews and sound sources, while he was researching and writing his book, Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved which promotes the theory that Amelia Earhart's aircraft came to rest at the bottom of the ocean near Howland Island. These tapes were also used throughout Long's partnership with David W. Jourdan, founder of the deep-sea exploration company Nauticos, during their three attempts to locate Earhart's aircraft on the ocean floor (2002, 2006, and 2017).
Provenance:
David Jourdan, Gift, 2020, NASM.2020.0025
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Business and personal papers, photographs, and audio recordings of Claude "Fiddler" Williams, an award-winning jazz fiddler. Although Williams played music for almost a century the materials in this collection date largely from 1970 to 2005.
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the later life and career of jazz violinist Claude "Fiddler" Williams. Materials include correspondence, photographs, unpublished writings, awards, business records, financial records, programs and a few music manuscripts. There is one scrapbook and several audio recordings. There are also an autographed poster from 1997 honoring five inductees to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, including Claude Williams, Merle Haggard, Patti Page, Woody Guthrie and Eddie Burris. While there are some materials from Williams's youth, the vast majority of the collection dates from 1970. Williams's second wife, Blanche Y. Fouse-Williams, was vigilant about saving his papers. She also managed his career for the last few years of his life. This accounts for the increased volume of materials documenting his later years. Materials generally are arranged in chronological order within series and subseries.
Series 1, Business Records, 1973-2005, undated, is divided into seven subseries and includes business records, information relating to tours and performances, awards and certificates, business and personal correspondence, financial papers, articles and newspaper clippings, and biographical information.
Subseries 1, Events, 1977-2004, undated, includes contracts, copies of newspaper clippings, performance programs, brochures, ticket stubs, travel itineraries, travel receipts, correspondence, materials regarding his work as a fiddle teacher, advertisements for performances, a certificate of recognition, and napkins saved from a Washington Education Television Association (WETA) performance at the White House in 1998. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Subseries 2, Itineraries, 1990-2001, includes lists and correspondence detailing locations, musicians, travel and lodging plans, and financial compensation for William's performances. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Subseries 3, Awards and Certificates, 1978-2002, contains awards and certificates of appreciation from the Steamboat Delta Queen, Annual Black Musicians Conference, Kansas City Chapter of the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors, and the Manhattan School of Music, as well as an invitation to a reception honoring Kansas City Jazz musicians from the Consul General of Japan. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Subseries 4, Correspondence, 1975-2004, consists of information relating to travel arrangements, tours, remuneration, music recordings, press kits, contracts, public television performances, involvement with the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as Williams's Smithsonian Folkways recording. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Subseries 5, Financial Papers, 1990-2005, includes information about travel and payment, hotel bills and receipts, invoices for performances, music recordings sales, royalty statements and copies of checks. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Subseries 6, Press, 1973--005, undated, includes magazines, newspaper clippings and articles, about Williams's performances and music, appearances and jazz festivals, as well as the Kansas City Jazz scene. Magazine titles include Kansas City Magazine , Missouri Alumnus , The Masters Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program , Jazz Ambassador Magazine , Kansas City Ambassador to Jazz , The Mississippi Rag , Fiddler Magazine , Jazz News , Jazz Times , Living Blues , Blues Access , and Kansas City . Materials are arranged by type and then in chronological order.
Subseries 7, Music, 1989-1995, undated, contains thirteen audio tape recordings, one CD, sheet music and set lists of music performed by Williams. There is an audio recording of Black and Blue: A Musical Revue , a Folk Master performance at Carnegie Hall. Williams's work with James Chirillo, an appearance on Birdflight , as well as recordings of live and studio performances are also included among these materials. There is a copy of Williams's CD Swingtime in New York and an interview from1992. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
Series 2, Personal Papers, 1978--005, undated, is divided into two subseries and contains letters, cards, postcards, invitations, copies of email, and requests for information and interviews. Most of the correspondence was addressed to Williams but there are materials that were sent to Blanche Williams. The correspondence is generally from fans, friends and family.
Subseries 1, Correspondence, 1978-2005, undated, consists of birthday cards from school age children, postcards, copies of newspaper clippings, White House and other government correspondence, congratulations or birthday wishes, as well as personal correspondence from friends inquiring about Williams's health and well-being. Also included is a draft for a chapter in a book on Claude Williams's contributions to jazz. Requests relating to research about Williams are also included. Materials are arranged in chronological order. Materials are arranged first by type followed by general correspondence in chronological order.
Subseries 2, Miscellaneous, undated, contains ephemera, autographs, affiliates list, well-wishes to Blanche Williams, a funeral program, mailing lists, lists of affiliated organizations, and a Count Bassie autograph.
Series 3, Photographs, 1977-2004, undated, includes personal and professional photographic prints and negatives of Williams. Subjects include performances and festivals, headshots and publicity, images of other musicians, family, friends, and posters with photographs created for his funeral. The majority of these photographs are of performances. Materials are arranged by subject.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1, Business Records, 1973-2005, undated
Subseries 1.1, Events, 1977-2004, undated
Subseries 1.2, Itineraries, 1990-2001
Subseries 1.3, Awards and Certificates, 1978-2002
Subseries 1.4, Correspondence, 1975-2004
Subseries 1.5, Financial Papers, 1990-2005
Subseries 1.6, Press, 1973-2005, undated
Subseries 1.7, Music; 1989-1995, undated
Series 2, Personal Papers, 1978-2005, undated
Subseries 2.1, Correspondence, 1978-2005, undated
Subseries 2.2, Miscellaneous, undated
Series 3, Photographs, 1977-2004, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Claude "Fiddler" Williams, 1908-2004, was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the son of a blacksmith. His musical gifts developed at a very early age, and he quickly became adept at the guitar, banjo, mandolin and cello, learning mostly by ear, without formal training. After hearing the jazz violinist Joe Venuti, the violin became his instrument of choice, and it remained so for the rest of his life. He migrated to Kansas City in 1927 and toured with several territory bands. Additionally Williams toured with the Twelve Clouds of Joy and the Cole Brothers, and in 1936, joined Count Basie's band as the first guitarist. After he was fired from Count Basie's band because John Hammond thought Williams's guitar solos were taking too much attention away from Basie, he went back to the violin (or "fiddle" as he preferred to call it) and focused exclusively on it for the rest of his life. Later he started his own band and toured with several jazz groups working for a short time with the Works Progress Administration (WPA). His band appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Nice Jazz Festival, and the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folk Life. Williams received numerous honors and awards, including induction into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, a proclamation from the city of Kansas City, and a 1998 National Heritage Fellowship which included a $10,000 award. President Bill Clinton invited him to perform at one of the parties celebrating his first inauguration. Williams continued to tour and perform until well into his nineties. He also gave instruction at Mark O'Connor's annual fiddle camp to young violinists. Mr. Williams died in April 2004.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts donated to the Museum's Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) include a suit and violin. See accession numbers: 2005.3105 and 2007.3020.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Claude Williams's widow, Blanche Y. Fouse-Williams, in 2005.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Technical Access: Do not use original materials when available on reference audio tapes.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Music -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Date:
1946-2004
bulk 1970-2004
Summary:
Nathaniel Mathis is a Washington, D.C., hairstylist, inventor, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. His papers document his business life and community involvement.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the work of a hairstylist, inventor, entrepreneur, and public figure whose career reflects significant changes in the African American community in the later 20th century. It is rich in visual imagery created by and for this community. Business papers, correspondence, publicity, photographs, awards and certificates documenting Mathis's work as a highly regarded barber and hairstylist in Washington, D.C., and as member of the D.C. Board of Barbering and Cosmetology are included. Business papers offer insight into the workings of a small privately-owned business. Numerous publicity items and photographs offer evidence of African American style and fashion in New York and Washington, D.C., from the late 1960s through today. Additional material documents Mathis's activities as a community activist, motivational speaker and distance runner. The collection also includes photographs, oral history interviews, and audio-visual materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Biographical Information and Activities, 1946-2001, undated
Series 2: Beauty Business Documents and Advertising, 1969-2002, undated
Series 3: Publicity, 1963-2002
Series 4: Washington, D.C. Barbering and Cosmetology Boards, 1966-1997, undated
Series 5: Correspondence, 1967-2002, undated
Series 6: Awards and Certificates, 1969-2001, undated
Series 7: Photographs, 1966-1989, undated
Series 8: Video Materials, 1983-2002, undated
Series 9: Audio Tapes, 1998-2004, undated
Series 10: Memorabilia, 1992-1998, undated
Biographical / Historical:
"Nat Mathis (b. 1946) is a native Washingtonian. He is a man of many talents and measures his success in many ways: innovative hairstylist, entrepreneur, inventor, community activist, motivational speaker and distance runner. Mathis opened his first barber shop in 1969. He is the winner of many national and international hairstyling awards and competitions and was the first African American to win the International Hair Styling competition in Cairo, Egypt in 1981. Mathis was among the first African American hairstylists to embrace and popularize the Afro and, later, cornrows -- hairstyles which many view as expressions of black empowerment. Mathis himself seldom expresses a political ideology of hair, but by 1970, Nat was known among his many satisfied clients and peers as "the Bush Doctor" for his expertise in Afro style and maintenance. He has styled hair for many celebrities; made numerous television appearances; and has been a stylist for several productions at the Kennedy Center, and for two major motion pictures, including Nixon, for which he re-created period hairstyles. He is active in community affairs, gives motivational speeches throughout the Washington, D.C., area, and is particularly interested in mentoring young people. He currently operates a barber shop adjacent to his home in Capitol Heights, Maryland."
