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George and Hart's Georgia Up To Date Minstrels Scrapbook

Creator:
George, J. Edward (manager)  Search this
Up To Date Georgia Minstrels (performers)  Search this
San Diego Historical Society  Search this
Hart, G. E. (manager)  Search this
Names:
Cissel and Mines, entertainers  Search this
Oliver and Gilliam (entertainers)  Search this
Cissel, Clarence (entertainer)  Search this
Gillam, Harry (entertainer)  Search this
Gilliam, Bessie (entertainer)  Search this
Mines, Augusta (entertainer)  Search this
Oliver, Jack (entertainer)  Search this
Williams, Billy (entertainer)  Search this
Extent:
0.1 Cubic feet (1 box, 1-map folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Advertisements
Date:
circa 1876-1901
Summary:
Scrapbook contains articles and ephemera relating to an African American troupe of thirty five minstrels who performed in the Pacific Northwestern United States.
Scope and Contents:
The scrapbook offers documentation of the troupe's activities dating from 1876-1909 in the Pacific Northwestern United States. It contains articles, ticket stubs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and programs. Also included are brief biographical sketches of Billy Williams, the contortionist, and Harry Gillam, the "Hebrew acrobat," and an article about the managers of the Up To Date minstrels, J. Edward George and G. E. Hart. In addition, there are business cards from other minstrel performing groups including, Cissel and Mines and Oliver and Gilliam, with accompanying pictures. There are loose materials which were probably once part of the scrapbook, including programs and letterhead stationery. There are also photographs of the troupe taken in Missouri in 1900 standing outside a train car as they travelled from one location to another. The materials are arranged first by type and then in chronological order.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in one series.
Biographical / Historical:
George and Hart's Up To Date Georgia Minstrels were an African American troupe of thirty-five entertainers about whom this scrapbook was created. In 1901, these minstrels were described as "the only colored show running for thirty years." The troupe, which began circa 1866, was billed as "the most popular" troupe of performers from California to Montana to Washington to New Mexico to Colorado to Minnesota. They performed standard minstrel acts and included a contortionist, an acrobatic act, and a male impersonator. This form of theater entertainment was used by African American dramatic performers for consistent employment with reasonable wages. The Up To Date Georgia Minstrels were said to have been the "highest paid" performers in the area, making five to fifteen dollars a week. The troupe was managed by George Hart.
Related Materials:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subject Categories: Theater, NMAH.AC0060

John B. Rogers Producing Company Collection, NMAH.AC0245

Hazen Collection of Band Photographs and Ephemera, NMAH.AC0253

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3: African-American Music, NMAH.AC0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 11: Entertainment, NMAH.AC0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 4: Songwriters, NMAH.AC0300

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, NMAH.AC0491

Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC1211

Peter Marks Minstrelsy Collection, NMAH.AC1328

Hooker-Howe Company Papers, NMAH.AC1475

Henry "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections, NMAH.AC1484

B. Thomas Smith Minstrel Show Posters, NMAH.AC1490

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution



Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, CFCH.SFF.2002

Monitor Records Business Records, CFCH.MONI

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH
Provenance:
The material was donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by the San Diego Historical Society on March 11, 1997. The Society has no further information about the scrapbook which was outside the scope of its collecting policy.
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:
Minstrels -- 1900-1910  Search this
Revues -- 1900-1910  Search this
Contortionists -- 1900-1910  Search this
Minstrel shows -- 1900-1910  Search this
Troubadours -- 1900-1910 -- United States  Search this
African American entertainers -- 20th century  Search this
Acrobats -- 1900-1910  Search this
Genre/Form:
Scrapbooks -- 1880-1910
Advertisements -- 1900-1910
Citation:
George and Hart's Georgia Up To Date Minstrels Scrapbook, circa 1876-1901, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0576
See more items in:
George and Hart's Georgia Up To Date Minstrels Scrapbook
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8e3c7f73b-221e-42f9-af0a-93eeccc9e0b0
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0576
Online Media:

George Miller Dyott Papers

Creator:
Dyott, George Miller  Search this
Extent:
1.17 Cubic feet (1 document case, 1 slim document case, 1 flat box, 1 glass plate box, and 1 map folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Photographs
Correspondence
Diaries
Date:
Circa 1910-1946
Summary:
George Miller Dyott (1883--1972) was an early aviator; veteran of the Royal Naval Air Service; aircraft designer; and explorer. This collection contains approximately 1 cubic foot of material pertaining to Dyott's aviation career including correspondence; photographs; financial records; technical drawings; military records; news clippings; a World War I field diary; calling cards; and an annotated manuscript entitled, "Flying," written by Dyott.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains approximately 1 cubic foot of material pertaining to George Miller Dyott's aviation career including correspondence; photographs; financial records; technical drawings; military records; news clippings; a World War I field diary; calling cards; and an annotated manuscript entitled, "Flying," written by Dyott. Photographic formats include black and white prints of various sizes (some of which are mounted on cardstock or matted) and 5 by 7 inch glass plates. Many of the photographs, including one entire album, are devoted to Dyott's service with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) during World War I. Aircraft pictured in the photographs include the Dyott Monoplane; Dyott Bomber; Walden IV 1910 Monoplane (identfied here as the Walden-Dyott Monoplane); an unidentfied model of Deperdussin; Nieuport 17; Vickers (UK) E.F.B.5 Gunbus; a Sopwith Baby fitted with Le Prieur Rockets; Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2; Handley Page O/400; Morane-Saulnier Type L (Mo.S.3); Blériot XI; Farman (Henry) H.F.20 (Type Militaire Biplane); and a later photo of a Bellanca Pacemaker CH-300. There are also photographs of a Royal Navy non-rigid airship and the wreck of the Zeppelin LZ 76 (Navy L 33), as well as early equipment such as searchlights; anti-aircraft guns; an anti-aircraft armored vehicle; and various types of bombs. In addition to Dyott, other well-known people in the photographs include Henry W. Walden; Patrick Hamilton; Francisco Madero (33rd President of Mexico); Arthur W. Bigsworth; and Reginald A. J. Warneford. The collection also contains one photograph of Harriet Quimby. There are also four technical drawings dating to 1914 in the collection ranging in size from approximately 24.25 by 15.5 inches up to 41 x 14 inches. Three of the drawings are on coated cloth and one is on waxed paper. Two are for a small promotional aircraft made from an ale bottle and powered by an 80-hp Gnome engine, one is marked "Worthington Ales" and the other is marked "Little Peter." The third drawing is a three-view of a "Hydro-Aeroplane for Tropical Rivers" powered by two 100-hp Mercedes engines, and the fourth is a side drawing of an unspecified type of biplane (undated). In addition to the drawings, there is a graph on waxed paper (14.5 by 13.25 inches) tracking altitude, time, and speed for an unknown aircraft (undated). The collection also includes records relating to the design and production of the Dyott Monoplane and Dyott Bomber.
Arrangement:
Some of the material in this collection arrived grouped together in folders or envelopes. This material was housed accordingly and original folder titles were kept where applicable. The rest of the collection is organized by type of material. Folder titles created by archivist, or additional information added to original folder titles by archivist, are in brackets. Within folders, material is arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical:
George Miller Dyott (1883--1972) was an early aviator; veteran of the Royal Naval Air Service; aircraft designer; and explorer. Dyott was born in New York in 1883 to an American mother and a British father. Dyott was educated in the United Kingdom before returning to the United States where he learned to fly at Curtiss Field in New York. Dyott was awarded Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate 114 in August of 1911. Around this time, Dyott partnered with Henry W. Walden designing monoplanes. In the autumn of 1911, Dyott and Patrick Hamilton began making a tour of exhibition flights with two Deperdussin monoplanes (one single and one double seater) which started in New York and included stops in the Bahamas and Mexico, where they carried then-President Francisco Madero as a passenger. Dyott then returned to the United Kingdom where he designed the Dyott Monoplane, manufactured by Hewlett & Blondeau, which he brought to the United States to fly a six month demonstration tour beginning in April 1913. Dyott entered military service in 1914 and served as a squadron commander for the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I. Around this time, Dyott designed a large twin-engine biplane for use in exploring. The Royal Naval Air Service saw a potential in this design for military use so Dyott made some modifications and two prototypes were ordered from Hewlett & Blondeau in 1916. The two Dyott Bomber prototypes were built and flight tested with various engines and armament, with the second being service tested in France, but the model never entered production. After World War I, Dyott became an explorer and joined the Royal Geographical Society. In 1927, Dyott was hired to lead an expedition retracing the steps of the Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition which confirmed Theodore Roosevelt's claims about the group's discovery and exploration of the Rio Roosevelt ("River of Doubt"). In 1928, Dyott led an expedition into Brazil searching for missing explorer Percy Fawcett. Dyott also founded Dyott & Company, Ltd. in Lima, Peru taking aerial photographs and other scenic views that were sold as post cards. Dyott wrote several books about his adventures (one of which was adapted into a feature film, Manhunt in the Jungle, in 1958), and also starred as himself in two documentary films (Hunting Tigers in India in 1929 and Savage Gold, which he also co-wrote, in 1933). In the mid-1930s, Dyott retired to Ecuador where he lived largely in isolation. He conducted two expeditions searching for Inca treasure in the late 1940s before returning to Ecuador where he stayed until returning to New York to reunite with his wife and children shortly before his death.
Provenance:
Michael Dyott, Gift, 2016, NASM.2016.0019.
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
Topic:
Aeronautics  Search this
World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations  Search this
Dyott Bomber (1916)  Search this
Dyott Monoplane (1913)  Search this
Aircraft  Search this
Walden IV 1910 Monoplane  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuscripts
Photographs
Correspondence
Diaries -- 20th century
Citation:
George Miller Dyott Papers, NASM.2016.0019, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.2016.0019
See more items in:
George Miller Dyott Papers
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg25a904b57-d4c2-42cf-9c30-5d0a6b3640e7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-2016-0019
Online Media:

Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company Records

Creator:
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company  Search this
Extent:
.5 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Newspaper clippings
Photographs
Publications
Reports
Date:
1935-1947
Summary:
Records document the activities of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company.
Content Description:
Records document through photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports, and insurance claims, steam boiler failures, such as burned boilers, explosions, furnace collapses and ruptures. Also included are two Accident Prevention Bulletins for the Mutual Boiler Insurance Company of Boston, from February 1946 and November 1946.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged numerically by accident report number.
Provenance:
Collection assembled by the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company; donated prior to 1976.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Accidents  Search this
Boilers  Search this
Steam-boilers  Search this
Genre/Form:
Correspondence -- 20th century
Newspaper clippings
Photographs -- 20th century
Publications
Reports
Citation:
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1541
See more items in:
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82baa2401-8ff9-4941-b118-ba431f1f4227
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1541

Binney & Smith, Inc. Records

Creator:
Binney & Smith, Inc.  Search this
Names:
Binney, Edwin  Search this
Smith, Harold  Search this
Extent:
24 Cubic feet (64 boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Catalogs
Color charts
Annual reports
Price lists
Newsletters
Photographs
Date:
1897-1998
Summary:
Collection documents Binney & Smith, Inc. creators and manufacturers of Crayola crayons. Includes documentation on 20th century advertising, commercial packaging, commercial imagery, and retail merchandising: newsletters, annual reports, research and development records, color charts, advertising materials, and product information, including catalogs and price lists.
Scope and Contents:
The Binney & Smith Inc. Records, document twentieth century advertising, commercial packaging, commercial imagery, and retail merchandising. They are a major source for research on American consumer culture. This collection is divided into thirteen (13) series.

Series 1:Historical Background, 1956-1994 contains documentation on the corporate history of Binney & Smith, and general background on how crayons are made. The Story of the Rainbow (editions 1947, 1956, and 1961) provide corporate historical highglights and a history of the company. See also Series 5: Newsletters and Publications, 1948-1955 for information about the company.

Series 2: Executive Records, 1897-1995, consists of annual and corporate reports, by-laws, minutes, correspondence, annual reports, stockholder materials and the attempted merger of Binney & Smith by Cheeseborough-Ponds in the early 1970s and the Kellogg Co., ca. 1979.

Series 3: Financial, Sales, and Marketing Records, 1902-1990, consists primarily of sales information and statistics for crayons and other products. The correspondence, 1913-1931, includes documentation on monthly sales with explanations and analysis. Binney & Smith created comparative data on a yearly basis for products and salesmen. The salesmen data, 1919-1932, contains the amount of sales, expenses, percentages, time periods, and increases and decreases in business. Specific salesmen are cited in reports. All of the sales information should be consulted as there is considerable overlap.

Series 4: Employee/Personnel Records, 1917-1993, contains payroll rate books, employee reports and miscellaneous documentation. The payroll rate books include the names of employees and the rate at which they were paid per hour. In some instances it is noted if the employee left the company.

Series 5: Newsletters and Publications, 1948-1995, include newsletters and other publications produced by Binney & Smith, Inc. Arranged alphabetically, this series contains publications intended for both internal distribution such as the Rainbow Insider and external distribution such as the Art Educationist and Drawing Teacher. This series provides valuable information on the history of the company, how it operates, the types of products produced, and the employees. The Art Educationist, formerly known as the Drawing Teacher, which began publication in 1926, was a publication for art teachers that promoted the value of art in schools. It contains editorials, comments from teachers, and suggested art activities.

Series 6: Research and Development Records, 1905-1987, includes a wide variety of materials documenting the Research and Development Department. The bulk of the materials include crayon formulas. Other formulas for products such as chalk exist.

Series 7: Advertising and Marketing Records, 1918-1998, contains several subseries with the bulk of the material being documentation on labeling and packaging. The advertising accounts are arranged chronologically and then within each year, alphabetically by the name of the journal or magazine in which Binney & Smith advertised. The cards provide the name, address, date of contract, date of expiration, space allotted, rate, subject of the ad, and remarks if applicable. Information on distribution and "specials" is available for some years. The promotional materials consist of licensing information, press kits, and printed literature, particularly Promotional Plans which describe the details of each promotion offered for each product along with suggestions for merchandising activities.

Series 8: Catalogs, 1916-1995, and Series 9: Price Lists, 1916-1995, are arranged alphabetically by division within Binney & Smith, Inc. Both series provide documentation on the types of products available to the consumer and costs associated with each product.

Series 10: Product Information, 1918-1995, consists of printed literature on a variety of products produced by Binney & Smith, Inc. The series is arranged alphabetically. The product inventories, 1920-1925, are arranged by product number in sequential order. There are three distinct inventories--those arranged by product number (#1-#7026); those arranged alpha-numerically (#04-#04Y); and those arranged alphabetically.

Series 11: Competitors, 1918-1992, contains published catalogs and advertising of crayon competitors. There is a scrapbook of competitors advertising contains correspondence, product information, advertisements, and newspaper clippings for the American Crayon Co., Art Crayon Co., Botts Mfg., Eberhard Faber Co., Ferst Brothers, Joseph Dixon Crucible Co., Milton-Bradley Co., and National Crayon Co.

Series 12: Photographs and Scrapbooks, circa 1900s-1997, includes several subseries documenting buildings and office spaces,displays, employees and machinery, products, portraits, photo albums, and oversized. The oversized photographs contain some panoramic shots of Binney & Smith company "annual outings." The photograph albums consist of several albums including the Middletown Township Workshop, 1952, an art workshop sponsored by Binney & Smith, Inc. Three albums contain photographs of various construction and expansion projects from the 1960s to 1975. Of note is the photo album containing photographs and newspaper clippings from the 1959 California Pacific Crayon Company fire. Also, there are Binney & Smith company albums, 1949-1976, that document a variety of activities within the company. Each album was photographed by W. H. Milliken, Jr., and specified the location, date, and number of photographs in the album. The albums cover topics such as art shows, trade shows, suppers, dinner parties, office shots, employee anniversaries, and retirement parties. The scrapbooks span the years 1962-1975, and contain both newspaper clippings and some black and white photographs documenting various company activities and its employees.

Series 13: Audio-Visual Materials, circa 1980s-1998, contain two 1/2" VHS tapes documenting the 40th anniversary of the Crayola 64 box and Silly Putty.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Historical Background

Series 2: Executive Records, 1897-1995

Series 3: Financial, Sales, and Marketing Records, 1902-1990

Series 4: Employee/Personnel Records, 1917-1993

Series 5: Newsletters and Publications, 1948-1995

Series 6: Research and Development Records, 1905-1987

Series 7: Advertising and Promotional Records, 1918-1998

Series 8: Catalogs, 1916-1995

Series 9: Price Lists, 1916-1925

Series 10: Product Information, 1918-1925

Series 11: Competitors, 1918-1992

Series 12: Photographs and Scrapbooks, circa 1900s-1997

Series 13: Audiovisual Materials, circa 1980-1998.
Series 1: Historical Background, 1956-1990s

Series 2: Executive Records, 1897-1995

Series 3: Financial, Sales and Marketing Records, 1902-1990

Series 4: Employee and Personnel Records, 1917-1993

Series 5: Newsletters and Publications, 1948-1995

Series 6: Research and Development Records, 1905-1987

Series 7: Advertising and Promotional Records, 1918-1998

Series 8: Catalogs, 1916-1995

Series 9: Price Lists, 1916-1995

Series 10: Product Information, 1918-1995

Series 11: Competitors, 1918-1992

Series 12: Photographs and Scrapbooks, circa 1900s-1997

Series 13: Audio-Visual Materials, circa 1980-1998
Biographical / Historical:
In 1864, Joseph W. Binney (1836-1898), began a small chemical works in Peekskill, New York. He ground and packaged hardwood charcoal and manufactured small quantities of lamp black from whale oil. In 1880, he opened a New York City office taking on his nephew, C. Harold Smith (1860-1931) as a salesman. Later, Joseph Binney's son, Edwin Binney (1866-1934), joined the business. The organization was known as the Peekskill Chemical Co. Joseph W. Binney retired and in May 1885, Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith formed a partnership, Binney & Smith. Their early products included red oxide pigment used in barn paint and carbon for black tires. In 1900, the company began producing slate school pencils in its Easton, Pennsylvania mill. With the assistance of John Ketchum, the owner of a talc mine in North Carolina, Binney began combining old slate waste with cement and the talc supplied by Ketchum to produce slate pencils. Two years later, Binney & Smith introduced their white dustless blackboard chalk, "Au-Du-Septic" and in 1903, the company produced a box of eight crayons, which sold for a nickel. The word "Crayola" coined by Edwin Binney's wife, Alice, comes from "craie" the French word for chalk, and "ola," from oleaginous, meaning oily or pertaining to oil. Binney & Smith's best known product is Crayola crayons. However, its product line now includes: tempera, washable, and fabric paints, Liquitex acrylic paints, Magic Marker, chalk, clay, and Jazzy fashion and craft accessories. Binney & Smith acquired Silly Putty in 1977 and in 1984, became a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. Products are still manufactured in Easton, Pennsylvania (world headquarters), as well as Mexico, and Indonesia and are available in twelve languages. In 2007, the company changed its name to Crayola LLC.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts were donated to the National Museum of American History, Division of Cultural History (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) on November 18, 1997 and March 15, 1998. The artifacts consist of more than 150 objects, including 79 boxes of Crayola crayons from the 1900s to 1998; 24 boxes of chalk from the 1890s to 1998, 18 art kits; 10 sets of EDU-CARDS from the 1960s and 1970s; and 10 packages of Silly Putty from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center on November 18, 1997, by Binney & Smith through Patrick Morris. Additional materials were donated in March 1998, by Binney & Smith through Tracey Muldoon Moran and in February 2000 through Stacy Gabrielle.
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:
Chalk -- 1910-2000  Search this
Crayons -- 1910-2000  Search this
Packaging -- 20th century  Search this
Paint -- 1910-2000  Search this
Genre/Form:
Catalogs -- 1910-2000
Color charts -- 1910-2000
Annual reports -- 20th century
Price lists
Newsletters -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Citation:
Binney & Smith, Inc., Records, 1897-1998, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0624
See more items in:
Binney & Smith, Inc. Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep83d89efad-4f9c-4716-a7f1-c91baf2fab5e
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0624
Online Media:

Parke, Davis Research Laboratory Records.