*Biographical information provided by Nat Mathis's Official Website, "A Man of Many Talents." http://www.natmathis.com (accessed 02 August, 2006).
Separated Materials:
Mr. Mathis donated three of his patented barbering vests (See Accession # 1998.0114) to the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life).
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by Nathaniel Mathis on April 9, 1998.
Restrictions:
The copllection is open for research.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Technical Access: Series 8, Video materials and Series 9, Audiotapes may not be used by researchers unless reference and viewing copies are made available.
Rights:
Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use. The Archives Center does not own rights to the patent, trademark or any related interest in the artifacts.
The Cover Girl Make-Up Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project, 1923-1991, is the result of a year-long study in 1990, which examined the advertising created for Noxell Corporation's Cover Girl make-up products from 1959 to 1990. The objective of the project was to document, in print and electronic media, the history of Cover Girl make-up advertising since its inception in 1959.
Scope and Contents:
Twenty-two oral history interviews (conducted by Dr. Scott Ellsworth for the Archives Center) and a variety of print and television advertisements, photographs, scrapbooks, personal papers, business records and related materials were gathered by the Center for Advertising History staff. The objective was to create a collection that provides documentation, in print and electronic media, of the history and development of advertising for Cover Girl make-up since its inception in 1959.
Collection also includes earlier material related to other Noxell products, including Noxzema, with no direct connection to the Cover Girl campaign.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight series.
Series 1: Research Files
Series 2: Interviewee Files
Series 3: Oral History Interviews
Series 4: Television Advertising Materials
Series 5: Print Advertising Materials
Series 6: Company Publications and Promotional Literature
Series 7: Photographs
Series 8: Scrapbooks
Biographical / Historical:
George Avery Bunting founded the Noxzema Chemical Company in Baltimore, Maryland in 1917. In the 1890s, he left behind a teaching job on Maryland's Eastern shore to move to Baltimore, where he hoped to pursue a career as a pharmacist. He landed a job as errand boy and soda jerk at a local drugstore, where he worked while attending classes at the University Of Maryland College of Pharmacy. Valedictorian of the Class of 1899, Bunting was promoted to manager of the drugstore, which he purchased. Bunting began to experiment with the formulation of medicated pastes and compounds, which he marketed to his customers. In 1909, he began refining a medicated vanishing cream, which he introduced in 1914. "Dr. Bunting's Sunburn Remedy," an aromatic skin cream containing clove oil, eucalyptus oil, lime water, menthol and camphor, was mixed by hand at his pharmacy. Marketed locally as a greaseless, medicated cream for the treatment of a variety of skin conditions, including sunburn, eczema, and acne, the product was renamed "Noxzema" for its reputed ability to "knock eczema." By 1917, the Noxzema Chemical Company was formed. During the 1920s, distribution of the product was expanded to include New York, Chicago, and the Midwest and, by 1926, the first Noxzema manufactory was built in northwest Baltimore to accommodate the demand for nearly a million jars a year.
Having achieved a national market by 1938, Noxzema Chemical Company executives pursued product diversification as a means to maintain the corporate growth of the early years. In the 1930s and 1940s, line extensions included shaving cream, suntan lotion and cold cream, all with the distinctive "medicated" Noxzema aroma.
In the late 1950s, Bill Hunt, director of product development at Noxzema, suggested a line extension into medicated make-up. Creatives at Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles, Incorporated (SSC&B), Noxzema's advertising agency since 1946, suggested that the advertising for the new product focus on beauty and glamour with some reference to the medicated claims made for other Noxzema products. In contrast to other cosmetics, which were sold at specialized department store counters, Noxzema's medicated make-up would be marketed alongside other Noxzema products in grocery stores and other mass distribution outlets. After experimenting with names that suggested both glamour and the medicated claims (including Thera-Blem and Blema-Glow), Bill Grathwohl, Noxell's advertising director, selected Carolyn Oelbaum's "Cover Girl," which conveyed the product's usefulness as a blemish cover-up, while invoking the glamorous image of fashion models. These three elements of the advertising, wholesome glamour, mass marketing, and medicated make-up, remain central to Cover Girl advertising nearly a half-century later.
Beginning with the national launch in 1961, American and international fashion models were featured in the ads. The target audience was identified as women between eighteen and fifty-four and, initially, the "glamour" ads were targeted at women's magazines, while the "medicated" claims were reserved for teen magazines. Television ads featured both elements. Cover Girl advertising always featured beautiful women -- especially Caucasian women, but the Cover Girl image has evolved over time to conform to changing notions of beauty. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Cover Girl was refined and aloof, a fashion conscious sophisticate. By the 1970s, a new social emphasis on looking and dressing "naturally" and the introduction of the "Clean Make-up" campaign created a new advertising focus on the wholesome glamour of the "girl next door," a blue-eyed, blonde all-American image. In the 1980s, the Cover Girl look was updated to include African-American, Hispanic and working women.
In January 1970, SSC&B bought 49% of the Lintas Worldwide advertising network. After SSC&B was acquired by the Interpublic Group of Companies in 1979, the entire Lintas operation was consolidated under the name SSC&B/Lintas in 1981. With the Procter & Gamble buy-out of the Noxell Corporation in September 1989, the cosmetics account was moved to long-time P&G agency Grey Advertising, in order to circumvent a possible conflict of interest between P&G competitor Unilever, another Lintas account. In 1989 SSC&B/Lintas, Cover Girl's agency since its launch in 1961, lost the account it helped to create and define, but the brand continues to dominate mass-marketed cosmetics.
This project is the result of a year-long study of advertising created for the Noxell Corporation's Cover Girl make-up products, 1959-1990. The effort was supported in part by a grant from the Noxell Corporation. The target audience was identified as women 18-54, and initially, the "glamour" ads were targeted at women's magazines, while the "medicated" claims were reserved for teen magazines. Television ads featured both elements. Cover Girl advertising has always featured beautiful women (especially Caucasian women), but the Cover Girl image evolved over time to conform with changing notions of beauty. In the late 1950s-1960s, the Cover Girl was refined and aloof, a fashion conscious sophisticate. By the 1970s, a new social emphasis on looking and dressing "naturally" and the introduction of the "Clean Make-up" campaign created a new advertising focus on the wholesome glamour of the "girl next door," a blue-eyed, blonde all-American image. Through the 1980s, the Cover Girl look was updated to include African-American and Hispanic models and images of women at work.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060)
N W Ayer Advertising Agency Records (AC0059)
Separated Materials:
"The Division of Home and Community Life, Costume Collection (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds eighty-six cosmetic items and one computer that were also donated by the Noxell Corporation in 1990 in conjunction with the oral history project. These artifacts include lipstick, manicure sets, brushes, make-up, eye shadow, blush, powder puffs, eyelash curler, nail polish, and mascara. See accession number 1990.0193.
"
Provenance:
Most of the materials in the collection were donated to the Center for Advertising History by the Noxell Corporation, 1990. All storyboards and videoscripts, and a large collection of business records and proofsheets were donated by George Poris in June 1990. All mechanicals were donated by Art Weithas in June 1990. (These contributions are noted in the finding aid).
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but a portion of the collection 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.
United Nations. Office of the High Commissioner for Human RIghts. Search this
United States Catholic Conference. Migration and Refugee Services Search this
Extent:
0.6 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Interviews
Oral histories (document genres)
Correspondence
Identity cards
Diaries
Audiotapes
Checkbooks
Date:
1953-2006
Summary:
Papers relating to Catherine Hann's life in Vietnam (1953-1981), her flight by boat to Malaysia and stay at Pulau Bidong refugee camp (February --September 1981), her immigration to the United States (September 1981), and her work in Maryland as a circuit board assembler, manicurist and esthetician.
Scope and Contents:
The Catherine Hann Papers are divided into five series: Life in Vietnam, pre-1981; Stay in Malaysia, 1981; United States, 1981-2006; Oral History Interviews, 2002, 2006; and Photographs, 1955-2005.
Series 1 consists of four documents from Hann's life in Vietnam: an official copy of Hann's 1953 birth certificate, her college student ID, her Gia Long High School student ID and her 1974 South Vietnamese identity card.
Series 2 documents Hann's stay in the Pulau Bidong refugee camp off the coast of Malaysia and her family's medical processing in Kuala Lumpur. Especially interesting is a small diary Hann kept in 1981 documenting the building of the fishing boat, the voyage in the Gulf of Thailand, the stay at Pulau Bidong and Kuala Lumpur, and the family's first few months in the United States. There is an English translation of the diary. Other materials in this series include letters sent by relatives and friends to Hann in the refugee camp, papers documenting a family member's attempt to sponsor the family in the U.S., and hand-made Certificates of Commendation awarded to Hann's husband for his work in the refugee camp. The original letter with attached photographs from the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur granting permission for the family to immigrate is included.
Series 3 describes Hann's life in the United States as she transitioned from refugee to financially successful American citizen. Uncommon pieces of ephemera are cancelled checks repaying a loan from the United States Catholic Conference for the purchase of plane tickets from Malaysia to the United States. Also included are papers from Hann's seventeen years in the electronics industry, textbooks for manicurist training, a ledger and checkbook from Hann's short-lived Nails & Beauty Spa, Inc., and daily schedules with earnings from her current job at Totally Polished.
Series 4 consists of the original audiocassettes, reference CDs and typed transcript of an oral history conducted by Susan B. Strange, associate curator, with Hann on March 7, 2006, as well as a typed transcript of a December 14, 2002, interview with Hann conducted by Daniel Ekman, a student at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland.
Original photographs in Series 5 document Hann's life in Vietnam, her husband's work in the refugee camp, the family's departure from Pulau Bidong, and Hann at work at Fairchild Space Co. Also in Series 5 is a folder with photocopies of seven photographs taken in 2005 by a Smithsonian staff member of Hann working at her manicure table. Smithsonian negative numbers are included with the photocopies; releases from the photographer, Hann, and the woman having a manicure, are in the Archives Center's control file for this collection. In the same folder are photocopies of five photographs (originals retained by Hann) showing Hann's life in Vietnam; the Archives Center scan number is printed on each photocopy. Hann granted copyright in these five photographs to the National Museum of American History on April 22, 2006; the release form is in the Archives Center's control file.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into five series with chronological arrangement.
Series 1: Life in Vietnam, 1953-1981
Series 2: Stay in Malaysia, 1981
Series 3: United States, 1981-2006
Series 4: Oral History Interviews, 2002, 2006
Series 5: Photographs, 1955-2005
Biographical / Historical:
Catherine Hann was born in Saigon, State of Vietnam, on November 14, 1953 as Huynh bach Thuy. (She changed her name to Catherine Hann when she became a naturalized American citizen on June 19, 1987.) Hann, her parents and younger siblings lived in Saigon where her father worked as an instructor at Truong Quan Y, a South Vietnamese Army medical school. In 1968 Hann's family moved further south to Rach-Gia in Kien Giang province to care for Hann's recently-widowed paternal grandmother. Hann, the eldest of twelve children, stayed behind in Saigon, living with a great-uncle, so that she could continue attending Gia Long High School, one of the most prestigious and academically challenging public schools for girls in the country.
After graduation from Gia Long in 1973, Hann attended the University of Science in Saigon where she studied to become a biologist. In 1975, Hann's father, who had worked in a South Vietnamese military hospital in Rach-Gia since his arrival there in 1968, was sent to a "re-education camp." Hann returned to Rach-Gia to be with her mother and to help support the family. She then began attending a teacher training program in Rach-Gia where she trained as a biology teacher. At the training program, Hann met Han Huu Vinh who became her husband in 1976. After graduation, Hann taught biology in a high school in Rach-Gia while her husband taught mathematics in the same school. Their son, Kinh, was born in 1977.
In addition to supplementing the family income with her teacher salary, she also purchased unprocessed rice or "rough rice," had it milled, and sold the resulting white rice. To make a little more money for the family, the hulls and other residue from the milling process were sold as hog food. The future looked bleak, and Hann and her husband decided to take their young son and flee the country.
After two failed attempts to escape by boat, the Hanns were luckier the third time. A family friend obtained permission to build a fishing boat, a small wooden craft only 11.5 meters by 2.1 meters. Hann's family, one of the initiators and organizers of the scheme to use the fishing boat as a means of escape, hired a man who had served in the South Vietnamese Navy to navigate. At 2:05 a.m. on the morning of February 14, 1981, ninety-two people left Rach-Gia on the overloaded boat and headed southwest. Three days later the fishing vessel, towing another boat found stranded after being attacked by pirates, docked at Pulau Bidong, an island off the coast of Malaysia. After five months in the United Nations refugee camp on Pulau Bidong, Hann, husband, son, brother, and husband's nephew were taken to Kuala Lumpur for processing in preparation for immigration to the United States.
Hann's husband's sister, a naturalized American living in Rockville, Maryland, was their sponsor, and on September 11, 1981, the five-member family group arrived in the United States. The five continued to live together for about four years before Hann's brother and her husband's nephew went out on their own. After being on welfare and receiving intensive English-language training, Hann and her husband gradually became self-sufficient. Hann's first job was working in the cafeteria at Montgomery College in Rockville which she left to work at Denro Labs doing electronic assembly. Hann's husband's first job was at Solarex testing solar panels.
After almost ten years in the electronic assembly field, a Vietnamese friend encouraged Hann to train as a manicurist, and in 1992 Hann graduated from the Aesthetics Institute of Cosmetology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. At first she only manicured her own nails, but a year or so later Hann began working on Saturdays at a busy nail salon while continuing to work full-time in the electronics industry. When she learned that doing facials and waxing was faster and more profitable than doing manicures, Hann obtained training and a license to become an esthetician. After her week-day employer, Orbital Science Corp., moved to Sterling, Virginia, in 2000, a long commute for Hann, she started working full-time as an esthetician and manicurist at Totally Polished in Potomac, Maryland.
Hann works six days a week at Totally Polished, and on her day off she spends the morning doing manicures and waxing for private clients in their homes. This hard work has enabled Hann and her husband to pay off the mortgage on their single-family house in Gaithersburg and purchase a rental house in Florida. Their only child, Kinh, also has done well, earning a Master's Degree from the University of Maryland and now (2006) working on his PhD in biomedical engineering. Kinh is employed by Digene Corporation; he bought a house three years ago; and, as his mother proudly states, he drives a brand new BMW. Hann's stated reason for fleeing her country was "for my son's future;" the family's hard work and sacrifices seem to have made her hopes come true.