Author:
Parke, Davis Company  Search this
Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Medical Sciences  Search this
Names:
Pfizer Inc.  Search this
Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis  Search this
Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis. Pharmaceutical Research Division  Search this
Davis, George S.  Search this
Duffield, Samuel P., Dr. (physician, pharmacist)  Search this
Parke, Hervey Coke , 1827-1899  Search this
Extent:
365 Cubic feet (510 boxes, 43 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Annual reports
Blueprints
Brochures
Catalogs
Correspondence
Employee records
Formulae, chemical
Lantern slides
Newsletters
Newspaper clippings
Notebooks
Price lists
16mm films
Sound recordings
Tracings
Trade literature
Date:
1866-1992
Summary:
The collection documents Parke, Davis and Company, one of the largest and oldest pharmaceutical firms in America.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Parke, Davis and Company, one of America's oldest and largest drug makers. Parke, Davis had the first research laboratory in the American pharmaceutical industry. The company played a major role in the development of some of the principle new drugs of the twentieth century and pioneered the field of drug standardization. They were one of the first American firms to produce antitoxins, hormones, and other biologicals. They introduced new and important drugs such as adrenalin, dilantin, chlorenpleniol, and other antibiotics. They also did important research on vitamins, disinfectants, and pencillin.

The collection contains complete documentaion of all the research activities done, including research laboratory notes, correspondence, and published papers. The collection also contains corporate, financial, advertising and sales materials, photographs, and audiovisual materials. The collection is important for those researchers interested in the history of public health, the history of biologicals, pharmaceutical manufacturing and business history.
Arrangement:
Collection is divided into 13 series.

Series 1: Corporate Materials, 1887-1951

Series 2: Financial Materials, 1880-1970

Series 3: Employee/Personnel Materials, 1900-1989

Series 4: Advertising/Sales Materials, 1868-1980

Series 5: Photographs, 1866-1992

Series 6: Notebooks, 1908-1968

Series 7: Control Department Records, 1884-1931

Series 8: Formulas, 1882-1967

Series 9: Equipment Data Files, 1922-1978

Series 10: Publications, 1968-1988

Series 11: Research Materials, 1920-1978

Series 12: Drawings, 1911-1971

Series 13: Addenda, 1867-1970

Series 14: Audio Materials, 1956-1957
Historical:
Parke, Davis and Company traces it's origins to Samuel Pearce Duffield (1833-1916), a physician and pharmacist. Duffield was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and his family moved to Detroit when he was an infant. Duffield graduated from the University of Michigan in 1854 and he attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, latter leaving for Germany where he studied chemistry and sought treatment for his eyesight. He subsequently earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Ludwig University at Giessen in Germany. Duffield returned to Detroit in 1858 and established a retail drugstore with a strong interest in manufacturing pharmaceuticals. Duffield sought financial partners for his retail and manufacturing venture with A.L. Patrick and Francis C. Conant. Both men retracted their investments and Duffield met Hervey Coke Parke (1927-1899), a native of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Duffield and Parke formed a formal partnership in 1866. George S. Davis, a third partner and traveling salesman previously with Farrand, Sheley and Company, was added 1867. Augustus F. Jennings joined the company as a partner to head manufacturing. The company became known as Duffield, Parke, Davis, & Jennings Company. Duffield withdrew in 1869 and the name Parke, Davis & Company was adopted in 1871. The company incorporated in 1875 and began planning world-wide scientific expeditions to discover new vegetable drugs such as Guarana, Bearsfoot, Eucalyptus Globulus, and Coca. The company first showed a profit in 1876, and the first dividend paid to shareholders in 1878 and dividends paid until mid-1960s. Research was a major activity of the company.

In 1907, Parke, Davis and Company bought 340 acres in northeast Avon Township, Michigan, and called it Parkedale Farm. The farm was dedicated on October 8, 1908, and included sterilization rooms and a vaccine propagating building. By 1909 the farm included 200 horses, 25 to 50 cattle, 150 sheep, and employed 20 men. The horses produced the antitoxin for diphtheria and tetanus, the cattle produced a vaccine for smallpox preventatives, and the sheep made serum. Only the healthiest animals were used and all were well cared for. Exotic plants were also grown on the site and used for drugs. Parke-Davis' chief products were antitoxins and vaccines as well as farm crops for feeding the animals. The farm continued to produce vaccines for diphtheria, scarlet fever, tetanus, smallpox, anthrax, and in the 1950s, the Salk polio vaccine.

Due to a weakening financial position, the company became susceptible to take-over, and was purchased by Warner-Lambert in 1970. Warner Lambert, was then acquired by Pfizer in 2000. In 2007, Pfizer closed its research facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Source

Rochester Hills Museum at Voon Hoosen Farm (last accessed on September 29, 2021 https://www.rochesterhills.org/Museum/LocalHistory/ParkeDavisFarm.pdf)

Parke, Davis and Company. Parke-Davis At 100...progress in the past...promise for the future. Detroit, Michigan, 1966.
Related Materials:
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Alan and Elaine Levitt Advertisement Collection (NMAH.AC.0303)

Medical Sciences Film Collection (NMAH.AC.0222)

Norwich Eaton Pharmaceutical, Inc. Collection (NMAH.AC.0395)

Procter & Gamble Company Product Packaging Collection (NMAH.AC.0836)

Sterling Drug Company Records (NMAH.AC.772)

Syntex Collection of Pharmaceutical Advertising (NMAH.AC.0821)

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Medicine (NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Medicine)

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Patent Medicines (NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.PatentMedicines)

Materials at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection

Trade catalogs related to Parke, Davis & Co.; Warner-Lambert; Pfizer Pharmaceuticals; and Pfizer, Inc.

Materials at Other Organizations

Detroit Public Library, Special Collections

Parke, Davis & Company records, 1892-1959

Scrapbook of clippings, 1929-44; Excursions & Announcements, 1892-1902; and company newsletters.

University of California San Francisco

Drug Industry Documents was created by the University of California San Francisco Library in collaboration with faculty members C. Seth Landefeld, MD and Michael Steinman, MD. Originally established to house documents from an off-label marketing lawsuit against Parke-Davis (United States of America ex rel. David Franklin vs. Parke-Davis), the archive has grown to include documents from additional sources illustrating how the pharmaceutical industry, academic journals and institutions, continuing medical education organizations and regulatory/funding agencies operate in ways that are detrimental to public health.
Separated Materials:
Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History

The division holds objects related to Parke, Davis that primarily include containers (boxes and glass bottles) that held phamrmaceuticals, biologicals (vaccines), crude drugs, and herb packages. See accessions: 1978.0882; 1982.0043; 1982.0043; 1984.0351; 1985.0475; 1988.3152; 1991.0415; 1992.3127; 2001.3066; 2012.0165; and 2018.5001.
Provenance:
The initial collection of approximately 185 cubic feet was donated by the Warner-Lambert Company, through Jerry A. Weisbach, Vice-President and President of the Pharmaceutical Research Division, on February 3, 1982.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
advertising  Search this
Antibiotics  Search this
Architectural Blueprints  Search this
Biologicals  Search this
Chemistry  Search this
Diseases  Search this
Drugs -- 1900-1950  Search this
Drug factories  Search this
Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919  Search this
Laboratories  Search this
Medical scientists -- 1900-1950  Search this
Patents  Search this
Pharmaceutical industry -- 1900-1950  Search this
Pharmacology -- 1900-1950  Search this
Photographs  Search this
Vaccines  Search this
Genre/Form:
Annual reports -- 20th century
Blueprints -- 20th century
Brochures -- 20th century
Catalogs
Correspondence -- 19th-20th century
Employee records
Formulae, chemical
Lantern slides -- 1900-1950
Newsletters -- 20th century
Newspaper clippings
Notebooks -- 1900-1950
Price lists
16mm films
Sound recordings -- Audiotapes -- Open reel
Tracings
Trade literature
Citation:
Parke, Davis Research Laboratory Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0001
See more items in:
Parke, Davis Research Laboratory Records.
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8869c518d-5cbd-42cf-b508-e688de3bf14d
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0001
Online Media:

Formica Collection

Creator:
Jeffers, Grace  Search this
Formica Corporation.  Search this
Names:
Faber, Herbert A.  Search this
Loewy, Raymond  Search this
O'Conor, Daniel J.  Search this
Stevens, Brooks  Search this
Extent:
18 Cubic feet (59 boxes, 11 oversize folders )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scripts (documents)
Videotapes
Posters
Samples
Advertisements
Brochures
Blueprints
Photographs
Newsletters
Exhibition catalogs
Catalogs
Correspondence
Date:
1913-2003
Summary:
The Formica Collection consists of textual files, photographs, slides, negatives, drawings, blueprints, posters, advertisements, product brochures, newsletters, and informational pamphlets documenting the history of the Formica Corporation and the use of Formica brand plastic laminate.
Scope and Contents:
The Formica Collection, 1913-2003, consists of textual files, photographs, photo slides, drawings, blueprints, posters, advertisements, product brochures, informational pamphlets, and research notes documenting the history of the Formica Corporation and the use of Formica brand plastic laminate.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.

Series 1: Corporate Records, 1920-1992, 2003

Subseries 1.1: Annual reports, 1949, 1966, 1988

Subseries 1.2: Correspondence and company identity, 1920-1988

Subseries 1.3: Corporation histories and timelines, 1949-1991, undated

Subseries 1.4: Newspaper clippings and articles, 1934-2003

Subseries 1.5: Awards, 1940s-1987

Subseries 1.6: Patent information, 1925-1994

Subseries 1.7: Photographs, 1927-1966

Series 2: Personnel Records, 1943-1992

Series 3: Newsletters, Magazines, and Press Releases, 1942-1990

Subseries 3.1: Newsletters, 1942-1988

Subseries 3.2: Press releases, 1973-1990

Series 4: Product Information, 1948-1994

Series 5: Advertising and sales materials, 1913-2000

Subseries 5.1: Advertising materials, 1913-2000

Subseries 5.2: Sales materials, 1922-1993

Series 6: Subject Files, circa 1945, 1955-1991, 2002

Series 7: Exhibits, 1981-1994

Series 8: Grace Jeffers Research Materials, 1987-1997

Series 9: Audio Visual Materials, 1982-1995, undated

Series 10: Martin A. Jeffers Materials, 1963-1999

Subseries 10.1: Background Materials, 1965-1999

Subseries 10.2: Employee Benefits, 1963-1998

Subseries 10.3: Product Information, [1959?]-1997

Subseries 10.4: Advertising and Sales Records, 1987-1999
Biographical / Historical:
Since its founding in 1913, the history of the Formica Company has been marked by a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. The history begins with the discovery of Formica by two men who envisioned the plastic laminate as breakthrough insulation for motors. Later, Formica became a ubiquitous surfacing material used by artists and architects of post-modern design. The various applications of the plastic laminate during the twentieth century give it a prominent role in the history of plastics, American consumerism, and American popular culture.

The Formica Company was the brainchild of Herbert A. Faber and Daniel J. O'Conor, who met in 1907 while both were working at Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. O'Conor, head of the process section in the Research Engineering Department, had been experimenting with resins, cloth, paper, and a wide array of solvents in an effort to perfect a process for making rigid laminate sheets from Kraft paper and liquid Bakelite. O'Conor produced the first laminate sheet at Westinghouse by winding and coating paper on a mandrel, slitting the resulting tube, and flattening it on a press. The finished product was a laminated sheet with the chemical and electrical properties of Bakelite that were cut into various shapes and sizes. O'Conor applied for a patent on February 1, 1913, but it was not issued until November 12, 1918 (US Patent 1,284,432). Since the research was done on behalf of Westinghouse, the company was assigned the patent, and O'Conor was given one dollar, the customary amount that Westinghouse paid for the rights to employees' inventions.

Herbert Faber, Technical Sales Manager of insulating materials, was excited about O'Conor's discovery. Faber saw limitless possibilities for the new material. However, he quickly became frustrated by Westinghouse's policy limiting the sale of the laminate to its licensed distributors. After failing to persuade Westinghouse to form a division to manufacture and market the new material, Faber and O'Conor created their own company. On May 2, 1913, the first Formica plant opened in Cincinnati, Ohio. On October 15, 1913, the business incorporated as the Formica Insulation Company with Faber as president and treasurer and O'Conor as vice-president and secretary. The company began producing insulation parts used in place of or "for mica," the costly mineral that had been used in electrical insulation.

Like most new companies, Formica had modest beginnings. Faber and O'Conor faced the challenge of looking for investors who would let them maintain control over the company. Finally, they met J. G. Tomluin, a lawyer and banker from Walton, Kentucky, who invested $7,500 for a one-third share in the Formica Company. Renting a small space in downtown Cincinnati, Faber and O'Conor began work. The company's equipment list consisted of a 35-horsepower boiler, a small gas stove, and a variety of homemade hand screw presses. By September 1913, Tomluin had brought in two more partners, David Wallace and John L. Vest. With the added capital, O'Conor, Faber, and Formica's eighteen employees began producing automobile insulation parts for Bell Electric Motor, Allis Chalmers, and Northwest Electric.

Initially, the Formica Company only made insulation rings and tubes for motors. However, by July 4, 1914, the company obtained its first press and began to produce flat laminate sheets made from Redmenol resin. Business gradually grew, and by 1917 sales totaled $75,000. Fueled by World War I, Formica's business expanded to making radio parts, aircraft pulleys, and timing gears for the burgeoning motor industry. In the years that followed, Formica products were in high demand as laminate plastics replaced older materials in washers, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. By 1919, the Formica Company required larger facilities and purchased a factory in Cincinnati.

During this time, patent battles and legal suits emerged to challenge Formica's success. On June 11, 1919, Westinghouse sued Formica for patent infringement on its laminated gears; Formica won. Later that year, Westinghouse brought two new lawsuits against Formica. The first was for a patent infringement on the production of tubes, rods, and molded parts; the second was over an infringement based on a 1913 patent assigned to Westinghouse through O'Conor. Formica prevailed in both suits.

Legal battles did not deter the company. Having to defend itself against a giant corporation gave Formica a reputation as a scrappy contender. Finally, Faber and O'Conor made a quantum leap in 1927, when the company was granted a U.S. patent for a phenolic laminate utilizing lithographed wood grains of light color, forming an opaque barrier sheet which blocks out the dark interior of the laminate. In 1931, the company received two more patents for the preparation of the first all paper based laminate and for the addition of a layer of aluminum foil between the core and the surface, making the laminate cigarette-proof. These patents would allow Formica to move from a company dealing primarily with industrial material to the highly visible arena of consumer goods.

In 1937, Faber had a severe heart attack which limited his activity within the company. O'Conor continued as president, encouraging new product lines, including Realwood, as a laminate with genuine wood veneer mounted on a paper lamination with a heat-reactive binder. With the introduction of Realwood and its derivatives, manufacturers started using Formica laminate for tabletops, desks, and dinette sets. By the early forties, sales of Formica laminate were over 15 million dollars. The final recipe for decorative laminate was perfected in 1938, when melamine resins were introduced. Melamine was clear, extremely hard, and resistant to stains, heat, light, less expensive than phenolic resins. It also made possible laminates of colored papers and patterns.

Due to World War II, Formica postponed the manufacturing of decorative laminate sheets. Instead, the company made a variety of war-time products ranging from airplane propellers to bomb buster tubes.

The post-World War II building boom fueled the decorative laminate market and ushered in what would come to be known as the golden age for Formica. The company, anticipating the demand for laminate, acquired a giant press capable of producing sheets measuring thirty by ninety-six inches for kitchen countertops. Between 1947 and 1950, more than 2 million new homes were designed with Formica brand laminate for kitchens and bathrooms.