Separated Materials:
In 2005, the Division of Work and Industry collected manicure tools and soldering test equipment from Hann; in 2006 the division collected facial and waxing-related objects from Hann. Clothing worn on the boat fleeing Vietnam was donated in 2006 to the Division of Home and Community Life, along with tweezers Hann purchased in Saigon and carried throughout her immigration experience. The wedding of Kinh Hann to Leila Poursedehi in 2008 is documented in the Archives Center Weddings Documentation Collection, collection number 1131. The Vietnamese wedding dress that Leila Poursedehi wore at their wedding dinner was donated to the costume collection in the Division of Home and Community Life in 2008.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Catherine Hann, March 18, 2006.
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.
Papers, oral history, and transcripts relating to Emiliano Martinez, a Cuban immigrant.
Scope and Contents:
Papers and photographs related to the immigration experience of Cuban refugee Martinez: a story from the Washington Post, March 12, 1984; a 45-minute cassette recording of an interview (in Spanish) by Richard E. Ahlborn with Martinez; a transcription in Spanish of the interview; six photographs of the hut taken by a zoo photographer; a covering memorandum from Ahlborn; a copy of Martinez's earnings from the sale of cans; and a diagram of his hut. Ahlborn, a curator in the Division of Community Life, was assisted by Juana Martin, a social worker.
Biographical / Historical:
The story of Emiliano Martinez, a Cuban refugee, was publicized as an example of the ingenuity and survival skills of recent immigrants to this nation. Martinez fled Cuba in one of the freedom flotillas of 1980. After a year in a refugee camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, he arrived in Washington, D.C. in April 1981. He shared apartments with other Cuban refugees until October 1982. Using his carpentry skills, he constructed a hut on undeveloped land at the National Zoo, where he lived from December 1982 until March 1984. He then moved into a boarding house in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood. He made his livelihood by selling aluminum cans to a Safeway grocery store for an average of sixty-five dollars a month.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Emilio Martinez.
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.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Community Life Search this
Extent:
5 Cubic feet (22 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Manuscripts
Audiotapes
Scrapbooks
Slides (photographs)
Place:
Carmel (Calif.)
Panama Canal (Panama)
California
Date:
1896-1981.
Summary:
Collection documents Sims's activities as a traveler and his interest in historic restoration. It includes forty-one notebooks, 6,000 color slides, a smaller number of photographic prints, forty-one stereo view cards, and three boxes of personal papers and ephemera. While some images are personal, the majority form a documentary record of various subjects and places and provide biographical information on Sims.
Scope and Contents:
These papers document Sims's activities as a traveler and his interest in historic restoration. They consist of forty-one notebooks, Series 1-4; and three boxes, Series 5-9, of personal papers and ephemera. Series 5-7 are particularly valuable for biographical information. Series 10 includes 6,000 color slides, a smaller number of photographic prints, and forty-one stereo view cards. The total volume of the collection is approximately eleven linear feet.
The notebooks cover the years 1896, 1908-1913, 1918, and 1934-1976. The notebooks are written in a documentary styles that is enhanced by literary touches and perceptive details. The subjects include visits to several national parks, the Boronda adobe, and travel on most continents.
The 6,000 35mm slides that Sims took between 1944 and 1976 portray the use of the automobile in travel, national and international touring, and family travel. They are organized by either trip or location. They document his collecting, research, and restoration interests, and complement his written and artistic work. In technique, Sims's photographs are at least a cut above amateur photography. The slides remain in the order in which the Archives Center received them. In some cases they are organized, captioned, and numbered as a slide program. In other cases, while they are captioned they are not part of a specific slide program that Sims organized. Usually the identification in the Detailed Container List represents Sims' s own captions, which have been copied from the slide sleeves.
While some images are personal, the majority form a documentary record of various subjects and places. All the slides are dated and labeled or captioned, either on box inserts or on the slides themselves. The slides are generally organized by trip. Of particular interest is the documentation of Sims's restoration of the Boronda adobe. These slides are well captioned and show the step by step process.
The slides include many early Kodachromes from the 1940s in excellent condition. These represent the few examples of this type in the Museum. Although these slides are not extraordinarily rare, they are a very early example of the color process.
There are also black and white prints and a few color prints. Some of these document an automobile trip along the California coast in the 1930s. All the black-and-white prints portray the photographer for Sims's concern to document his travels adequately and in a meaningful way.
The three document boxes of supplemental material includes articles, correspondence (for example, a letter to Sims from the Henry Ford Museum thanking him for donating an oral history of a motoring trip he had taken), business cards, certificates of achievement, hotel ephemera, news clippings (Series 12), published travel accounts, printed travel brochures, and audio tapes (Series 11), in which Sims recounts many of his trips over the years. This material is valuable because it provides biographical information on Sims. It also may be useful for exhibits and research. Much of the material—the hotel ephemera and the printed travel brochures and accounts—is similar to ephemera in the Warshaw Collection.
Sims's photographs are similar in content to two other collections in the Archives Center. The Clyde W. Stauffer Family Photographic Album portrays family automobile trips across the United States between 1935 and 1940. The Donald Sultner Welles Collection of travel slides documents locations throughout the United States and around the world.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 12 series.
Series 1:Notebooks, 1896-1975
Series 2: Political Notes, 1964-1976
Series 3: Comments on Vietnam, 1954-1975
Series 4: Moon Landings, 1969-1976
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1896-1981, undated
Series 6: Correspondence, 1920-1987
Series 7: Biography, 1911-1938
Series 8: Published Material, 1927-1966
Series 9: Artifacts, 1913-1937
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1936-1962
Series 11: Audio Materials
Series 12: Newsclippings, undated
Historical:
Boronda Adobe
In 1946 George W. Sims purchased the old Boronda adobe in the Carmel Valley of California, and over the next ten years he restored it.
The Boronda family sold the ranch and adobe to Nathan W. Spaulding in the late 1860s or early 1870s. He was a mayor of Oakland, California. The next owner was the Pacific Improvement Company in the early 1880s, the forerunner of Del Monte Properties Company. A small cheese factory was built to commercialize the product under the name "Monterey Jack." Nevertheless, the adobe eventually became abandoned as a house. Before Sims purchased it the adobe was used as a shelter for dairy cows.
Sims plastered the outside walls to protect the soft adobe bricks and whitewashed the interior walls. The original dirt floor was covered with a floor of two-inch clear, heart redwood, random planks. It slopes downhill as does the roof of the house. The entire house follows the topography of the site. Sims left several cables stretching across the crudely raftered ceiling to support the walls.
Sims reroofed the house with one hundred year old roof tiles from the old Vasquez adobe in Monterey, California. He also constructed a workshop on the cement foundation of the old cheese factory and milk barn, added a carport, and built a fence protected patio of the Mexican type, adjacent to a Spanish garden with gravel paths. The patio walls were made of adobe created from Carmel Valley soil.
The first floor of the adobe consists of a long living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bath. An inside staircase was added and leads to the second floor living room, two bedrooms, and a bath. All of the rooms on the main floor are on a different level. The kitchen at one end of the house is thought to date to the 1790s when the land belonged to the Carmel Mission.
Biographical / Historical:
George W. Sims (1896-1986) was a tax lawyer, certified public accountant, world traveler, and collector of pre-Columbian objects. He spent his childhood in Fairfax County, Virginia. At age seventeen he began the study of law at the Washington College of Law (now American University), and worked at night as a telephone company traffic manager. He was employed as a clerk in the Panama Canal Zone by the Panama Railroad Company, Commissary Branch, from 1915-1916. Sims left Washington, DC, because he needed money for school and received a better salary in Latin America. "The pay was 25% higher there [Panama] than in the U.S.A., because the risks of Yellow Fever were great, and work and living conditions less satisfactory than at home." (Box 8, folder 6) This was the first of his many trips to other countries. He then returned to Washington and graduated from law school.
Between 1918-1919 he served as sergeant first class in the aviation section of the Signal Corps. He was stationed for a time at the Vichy (France) Hospital Center, a part of the United States Base Army Hospital, No. 115. After the war Sims did graduate work in accounting at Benjamin Franklin University in the District of Columbia, studying at night. During the day he worked in the Navy Department's communications section.