Formica's advertising campaigns, initially aimed at industry, were transformed to speak to the new decorative needs of consumer society, in particular the American housewife. Formica hired design consultants, Brooks Stevens, and, later, Raymond Loewy who launched extensive advertising campaigns. Advertising themes of durability, cleanliness, efficiency, and beauty abound in promotional material of this time. Advertisers promised that the plastic laminate, known as "the wipe clean wonder," was resistant to dirt, juices, jams, alcohol stains, and cigarette burns. Atomic patterns and space-age colors, including Moonglo, Skylark, and Sequina, were introduced in homes, schools, offices, hospitals, diners, and restaurants across America.

The post-war period was also marked by expansion, specifically with the establishment of Formica's first international markets. In 1947, Formica signed a licensing agreement with the British firm the De La Rue Company of London for the exclusive manufacture and marketing of decorative laminates outside North America, and in South America and the Pacific Basin. In 1948, Formica changed its name from the Formica Insulation Company to the Formica Company. In 1951, Formica responded to growing consumer demand by opening a million square foot plant in Evendale, Ohio, devoted to the exclusive production of decorative sheet material. In 1956, the Formica Company became the Formica Corporation, a subsidiary of American Cyanamid Company. A year later, the international subsidiaries that Formica formed with De La Rue Company of London were replaced by a joint company called Formica International Limited.

The plastic laminate was not merely confined to tabletops and dinette sets. Formica laminate was used for skis, globes, and murals. Moreover, well-known artists and architects used the decorative laminate for modernist furniture and Art Deco interiors. In 1960, Formica's Research and Development Design Center was established, adjacent to the Evendale plant, to develop uses for existing laminate products. In 1966, the company opened the Sierra Plant near Sacramento, California. Such corporate expansion enabled Formica to market its laminates beyond the traditional role as a countertop surface material.

In 1974, Formica established its Design Advisory Board (DAB), a group of leading designers and architects. DAB introduced new colors and patterns of laminate that gained popularity among artists and interior designers in the 1980s. In 1981, DAB introduced the Color Grid, a systematic organization of Formica laminate arranged by neutrals and chromatics. The Color Grid was described as the first and only logically arranged collection of color in the laminate industry. DAB also developed the Design Concepts Collection of premium solid and patterned laminates to serve the needs of contemporary interior designers.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the corporation continued to produce laminates for interior designers, artists, and architects. In 1982, Formica introduced COLORCORE, the first solid-color laminate. Due to its relatively seamless appearance, COLORCORE was adopted by artists for use in furniture, jewelry, and interior design. The introduction of COLORCORE also marked the emergence of a wide variety of design exhibitions and competitions sponsored by the Formica Corporation. In 1985, Formica Corporation became independent and privately held. Formica continues to be one of the leading laminate producers in the world with factories in the United States, England, France, Spain, Canada, and Taiwan.

For additional information on the history of the Formica Corporation, see:

DiNoto, Andrea. Art Plastic: Designed for Living. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985.

Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century. New York: Harper/Collins, 1996.

Jeffers Grace. 1998. Machine Made Natural: The Decorative Products of the Formica Corporation, 1947-1962. Master's thesis. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts.

Lewin, Susan Grant, ed. Formica & Design: From Counter Top to High Art. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center

Leo Baekeland Papers, 1881-1968 (NMAH.AC.0005)

DuPont Nylon Collection, 1939-1977 (NMAH.AC.0007)

J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics, circa 1900-1975 (NMAH.AC.0008)

Earl Tupper Papers, circa 1914-1982 (NMAH.AC.0470)

The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection. See accession # 1997.0319 and #1997.3133.
Provenance:
This collection was assembled by Grace Jeffers, historian of material culture, primarily from materials given to her by Susan Lewin, Head of Formica's New York design and publicity office when the office closed in 1995. The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Grace Jeffers in September 1996.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. 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. 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.
Topic:
Plastics industry and trade  Search this
Plastics -- 1920-2000  Search this
Plastics as art material -- 1920-2000  Search this
Plastics in interior design -- 1920-2000  Search this
advertising -- plastic industry -- 1920-2000  Search this
Plastic jewelry -- 1920-2000  Search this
Laminated plastics -- 1920-2000  Search this
Exhibitions -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
House furnishings -- 1920-2000 -- United States  Search this
Housewives as consumers -- 1920-2000  Search this
Electronic insulators and insulation -- Plastics -- 1920-2000  Search this
Inventions -- 1920-2000 -- United States  Search this
Women in advertising  Search this
Women in popular culture -- 1920-2000  Search this
Genre/Form:
Scripts (documents)
Videotapes
Posters -- 20th century
Samples -- 1920-2000
Advertisements
Brochures
Blueprints -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Newsletters -- 20th century
Exhibition catalogs
Catalogs
Catalogs -- 1920-2000
Correspondence -- 20th century
Citation:
Formica Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0565
See more items in:
Formica Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8859e644e-2a2b-427b-ae69-3dfadd400aa4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0565
Online Media:

Tie Clasp

Collector:
N/A  Search this
Donor Name:
Dr. Lucinda D. Templin  Search this
Culture:
Navajo (DinĂ©)  Search this
Object Type:
Tie Clip
Place:
New Mexico, United States, North America
Accession Date:
9 Jun 1954
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
200122
USNM Number:
E404065-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/357fcb7cc-f23b-4519-9f89-418007510b03
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8433581

National Sculpture Society records, 1883-1962

Creator:
National Sculpture Society (U.S.)  Search this
Subject:
Bitter, Karl Theodore Francis  Search this
Ward, John Quincy Adams  Search this
New York Architectural League  Search this
Type:
Scrapbooks
Place:
New York N.Y. -- Photographs
Citation:
National Sculpture Society records, 1883-1962. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Societies, etc.  Search this
Sculpture, Modern -- 19th century -- United States  Search this
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
War memorials -- United States  Search this
Theme:
Art organizations  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9082
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211275
AAA_collcode_natiscul
Theme:
Art organizations
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211275

Tokio Ueyama papers

Creator:
Ueyama, Tokio, 1889-1954  Search this
Extent:
0.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Sketchbooks
Date:
1908-circa 1954
bulk 1914-1945
Summary:
The papers of California-based painter Tokio Ueyama (1889-1954) measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1908-circa 1954, bulk 1914-1945. This small but rich collection includes biographical material in the form of a family tree, travel documents, identification cards, records related to the World War II Japanese American incarceration camp, Amache Relocation Center, and other materials; correspondence with friends and family, most of which is written in Japanese; writings such as a diary and a notebook from his time as a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; printed materials including news clippings and exhibition announcements; a sketchbook; and photographs of friends and family during a trip to Japan. Also included are printouts of an item-level inventory created by Grace Nozaki, Ueyama's niece, and translations of select entries from the diaries produced by Noriko Okada.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of California-based painter Tokio Ueyama (1889-1954) measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1908-circa 1954, bulk 1914-1945. This small but rich collection includes biographical material in the form of a family tree, travel documents, identification cards, records related to the World War II Japanese American incarceration camp, Amache Relocation Center, and other materials; correspondence with friends and family, most of which is written in Japanese; writings such as a diary and a notebook from his time as a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; printed materials including news clippings and exhibition announcements; a sketchbook; and photographs of friends and family during a trip to Japan. Also included are printouts of an item-level inventory created by Grace Nozaki, Ueyama's niece, and translations of select entries from the diaries produced by Noriko Okada.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.

Series 1: Tokio Ueyama Papers, 1908-circa 1954, bulk 1914-1945 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, OVs 3-4)
Biographical / Historical:
Tokio Ueyama (1889-1954) was a painter of still lifes, portraits, and landscapes who was primarily based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.­ Ueyama was born in Wakayama, Japan, in 1889 and immigrated to the United States after high school around 1908. He studied at the San Francisco Institute of Art, University of Southern California (B.A. in 1914), and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he received the Cresson travel scholarship which allowed him to travel to Europe from 1920 to 1922. During his time abroad, Ueyama studied painting in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

In 1922, Ueyama returned to Los Angeles and founded a painting association with three other Japanese American artists. He exhibited his paintings around Southern California and in Mexico City, where he travelled in 1924 and met and exchanged paintings with Diego Rivera. Sometime around 1928, he met and married a woman named Suye (née Tsukada).

In 1942, Ueyama and wife were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to World War II Japanese American incarceration camps: Santa Anita Assembly Center in California and then the Amache Relocation Center (also referred to as Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado. Ueyama taught art to fellow incarcerees at Amache. In late 1945, the Ueyamas returned to Los Angeles and opened Bunkado, a gift shop selling a variety of Japanese goods that is open to this day. He continued to paint and be active in the art world and remained in Los Angeles until his death in 1954.
Provenance:
The Tokio Ueyama papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2023 by Grace Nozaki, Ueyama's niece.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Landscape painters -- California -- San Francisco  Search this
Topic:
Asian American artists  Search this
Japanese American art -- United States  Search this
Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment -- 1942-1945  Search this
Asian American painters  Search this
Genre/Form:
Diaries -- 20th century
Sketchbooks -- 20th century
Citation:
Tokio Ueyama papers, 1908-circa 1954, bulk 1914-1945. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.ueyatoki
See more items in:
Tokio Ueyama papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw951744173-42a8-4c7d-8b24-baa048f26b14
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-ueyatoki
Online Media:

Gertrude Abercrombie papers

Creator:
Abercrombie, Gertrude, 1909-1977  Search this
Names:
Algren, Nelson, 1909-1981  Search this
Armin, Emil, 1883-  Search this
Armour, Richard Willard, 1906-  Search this
De Diego, Julio, 1900-  Search this
Evans, B.  Search this
Huppler, Dudley, 1917-1988  Search this
Karidis, Jerome  Search this
Priebe, Karl J., 1914-1976  Search this
Purdy, Carl  Search this
Purdy, James  Search this
Rollins, Sonny  Search this
Rorem, Ned, 1923-  Search this
Terkel, Studs, 1912-2008  Search this
Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964  Search this
Warren, Paul, 1916-  Search this
Wilcox, Wendell  Search this
Wilde, John, 1919-2006  Search this
Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975  Search this
Extent:
5.9 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Drawings
Scrapbooks
Sound recordings
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Date:
circa 1880-1986
bulk 1935-1977
Summary:
The papers of surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie date from circa 1880-1986, with the bulk of the material dated 1935-1977, and measure 5.9 linear feet. Found within are biographical material; correspondence (mostly incoming letters) with friends, museums, and galleries; files for artists that interested her; writings and notes, including five journal-type notebooks; scattered personal business records; two sketchbooks by Abercrombie and additional sketches and drawings, some by others; printed material, audio recordings, one scrapbook, photographs, and estate records.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of surrealist artist Gertrude Abercrombie date from circa 1880-1986, with the bulk of the material dated 1935-1977, and measure 5.9 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical material; correspondence (mostly incoming letters) with friends, museums, and galleries; artists files; writings and notes, including five journal-type notebooks; scattered personal business records; two sketchbooks by Abercrombie and additional sketches and drawings, some by others; printed material, audio recordings, one scrapbook, photographs, and estate records.

Biographical material consists of biographical notes, Gertrude Abercrombie's will, address books, and a file titled "memorabilia." Personal and professional correspondence consists mainly of incoming letters and some drafts of Gertrude Abercrombie's outgoing letters. Letters from museums and galleries concern loans of paintings and exhibitions. A large amount of the personal correspondence consists of post cards including many antique ones, as well as cards containing original art work by Julio de Diego, Jerry [Jerome] Karidis, Karl Priebe.

Artist files consist of correspondence, printed material, and photographs concerning painters, writers, a jazz musician, and a photographer. The individuals represented are: Dudley Huppler, Jerome Karidis, Karl Priebe, James Purdy, Sonny Rollins, Carl Van Vechten, Wendell Wilcox, John Wilde, and Thornton Wilder.

Writings and notes include reminiscences, miscellaneous writings and notes, and a girlhood diary with brief entries. Five notebooks contain a variety of writings dating from 1953 through 1975, and undated. One volume concerns only her second husband Frank Sandiford.

Business records include a painting catalog on file cards, mailing and guest lists, and miscellaneous sales records. In addition, six notebooks record expenses, sales, inventories, mailing lists, a register of paintings, and a guest book.

There are two sketchbooks, Christmas card designs, sketches and drawings done by Gertrude Abercrombie. There are also prints, drawings, and a painting by Emil Arman, B. Evans, de Diego, and unknown artists.

Printed material consists of articles and clippings about Gertrude Abercrombie, exhibition catalogs, and reproductions. Also included are books by friends inscribed by the authors, among them: Nelson Algren, Richard Armour, Dudley Huppler, James Purdy, Ned Rorem, Paul Warren [pen name of Abercrombie's second husband, Frank Sandiford], Studs Terkel, and Thornton Wilder.

Audio recordings (33-1/3 rpm phonograph alums) are inscribed to Gertrude Abercrombie by the artists. Orlando's album cover, designed by Abercrombie, incorporates one of her paintings.

Records of the Estate of Gertrude Abercrombie and the Gertrude Abercrombie Trust, Donald Baum, Executor, consist mainly of correspondence with the institutions that were offered works of art by Gertrude Abercrombie and from her personal collection. Also included are general correspondence, financial and tax records, and legal documents.

There is one scrapbook dated 1943 containing photographs and printed material.

Photographs are of art work, people, places, and miscellaneous subjects; negatives, slides, and transparencies are included in this series, too. Photographs of art include the work of Gertrude Abercrombie, Karl Priebe, and Charles Sebree. People pictured are Gertrude Abercrombie and family, including her parents, Richard I. Livingston, Dinah Livingston, and Frank Sandiford. There are also 19th and early 20th century photographs of ancestors. Among the images of friends are: Ivan le Lorraine Albright, Arnold Blanch, Dudley Huppler, Doris Lee, Karl Priebe, and Richard Purdy. Photographs of jazz artists include: Louis Armstrong, George Davis, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Orlando, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughn, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. Of particular note the portraits of Gertrude Abercrombie and Dizzy Gillespie by Carl Van Vechten.Among the photographs of places are interior views of Gertrude Abercrombie's home and studio, unidentified landscapes, travel pictures of San Francisco and commercially produced stereopticon slides of other locations. Miscellaneous subjects are automobiles, cats, exhibition installations, and a still life setup.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 11 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1902-1976 (Box 1, OV9; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1935-1977 (Boxes 1-2; 1.65 linear ft.)

Series 3: Artist files, circa 1935-1977 (Box 2; 0.25 linear ft.)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1919-1977 (Box 3; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 5: Business Records, circa 1944-1977 (Box 3; 0.2 linear ft.)

Series 6: Art Work, circa 1939-1975 (Boxes 3, 7; O.2 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1906-1977 (Boxes 3-4; 1.6 linear ft.)

Series 8: Audio Recordings, circa 1970-1974 (Box 7; 0.1 linear ft.)

Series 9: Estate Records, circa 1976-1986 (Box 5; o.5 linear ft.)

Series 10: Scrapbook, circa 1943(Box 5; 1 folder)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1880-1978(Boxes 5-7; OV8, 1.0 linear ft.)
Biographical Note:
Surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977) lived and worked in Chicago and was a prominent member of Chicago's Hyde Park arts community.

Abercrombie was known for surrealist oil paintings featuring dreamlike landscapes and fantasies. Her wide circle of friends included locally and nationally known artists, writers, and jazz musicians who made her home a popular avant-garde salon. She was the inspiration for Richie Powell's "Gertrude's Bounce" and, appeared as a fictional character in Malcolm, Eustace Chisholm, and as herself in Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue all by James Purdy.

The only child of Tom and Lula Janes [Jane] Abercrombie, Gertrude was born in Austin, Texas in 1909, while her opera singer parents were in town with a traveling company. In 1913, the family relocated to Berlin to further Jane's career, but the outbreak of World War I forced their return to the United States. They lived with Tom Abercrombie's family in Alledo, Illinois, before permanently settling in Chicago.

Gertrude Abercrombie had a facility with language and possessed musical and artistic talents. After graduation from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a degree in romance languages in 1929, she studied figure drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a short time. She then enrolled at the American Arcademy of Art, also in Chicago, for a year long course in commercial art. Her first job was drawing gloves for Mesirow Department Store ads, followed by a stint working as an artist for Sears.

By 1932, Gertrude Abercrombie began painting seriously. The following summer, she participated in an outdoor art fair in downtown Chicago where she made her first sale and received favorable mention in a newspaper review of the event. Abercrombie's work that featured self-portraits and recurring images of personal symbols - trees, horses, owls, keys, shells, doors, stairways, ladders - began to attract attention. Beginning in 1934, Gertrude Abercrombie was employment as a painter in the WPA Federal Art Project in 1934, enabling her to feel validated as an artist and move from the home of her conservative, Christian Scientist parents to her own apartment. The Chicago Society of Artists presented a solo exhibition of Abercrombie's work in 1934, and in 1936 she showed at the Katharine Kuh Gallery (along with Rita Stein and Nicola Ziroli). In 1936 and 1938 Gertrude Abercrombie won prizes at the Art Institute of Chicago's Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity.

She left the WPA in 1940 and married lawyer Robert Livingston. Their daughter, Dinah, was born in 1942, and they soon moved to a large Victorian house on South Dorchester St. where Gertude lived for the remainder of her life. The couple divorced in 1948. That same year she married Frank Sandiford, a music critic whose pen name was Paul Warren. An accomplished improvisational pianist, Gertrude Abercrombie became friends with many prominent jazz artists whom she met through Sandiford; in fact, Dizzy Gillespie performed at their wedding. Abercrombie and Sandiford separated in 1964.

The 1940s through 1950s were Gertrude Abercrombie's most productive and prolific period. Although she no longer painted many portraits, he work remained focused on the same themes and symbols. She believed that art was about ideas rather than technique and insisted that "It is always myself that I paint." During this period, Amercrombie exhibited widely in group shows and had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Associated American Artists (New York), and Leonard Linn, Inc. (Winnetka, Ill.)

By the late 1950s, Gertrude Abercrombie began a long decline. Alcoholism started to take a toll. She suffered serious financial reverses, and in 1964 separated from Frank Sandiford. Debilitating arthritis eventually landed her in a wheel chair, and she became reclusive. In 1977, very near the end of her life, Gertrude Abercrombie was honored with a well-received retrospective exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. She was able to attend the reception and enjoy seeing the many old friends who were at the event.