In 1919 Sims and a few friends traveled west on one of the early automobile trips across the United States. In July he visited Fresno, California. He returned that same year to Washington, DC, and "made plans for making the West (and Fresno) his permanent home." In January, 1924, Sims returned with his wife to fulfill those plans and thus began his long time love affair with the West and California." (Scrapbooks: Vol. 38, Box 8, folder 2)
After his first wife Katherine died in 1946, Sims spent much time on world cruises. His destinations included North, South, and Central America, Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Between 1946 and 1956 he also purchased and restored the 1832 Boronda adobe in Carmel, California.
Sims married Emma Marenchin Sims on her birthday November 2, 1971 in Santa Barbara, California. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Sims (1914-? ) worked in the public health field after graduating from Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She remarked, "My world opened up when I married George." Sims died in 1986.
Provenance:
Collection donated by George W. Sims, January 10, 1985.
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.
International business machines corporation Search this
Extent:
5 Cubic feet (15 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Personal papers
Passports
Lantern slides
Drawings
Correspondence
Clippings
Audiotapes
Diaries
Date:
1938-1998
Summary:
The Herb Grosch Papers, 1948-1998, cover the life and career of an early computer professional. It consists of correspondence, clippings, photographs, computer disks, reports, and other printed materials.
Scope and Contents:
The Herb Grosch Papers, 1948-1998, cover the life and career of an early computer professional. It consists of correspondence, clippings, photographs, computer disks, reports, and other printed materials. The collection is approximately 5 cubic feet and is divided into six series: Series 1, Personal Materials, 1938-1998; Series 2, General Electric (GE), 1955-1968, 1993-1995; Series 3, Control Data Corporation, 1961-1966; Series 4, Other Employment, 1945-1997; Series 5, Professional Interests, 1954-1993; and Series 6, Computer History, 1945-1996. The largest and most comprehensive series within the collection focuses on Grosch's employment, in various capacities, by General Electric. The Control Data material is of special interest due to its in-depth studies of the European computer market in the early 1960s.
Series 1, Personal Materials, 1938-1998, illustrates Grosch's personal life and consists of biographical sketches, identification and business cards, vaccination certificates, daily planners/diaries, flight logs, diplomas, a dissertation, correspondence, articles by and about him, photographs, and the manuscript of his autobiography, Computer,Bit Slices of a Life. The manuscript is of special interest, in that it is a description of Grosch's life up to the 1960s. Also providing personal descriptions of Grosch's life is an extensive chronology of employment written by Grosch. The bulk of the materials date from the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s, with another smaller concentration of correspondence in the early 1990s.
Series 2, General Electric (GE), 1953-1968, 1993-1995, contains correspondence, clippings, photographs and printed materials related to Grosch's two tenures at GE. The series is divided into four subseries: General GE Materials, GE's Evandale plant, GE's Computer Department at Arizona State University, and GE's TEMPO think tank in Santa Barbara. The subseries about the Evandale plant and the Arizona Computer Department are most comprehensive, describing the projects from their inception until Grosch's departure. Also of interest to those studying GE history is the collection of letters between Grosch and his Arizona boss, H.R. Oldfield, discussing Oldfield's book about GE and its failure in the computer business.
Series 3, Control Data Corporation, 1961-1966, contains correspondence, reports and printed materials covering Grosch's consulting work with Control Data. The bulk of the material has to do with a survey of the European computer industry and market, undertaken by Grosch for Control Data. Included are over forty reports that Grosch composed from plant visits he made to various European computer companies. Also included is the overall summary of these individual reports.
Series 4, Other Employment, 1945-1994, contains correspondence, printed materials, clippings and photographs related to other employment pursued by Grosch. The series covers Grosch's work at IBM, the Corporation for Economic and Industrial Research (CEIR), and his editorial reign at Computerworld magazine. Of interest to IBM researchers are the photos of early IBM gatherings at Endicott, New York and early IBM machines at the Watson Scientific Computer Laboratory.
Series 5, Professional Interests, 1954-1996, consists of articles and other printed materials related to Grosch's scientific and technical interests. The majority of the series deals with Grosch's interest in computers, their applications and their effects upon society. A smaller set of material relates to other Grosch interests, notably astronomy and scientific standards.
Series 6, Computer History, 1949-1996, consists of clippings, reports, and correspondence illustrating Grosch's interest in the history of computing. Of special interest is a report from U.S. Department of Commerce that lists the technical specifications of a number of old computers. Also, in addition to many more famous computing pioneers, Grosch collected information on English mathematician, L.J. Comrie, including a biographical sketch, photographs and correspondence carried on with Comrie's widow and son.
Series 2, General Electric (GE), 1953-1968, 1993-1995
Subseries 2.1, General GE Materials, 1953-1966
Subseries 2.2, GE Evandale Plant, 1952, 1955-1956
Subseries 2.3, GE Computer Department, 1954-1958, 1993-1995
Subseries 2.4, GE TEMPO, 1963-1968
Series 3, Control Data Corporation, 1961-1966
Subseries 3.1, General Materials, 1961-1962, 1964, 1966
Subseries 3.2, European Computer Industry Survey, 1961-1963
Series 4, Other Employment, 1945-1997
Series 5, Professional Interests, 1954-1996
Series 6, Computer History, 1945-1996
Biographical / Historical:
Herb Grosch (1918-2010) was born in Saskatoon, Canada and became a United States citizen with his father's naturalization. He attended grade school in Ontario and Ohio and high school in Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan from 1934 to 1941, receiving his B.S. in 1938 and his PhD in 1942, both in astronomy. An outspoken and controversial figure, Grosch's professional career was marked with numerous jobs. In 1941-1942 he was an astronomer for the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. and later during World War II worked on fire control and optical engineering. Grosch's astronomical work required many calculations to be done by hand, thus he was well qualified to deal with the computational issues involved in early computer work. In 1945 he was hired by IBM for the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory in New York, first to do backup calculations for the Manhattan Project and then to help run the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), an early computer. Grosch was fired in 1951 and moved on to MIT where he worked as a part of the design group for the WHIRLWIND II computer. In 1952 he joined General Electric (GE) and set up and oversaw computer operations in Ohio, Massachusetts, and Arizona. In 1958 he returned to IBM and was the manager of their space program, before being fired again in 1959. Following IBM he moved to Europe and began consulting, notably a survey of the European computer industry for Control Data in 1962-1963. He returned to the United States to work again for GE in 1965, heading the DEACON project at GE's TEMPO think tank. Grosch left GE again in 1967. From 1967 through 1970 he directed the Center for Computer Sciences and Technology for the National Bureau of Standards. From 1973 to 1976 he was the editor of Computerworld magazine. Since then Grosch has lived in both Europe and America and done both consulting work and writing. He wrote and published a autobiography, Computer: Bit Slices of a Life, that describes his rather tempestuous relationships with GE and IBM. Grosch is perhaps best known for Grosch's Law which says the computing power increases as a square of the cost, or more concretely, in order to perform a computation twice as cheaply you must do it four times as fast.
Related Materials:
Grosch was interviewed as a part of the Smithsonian computer oral history project and the taped interviews exist in Collection AC0196, the Computer Oral History Collection, in the Archives Center.
Provenance:
The materials in the collection were donated by Herb Grosch on October 13, 1999.
The Archives Center received an addendum of .50 cubic feet in March 2010 from Ella Doyle.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
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.
International Battle of the Bands, Inc. Search this
Extent:
32 Cubic feet (88 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Audiovisual materials
Business records
Certificates
Music videos
Scrapbooks
Black-and-white photographic prints
Videotapes
Place:
Nashville (Tenn.) -- Music -- 20th century
Date:
1981-1998.
Summary:
Business records, scrapbooks, audio disks, videotape, audio tape, and photographs documenting the business and entertainment activities at the International Battle of the Bands.
Scope and Contents note:
The International Battle of the Bands Records, 1981 - 1998, consists of a varied compilation of business records, advertising materials, scrapbooks, photographs, original video footage, and audio recordings. The Battle of the Bands Records document all aspects related to the production, advertising, and promotion of the regional, final, and future competitions
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into seven series.
Series 1.1: International Battle of the Bands, 1981
Series 1.2: International Battle of the Bands, 1982
Series 1.3: International Battle of the Bands, 1983
Series 1.4: International Battle of the Bands, 1984
Series 1.5: International Battle of the Bands, 1985
Series 1.6: International Battle of the Bands, 1986
Series 1.7: International Battle of the Bands, 1987-1988
Series 1.8: International Battle of the Bands, 1989
Series 2.1: International Battle of the Bands Publishing, 1981
Series 2.2: International Battle of the Bands Publishing, 1982
Series 2.3: International Battle of the Bands Publishing, 1983
Series 2.4: International Battle of the Bands Publishing, 1984
Series 2.1: International Battle of the Bands Publishing, 1985
Series 3.1: International Battle of the Bands Recording, 1981-1986
Series 3.2: International Battle of the Bands Recording, 45s,
Series 3.3: International Battle of the Bands Recording, LPs, 1982-1986
Series 3.4: International Battle of the Bands Recording, Reel to Reel, 1981-1986
Series 3.5: International Battle of the Bands Recording, Cassettes, 1981-1986
Series 4: Photographs and Negatives, 1981-1986
Series 5: Videos, 1981-1993
Series 6: Card Files, 1981-1987
Series 7: Awards and Certificates, 1982-1990
Biographical/Historical note:
The International Battle of the Bands Corporation (IBB) was a Nashville-based promotion founded in 1975 by Mr. Jerry Free. Free, an Ohio native born in 1939, is currently Vice President and General manager of United Gunite Construction, where he began working in 1972. Before he founded the International Battle of the Bands, Free began his professional career as a door-to-door salesman for Look magazine. He remained at Look for 13 years, working his way up to a position on the board of directors in 1968.
Free's battle of the bands concept was not a new idea. Staged competitions between bands had been part of American popular music for most of the 20th century. The purpose of these competitions was to draw audiences to the theaters and music halls where bands would perform during the late afternoons and evenings. These events were a common occurrence in the swing era of the 1930s, as well as in Rhythm and Blues and Jazz in the 1940s and 50s. In the early days of Rock & Roll, fledgling music groups often achieved recognition by winning these types of contests. This local exposure sometimes led to regional and even national recognition. The idea of bringing attention to local artists served as the basis for the International Battle of the Bands. It was referred to by Free as the Agreatest search for new talent. Introducing the band competition into the age of televised coverage and corporate sponsorship enabled Free to take an old idea and transform it into a national enterprise.
With the backing of Seagram=s Seven the International Battle of the Bands Contest got its formal start in 1981. In association with the publishing and recording division of the IBB corporation, the International Battle of the Bands contest was developed with the purpose of discovering and promoting new country music talent. The contest was structured with a series of local and regional competitions, leading up to the Grand Finals held each year, with the exception of 1988, in Nashville, Tennessee. The 1988 finals that were held in Panama City Beach, Florida.
Local auditions were held in IBB affiliated clubs in 50 select cities throughout the United States. Winners of local contests moved on to regional competitions with hopes of reaching the Grand Finals and a chance of a recording contract with IBB records and a one year booking contract with Buddy Lee attractions. While remaining relatively low key in its early years, the IBB Grand Finals were broadcast to a national television audience in a 90 minute program hosted by Sammy Davis, Jr. and Louise Mandrell in 1986.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Jerry D. Free, December 16, 1998.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Some materials are restricted until 2050. 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.
Ralph H. Baer was a German-born ordnance specialist, inventor, and engineer. He was a pioneer of early videogame technology. The papers include autobiographical materials; firearms notes, manuscripts, and photographs; and videogame and television engineering notes, diagrams, schematics, and video documentation.
Scope and Contents:
The Ralph Baer Papers include autobiographical materials and an extended oral history interview. The Papers also include materials about military small arms created by Baer during his World War II service. The largest portion of the collection documents Baer's work on video games.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 12 series.
Series 1: Autobiographical Documents, 1962-2006
Subseries 1.1: Manuscript, book and other documents, 1962-2006
Subseries 1.2: Other Media: CDs, VHS videos, periodical, 1991, 2000-2003
Series 2: WW II Small Arms Documents, 1943-1953
Subseries 2.1: Correspondence, 1950-1953
Subseries 2.2: Writings and notes, 1943-1948
Subseries 2.3: Drawings and schematics, undated
Subseries 2.4: Manuals and encyclopedias, 1943
Subseries 2.5: Photographs, 1945
Series 3: Hans Otto Mauksch Materials, 1944-1964
Subseries 3.1: Personal background information, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1964
Subseries 4.4: TV game development documentation, 1966-1968
Series 5: Sanders Associates, Transitron, and Van Norman Industries, 1952-2003
Series 6: Product Development Documents, 1974-2015
Series 7: Product Guides and Technical Support, 1943-2011
Series 8: Legal and Patent Documents, 1966-2014
Series 9: Writings and Notes, 1946-1999
Series 10: Miscellaneous, 1961-2012
Series 11: Correspondence, 1983-2014
Series 12: Publicity and Awards, 1979-2015
Biographical / Historical:
Ralph H. Baer (1922-2014) was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1938. A graduate of the National Radio Institute (1940), Baer worked as a radio technician in the New York City area, servicing all types of home and auto radios. During World War II, Baer served in the United States Army, one year stateside, and two years in Europe. He was assigned to Military Intelligence and became an expert on military small arms. Baer returned to the United States with eighteen tons of foreign small arms for use in exhibits at Aberdeen, Maryland; Springfield, Massachusetts Armory; and Ft. Riley, Kansas.
After the war, Baer attended the American Television Institute of Technology in Chicago, graduating with a BS in television engineering. In 1949, Baer joined a small electro medical equipment firm, Wappler, Inc., as their chief engineer. He designed and built surgical cutting machines, epilators, and low frequency pulse generating muscle-toning equipment. In 1951, Baer moved to Loral Electronics of Bronx, New York as a senior engineer, designing power line carrier signaling equipment for IBM. During 1952-1956, Baer worked at Transitron, Inc., in New York City as a chief engineer and later as vice president. In 1956, Baer joined Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire building airborne radar components. He became manager of the Electronic Design Department at Sanders and eventually Division Manager and Chief Engineer for Equipment Design. Baer retired in 1987.
At Sanders in 1966, Baer began an independent project experimenting with ways for consumers to interact with standard home television sets. Development of interactive TV Game (TVG) ideas became a company-supported project continued by Baer and assisted by William H. Harrison and William T. Rusch (download the TV Game chronology prepared by Ralph Baer in 2006). By mid-1967, ping pong videogames were played inside Sanders, patent disclosures were applied for, and hardware was designed. Baer and his associates called the devices they were developing "boxes" and numbered the various versions one through seven. In 1971, Magnavox became Sanders Associates's first videogame licensee. Between 1972 and 1975, Magnavox produced and sold over 700,000 units of Odyssey, a set of games played on its television receivers. Atari became a licensee in 1976 after the first of many lawsuits won by Sanders in pursuit of patent infringements.
During his tenure at Sanders and thereafter, Baer was a prolific inventor. His creations included many electronic toys and games and other consumer electronic products. Among the better known products based on Baer's work are Milton Bradley's Simon, Galoob's Smarty Bear Video, and Kenner's Laser Command. In 2004 President George W. Bush awarded Baer the National Medal of Technology.
Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952 and they had three children, James, Mark, and Nancy. Ralph Baer died on December 6, 2014, at the age of 92.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Ralph H. Baer Innovative Lives Presentation, August 15, 2009 (AC1179)
The presentation documents a moderated conversation about Baer's life and work. Baer reenacts, with his partner William Harrison, the first time he played "Odyssey," the first home video game for the consumer market, which he invented, and answers questions from the audience. Materials include original video (born digital), master videos, and reference videos.
Materials at Other Organizations
Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at The Strong
Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1968-2010 inclusive; 1975-1998 bulk
The Ralph H. Baer papers are a compilation of correspondence, game designs, drawings, notes, reference materials, photographs, product descriptions, digital videos, schematics, electronic components, and manuals utilized by Ralph H. Baer throughout his lengthy career in the toy and game industry. The bulk of the materials are from 1975 through 1998.