Gertrude Abercrombie died in Chicago in 1977. Her will established The Gertrude Abercrombie Trust that cared for and distributed to various institutions her own paintings and a personal collection of works by other artists to selected institutions, mainly in the Midwest.
Related Material:
A photograph of Gertrude Abercrombie at home with her painting "Slaughter House", was donated by Donald Baum to the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1979 and transferred to the Archives of American Art that same year.
Provenance:
Donald Baum, executor of both the estate and trust of Gertrude Abercrombie, donated the papers to the Archives of American Art in 1978 and 1986.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Surrealism  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Drawings
Scrapbooks
Sound recordings
Sketches
Photographs
Writings
Citation:
The Gertrude Abercrombie papers, circa 1880-1986, bulk 1935-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.abergert
See more items in:
Gertrude Abercrombie papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93af9ed86-0dce-4ea7-9cb4-085eb5d48b67
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-abergert
Online Media:

Superconducting Super Collider Collection

Creator:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Science, Medicine, and Society  Search this
Extent:
4 Cubic feet (8 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Bumper stickers
Videotapes
Photographs
Clippings
Handbills
Signs (declaratory or advertising artifacts)
Posters
Place:
Texas -- Environmental protection
Date:
1985-1992
bulk 1987-1989
Summary:
The collection was assembled by Museum curators and documents the efforts of persons in eight states to have the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), a particle accelerator, built in their state. Also documents efforts in each state to oppose locating the SSC in their state. The collection contains correspondence, press kits, posters, signs, bumper stickers, leaflets, handbills, clippings, photographs, and a videotape.
Scope and Contents:
The collections contains materials documenting the efforts by persons in eight competing states to have the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) built in their state, as well as efforts in each state to oppose locating the SSC within their state. The materials include correspondence, press kits, posters, signs, bumper stickers, leaflets, handbills, clippings, two photographs and one videotape.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into nine series.

Series 1: Arizona (Ian MacPherson), 1988, undated

Subseries 1.1: Ian McPherson, 1988, undated

Series 2: Colorado (Uriel Nauenberg), 1987

Subseries 2.1: Uriel Nauenberg, 1987-1988

Series 3: Illinois, 1987-1991, undated

Subseries 3.1: Fermi National Laboratory Library/Paula Garrett, undated

Subseries 3.2: David L. Gross, 1988, undated

Subseries 3.3: Sharon Lough, 1988-1991

Subseries 3.4: Stan L. Yonkauski, undated

Series 4: Michigan, 1988-1989

Subseries 4.1: Larry Jones, 1988-1989

Series 5: New York, 1986-1990

Subseries 5.1: Gail Adair, 1987

Subseries 5.2: Mary Lou and Jim Alexander, 1986-1990

Subseries 5.3: Bill Herbert, 1987

Subseries 5.4: Doug McCuen, 1987-1988

Subseries 5.5: Brian L. Petty, 1987-1988

Series 6: North Carolina, 1987

Subseries 6.1: Bill Dunn, 1987

Series 7: Tennessee, 1987-1992

Subseries 7.1: Robert and Pat Sanders, 1987-1992

Subseries 7.2: J. Fred Weinhold, 1987

Series :, Texas, 1985-1990, undated

Subseries 8.1: Representative Joe Barton, undated

Subseries 8.2: Jean Caddel, 1986-1989

Subseries 8.3: Coby Chase, 1985-1989

Subseries 8.4: Red Oak Chamber of Commerce, 1990

Subseries 8.5: Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce, undated

Subseries 8.6: Mari Beth Williams, undated

Series 9: Miscellaneous, 1987-1988
Biographical / Historical:
The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), if built, would have been the world's most expensive instrument for basic science. It would have allowed physicists to study the collisions of subatomic particles in conditions approximating those of the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe. The SSC design called for a 10-foot wide tunnel to be laid out in an oval pattern similar to a racetrack, approximately 53 miles in circumference and 14 miles in diameter. The tunnel, buried several hundred feet underground, would have contained nearly 10,000 superconducting magnets. Small clusters of buildings located above the tunnel were planned to house the SSC's offices, laboratories, and control facilities. All of these structures would have made the SSC the largest particle accelerator in the world and, at an estimated cost of between $4.4 and $11.8 billion, one of the largest public works projects ever undertaken in the United States.

Physicists planned to use the SSC's superconducting magnets to accelerate two streams of protons (particles with a positive electrical charge that forming part of the nucleus of an atom) to a velocity of 20 trillion electron-volts (TeV) in opposite directions within the tunnel's parallel beam tubes. They would then deflect the two streams into each other and study the particles that were created in the resulting high-speed collisions. From these events, physicists hoped to detect particles never seen before and learn more about the composition of matter.

In January 1987, President Reagan publicly declared his support for the proposed SSC, to be built under the authority of the Department of Energy (DOE). States were invited to submit site proposals for the project, and from the twenty-five states that responded, eight finalists were selected: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The huge scale of the SSC meant that it would have a significant environmental and cultural impact on the area selected. The SSC would, one source estimated, "require 16,000 acres of donated land, a flow of between 500 and 2,200 gallons of water a minute and up to 250-megawatts of power, as well as accessibility to a major airport, so the world's scientists can fly in and out."1

In many of the finalist states, opponents of the SSC organized and actively campaigned against the project. They raised issues such as the threat to uproot hundreds of people from their homes or create heavy tax and utility burdens. Opponents attended public hearings on SSC issues, distributed leaflets by mail and by hand, and conducted letter-writing campaigns to local politicians. In New York, Citizens Against the Collider Here (CATCH) was able to force the state to withdraw from the competition. Groups in other states learned from the New York group's experiences and used similar techniques in their own campaigns, sometimes adopting the name CATCH. As one CATCH activist recalled, "opponents were not against the SSC or basic sciences, however they did not believe that they should be forced out of their homes for the SSC."2

Supporters of the SSC, on the other hand, addressed the concerns of the citizens by writing editorials or distributing pamphlets responding to particular issues or questions. Prominent city officials and politicians traveled to the proposed sites to discuss the economic and scientific benefits of the SSC, and cities distributed bumper stickers supporting the project. Scientists rebuffed claims that the SSC would produce large amounts of deadly radioactivity and contaminate the entire area. Supporters promised that, "the SSC project would bring federal funding, international prestige, and jobs—starting with 4,500 construction jobs, and later 2,500 full-time research staff positions."3

In November 1988, the Department of Energy declared the winning site to be Ellis County, Texas, southwest of Dallas near the town of Waxahachie. Full-scale construction began three years later with the building of laboratory facilities for the design and manufacture of the SSC's superconducting magnets. Contractors began boring the main tunnel and several vertical access shafts in January 1993.

The anticipated tremendous costs that dogged the project eventually helped undermine it. In June 1992 and again in June 1993, the House voted to cancel funds for the SSC; both times, the Senate restored funding. However, in October 1993 the House rejected the Senate's second restoration, and President Clinton echoed Congress's decision to cancel further work on the SSC. The project received a small budget to support termination activities through 1996. Once the remaining projects were shut down and the scientists and staff dispersed, only several empty buildings in the rural Texas countryside, and fourteen miles of tunnel underneath it, remained of the once-ambitious facility.

At the National Museum of American History, planning for the Science in American Life exhibit—which would examine how science, technology, and American society have intersected over a hundred-year period—began in 1990, at the same time that preparations were being made in Texas to build the Super Collider. Early in the planning phases, Smithsonian curators decided to dedicate a section of the exhibit to the SSC. This section was intended to be a "work in progress" that would change over time as the collider was built, reflecting the current and ongoing debates over the massive machine.

The exhibition design called for using materials donated by both supporters and opponents of the SSC. Early in the exhibit's development the curators began contacting organizations and individuals who both supported and opposed the SSC, asking if they still had materials related to their efforts. Over a two-year period, the curators collected a wide range of items in more than twenty donations, ranging from bumper stickers, t-shirts and hats, to newspaper clippings, maps, and copies of state site proposals.

The design of the SSC portion of the Science in American Life exhibit became permanent with the closing of the SSC in late 1993. The SSC portion now focuses on the roles that special interest groups, protest, and grass-roots political campaigns play in large-scale scientific endeavors. Many of the donated items were included in the exhibit.

Notes

1 DeMott, John S. and J. Madeleine Nash, "Super Push for a Supercollider," Time, April 13, 1987, p. 19, Box 2, Folder 20.

2 "Alexander Narrative," a brief typescript history of the New York CATCH organization, Box 3, Folder 14.

3 Koszczuk, Jackie. "Anti-SSC Felling CATCH-es On Fast," Daily Star News (Fort Worth, Texas), September 17, 1988, p. 4, Box 2, Folder 5.
Related Materials:
When the Superconducting Super Collider entered its termination phase in 1993, the Records Management Department of the project began grouping the official records of the SSC into five "disposition packages." These packages were in various stages of being assembled, shipped, received, and processed for research use and were dispersed to: the Fort Worth Regional Federal Records Center; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory ("Fermilab") Archives; Niels Bohr Library, Center for History of Physics, American Institute for Physics; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Archives.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by individuals connected in various ways to the Superconducting Super Collider. The items were donated from personal collections, official files, and the project archives of several different institutions. The donors were Gail Adair, Mary Lou and Dr. Jim Alexander, Representative Joe Barton, Jean Caddel, Coby Chase, Bill Dunn, the Fermi National Laboratory Library, David L. Gross, Bill Herbert, Larry Jones, Sharon Lough, Uriel Nauenberg, Doug McCuen, Ian McPherson, Andrea Miller, Brian L. Petty, the Red Oak Chamber of Commerce, Pat and Dr. Robert Sanders, the Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce, J. Fred Weinhold, Mari Beth Williams, and Stan L. Yonkauski. A brief statement identifying donors and their connections to the Superconducting Super Collider accompanies each subseries in the container list.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Environmental impact analysis  Search this
Environmental protection -- Citizen participation  Search this
Superconducting Super Collider  Search this
NIMBY syndrome  Search this
Genre/Form:
Bumper stickers
Videotapes
Photographs -- 1980-2000
Clippings -- 20th century
Handbills
Signs (declaratory or advertising artifacts)
Posters -- 20th century
Citation:
Superconducting Super Collider Collection, 1985-1992, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0538
See more items in:
Superconducting Super Collider Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep886b5ecfc-c9b8-4e8c-8c4c-ee8e1622a6d9
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0538
Online Media:

Division of Transportation Railroad Reference Files

Collector:
Watkins, J. Elfreth (John Elfreth), 1852-1903  Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this
Creator:
White, John H., 1933-  Search this
Names:
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company  Search this
Pullman Railroad Company  Search this
Extent:
31.33 Cubic feet (94 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Articles
Color slides
Copy prints
Correspondence
Ephemera
Magazines (periodicals)
Manuscripts
Maps
Negatives
Newsclippings
Patents
Photocopies
Photographs
Research
Stereographs
Tickets
Writings
Date:
1830s-1990
Scope and Contents:
The archivist has arranged the collection into seven series. The collection consists primarily of photocopied material assembled by John White for many of his books about railroads. Many files contain original photographs, brochures, advertisements, correspondence, and trade literature. Original Pullman Palace Car photographs can be found across many files. It appears that original Pullman Palace Car photopgraphs were removed from sequence and filed among John White's files. Researchers should consult the Pullman Palace Car Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.1175. Additionally, original Baltimore & Ohio Railroad documents are found among many of the files. Researchers should also consult the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company Records, NMAH.AC.1086.

Series 1: Car Builders, arranged alphabetically by company or individual.

Series 2: Equipment, Rolling Stock, arranged in two sections: alphabetically by White's heading: Articles in Progress and alphabetical by type of railroad car under White's heading: Research Files for Book in Progress.

Series 3: Locomotives, arranged alphabetically by Locomotive builders in two sections, first by individual company and second by individuals.

Series 4: Railroad Companies and Lines, arranged alphabetically by railroad companies and railroad lines.

Series 5: Publications, White's files for his book The American Railroad Freight Car, which are arranged into two sections, Illustrations and Text. Both sections are arranged numerically by chapters or sections of the book.

Series 6: Freight Cars

Series 7: Passenger Cars
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into seven series. Most material arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.

Series 1: Car Builders

Series 2: Equipment--Rolling Stock

Subseries 2.1: Articles in progress

Subseries 2.2: Research Files for Books in Progress

Series 3: Locomotives

Series 4: Railroad Companies and Lines

Series 5: Publications

Series 6: Freights Cars

Series 7; Passenger Cars
Historical:
John H. White, Jr., (1933- ), historian and museum curator, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated with a B.A. in history from Miami University, Ohio, in 1958. Shortly after receiving his degree, White joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution as Assistant Curator of the Division of Transportation, Department of Science and Technology, National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT). White became Associate Curator of the Division, 1961-1966, Curator, 1967-1985, and Senior Historian, 1986-1989. White specialized in land transportation, particularly the history of railroads. He retired in 1990. His papers, the John H. White, Jr., Papers, circa 1959-1989 are at the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

This collection of railroad materials was begun many years ago by employees of the Smithsonian Institution, and maintained later by curators and museum specialists working in the Division of Transportation, NMHT, later named the National Museum of American History (NMAH).

Some of the clippings date back to the time of J. Elfreth Watkins in the 1880-1890s. In 1885 Watkins was appointed Curator of the Section of Steam Transportation, which was successively known as Transportation and Engineering, and Technological Collections. Other portions of White's collection were clearly from Carl Mitman, author of several hundred entries on inventors and engineers in the Dictionary of American Biography and a Smithsonian employee who served as Curator of Mechanical Technology in 1919. In 1921 Mitman took the title of Curator of the Divisions of Mineral and Mechanical Technology, serving in this capacity until 1931. In 1931 the Division of Engineering was established. Mitman served as Curator of the Division and in charge of Mineral Technology, 1931-1938, Head Curator of the Department of Arts and Industries, 1932-1938, and Head Curator of the Department of Engineering and Industries, 1938-1948.

Some portions of this collection were acquired under the time of Frank A. Taylor (Mitman's protégé) who was Assistant Curator, 1928-1931, Assistant Curator for Mechanical Technology, 1932, Curator of the Division and in charge of Mechanical Technology, 1932-1948, Head Curator of the Division of Engineering and Industry, 1948-1957. In 1955 Taylor was appointed Assistant Director, United States National Museum (USNM), with special responsibility for planning the new NMHT, and in 1958 was appointed the first Director of the new museum. In 1962 Taylor became Director of the USNM with responsibility for both the National Museum of Natural History and NMHT.

Smith Hempstone Oliver of the Division of Transportation also kept up the files to a degree, though his main interest was in automobiles.

When White started employment at the Museum in June, 1958, there were, perhaps, two file cabinets on railroads. As Mr. White mentions in a letter to the archivist in March of 2002, "It was and is a great mix of odds and ends -- photos, news clippings, small prints, manufacturing catalogs, post cards, etc. Some junk and some treasure."

White found the material very useful for research and greatly expanded the collection. It more than doubled in size during his years in the Division, 1958-1990. The collection was White's working file and was set up to meet his needs. According to White, the collections greatest lack was cross referencing -- which was mostly in his head. He could usually find things but the organization might be confusing to other users. It was not intended for public use.

White is the author of many books on railroads, including:

American Locomotives: An Engineering History, 1830-1880. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968; 1997.

Early American Locomotives, with 147 engraving. New York: Dover Publications, 1972.

American Single Locomotives and the "Pioneer". Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.

The Pioneer, Chicago's First Locomotive. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1976.

The American Railroad Passenger Car. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.

The John Bull, 150 Years a Locomotive. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.

A Short History of American Locomotive Builders in the Steam Era. Washington, D.C.: Bass, 1982.