U.S. Ordnance Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia
Materials consist of data on foreign small arms brought back from Europe in 1946 by Ralph H. Baer.
Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, New York
Holdings include set of seven recreations of "TV game" prototypes originally created between 1966 and 1969, donated by pioneering game developer Ralph Baer. One of Baer's game prototypes, known as the "Brown Box," was licensed by Magnavox and released in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey, the world's first commercial home video game console.
University of Texas, Austin, Briscoe Center for American History
Ralph H. Baer "Brown Box" replica, 1952-1983, 2006-2012
The Ralph H. Baer "Brown Box" replica includes a fully-functional replica of Ralph Baer's "Brown Box," the prototype video game console that was used as the basis of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. The collection also contains related research materials.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection including early video game prototypes and TV Game products.
TV Game Unit #1 (TVG#1); 1966; vacuum tube spot generator with Heathkit IG-62 Generator (See Accession 2006.0102.01)
Heathkit IG-62; used with TVG #1 (See Accession 2006.0102.02)
TV Game Unit #2 (TVG #2), aka the "Pump Unit," 1967; large aluminum chassis with wooden "pump" handle (See Accession 2006.0102.03)
TV Game Unit #7 (TVG#7), aka "Brown Box," 1967/1968; prototype for Magnavox Odyssey (See Accession 2006.0102.04)
Cardboard program cards for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.05)
Lightgun, 1967/1968; game accessory for Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.06)
TV Game Unit #8, 1968; "de/dt" (velocity responsive) ballgame chassis for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.07)
Magnavox Odyssey (Model ITL200) video game unit, 1972; with all accessories in the original carton (See Accession 2006.0102.08)
Milton-Bradley Company SIMON handheld microprocessor-control game, 1978 (See Accession 2006.0102.09)
Ideal Toy Company MANIAC microprocessor-control game, 1979, in original box with game instructions (See Accession 2006.0102.10)
Golf Game accessory, 1968; golf ball mounted on joystick handle for use with Brown Box (See Accession 2006.0102.11
"Brown Box" programming card, target shooting, 1967 (See Accession 2006.0102.12)
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Ralph H. Baer in 2003.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
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. Copyright held by the Smithsonian Institution.
The Alka-Seltzer Oral History and Documentation Project is a result of a one year effort supported, in part, by Miles Laboratories, Incorporated. Twenty-four oral history interviews and a variety of related materials were gathered to document Alka- Seltzer advertising, primarily from the mid-1950s to the 1980s. The project covers "Speedy" Alka-Seltzer, "Oh what a relief it is," "The Blahs," "Alka Seltzer on the rocks," and "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" campaigns
Scope and Contents:
Oral histories with individuals associated with Alka-Seltzer and its advertising campaigns are at the core of the Alka-Seltzer Documenation and Oral History Project. Conducted by Smithsonian Institution staff, the oral histories primarily examine Alka-Seltzer's innovative and memorable print and television commercials. Abstracts exist for each interview.The collection also includes background information, archival materials from Miles Laboratories, Inc., television commercials, storyboards, and company publications.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in 8 series.
Series 1: Research Files, circa 1930-1986
Series 2: Interviewee Files, 1986-1987
Series 3: Oral Histories, 1986-1987
Subseries 3.1: Original Interviews
Subseries 3.2: Reference Cassettes
Subseries 3.3: Master Audio Tapes
Series 4: Miles Archives Materials, 1931-1980
Subseries 4.1: Marketing Research and Sales Data
Subseries 4.2: Alka-Seltzer Storyboards and History (Photocopies)
Subseries 4:3: Miles Advertising History and Oral History Program(photocopies)
Series 5: Company Publications, 1960-1986
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1950-1985
Series 7: Alka-Seltzer Posters, 1967-1986
Series 8: Audiovisual Materials
Subseries 8.1: Original Masters
Subseries 8.2: Reference Videos
Biographical / Historical:
The Alka-Seltzer Oral History and Documentation Project is a result of a one year effort supported, in part, by Miles Laboratories, Incorporated Twenty-four oral history interviews and a variety of related materials were gathered to document Alka- Seltzer advertising, primarily from the mid-1950s to the 1980s. The project covers "Speedy" Alka-Seltzer, "Oh what a relief it is," "The Blahs," "Alka Seltzer on the rocks," and "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" campaigns.
Miles Laboratories, Incorporated, the maker of Alka-Seltzer, and Wade Advertising of Chicago established a light-hearted advertising approach with the iconic puppet "Speedy", which had a tablet for a body and a smaller one for a hat. Speedy came to life through stop motion animation, a technique in which each of the puppet's movements was captured on a separate frame of film. The voice of Richard Beals made "Speedy" a distinctive character.
"Speedy" was a mainstay of Alka Seltzer advertising until 1964, when Miles,Incorporated took the account to Jack Tinker & Partners in New York. The agency's work for Alka-Seltzer embodied what came to be called advertising's "creative revolution," replacing the "talking heads" and "hard sell" of earlier advertising with humor, wit, and engaging storylines, even within the limits of a 30 second television spot. In 1969, the Alka Seltzer account went to Doyle, Dane, Bernbach, an agency which changed the look of print advertising during the early years of the "creative revolution." In 1970, Alka-Seltzer moved agencies to Wells, Rich, Greene, where the product's advertising came under the direction of Mary Wells Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence had worked on the Alka Seltzer account while at Tinker and continued Alka Seltzer's reputation for innovative and captivating work. In 1984 they shifted to McCann Erickson.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Miles Laboratories in 1988 and created by the Smithsonian Institution in 1986 and 1987.
Restrictions:
Researchers may use reference copies only. The interview with Charles Chaplin is restricted and may not be copied or quoted until his death.
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 records of Wedge Innovations document the invention and development of a new hand tool, the SmartLevel, an electronic builder's level; also included are company management and policies.
Scope and Contents:
The SmartLevel story gives excellent insight into the life cycle of a small Silicon valley start-up in the 1980s. SmartLevel's creator, Wedge Innovations, established a market for a new product, achieved national distribution, off-shore manufacturing, and product licensing, before going out of business due to pressure from profit-hungry venture capitalists.
The records of Wedge Innovations is a "tool biography" that documents the invention and development of a new hand tool, the SmartLevel, an electronic builder's level first conceived in 1985 by Andrew Butler. The SmartLevel Collection is divided into seven series: Corporate Records, Engineering Records, Financial Records, Marketing Records, Operations Records, Product Development Records, and Corporate Culture, reflecting both the organizational structure of Wedge Innovations and the company's working environment.
Series 1, Corporate Records, 1985-1993, address the overall management of Wedge Innovations and document its policies, especially through the company's annual business plans, 1986-1992, and the monthly reports prepared for the Board of Directors' meetings, 1989-1992. This series also details the workings of each department through weekly departmental reports. The staff meetings files, July-November 1989, February 1990-November 1992, are particularly useful for understanding the day-to-day operation of the company.
Series 2, Engineering Records, 1985-1993, document the design and development of the SmartLevel from its conception in 1985 as the WedgeLevel, through its production as the SmartLevel in 1989, and through its refinement into the Pro SmartLevel and the Series 200 SmartLevel in 1991. The design process is particularly well documented through Andrew Butler's and Kevin Reeder's design notebooks and through the detailed technical drawings done by Butler, Reeder, and Ronald Wisnia. Also well documented are the efforts made to solve the many problems associated with the development and quality control of the electronic sensor module that was the heart of the SmartLevel.
Series 3, Financial Records, 1985-1992, include Wedge's summary financial statements from 1985 to 1992.
Series 4, Marketing Records, 1986-1992, document customer and dealer relations through marketing department correspondence, operational records, and advertising campaigns. This series is particularly rich in promotional material (1988-1992), such as advertisements, advertising copy, photographs, product promotion plans, and videotapes that demonstrate the varied features and uses of the products.
Series 5, Operations Records, 1990-1993, document the manufacturing process and the Company's offshore operations.
Series 6, Product Development Records, 1986-1993, document the company's intended development of an entire "Smart Tools" line.