Great Yellow Fleet: A History of American Railroad Refrigerator Cars. Golden West Books, 1986

The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Provenance:
Collection materials donated by Jack White in 1995.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Electric railroads  Search this
Freight cars  Search this
Locomotives  Search this
Porters  Search this
Railroads -- History  Search this
Railroad car builders  Search this
Railroad companies  Search this
Railroad passenger cars  Search this
Transportation  Search this
Genre/Form:
Articles
Color slides
Copy prints
Correspondence
Ephemera
Magazines (periodicals)
Manuscripts
Maps
Negatives
Newsclippings
Patents
Photocopies
Photographs -- 19th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Research
Stereographs
Tickets
Writings
Citation:
Division of Transportation Railroad Reference Files, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0523
See more items in:
Division of Transportation Railroad Reference Files
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep83b50b7ee-ab37-4b18-b17c-cffb2543738e
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0523
Online Media:

United Shoe Machinery Corporation Records

Creator:
United Shoe Machinery Corporation  Search this
Names:
Emhart Corporation.  Search this
Extent:
145 Cubic feet (296 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Papers
Photographs
House organs
Catalogs
Scrapbooks
Commercial catalogs
Albums
Magazines (periodicals)
Advertisements
Clippings
Research
Legal records
Motion pictures (visual works)
16mm motion picture film
Business records
Place:
Massachusetts
Beverly (Mass.)
New England
Date:
1898 - 1987
Summary:
The collection documents the activities of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation of Beverly, Massachusetts, manufacturers of shoe machinery equipment. The collection consists of engineering records, legal records, research and development records, employee/personnel records, correspondence, company catalogs, product literature, advertising materials, photographs, and moving images.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is among the largest and most complete bodies of business records in the holdings of the Archives Center. The records document in considerable detail the firm's engineering department and research and development efforts in shoe making machinery and in related technical areas, especially during World War II and as it attempted to diversify its activities after the war. There is detailed information, much of it on microfilm, about the leasing of United Shoe Machinery (USM) machines. The records also provide insight into the USM's culture of corporate paternalism, including its athletic and relief associations and its industrial school. The collection is rich in visual materials depicting both the machines made by the firm and the employees and the facilities.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seventeen series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Materials, 1901-1985

Series 2: Executive Records, 1927-1987

Subseries 2.1: United Shoe Machinery, 1927-1975

Subseries 2.2: Emhart Corporation, 1976-1987

Series 3: Correspondence, 1890, 1901-1915

Series 4: Wilson Palmer Files, 1925-1952

Series 5: Research and Development Department Records, 1914-1980

Subseries 5.1: Background, 1947-1974

Subseries 5.2: Financial Information, 1947-1975

Subseries 5.3: Reports, 1962-1973

Subseries 5.4: Facilities, 1947-1975

Subseries 5.5: Personnel, 1942-1979

Subseries 5.6: Labor, 1961-1970

Subseries 5.7: Subject Files, 1943-1977

Subseries 5.8: Project Files, 1914-1968

Subseries 5.9: New Development (ND) Project Files, 1924-1970

Subseries 5.10: Experimental (EX) Project Files, 1931-1938

Subseries 5.11: Automatic Controls Project, 1939-1979

Subseries 5.12: Baseball Stitching Machine Projects, 1949-1973

Subseries 5.13: Component Inserting Projects, 1954-1960

Subseries 5.14: Automatic Control Research Notebooks, 1939-1976

Subseries 5.15: Baseball Stitching Machine Research Notebooks, 1942-1956

Subseries 5.16: Component Inserting Research Notebooks, 1956-1965

Subseries 5.17, General Research Notebooks, 1939-1968

Series 6: Legal Records, 1900-1968

Subseries 6.1: Court Exhibits for Machine History, 1910-1951 (bulk 1948-1950)

Subseries 6.2: Leases, Cancellation Letters, Shipments, and Transfers (Microfilm), 1900-1958

Subseries 6.3: Patent Search, 1949

Series 7: Engineering Records, 1904-1979

Series 8: Employee/Personnel Materials, 1908-1981

Series 9: Mutual Relief Association Incorporated, 1902-1951

Series 10: Athletic Association, 1929-1962

Series 11: Industrial School Records, 1909-1938

Subseries 11.1: English for American Citizenship (Industrial Series), 1912, 1919-1921

Subseries 11.2: English for American Citizenship (Intermediate Series), 1921

Subseries 11.3: Text Books, 1909-1938

Series 12: Northwestern University Students' Cooperative Work, 1951-1960

Series 13: Aberthaw Construction Company Records, 1918-1920

Subseries 13.1: Correspondence, 1918-1919

Subseries 13.2: Reports, 1919-1921

Subseries 13.3: Purchase Orders, 1919-1920

Subseries 13.4: Receiving Records, 1919-1920

Series 14: Publications, 1898-1987

Subseries 14.1: United Shoe Machinery Corporation Catalogs, circa 1899-1961

Subseries 14.2: Beverly Today, 1979-1985

Subseries 14.3: Machinery Division Newsletter,1969-1970

Subseries 14.4: The Three Partners,1914-1920

Subseries 14.5: USM Today,1968-1976

Subseries 14.6: Quarter Century Club News, 1977-1987

Subseries 14.7: H.E. Smith & Company Catalogs, 1898-1930

Series 15: Product Literature, 1952-1979

Series 16: Advertising and Marketing Materials, 1902-1981

Series 17: Photographs, 1907-1960s

Subseries 17.1: Employees, 1907-1981

Subseries 17.2: Equipment/Products, 1961-1972

Subseries 17.3: Factories/Buildings, 1920s-1960s

Subseries 17.4: Trade Shows, 1954, 1968-1973

Subseries 17.5: Miscellaneous, undated

Subseries 17.6: Postcards, 1906-1938

Subseries 17.7: Prints from Glass Plate Negatives, undated

Subseries 17.8: Albums, 1915-1950s

Subseries 17.9: Film Negatives, 1956-1958

Subseries 17.10: Glass Plate Negatives, 1915-1923

Series 18: Audio-Visual Materials, 1934-1972
Biographical / Historical:
The United Shoe Machinery Company was formed in 1899 by the consolidation of the most important shoe machinery firms in the industry: Goodyear Shoe Machinery Company; Consolidated McKay Lasting Machine Company; and McKay Shoe Machinery Company. By this merger, conflicting patents were eliminated and patents supplementing each other were brought under United control to permit their prompt combination in a single machine or process. To ensure efficiency, the new company also continued the practice previously followed by its constituent firms of renting machinery that it manufactured instead of selling it. The authorized capital of the new company was twenty five million dollars. After the 1899 merger, United grew quite rapidly. In 1903, it began construction of a new factory in Beverly, Massachusetts about thirty-five miles from Boston. At its peak, this company employed 9,000 workers and produced eighty-five percent of all shoemaking machines in the United States. By 1910, it had an eighty percent share of the shoe machinery market with assets reaching forty million dollars, and it had acquired control of branch companies in foreign countries.

In 1911, the first of three civil anti-trust suits was brought against United by the United States government. It charged that the 1899 merger had restrained trade and violated the Sherman Act. The Massachusetts District Court ruled that the 1899 merger was not an attempt to restrain trade, only an attempt to promote efficiency. The court also said that the five companies that were merged to form United were not competitive with each other. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which only affirmed the District Court's verdict.

In 1917, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, incorporated in 1905, absorbed the United Shoe Machinery Company. The United Shoe Machinery Corporation had its headquarters in Boston and its main manufacturing plant in Beverly, Massachusetts.

The second government suit was brought against United Shoe in 1915. The government claimed that United Shoe's leasing system restricted the shoe manufacturer to exclusive use of United Shoe's products and that it was a violation of the newly enacted Clayton Act. The Massachusetts District Court ruled in favor of the government. The Supreme Court, hearing United Shoe's appeal case, only affirmed the District Court's ruling. In 1923, United modified its leasing policy.

The last government suit against United was filed in 1947 and charged United with monopolizing the trade, manufacture, and distribution of shoe machinery from 1923 to 1947. During this period, United had bought all shares, assets, and patents of twenty one companies that dealt in the shoe machinery manufacture. The court ruled that United had clearly violated the Sherman Act, and United was forced to modify its leasing policies and restrict its purchases of other shoe machinery businesses and its acquisition of patents. In 1968, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation changed its name to USM Corporation. In 1976, United Shoe Machinery Company merged with Emhart Industries and produced the modern-day Emhart Corporation.

In 1989, in order to resist a two billion dollar takeover attempt by a New York investment group (which included oil heir Gordon P. Getty), Emhart merged with Black & Decker Corporation. The merged company operates from Black & Decker's headquarters in Towson, Maryland. The company headquarters in Farmington, Connecticut, were closed in June 1989.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations

Lynn Historical Society & Museum, Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn, Massachusetts businesses collection, 1888-1991

Small volumes and pamphlets of shoe and shoe-related industry businesses in Lynn, Massachusetts, including miscellaneous articles and histories on the shoe industry in Lynn, manuals, catalogs, broadsides, patents, handbooks, patterns, price lists, brochures, and legal materials. Businesses represented include Beaudry Machine Company, Beckman Machine Company, Bresnahan Shoe Machinery Company, George W. Emerson & Company, Hamel Shoe Machinery Company, Gregory & Read Co., David Knox & Sons Machinery Company, Krippendorf Kalculator Company (manufacturers of a mechanical device to compute pattern values), Peerless Machinery Company, Quarmby & Hilliker, Machine Builders, Swain, Fuller Manufacturing Company, W.J. Young Machinery Company, and George J. Kelly, Inc. (maker of shoe polish).

United Shoe Machinery Company Records, 1915-1974

Materials assembled by Edward F. McCarthy, director of USM research, including notebooks, diagrams, manuals, brochures, catalogs, code sheets, flow charts, price lists, handbooks, lectures, directories, lexicons, catalogs of other firms, personal notebooks on shoe construction (1927-1931), factory visits to other shoe companies, and production of leading manufacturers (1939-1960), and floor directory of the plant; ledgers listing machines shipped and returned from the Lynn and Puerto Rico plants (nine volumes, 1935-1974); and machine development materials, including patents, chiefly those of Edward Quinn.

Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) Salem, Massachusetts

An accession in 1987 of institutional archives, includes publications, photographs, advertisements, lectures, scrapbook of shoes made for United Shoe Machinery Corporation of Beverly, Massachusetts, shoes from which are in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum (87020).

Beverly Historical Society, Beverly, Massachusetts

The United Shoe and Machinery Company Collection contains a large quantity of the company's patents, most of which pertain to the production and manufacture of shoes. Additionally there are patents for golf balls, nail guns, and magnetic closures. The majority of the remaining materials are Quarter Century Club documents ranging from financial and membership records, to pictures and other ephemera. The remainder of the collection consists of miscellaneous objects including sample knives and knife parts from the Booth Brothers Company.

University of Connecticut, Dodd Center

Emhart Corporation Records, undated, 1883-1989

Emhart Corporation was a multinational company located in Farmington, Connecticut. Prior to its 1989 merger with Black & Decker, Emhart operated in over one hundred countries with a worldwide work force of 30,000 employees. Emhart's products included machines for the manufacture of glass bottles and shoes; filling, sealing and packaging machinery; security systems; electronics; chemical products; metal fasteners; rubber processing equipment; and consumer and do-it-yourself products. Brand name products included True Temper® hardware and sporting goods, and Price Pfister® plumbing fixtures. Emhart's domestic roots went back to the American Hardware Company, founded in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1902.

Beverly Public Schools (Beverly, Massachusetts)

Beverly Public Schools/Beverly trade school records, 1909-1995

Materials relating to the establishment and operation of the Beverly trade schools, including trustee minutes, annual reports, curriculum journals, correspondence, photographs, programs and ephemera, and calendars.

Cornell University, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

[United Shoe Machinery Corporation publications], 1911-1913

Harvard University, Baker Library

[United Shoe Machinery Company, of New Jersey, et al. court proceedings], 1911-1917

United Shoe buildings and properties

The Cummings Properties now owns and leases "the Shoe."
Separated Materials:
Materials at National Museum of American History

The Division of Work and Industry holds artifacts related to the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Some artifacts include a drafting table (1989.0259.349), tool chest (1989.0259.348), and molds for shoes, shoe heels, shoe welts, threads, needles, awls, and show wax.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by United Shoe Machinery Corporation, through Kevin Cochrane on November 20, 1987.
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.

Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view materials in cold storage and audio visual materials. Using cold room materials requires a three hour waiting period, reference copies do not exist for audio visual materials. Arrangements must be made with the Archives Center staff two weeks prior to a scheduled research visit. Contact the Archives Center at 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.
Topic:
Industrial workers  Search this
Photography, Industrial  Search this
Tanners  Search this
Shoe machinery industry  Search this
Industrial history  Search this
Baseball  Search this
Genre/Form:
Papers
Photographs -- 20th century
House organs
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 1900-1950
Catalogs
Scrapbooks
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 19th-20th century
Commercial catalogs
Albums
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film -- 1900-1950
Magazines (periodicals) -- 20th century
Advertisements -- 20th century
Clippings -- 20th century
Research -- 20th century
Legal records
Motion pictures (visual works) -- 20th century
16mm motion picture film
Business records -- 20th century
Citation:
United Shoe Machinery Corporation Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0277
See more items in:
United Shoe Machinery Corporation Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep83f85a875-2e03-4934-b565-4ea239c46d53
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0277
Online Media:

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection

Collector:
McCormick, Mack  Search this
Musician:
Badeaux, Ed, 1926-2015  Search this
Chenier, Clifton, 1925-1987  Search this
Cotten, Elizabeth  Search this
Estes, Sleepy John, 1899-1977  Search this
Hopkins, Lightnin', 1912-1982  Search this
House, Son  Search this
Howling Wolf  Search this
James, Harry  Search this
Jefferson, Blind Lemon, 1897-1929  Search this
Johnson, Robert, 1911-1938  Search this
Leadbelly, 1885-1949  Search this
Lipscomb, Mance, 1895-1976  Search this
Muddy Waters, 1915-1983  Search this
Rinzler, Ralph  Search this
Shaw, Robert, 1908 August 9-1985  Search this
Thomas, Henry, 1874-1952  Search this
Wallace, Sippie  Search this
Historian:
Oliver, Paul, 1927-2017  Search this
Singer:
Spivey, Victoria  Search this
Producer:
Strachwitz, Chris  Search this
Extent:
60 Cubic feet (171 boxes, 9 map folders)
Culture:
African Americans -- Mississippi  Search this
Arkansas  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps
Television scripts
Ephemera
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets
Color slides
Business records
Family papers
Resumes
Diaries
Journals (periodicals)
Financial records
Audio cassettes
Manuscripts
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings
Transcripts
Manuscripts for publication
Color negatives
Negatives
Articles
Place:
United States -- Race relations
Delta (Miss.)
Sugarland Prison (Tex.)
Greenwood (Miss.)
Robinsonville (Miss.)
Dallas (Tex.)
Houston (Tex.)
San Antonio (Tex.)
Tunica (La.)
Texarkana (Tex.)
Galveston (Texas)
Date:
1858-2015, undated
Summary:
Field notes, manuscripts, photographs, booking contracts, correspondence, personal papers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, and other research materials primarily relating to the history of American blues music. Collection documents the lives of significant blues musicians Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb; insight into the life, writings, and research practices of Robert "Mack" McCormick; and the business side of recording and selling the blues.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life, writings, research practices, and business activities of blues scholar Robert "Mack" Burton McCormick who came to serve as a leading authority on the genre. Personal papers include diaries, curriculum vitae, biographical sketches, school papers, employment documents, correspondence, financial records, and an interview transcript. McCormick's writings consist of published magazine and journal articles, plays, essays, television scripts, short stories, and album liner notes. There are complete unpublished manuscripts, drafts with notes and research materials, and ideas for future work. McCormick's research practices and subjects of interest are documented in correspondence, field notes, annotated maps, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, city directories, interviews, photographic prints, negatives, slides, and contact sheets. American blues, Texas blues, and the music of significant blues artists, who McCormick served as an agent and manager for, dominated his extensive research efforts. In addition, the collection documents the recording, distribution and sale, and identification of consumer markets for American music in correspondence, contracts, agreements, music journals, publicity and promotional materials, music manuscripts, and interviews.

Throughout the collection preservation measures were performed to ensure long term use of the materials. Newspaper clippings were photocopied, and the originals were discarded. Audio cassette tapes have been reformatted and the digital copies will soon be available for research use.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into fifteen series.

Series 1: Photographic Negatives, Photographs and Slides, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.1: Photographic Negatives and Contact Sheets, 1967-1977, undated

Subseries 1.2: Photographs, 1959-1998, undated

Subseries 1.3: Photographs, Texas Blues (TB), 1961-1964, undated

Subseries 1.4: Photographic Slides, 1964-1977, undated

Subseries 1.5: Negative and Photograph Indices and Assorted Material, 1963-1975

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1937-2015, undated

Subseries 2.1: Biographical Information, 1945-2003, undated

Subseries 2.2: Correspondence, Greeting Cards, and Postcards, 1937-2010, undated

Subseries 2.3: Education, 1938-1946

Subseries 2.4: Employment Records, 1948-1961, undated

Subseries 2.5: Family Papers, 1945-1988, undated

Subseries 2.6: Press, 1960-2015, undated

Subseries 2.7: Archive, 1972-2015, undated

Subseries 2.8: Campaign, 1959-2015, undated

Subseries 2.9: Financial Papers, 1952-2015

Subseries 2.10: Legal Papers, 1950-2015, undated

Subseries 2.11: Business Records, 1941-2006, undated

Series 3: Project Files, 1960-2003, undated

Subseries 3.1: Library of Congress, 1960-1964

Subseries 3.2: Newport Folk Festival, 1965-1969

Subseries 3.3: Hemisfair, 1968

Subseries 3.4: Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American Folklife 1966-1980, undated

Subseries 3.5: Other Blues Project, 2001-2003, undated

Series 4: Manuscripts and Writings, 1952-2015, undated

Subseries 4.1: Almost A Savage Joy, 1959-1980

Subseries 4.2: Another Fine Mess, 1981-1987, undated

Subseries 4.3: Blues: A New Look, 1965-1984, undated

Subseries 4.4: Blues Odyssey, 1971, undated

Subseries 4.5: Death and Tragedy, 1975-1980, undated

Subseries 4.6: Down in Texas Blues, undated

Subseries 4.7: Folk Songs of Men, 1952-1977, undated

Subseries 4.8: Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley, 1958-1976, undated

Subseries 4.9: Henry Thomas, 1975-2002, undated

Subseries 4.10: Ira, George, Edward, and Lee, 1994, undated

Subseries 4.11: The Magic Room, 1961-1962, undated

Subseries 4.12: Origin of Blues, 1991-2004, undated

Subseries 4.13: Snake in the Belly, 1956-1957, undated

Subseries 4.14: Wiley, 1957-1984, undated

Subseries 4.15: Articles, Ideas and Drafts, 1961-2004, undated

Series 5: Artist Files, 1880-2010, undated

Series 6: Texas Blues Research, 1858-2011, undated

Subseries 6.1: Texas Blues Research, 1910-2010, undated

Subseries 6.2: Lead Files, 1962-1980, undated

Subseries 6.3: Trip Notes, 1960-1989, undated

Subseries 6.4: Song Histories, 1920-1982, undated

Subseries 6.5: Music, 1928-2011, undated

Subseries 6.6: Record Catalogs, 1963-2006, undated

Subseries 6.7: Maps, 1958-1989, undated

Series 7: Robert Johnson, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.1: Research Materials, 1910-2015, undated

Subseries 7.2: Who Killed Robert Johnson Manuscript, 1955-2015, undated

Series 8: Office Files, 1938-2000, undated

Series 9: Correspondence, 1959-2015, undated

Series 10: Organizations, Groups and Buffs, 1961-2003, undated

Series 11: Festivals and Living Museums, 1960-2003, undated

Series 12: Music Journals, 1971-2006, undated

Series 13: Subject Files, 1896-2015, undated

Series 14: People Files, 1928-2014, undated

Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files, 1941-2007, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930-November 18, 2015) was a self-taught folklorist who spent a lifetime researching, collecting, and writing about vernacular music in the United States. Most of his work focused on the blues and other musical traditions of Black, brown, and white communities living throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. After experiencing a difficult, transient childhood and eventually dropping out of high school, McCormick settled in Houston, Texas and began to work a series of odd jobs while relentlessly pursuing his goal of becoming a successful writer. Although researching and writing about music came to occupy most of his time, he also pursued passions as a screenwriter and novelist. The volume of historical research and personal interviews he conducted from the 1950s through the early 1970s is remarkable, and his published writings during this period about music and the musicians he doggedly studied were lauded by his peers as among the best in the field. Along the way he worked for a time as a manager for the careers of the Texas songsters Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb, and briefly ran his own record label. He made hundreds of hours of field recordings with musicians living throughout the South. He collaborated with colleagues such as Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, and Paul Oliver, with whom McCormick spent over a decade researching and writing a manuscript on the history of Texas Blues. Beginning in the late 1960s, he was contracted by the Smithsonian Institution as a field worker for its annual Festival of American Folklife, and around the same time began researching the life of blues legend Robert Johnson for a manuscript that McCormick wrote and re-wrote but failed to publish in his lifetime.