Series 7, Corporate Culture, 1985-1996, contains employee photographs and oral history interviews with key Wedge personnel conducted in 1995 and 1996 by David Shayt, Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History. The interviews discuss the background of the participants, the company's origins and history, product development, the Silicon Valley context, and the efforts of Wedge Innovations successor firm, SmartTool Technologies.
Arrangement:
The collection organized into seven series.
Series 1, Corporate Records, 1985-1993
Series 2, Engineering Records, 1985-1993
Series 3, Financial Records, 1985-1992
Series 4, Marketing Records, 1986-1992
Series 5, Operations Records, 1990-1993
Series 6, Product Development Records, 1986-1993
Series 7, Corporate Culture, 1985-1996
Biographical / Historical:
Andrew G. Butler (b. 1955), the founder of Wedge Innovations exhibited an interest in building construction and an entrepreneurial spirit early in life. From age 12 to 17 he built a boat that he then sailed alone from California to Tahiti, where he spent several years as an independent carpenter and building contractor. After returning to the United States, he earned a B.S. degree in electromechanical engineering from Stanford University (1983) and became a software specialist for Bechtel Construction. In 1985, he conceived of an idea for an electronic carpenter's level that could read a range of angles. Butler formed Wedge Innovations in 1986. He worked in the basement of his home in order to develop and market this level, selling his boat to finance the venture. He hired Marilyn Crowell as his secretary and Robert Nagle and Dan Kellogg as engineers. This company developed the sensor technology and software necessary to build the company's first product, the WedgeLevel. The heart of this tool was an electronic sensor circuit connected to a microprocessor capable of measuring the tool's orientation. This sensor module fit into an ergonomically-designed teak rail with anodized aluminum edges jointly developed by Butler, engineering design consultant Kevin Reeder, and engineer Ronald Wisnia.
In 1987, Wedge moved to Santa Clara to begin manufacturing the WedgeLevel. The transition from a research and development concern to a manufacturing company proved difficult, due to manufacturing and financial difficulties. It was difficult to obtain a reliable yet inexpensive source of teak for the rails, designs for a plastic composite and aluminum rail were developed, while offshore manufacturing of the sensor components was established. Overarching all concerns was the persistent difficulty of obtaining sufficient investment capital. While managing his growing company, Butler also began planning for a line of hand tools that combined microelectronics and user-oriented, ergonomic design. In 1988, the company changed the name of its product to SmartLevel in order to emphasize the company's proposed line of Smart Tools. That same year, the company adopted a new corporate logo, a stylized W with a red wedge, signaling its growing maturity. Promotion of the product also began through demonstrations of the prototype done by consultant building contractor, Rick Feffer.
In January 1989, the SmartLevel prototype was launched at the National Association of Home Builders Show in Atlanta, Georgia. The favorable publicity generated by this launch and by the company's media campaign generated many orders. To supply these orders, Wedge moved to larger quarters in Sunnyvale on April 1, 1989. In June 1989, Wedge gained further publicity by donating several SmartLevels to a Habitat for Humanity project in Milwaukee, where former president Jimmy Carter used one. Although Wedge expected to ship the first SmartLevels in July 1989, there were considerable delays in manufacturing. In particular, there were stability and performance problems with the sensor, which engineer Ken Gunderson was brought in to remedy. The sensor module was re-engineered to be more rugged and the level was redesigned with a plastic composite and aluminum rail. The new level, known as the Pro SmartLevel, was intended for the professional construction market. The first SmartLevels were shipped on September 5, 1989.
In 1990, patents were granted to Andrew Butler, Donald G. Green, and Robert E. Nagle for an inclinometer sensor circuit and to Butler and Ronald Wisnia for a carpenter's level design. That same year, Brian Bayley joined Wedge as Vice-president for Engineering, and Edwin "Win" Seipp joined as Project Manager - DIY SmartLevel. Seipp's responsibility was to develop a low-cost, "do-it-yourself" version of the SmartLevel, which was eventually called the Series 200 SmartLevel. This level had an all-aluminum rail and a non-removable sensor.
In September 1990, the company moved to San Jose and by 1991 had over 60 employees. Although sales continued to grow and name recognition of the product was quite strong, Wedge had difficulty meeting the expectations of its investors. Butler entered into financial negotiations with the Macklanburg-Duncan Corporation, a large-scale manufacturer of hand tools, to seek investment in his company. These negotiations led in November 1992 to the acquisition of Wedge by Macklanburg-Duncan, which dissolved all but Wedge's engineering section. Macklanburg-Duncan today manufactures a "SmartTool" level, while Butler co-owns D2M (Design To Market), a company that develops new product ideas for the market.
SmartLevel Chronology
1992 -- Butler negotiates with Macklanburg-Duncan for a merger to save Wedge. In the midst of the negotiations, Butler is fired by his Board of Directors. Butler regains control of Wedge three months later, fires the replacement president, and sells Wedge outright to Macklanburg-Duncan, which dissolves all but the engineering functions of Wedge.
1991 -- Wedge sponsors a "New Product Development Conference," where numerous designs for new hand tools are worked on. SmartLevel sales and name recognition grows but not quickly enough to meet overhead expenses of new facility or investors' demands.
1990 -- Yet more redesign work, both in-house and with Kevin Reeder, who also develops idea for "SmartTube" carrying case (not built). Patents granted to Andy Butler et al. for inclinometer sensor circuit and carpenter's level design. Wedge hires Brian Bayley as vice-president for engineering to develop a low-cost model of the SmartLevel. The all-aluminum Series 200 SmartLevel is born. Wedge moves to larger facilities in San Jose.
1989 -- SmartLevel launched at National Association of Home Builders show in January. Good press coverage, but cannot meet orders. More publicity from Habitat for Humanity project when former President Jimmy Carter uses a SmartLevel. But stability and performance problems plague sensor. More redesign work results in more rugged Pro SmartLevel. The first SmartLevels shipped on September 5, 1989.
1987-1988 -- Wedge moves to Santa Clara; intends to begin manufacturing and todevelop an entire line of "Smart Tools" but encounters financial and engineering difficulties; Wedge consults with independent design engineer, Kevin Reeder, on level design. Intensive redesign effort develops the SmartLevel, made of plastic and aluminum rail.
1986 -- Wedge Innovations founded in the basement of Butler's house; basic sensor design worked out; teak & aluminum WedgeLevel developed.
1985 -- Idea for electronic carpenter's level formulated by Andy Butler.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
The Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History contains artifacts related to the SmartLevel Collection. These include five SmartLevels (Accession #1991.0823; 1996.0284; 1996.0285; 1996.0288; and 1996.0289). They are an original teak WedgeLevel, a Pro SmartLevel, a Series 200 SmartLevel, a Bosch version of the SmartLevel, and a Macklanburg-Duncan SmartTool level. There are also four sensor modules (torpedo levels), two sensors, two carrying cases, one cap, one tee shirt, and one wooden puzzle with the inscription "The World Isn't Just Level and Plumb."
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Andrew Butler, SmartLevel inventor and company founder, Brian Bayley, Vice-President for engineering at Wedge Innovations from 1989-1992, and Kevin Reeder, an independent industrial designer, 1995-1997.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
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.
Stewart, Rex (William), Jr., 1907-1967 (cornetist) Search this
Extent:
4 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Interviews
Audiotapes
Articles
Correspondence
Date:
1958-1967
bulk 1965-1967
Scope and Contents note:
Twenty audiotapes of interviews Kennedy conducted with Rex Stewart, in addition to documentary material such as correspondence and clippings.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into seven series.
Series 1: Correspondence
Series 2: Newspaper articles
Series 3: Magazine articles
Series 4: Manuscripts
Series 5: Miscellaneous documents
Series 6: Interviews of Rex Stewart
Series 7: Miscellaneous
Biographical/Historical note:
Kennedy, a free-lance writer, became a close friend to Rex Stewart, and conducted taped interviews with him late in his life, when he was writing his autobiography.
Provenance:
Collection purchased from Anne Judd Kennedy.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the master (preservation ) tapes are 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:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark.Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