McCormick's research, along with his personal archive, became the stuff of legend among fellow blues researchers and enthusiasts, particularly after his publishing output dwindled in the 1970s. He lived with a bipolar disorder that drew him into bouts of depression and paranoia. He came to distrust many of those colleagues working most closely with him, and sometimes shared untrue information to throw them off the trail of his research discoveries. He also "borrowed" heirloom photographs from the family members and descendants of blues artists and, in several cases documented in this collection, he refused to return them. Overcome with challenges that lay both within and without his control, he came to describe the massive archive in his Houston, Texas home as "the monster," and spent his final decades attempting with little success to publish his writings.
Related Materials:
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

W. C. Handy Collection, NMAH.AC.0132

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 3, African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music, NMAH.AC.0300

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints, NMAH.AC.0389

Program in African American Culture Collection, NMAH.AC.0408

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Alan Strauber Photoprints, 1990-1994, 1999, NMAH.AC.0517

Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, NMAH.AC.0551

Ray McKinley Music and Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0635

Bluestime Power Hour Videotapes, NMAH.AC.0657

Edward and Gaye Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Bill Holman Collection, NMAH.AC.0733

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Arrangements, NMAH.AC.0740

Harry Warren Papers, NMAH.AC.0750

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0797

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

William Russo Music and Personal Papers, NMAH.AC.0845

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

Bobby Tucker Papers, NMAH.AC.1141

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC1222

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC1323

Maceo Jefferson Papers, NMAH.AC1370

Jazz and Big Band Collection, 1927-1966, NMAH.AC.1388

Nick Reynolds Kingston Trio Papers, NMAH.AC.1472

McIntire Family Hawaiian Entertainers Collection, NMAH.AC.1511

Native Peoples Musicians and Music Collection, NMAH.AC.1512

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Arhoolie Business Records and Audio Recordings, 1960-2016, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, 1926-1986, CFCH.ASCH

CFCH Audiovisual Projects, 2011-2018, CFCH.AVPR

Diana Davies Photographs, 1963-1969, CFCH.DAVIE

Frederic Ramsey Audio Recordings, 1945-1959, CFCH.RAMS

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, 1950-1994, CFCH.RINZ

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1968

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1969 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1969

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1970 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1970

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1972

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1973 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1973

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1974

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1975 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1975

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1976 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1976

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1983 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1983

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1985

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1987 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1987

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1988

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1989 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1989

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1991 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1991

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1996

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.1997

Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2011 Festival of American Folklife, CFCH.SFF.2011

Smithsonian Institution

Division of Performing Arts Records, 1966-1979, Accession T90055

Office of Public Affairs, Biographical Files, 1963-1988, Record Unit 420, SIA.FARU0420

National Museum of American History, Department of Public Programs, 1968-1992, Record Unit 584, SIA.FARU0584

Smithsonian Productions, 1967-2000, undated, SIA.FA09-055
Separated Materials:
National Museum of American History's Division of Culture and the Arts

Artifacts acquired as part of the collection include:

Washburn style G guitar, serial number 46472, Accession number 2019.0234.01.

Set of quills (or panpipes) made and played by blues artist Joe Patterson. Accession number 2019.0234.02.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Audio recordings acquired as part of the collection are listed in The Guide to the Mack McCormick Audio Tapes Collection prepared by Jeff Place, 2020-2022.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Susannah Nix to the Archives Center in 2019.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Access to original materials in boxes 76-80 is prohibited. Researchers must use digital copies.

Additional materials have been removed from public access pending investigation under the Smithsonian Institution's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy.
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.
Occupation:
African American musicians  Search this
Topic:
Drafts (documents)  Search this
Blues (Music)  Search this
Blues musicians  Search this
Photographs  Search this
Postcards -- 20th century  Search this
telephone -- Directories  Search this
Plays  Search this
African American music -- 20th century  Search this
Sharecropping  Search this
Plantations  Search this
Zydeco music  Search this
Commercial recordings  Search this
Piano music (Barrelhouse)  Search this
Genealogy  Search this
African Americans -- Texas  Search this
Songsters  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Delta (Miss. : Region)  Search this
Rodeos -- United States  Search this
Prisons -- Songs and music  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- History  Search this
Festival of American Folklife -- Planning  Search this
Street scenes  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Texas.  Search this
African Americans -- Folklore  Search this
American South  Search this
African American -- Social life and customs  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Mississippi.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Alabama.  Search this
Blues (Music) -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Conjunto music  Search this
Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Folk music -- United States  Search this
Ethnomusicology -- History  Search this
Sound recordings  Search this
Sound recording and reproduction  Search this
Tejano music  Search this
Transcripts  Search this
Folklorists  Search this
Zydeco musicians  Search this
Musicians, Cajun  Search this
Folk music -- United States -- History and criticism.  Search this
Music -- History and criticism  Search this
Festival of American Folklife  Search this
African Americans -- Alabama -- Music  Search this
Guitar -- 20th century  Search this
Guitar music  Search this
Guitarists  Search this
Country musicians  Search this
Sound recording executives and producers -- United States -- Biography.  Search this
Sound recording industry  Search this
Blues (Music) -- Southern States.  Search this
Blues musicians -- United States -- Interviews.  Search this
Hawaiian guitar  Search this
Hawaiian guitar music  Search this
African American farmers  Search this
Sharecroppers  Search this
Labor -- Southern states -- 20th century  Search this
manuscripts -- Editing  Search this
African Americans -- Songs and music  Search this
Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this
African American prisoners  Search this
Crafts  Search this
Museum outreach programs  Search this
Folk music -- New Orleans (La.)  Search this
Black people -- Race identity  Search this
Race discrimination -- United States  Search this
Sound recordings -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Genre/Form:
Business cards
Compact discs
Contracts
Correspondence
Folklore
Newspaper clippings
Posters
Road maps -- United States
Television scripts
Ephemera -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives
Contact sheets -- 20th cenury
Color slides -- 20th century
Business records -- 20th century
Family papers -- 20th century
Resumes
Diaries -- 20th century
Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
Financial records -- 20th century
Audio cassettes -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
Playbills
Field recordings
Writings -- 20th century
Transcripts -- 20th century
Manuscripts for publication
Manuscripts -- 20th century
Color negatives
Negatives -- 20th century
Articles -- 20th century
Citation:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.1485
See more items in:
Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep87d0d0dd0-eaee-4e5e-9e87-ebca1a5d86d7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1485
Online Media:

William R. Hutton Papers

Creator:
Hutton, William R., 1826-1901  Search this
Extent:
30 Cubic feet (33 boxes, 21 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Letterpress copybooks
Blueprints
Diaries
Drawings
Cashbooks
Business records
Business letters
Notebooks
Topographic maps
Tax records
Technical drawings
Stock certificates
Technical literature
Photoengravings
Notes
Maps
Microfilms
Linen tracings
Letter books
Letters
Land titles
Legal documents
Sketches
Salted paper prints
Reports
Receipts
Plans (drawings)
Photostats
Photographic prints
Architectural drawings
Administrative records
Albumen prints
Albums
Annual reports
Booklets
Account books
Books
Family papers
Financial records
Cyanotypes
Correspondence
Deeds
Printed material
Contracts
Photograph albums
Specifications
Christmas cards
Menus
Place:
France
Maryland
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Panama Canal (Panama)
New Jersey
New York (N.Y.)
Hudson River
Baltimore (Md.)
Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)
New York
Washington Bridge
New Croton Aqueduct
Kanawha River Canal
Washington Aqueduct
Potomac River -- 19th century
Washington Memorial Bridge
Hudson River Tunnel
Date:
1830-1965
Summary:
The papers document the life and work of William R. Hutton, a civil engineer during the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Materials include diaries, notebooks, correspondence, letterpress copy book, printed materials, publications, specifications, photographs, drawings, and maps that document the construction of several architectural and engineering projects during this period. Most notable are the records containing information related to the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Hudson River Tunnel, the Washington Aqueduct, the Kanawha River Canal, and the Washington/Harlem River Bridge. There are also several records about railroads in the state of Maryland, the District of Columbia and elsewhere, including the Western Maryland Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Colorado Midlands Railway, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, the Northern Adirondack Railroad, and the Pittsfield and Williamstown Railroad. The records can be used to track the progression of these projects, and engineering innovation during the late 1800s to the early 1900s.
Scope and Contents:
These papers document William R. Hutton's professional career as a civil engineer and his personal affairs. Although the personal materials in the collection provide insight into a man and a family that have been largely forgotten by biographers, it is the professional materials that are perhaps the most interesting to researchers. They provide a compelling narrative of the push to the West that occurred in 19th century America and the internal improvements movement typified by the American System plan proposed by Henry Clay. Perhaps best remembered for the high tariffs that accompanied it, the American System plan was also concerned with the advancement of internal improvements, such as canals, that would unite the East and West in communication, travel, and trade. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal can be seen as one of the products of this movement (1) and was in fact initially heralded as the first great work of national improvement (2).

The papers in this collection that are related to the construction and maintenance of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal are an invaluable documentation of efforts during this turbulent time to unite the eastern and western United States. They provide details of the canal from its initial construction to its decline with the incline at Georgetown project. The canal also serves as an example, or perhaps a warning against, federal involvement in state improvement efforts as it was the first project to be directly funded and staffed by the federal government (3). The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by then President John Quincy Adams whose toast, "to the canal: perseverance," (4) became an ironic omen, as construction of the canal took over twenty-two years to be completed. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal materials can be used as a case study for the problems encountered during canal building (5). These problems are best typified in the collection by the papers relating to the Georgetown incline. This project was headed by Hutton and was plagued with construction problems, boating accidents, and obsolescence from the moment of its completion. Despite these issues, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal remains a structure of historical significance in America. As the third and last effort to construct an all-water route to the West (6), the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is an important artifact of 19th century attitudes and efforts towards commerce, trade, travel, and communication between the eastern and western United States. Other significant canals and water structures represented in the collection are the Kanawha Canal, the Washington Aqueduct, and a large collection of materials relating to the Kingston Water Supply (New York).

One of the most significant internal improvements made during this time was the railroad. The legal conflicts that arose between the canal companies and railroads is also represented in the materials relating to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. These materials specifically deal with the legal conflict's between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The development and construction of the railroads is also represented in the materials documenting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, the Northern Adirondack Railroad, the Western Maryland Railroad, the Mexican National Railroad, the Colorado Midlands Railroad, and the Columbia Railroad.

The collection also demonstrates the spirit of innovation and invention that was prevalent in the engineering field in the nineteenth century. Joseph Gies writes, "...one of the distinctive characteristics of the great nineteenth century engineering adventurers was their readiness to gamble on the translation of theory into practice" (7). In this quote, he is speaking of the civil engineer Dewitt Clinton Haskins and a project that truly encapsulates engineering invention in the nineteenth century, the Hudson River Tunnel. Responding to the increase in the population of the City of New York in the late nineteenth century from sixty thousand to three and a half million, the Hudson River Tunnel was originally devised as a way to alleviate traffic and to transport train passengers directly across the Hudson River (8). Beginning with records dating from 1881 to 1901, the Hutton papers can be used to document not only the advances in engineering during this time but also the costs of progress. Haskins' initial efforts to build the tunnel using submerged air pressurized caissons were marked by failure and in some cases fatalities. Workers on the tunnel often suffered from what came to be known as "caisson disease" or "the bends," caused by the immense forces of compression and decompression experienced while working in the tunnels (9). This problem was so prevalent that as construction progressed the rate of worker deaths caused by "the bends" rose to twenty-five percent (10). Materials in the collection document worker complaints and deaths resulting from this disease as well as providing a technical record of the construction of the tunnel. The highlight of the materials relating to the Hudson River Tunnel is an album that contains photographs of workers in the tunnel and a detailed daily report of the construction progress on the tunnel that was maintained by Hutton's assistant, Walton Aims. The first hand account in these reports provides insight not only into the construction of the tunnel, but also the problems encountered.

Another project featured in the Hutton collection that was devised in response to the population explosion in the City of New York in the nineteenth century is the Harlem River Bridge, or as it is now known, the Washington Bridge. Known as one of the longest steel arch bridges of its time, the Harlem River Bridge also represents that spirit of invention and innovation that was prevalent in the civil engineering field during the nineteenth century. The collection provides an invaluable resource for those wishing to track the construction of the bridge from early concept drawings and proposals to finalized plans. Also present are photographs of the construction and workers. Societal response to the bridge in the form of newspaper and magazine clippings help to create the narrative of the Washington Bridge, and these are supplemented by correspondence from the builders, suppliers, and planners.

This collection also includes diaries, 1866-1901; letterpress copybooks, 1858-1901; correspondence on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Hudson River Tunnel, Washington Bridge over the Harlem River, and Maryland and Colorado railroads, 1861-1901, and on Hutton's financial and real estate affairs, 1835-1921; construction photographs of the Harlem River, Cairo, Poughkeepsie, Niagara bridges and the Hudson River Tunnel, Washington Aqueduct, and Capitol Dome (in the form of albumen, cyanotype, salted paper print); data and drawings; rolled land profile drawings; canal notes, 1828-1892; Hudson River Tunnel construction reports, 1889-1891; publications, drawings, and maps of railroad routes; pamphlets and reprints on hydraulic works and water supply; road, railway, bridge, and hydraulic construction specifications, 1870-1900; drawings (linen, oil cloth, and heavy drawing paper), and blueprints; account books, 1891-1899; and plans, drawings, field notebooks, and publications on American and European construction projects, especially in Maryland, New York, and France; personal correspondence detailing his role as executor for the estates of Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Annie Theller, and the Countess H. De Moltke-Hvitfeldt and his relationships with his children, siblings, cousins, and colleagues, 1850-1942.

Materials are handwritten, typed, and printed.

Special note should be made that any materials dated after the year 1901 were added to the collection by another creator who is unidentified. It can be speculated that professional materials added after this date were contributed by his brother and colleague Nathanial Hutton or his son Frank Hutton. Personal materials contributed after this date may have been added by his wife, daughters, or other members of his extended family.

Series 1, Letterpress Copybooks, 1858-1901, consists of twenty seven letterpress copybooks containing correspondence between Hutton and other engineers, architects, and building suppliers. The letterpress copybooks in this series have been arranged chronologically. The books involve a process by which ink is transferred through direct contact with the original using moisture and pressure in a copy press. The majority of the correspondence is business- related. Some letterpress copybooks are devoted to specific projects such as the Washington/Harlem River Bridge, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The letterpress copybooks provide a record of correspondence written by Hutton, which makes it distinctive from the other correspondence in the collection. Most of the other correspondence has Hutton as recipient.

The letterpress copybooks also document Hutton's various residences throughout his life and provide a glimpse into the civil engineering profession at the time by demonstrating how engineers shared ideas and comments about projects. This can be supplemented with the printed materials in the collection as many of the authors also appear in the correspondence. Other topics covered in the letterpress copybooks include business reports (specifically the report of the president and directors of the Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad), records of people and companies involved in projects, pasted in engineering sketches, engineering specifications and notes, travel expenses and estimates, construction histories and progress, legal issues with family estates, tax information, Colorado Railroad, payment certificate schedules, St. Paul Railroad, personal correspondence, title guarantees, Hudson River Tunnel, financial matters, real estate matters, insurance information, sketches and drawings, supply lists, cost estimates, the Memorial Bridge, Coffin Valve Company, engineering expenses, engineering calculations, payroll notes for Kingston Water Supply, proposals, account information, Hutton Park, reservoirs, contract drafts, French Society of Civil Engineers, inspection results (specifically Piedmont Bridge), land descriptions, damage reports, Morse Bridge, Illinois Central Railroad, North Sea Canal, moveable dams, iron works, site histories, Potomac Lock and Dock Company, Kanawha River canal (lock quantities, specifications, payroll information), Pennsylvania Canal, and bills for services.

Series 2, Professional Correspondence, 1861-1901, consists of correspondence that relates to Hutton's architectural and engineering projects. This series is further subdivided into two subseries: Project Correspondence and General Correspondence. Subseries 1, Project Correspondence, 1876-1899, correspondence is divided by project and arranged alphabetically. Subseries 2, General Correspondence, 1861-1901, is arranged chronologically. Both series contain handwritten and typed letters. Some letters are on letterpress copybook pages and are most likely copies. Some materials are in French and Spanish. Special note should be made that this series does not contain all of the professional correspondence in the collection. Some correspondence has been separated according to project and placed in Series 8, Professional Projects, 1830-1965, in order to make it easier for researchers to access materials related to those subjects.

Subseries 1, professional correspondence topics include comparisons between construction projects (specifically comparisons of the Kanawha River Canal to other canals), supply lists, location recommendations, sketches, construction plans and modifications, bills for supplies and works, leaks in the gates, cost estimates, Brooklyn Water Supply, use of lake storage (Ramapo Water Supply), water supply to states and counties, damages to water supply pipes, estimates of water quantities, responses to construction reports, legal issues related to projects, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and payment for services.

Subseries 2, general correspondence topics include employment opportunities, committee meetings and elections, land surveys, sketches, engineering plans and ideas, work on projects, dismissal from projects, notes on supplies, Washington Aqueduct, construction progress, land purchases, Civil War, Jones Falls, cost of water pumps, steam drills, lots divisions and prices, repairs, report of the engineering bureau, tidewater connection at Annapolis, bridge construction, construction costs, statement of vessels that entered and cleared Baltimore, technical questions from colleagues, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, supply costs, letters of introduction, requests for reference, changes to plans and designs, survey reports, St. Andrew's lot, Canal Coal Company, publication process, American Society of Civil Engineers and its members, responses to project inquiries, Graving Dock gross revenue, job offers, specifications, trade figures, contracts, water levels, appointment dates and times, moveable dams, proposals for membership, salaries, Piedmont Coal Lands, maps, land profiles, Washington Bridge, board payments, Nicaragua Canal, Grant Coal Company, statistics, engineering notes, Hartford Bridge, water pressures, coal deposits, Colorado Coal, pipe lines, reservoirs, boat costs for canals, floods, bridges, letters of resignation, engines, Ruxton Viaduct, Colorado and Midland Railroad, Morse Bridge, share values, railroad locations, membership invitations, call for submissions, structural tests, record of accounts for room and board, appointments, water rights (Putnam County), publications, blueprints, visitation programs, cotton compresses, street trenches, pressures in dams, level tests, Portland Transportation bureau, trade information, concrete steel, Chicago drainage canal, ship canals, Augusta Cotton and Compress Company, Sooysmith case, Consolidated Gas Company, masonry, book binding, Columbia Railway Company, jetties, land grades, Chesapeake and Delaware canal, water wheels, pneumatic lock, tunnel arches, rifton power, Hutton's health, elevators, Brooklyn Bridge Terminals, girder weights, legal issues and their results, rating table for the Potomac, land profiles, transmission lines, transformers, water turbines, and water power on the Potomac River.

Correspondents for this series include the following: Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, Captain T.W. Symons, William Bryan, Ernest Flagg, John Hurd, Jake Wolfe, J.C. Saunders, J.H. Dolph, Charles J. Allen, G.H. Mendell, Virgil S. Bogue, B.A. Mounnerlyn, Edward Burr, H.G. Prout, R. William, H. Dodge, C.R. Suter, M. Mink, W.R. King, John Lyons, Alex Brown and Sons, John G. Butler, D. Condon, Bernard Carter, R.P. McCormick, D.R. Magruder, Andrew Banks, Isaac Solomon, C.J. Mayer, C.W. Kern, John Herring, James S. Mackie, D.R. Magunde, D. Rittaguide, R.S. Stevens, J.L. Raudolph (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), J.M. Lane, W.D. Stuart, W.G.P. Palmer (Committee Church of the Ascension), C. Crozet, General W. Hughes, V.R. Maus, J.M. Hood (Western Maryland Railroad Company), Ernest Pontzen, M. Haus, William F. Craighill, Harry Hutton, John W. Pearce, Reverend James A. Harrald, William Watson, A.L. Rives, Thomas Monro, A.F. Croswan (Commander United States Navy), H.R. Garden, William McAlpine, James Forrest, Wm. Bloomsfield, Daniel Ammen, Linel Wells, A. and Otto Sibeth, Alfred Noble, Clemens Hershel, Sidney Warner, E.H. de Rheville, Theodore Cooper, William Findlay Shunk, Lewis S. Wolfe, Rufus Mead, Theodore F. Taylor, John Bogart, J. Whaler, B. Williamson, Colonel F.V. Greene, Robert H. Sayre (Lehigh Valley Railroad Company), Charles W. Pussey, Louis Q. Rissel, V.C. Bogue, H.C. Eckenberger, Melville E.G. Leston, Edwin Parson, Rudolph Hering, R.S. Hale, F.M. Turner, Thosl Martindale, Justus C. Strawbridge, William M. Ayresm, R.L. Austin, A.M. Miller, P. Livingston Dunn, T.J. Cleaver, C.S. Dutton, H.A. Carson, William Bainbridge Jaudon, H.A. Presset, Thomas H. McCann, Russel Sturgis, H.G. Prout, Alexis H. French, John K. Cowen, F.W. Williams, J. Waldorf, B.H. Byrant, B.H. Jones, M.H. Rogers, J.W. Ogden, General W. Cashing, William Longhudge, A.J. Cameron, T.L. Patterson, J.J. Hagerman, H. Wigglesworth, Charles B. Rowland, E. Bantz, W.G. Lathrop, Clarence King, George Rowland, George A. Tibbals (Continental Iron Works), George N. Vanderbilt, Eugene C. Lewis, F.P. Burt, Colonel John C. Clarke, Lieutenant Thomas Turtle, W.S.M. Scott, E. Bates Dorsey, Bernard Carter, George M. Shriver (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), Russel Sturgis, Macmillan Publishing, James Abernethy, B. Baker, J.G.W. Fynje, A. Mallet, Jean Hersuy, L.F. Vernon Horcourt, Robert Lilley, A.J. Johnson, F.M. Colby, Henry D. Loney, A.S. Cameron, James A. Harrald, William Watson, John B. Lervis, A.L. Rives, Edwin F. Bidell, Frank H. Stockett, E. McMahon, C.F. Elgin, Enrique Budge, G. Clayton Gardiner, Dwight Porter, William A. Chapman, T.E. Sickels, Theodore Cooper, C.J. Warner, Institution of Civil Engineers, Robert Gordon, United States Coast of Geodetic Survey Office, C.P. Pattun, J.N. Putnam, Sidney B. Warner, H.D. Fisher, Union Pacific Railway Company, Lewis S. Wolle, George E. Waring Junior, The American Exhibition, G.F. Swain, American Society of Civil Engineers, N.H. Whitten, U.S. Engineer Office, Government Works Committee, J.J. Hagerman, D. Jackson, Sterling Iron and Railway Company, E.P. Alexander, E. Williamson, Central Railway Company of New Jersey, William A. Underwood, F. Collingwood, James Dun (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company), Henry F. Kilburn, Louis A. Bissell, Virgil G. Boque, H.C. Eckenberger, Melville Egleston, Charles Parson, George Swain, Continental Iron Works, Rudolph Hering, J.B. Gordon, Mayor's Office (Baltimore), Harry Robinson, Pennsylvania Railway Company, W.H. Gahagan, L. Luiggi, B.H. Bryant, T.J. Cleaver (Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company), H.A. Carson, H.A. Presset (Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey), John K. Cowen, Vernon H. Brown, J. Waldorf, B.H. Bryant, L.F. Root, P.W. White, Metropolitan Railroad Company, Charles F. Mayer (Consolidated Coal Company, Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad Company), J.M. Lane (Western Maryland Railroad), Dr. R.S. Stewart (Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad), Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad (John Lyons, John G. Butler, D. Candon, R.P. McCormick, Andrew Banks), Thomas F. Rowland, J.A. Bensel, Walton Aims, S.D. Coykendall, H.C. Rogers, John F. Ward, T.B. Jewell, H.A. Pressey, C.S. Armstrong, J. Nennett, V.G. Bague.

Series 3, Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942, contains correspondence with immediate and extended family, specifically the heirs to the Benjamin H. Hutton and Joseph Hutton estates and Adele Gorman. Correspondence is primarily arranged chronologically, but some files have been divided based on subject or author (the Deer Park and Adele Gorman files), or by form (the Telegrams, and Cablegrams file). Special note is made of the posthumous correspondence file, which includes correspondence both relating to Hutton's death and correspondence that was written by family members after the years of his death. The series contains both hand written and typed letters. Some correspondence is in French. The correspondence demonstrates his relationship with his children specifically Elizabeth (Bessie) Hutton, and illuminates his role in his family. This series also provides details about nineteenth century upper class society and activities. Special note should be made that this folder does not contain all of the personal correspondence contained in the collection. Some correspondence has been separated according to recipient, or subject in order to make researching these recipients or subjects easier.

Series 3 correspondence topics include: estate payments, distribution of assets, funds transfers, estate lines, conflicts with tenants, sketches, lot maintenance, real estate sales, deeds, real estate sales negotiations, congratulations wishes on new babies, family illnesses, family affairs and travels, traveling directions, personal investments, invitations for social occasions, family debts, professional interests, professional and personal appointments, family issues, requests for money, sketches, advice to children (specifically Frank Hutton), life insurance, books, letters of introduction, legal issues, funeral expenses, charity donations, advertisements, minutes from professional organizations, army enlistment, deaths of friends and family, recipes, estimates of personal expenses, renovations, stock certificates (Great Northern Railway Company, New York), food, social activities, the weather, marriages, real estate and construction plans, and loan agreements.

Correspondents include the following: Frank Hutton, Thomas B. Brookes, J.L. Marcauley, C.M. Matthews, Edward J. Hancy, John M. Wilson, H.A. Carson, William H. Wiley (of John Wiley and Sons Scientific Publishers, New York), Georgina Hutton, Pierre and Jane Casson, George McNaughlin, Henrietta Hutton, Aaron Pennington Whitehead, J.B. Wheeler, B. Williamson, Robert De Forest, Elizabeth (Bessie) Hutton, Grace Beukard, J.C. Saunders, Mary Hutton, William J. Pennington, C.S. Hurd, Henry C. Cooper, Henry J. Segers, S.F. Miller, Annie Theller, Alfred Noble, Maria Burton, Joseph Hobson, E. Lennon, F. Hulberg, Charles Gordon Hutton, Edward C. Ebert, A. William Lewin, E.R. Dunn, William P. Craighill, Theodore Cooper, P.I. Chapelle, Anita McAlpine, Clarence King, Victoria Raymond, and Adele Gorman.

Series 4, Personal Materials, 1835-1946, contains documentation about Hutton's personal finances, role as executor of the Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Annie Theller, and Countess H. De Moltke-Hvitfeldt estates, Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary Hutton (daughter), Frank Hutton, John Caulfield (son-in-law), and B.F. and C.H. Hutton. The series has been divided into four subseries: Financial Records, 1876-1901, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, Other Huttons, 1876-1936, and Personal Material, 1878-1946. Subseries 2, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, contains correspondence relating to specific family estates and family members. This correspondence was separated from Series 3, Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942, to make it easier for researchers to access all records relating to the family estates. This series includes hand written, typed, and printed materials. Some materials are in French. All material dated after 1901 has been added to the collection by other creators such as Hutton's wife and children.

Subseries 1, Financial Records, 1876-1901, includes account books, account records, correspondence related to bank accounts, bank statements, financial notes, bills and proofs of payment, rent receipts, tax bills (New York, Flatbush, Montgomery County), checks, money exchanges, receipts for tax payments, real estate receipts, stock and bond certificates, loan agreements, executor accounts, rebate calculation sheet, and tax and insurance payments.

Subseries 2, Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921, includes property maps and information (rent, mortgage costs, deeds), correspondence, notes on estate distribution, estate assets, value of estate and estate payments, account records, loan agreements, receipts, proof of payments, checks, financial records, legal documents, insurance documents, tax bills, auction receipts, and wills relating to the estates of Benjamin H. Hutton, Joseph Hutton, Countess H. de Moltke-Hivtfeldt, Annie Theller, and William R. Hutton. Also included are correspondence, property maps and information, and deeds and mortgages on Hutton properties.

Subseries 2, the estate and real estate records correspondence topics include: Virginia state building codes, construction costs, construction notices, purchasing offers for property, real estate prices, receipts of payments, property lines, real estate purchases and sales, real estate sales negotiations, deeds insurance estimates and costs, loan costs, property estimates, renovation costs, mortgages, property damages and repairs, property tax payments, insurance rates and payments, rent payments, telephone installation, building permits, rental agreements, reports on property condition, contracts of sale, conflicts with tenants, changes of address, deeds, distribution of estate monies, details about the Countess' illness, estate arrangements, changes of address, problems arising out of estate distribution, payment of debts, will details, selling of mortgage shares, accounts, estate settlement, money cables and transfers, dealings with lawyers, rent on Hutton Park property, legal and accounting fees, power of attorney transfer, investments, property security, land appraisals, lists of assets, legacy taxes, mortgages transfers, property management, Flatbush property, property rent and values, and physicians bills.

Correspondents include the following: A.C. Weeks, Walter I. Green, John D. Probsh, A.G. Darwin, Thomas H. McCann, Allan Farguhar, Thomas Dawson, Potter and Crandall Real Estate and Insurance Brokers, George C. Tilyou, H.D. Olephant, F. Winston, Richard E. Calbraith, Frank P. Martin, Henry DeForest, Henry C. Cooper, Metropolitan Telephone and Telegraph Company, John Ecker, C.K. Avevill, Georgina Hutton, Edward J. Hancy, Robert Graham, W.M. Bennett, Willis E. Merriman, Nathan L. Miller, Harry Hutton, Marquise de Portes (Adele Gorman), Annie Theller, Samuel L. Theller, Mrs. R. Locke, Frank Z. Adams, John Palmer (Secretary of State, New York), J.T. Cammeyer, Frank P. Martin, Florence Theller, Francis H. Seger, Henry C. Cooper, D.W.G. Cammeyer, Campbell W. Adams, Jane Casson, Elizabeth Hutton, Rene de Portes, H.G. Atkins, Grace Beukard, Aaron Pennington Muikhead, J.E. Delapalme, T.H. Powers, Egerton L. Winthrop Junior, George B. Glover, William Jay and Robert W. Candler, B. Williamson, J.E. Knaff, Cornelius C. Vermeule, S.V. Hayden, Charles G. Landon[?], H.A. Hurlbert, F.A. Black, John L. Calwalder, the Health Department of New York, A.G. Darwin, William Laue, Frederick Frelinghuysen, Charles S. Brown, Henrietta Hutton, Edward Gelon.

Subseries 3, Other Huttons, 1874-1936, includes professional drawings and proposals, checks, insurance information, correspondence, tax information, medical information, tax bills, relating to Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary Hutton (daughter), Henry and Harry Hutton, Frank Hutton (son), John Caulfield (son-in-law), B.F. Hutton, and C.H. Hutton.

Subseries 4, Personal Materials, 1878-1946, contains handwritten property notes, school notes, sermons, travel documents, menus, Christmas cards, jewelry box, postal guide, typed religious materials and flyers.

Series 5, Diaries, 1866-1901, contains twenty nine diary books that document both Hutton's personal and professional life. These diaries provide not only a record of Hutton's life, but were also used by Hutton himself as a reference tool. When working on projects he would refer to notes and observations he made in his diary (as evidenced by notes made in his diaries). The first pages of the diaries often list his height, weight and clothing sizes as they varied from year to year. A researcher could probably use the cashbooks (see Series 7) and the diaries in conjunction as both detail the purchases made by Hutton. Many of the diaries also include a short record of accounts in the back. The diaries are arranged chronologically.

Topics found in the diaries include short form accounts of daily activities and appointments, records of the weather, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, construction progress on projects, steam pumps, sketches and calculations, extension of Washington railroads, cost of food, work supplies, travel costs, costs of goods and food, work deadlines, home renovations, visits to family, cash accounts, accounts of household duties, produce on Woodlands property, records of deaths, debts owed, account of clearing Woodlands property, church visits, Hancock and Tonoloway Aqueduct, canals, Drum Point Railroad, Montgomery C. Meigs, Washington Aqueduct, Annapolis Water Works, telegram costs, wages for Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, William Craighill, Morris Canal, Annapolis Railroad and Canal, professional duties (inspections), Kanawha River Canal, travel schedules, professional expenses, cash received from Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, John's Dam, cathedral construction (St. Patricks?), Piedmont Bridge, Cumberland, account of farm property belonging to Major Campbell Bruns, Cunard Pier, Marquise de Portes, rent costs, Baltimore Canal, Kingston Water Supply, Croton Orange Estate, Pierre Casson, Hudson River Tunnel, Washington/Harlem River Bridge, entertainment costs, Greenwood cemetery, train schedule, notes on illness, real estate sales, Hutton Park, Benjamin H. Hutton estate and heirs, estimates, accounts of correspondence received and sent, Central Railroad, rent on Orange properties, addresses, contracts and building supplies for projects, personal finances, Joseph Hutton property on Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, amounts paid and received, medical appointments, Ramapo Water Company, drawing progress of maps and diagrams, Harbor Board (New York), property repairs, inspection and test reports, reservoirs, lists of birthdays, Boston Tunnel, family financial issues, tax payments, and prayers.

Series 6, Notebooks, 1860-1900, document the engineering and architectural projects worked on by Hutton. The series has been divided into three subseries: Subseries 1, Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899; Subseries 2, Notebooks, 1871-1886; and Subseries 3, Notes, 1863-1900. Subseries 1, Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899, contains sixteen field notebooks used by Hutton. Subseries 2, Notebooks, 1871-1886, contains seven notebooks. Subseries three, Notes, 1863-1900, contains four documents.

Some notebooks correspond to specific projects such as the Kanawha River Canal (lockgate and Phoenix Waterline), Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Buffalo Reservoir, Potomac Lock and Dock Company, Northern Adirondack Railroad account, Washington Aqueduct, Little Rock Bridge, Wilson-Adam Dock, Croten Brick Works, Hutton Park, Centennial Iron Works, Cumberland Canal, Williamsport Aqueduct, Catoctin Aqueduct, Alexandria Canal, Miller's Saw Mill, Seneca Dam, Union Tunnel, Cumberland Waterworks, Victoria Bridge, Welland Canal, North Sea Canal, Ramapo Water Company, Annapolis Water Company, Antietam Aqueduct, Interoceanic Canal, San Quentin Canal, Suez Canal, Amsterdam Canal, Harlem Bulkhead, Morris Canal, Blue Lake Canal, and Nicaragua Canal.

These notebooks should be used in conjunction with the other materials in the collection related to professional projects, as they often provide more detailed accounts of the construction and land surveys. Some of the notebooks contain entries from several different sources. The notebooks were probably shared among the engineers working on these projects. The notebooks also contain looseleaf ephemera such as hand written calculations, newspaper clippings, and blueprints. Languages found in this series are English and French.

Notebook topics include construction projects, supply needs, costs for labor, sketches (Woodland Mills, landscapes, dams, railway cars, Noland Tunnel), costs of crops, survey measurements, cost of livestock, aqueducts, inspections, canal bridges, seed prices, dams, measurements, coffer dam, canal maintenance, worker salaries, calculations, towpath sketches and measurements, shipping rates, worker accidents, water and coal used, geometrical sketches (Washington Aqueduct), locks, damage reports, interactions with other engineers (William Reading), coal shipments on the canal, travel expenses, land survey notes, drafts for correspondence, William Craighill, Victoria docks, lists of personal supplies used, construction time estimates, surveying expenses, telegram costs, sand pump, canal from Sherling to Tuxedo Bay, analysis of several artificial lakes and reservoirs, distances of reservoirs to main pipes, calculations for the Austin Wheel, engine construction, bridges, gauging water depth, results and observations of tests and performance, problems with construction, to-do lists, cost of land surrounding towpaths, Fawcett's Lock, Tarman's Lock, comparison of costs in transporting coal by water and by rail, inspection notes, iron work, drainages, leaks, cost of supplies, watergates, harbor ferries, railroad station distances, flood protection, Panama Canal via the Nicaraguan route, cost of jetties, water levels, pressure of steam, boilers, steam and water cycle, water depth, cement, Great Falls, Virginia, waterflow, soundings, time of floats, flow of currents, rain fall measurements, tunnel measurements, cost of trenching San Francisco water supply, record of livestock, cost of food, rates of sawing woods and mills, preliminary railroad line measurements, profile of final line, and railroad line profiles.

Series 7, Cash Books, 1856-1899, contains seven cashbooks which list prices for personal items purchased by Hutton. Topics include groceries, church dues, clothes, hygiene products, cigars, some short journal entries about his work (Williamstown), concerts, dinners, family addresses, cakes, meals, cars, stamps, office supplies (pencils and papers), valentines, glasses, gloves, fabric, medicine, needles, diapers, tobacco, shoes (adult and childrens), travel expenses, telegrams, candles, newspapers, liquor, coal oil, jewelry, allowances given to family members, bank deposits, monies paid and received, taxes, subscriptions, tailoring costs, deposits and payments into estate trusts, and notes about payments to Benjamin H. Hutton heirs. The cashbooks also contain some personal loose leaf ephemera such as prayers, sketches, and engineering notes collected by Hutton.

Series 8, Professional Projects, 1830-1965, contains documents about engineering and architectural projects throughout Hutton's career, including information about the professional organizations and the legal issues in which he was involved. This series has been divided into eight subseries based on project, document form, and document subject. Some materials are in French and Italian.

Series 8, Professional Projects, also includes correspondence related to specific projects, primarily the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Hudson River Tunnel, the Washington/Harlem River Bridge, and the Georgetown Incline.

Topics include construction and repair to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, engineering and use of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, worker contracts, supply and labor purchases, design plans and proposals, construction and repair costs, supply notes and costs of supplies, water pressure and power, shipping materials and routes (specifically the shipping of coal), inspections and their findings, condition of canal dam and locks, water supply, drainage, sketches, board proceedings, business meetings, deeds, cost comparisons to other shipping methods, hiring processes, wages, cost estimates, Hutton's consulting fees, measurements and calculations, funding issues, worker conflicts, negotiations with municipal governments, payment schedules, bills for services, air pressure in Hudson River Tunnel, permission for construction, specifications, mortality rate among workers on the Hudson River Tunnel, construction reports, outlet incline, proposals for construction, letters of introduction, railroad versus water for trade, controversy with Tiersey, construction contracts, construction schedules, construction issues, construction progress, construction damage, basis for estimates, supply requests, internal politics, changes to construction plans, contract and price adjustments, issues with suppliers, construction delays, work permits, bills, worker issues, engineering notes, construction excavations, expenses, construction instructions, Union Bridge Company, lighting installations, construction processes, hiring practices, electrical conductors, water proofing, hydraulics, cement, concrete, payment of contributors, processes of approval for construction, meeting dates of the Harlem River Bridge Commission, and contract restrictions.

Correspondents include the following: W.W.M. Kaig, Henry Dodge, E. Mulvany, John Shay, James Clarke, H.D. Whitcomb, Horace Benton, J. Rellan, J.R. Maus, W.E. Merrill, A.P. Gorman, J.H. Staats, Vernon H. Brown, Charles H. Fisher (New York Central and Hudson River Railway Company), B. Baker, John Fowler, Benjamin and John Dos Passos, Charles B. Colby, Charles B. Brush, S. Pearson, Stanford White, Horace E. Golding, R.H. Smith, Daniel Lord, A. Fteley, Herbert Hinds, J.R. Bartlett, D.M. Hirsch, M.H. Bartholomew, Thomas O. Driscoll, W.E. Porter, Thomas F. Rowland, George Edward Harding, R.H. Dames, William Watson, James B. Eads, J.D. Bright, H. Aston, Charles Suley, A.M. Maynard, W.R. Henton, G. Geddes, H.P. Gilbut, Malcolm W. Niver (Secretary of the Harlem River Bridge Commission), J.D. Patterson, George Devin (Assistant Engineer Washington/ Harlem River Bridge), J.B. Wheeler, John Bogart, Charles Burns, J. McClellon, Rob Bassee, B. Williamson, Theodore Cooper, Lewis Cass Ledyard, R.M. Hunt, John Cooper, Henry Wilson, A.A. Caille, Myles Tierney, W. Pentzen, L.B. Cantfield, George Q. Grumstaid Junior, M.J. Funton, George Pierce, W.O. Fayerweather, Noah S. Belthen, Herbert Steward, W.M. Habirsham. Subseries 1, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1965, consists of plans, blueprints, land profiles, drawings, boat rates, contract forms, order forms, descriptions of the canal, design information, engineering data, sketches, cost estimates, land titles, microfilm, business papers, supply bills, patent bills, news clippings, reports, specifications, stockholder's reports, receipts, water leases, printed materials, and correspondence.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal project was started in 1828 and completed twenty two years later in 1850. The canal's main objective was to connect Georgetown to the coal banks above Cumberland, Maryland, providing a short and cheap trade route between the eastern and western United States. It was also hoped that the canal would provide greater communication and travel between these two regions. Plagued by natural disasters, and construction setbacks, the canal was never completed in time to be useful and became obsolete shortly after its completion. Canal trade was eventually put out of business by the increase of railroads. Although it was an important development in engineering at its inception, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is no longer in use and has become what locals affectionately refer to as "the old ditch." The canal was designated a National Historical Park in 1971 and consists of 184.5 miles of hiking and biking trails.

Subseries 2, Hudson River Tunnel, 1887-1901, consists of agreements for construction, certificates, contracts, and cost estimates, construction reports, engineering notebooks, engineering notes, sketches, land profiles, maps, progress profiles, plans, proposals, printed material, statements of expenses, and correspondence.

The Hudson River Tunnel project was started in 1874, and the final tubes were opened in 1910 after several construction setbacks. The tunnel connects Weehawken, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City. Today the Hudson River Tunnel, known as the North River Tunnels is used by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and New Jersey Transit rail lines.

Subseries 3, Harlem River Bridge, 1878-1982, consists of blueprints, printed materials, photographs, engineer's estimates, schedules, costs, reports, proposals, contracts, specifications, and correspondence.

The Harlem River Bridge project was started in 1885 and was completed in 1889. It spans the Harlem River in New York City, New York and connects the Washington Heights section of Manhattan with the Bronx. It was later named and is still known as the Washington Bridge and has been adapted over time to carry highway traffic. These adaptations have allowed the bridge to remain in use today.

Subseries 4, Other Projects, 1858-1832, consists of drawings, maps, blueprints, plans, proposals, cost estimates, bills, correspondence, sketches, land profiles, dimensions, engineering notes, account records, photostats, supply lists, calculations, legal documents, surveys, inspection reports, financial data, and measurements on architectural and engineering projects. Highlights of this subseries include: Western Maryland Railroad, Washington Aqueduct, Panama Canal, Ramapo Water Company, Piedmont Bridge, Northern Adirondack Railroad, Columbia Railroad, Morris Canal, Pittsfield and Williamstown Railroad, Suez Canal, St. Gothard Canal, Tansa Dam, Colorado Midland Railroad Company, Memorial Bridge, Mersey Tunnel, Little Rock Bridge, Kingston Water Supply, Kanawha River Canal, Florida Ship Canal, East Jersey Water Company, Consolidated Coal Company, Dismal Swamp Canal, Boston and Baltimore Tunnels, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Annapolis Water Company, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad Company, and the Baltimore Beltline.

Subseries 5, Unidentified Project Files, 1872-1900, consists of bills of sale, engineering forms and regulations, cement test results and methods, census bulletin, contracts, cost estimates, correspondence, notes on publications, engineering data and notes, drawings, surveys, sketches, payrolls, photographs, and reports.

Subseries 6, Specifications, 1870-1900, consists of documents related to some of Hutton's projects, including specifications for bridges, reservoirs, canals, viaducts, docks, buildings, water works, and tunnels. Some specifications are more general, and some are blank proposal/specification forms. There are also proposals for estimates and a "call" or advertisement to contractors to bid on certain projects. Many of the specifications deal with projects in New York State, but projects in Pennsylvania, the City of Baltimore, and Europe are represented. The materials are arranged alphabetically by project name. There is one folder of documentation for the Potomac River Bridge (Arlington Memorial Bridge) in Washington, D.C. The Arlington Memorial Bridge was part of the 1901 McMillan Commission's plan for restoring Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's original plan for the capital. Two decades passed before construction was initiated by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. The documentation for the Memorial Bridge consists of calculations and monetary figures for materials such as granite.

Subseries 7, Legal Documents, 1886, contains documents related to a patent infringement suit for moveable dams involving Alfred Pasqueau vs. the United States. This file contains both a printed version of the case and a handwritten statement from Hutton.

Subseries 8, Professional Organizations, 1870-1902, contains documents related to professional organizations where Hutton held membership. Specific organizations represented are American Institute of Architects, American Society of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, Boston Society of Civil Engineers, Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France, Librarie Polytechnique, American Agency of "Engineering" in London, Imperial Institute, League of Associated Engineers, Railroad Corporation, American Institute of Mining Engineers, and the Century Association. Material in the subseries includes correspondence, candidates for membership, membership payments, membership lists, meeting minutes, schedule of terms, professional practices, charges, articles of association, invitations for membership, and election notes. Some materials are in French.

Series 9, Printed Materials, 1850-1913, contains a variety of printed materials relating to engineering and architectural projects written by Hutton and fellow engineers. This series can be used to examine not only professional developments of the period and responses to those developments, but also to track how ideas were transferred between engineers across countries and continents. This series should be used in conjunction with the professional correspondence found in this collection, as many of the authors also appear there. Some materials are in French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Subseries 1, Printed Materials by Hutton, 1852-1900, includes printed papers on the Missouri flood wave, the Ravine du Sud, the Potomac waterfront, the Colorado midlands, and the application of water supply machinery.

Subseries 2, Printed Materials by Others, 1826-1913, includes printed materials on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canals, Tehuantec Ship Railway, Interoceanic canals and railways, jetties, Nicaragua Canal, uses of cements, mortars, concretes, steam power, harbors, Niagara Falls, Kanawha River canal, Mississippi River, Hudson River Bridge, sewage disposal, Washington Aqueduct, specifications, construction progress reports, hydraulic experiments, water supply, drainage, road surfacing, sea walls, water-cooling apparatus, pollution reports, bridges, pipes, channels, reservoirs, irrigation, water power, and sewers.

Subseries 2 contains an issue of The North American Review in which Hutton has specifically highlighted an article entitled, "The Inter-Oceanic Canal." Please see the container list for names of authors.

Subseries 3, Printed Materials with No Author, 1852-1903, includes printed materials on harbor reports, Annapolis Water Company, Ramapo Water Company, water departments and boards, maps, engineer's reports, sea walls, preservation of structures, annual reports, Coal and Iron Railway Company, sewers, Baltimore and Drum Point Railroad, contract specifications, proposals, social club life, Croton Water Supply, law suits, water supplies, moveable dams, reservoirs, East River Bridge, Eastern Canal, water filtration, Kingston New Water Supply, water pipes, locks, docks, contracts, construction reports, Croton Water Supply, and surveys. Also included are issues of journals such as Le Correspondant, Circular of the Office of Chief Engineers, The Club, VIII Congres International de Navigation, Journal of the Association of Engineering Studies, and Journal of the Franklin Institute.

Subseries 4, Newspaper, Journals and Magazine Clippings, 1873-1900, contains clippings from a variety of newspapers such as Scientific American, andRailroad Gazette. Subjects included are the Union Tunnel opening in Baltimore, Drum Point Railroad, railroad company conflicts, Washington/Harlem River Bridge, Metropolitan Railroad, Western Maryland Railroad, crop prospects, lumber trade, North Avenue Bridge, Nicaraguan Canal, harbors, river improvements, reactions to engineering projects, Belt tunnel, city transit, Washington, D.C. flood in 1880, tunnel shields, Springfield Bridge, railroad patents, Panama Canal, jetties, Hudson Tunnel, steel boilers, composition and use of cement, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Subseries 5, Oversized Printed Materials, 1889-1892, contains large printed materials related to the Washington Aqueduct, General Post Office Building, subway arches, cornices, Warwick's Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Renaissance paintings, botanical drawings, school buildings, church architecture, the Hospital for the Insane of the Army and Navy and the District of Columbia, the Panama Canal, Morningside Park, and the Mississippi Jetties. Also includes engravings of Hutton, T.N. Talfound, and F. Jeffrey and photographs of Montgomery C. Meigs, and Hutton. Some materials are in German and French.

References:

1. Ward, George Washington, "The Early Development of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Project," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series XVII, no. 9-11 (1899): 8.

2. Ibid., 88.

3. Ibid., 55.

4. Ibid., 90.

5. Sanderlin, Walter S., "The Great National Project: A History of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science Series LXIV, no. 1 (1946): 21.

6. Ibid., 282.

7. Gies, Joseph, Adventure Underground (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company Inc., 1962): 134.

8. Ibid., 131-132.

9. Ibid., 135-136.

10. Ibid., 145.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.

Series 1: Letterpress Copybooks, 1858-1901

Series 2: Professional Correspondence, 1861-1901

Subseries 2.1: Project Correspondence, 1876-1899

Subseries 2.2: General Correspondence, 1861-1901

Series 3: Personal Correspondence, 1850-1942

Series 4: Personal Materials, 1835-1946

Subseries 4.1: Financial Records, 1876-1901

Subseries 4.2: Estate and Real Estate Records, 1835-1921

Subseries 4.3: Other Huttons, 1874-1936

Subseries 4.4: Personal Materials, 1878-1946

Series 5: Diaries, 1866-1901

Series 6: Notebooks, 1860-1900

Subseries 6.1: Engineering and Survey Field Notes, 1860-1899

Subseries 6.2: Notebooks, 1871-1886

Subseries 6.3: Notes, 1863-1900

Series 7: Cashbooks, 1856-1899

Series 8: Professional Projects, 1830-1965

Subseries 8.1: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1828-1965

Subseries 8.2: Hudson River Tunnel, 1887-1901

Subseries 8.3: Harlem River Bridge, 1878-1892

Subseries 8.4: Other Projects, 1858-1932

Subseries 8.5: Identified Project Files, 1872-1900

Subseries 8.6: Specifications, 1870-1900

Subseries 8.7: Legal Documents, 1886

Subseries 8.8: Professional Organizations, 1870-1902

Series 9: Printed Materials, 1826-1913

Subseries 9.1: Printed Materials by Hutton, 1852-1900

Subseries 9.2: Printed Materials by Others, 1826-1913

Subseries 9.3: Newspaper, Journals, and Magazine Clippings, 1855-1901

Subseries 9.4: Oversized Printed Material, 1889-1892

Series 10: Drawings, 1875, 1883
Biographical / Historical:
Not much is known about the history of William Rich Hutton outside of his role in architectural and engineering projects of the late 1800s and early 1900s. In many cases, he is spoken of only in reference to his projects, and the short biographies that have been written read more like a resume than a life story. Because of this lack of information, this note will focus on Hutton's professional accomplishments, but will attempt to make some comments on his personal life.

William Rich Hutton was born on March 21, 1826 in Washington, D.C., the eldest son of James Hutton (died 1843) and his wife, the former Salome Rich (1). He was educated at the Western Academy (Washington, D.C.) from 1837-1840 under George J. Abbot and then at Benjamin Hallowell's School in Alexandria, Virginia, where he received special training in mathematics, drawing, and surveying (2). Hutton began his professional career in California when he, along with his younger brother James, accompanied their uncle William Rich to work for the United States Army. His uncle was a paymaster for the army and Hutton became his clerk. They traveled around the new state paying the various platoons stationed there, but Hutton also occupied his time by drawing the landscapes and structures he saw in the settlements of Los Angeles, San Francisco, La Paz, Mazatlan, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Pedro, San Diego, and Cape San Lucas (3). These drawings are now held by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Hutton held the position of clerk until the spring of 1849, and in July of that year he began working with Lieutenant Edward O.C. Ord and completed the first survey of Los Angeles and its surrounding pueblo lands and islands. Hutton continued surveying in California from 1850-1851. He was hired by William G. Dana to survey the Nipomo Ranch in San Luis Obispo County and also surveyed the ranches Santa Manuela and Huer-Huero, both owned by Francis Z. Branch. After his employment with Dana, he became the county surveyor for San Luis Obispo County, where he prepared the first survey and map of the region. He also continued to survey ranches for Captain John Wilson during this time. In August 1851, he resigned from his position as county surveyor and moved to Monterey where he worked as an assistant to Captain (later General) Henry W. Hallack, superintendent of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara County (4). He remained in this position until March, 1853 when he returned to Washington, D.C. by way of Mexico (5).

Hutton began his career as a civil engineer in Washington, D.C. He was first assigned to the position of assistant engineer on a survey of the projected Metropolitan Railroad in 1853, which was chartered to connect Washington, D.C. with the mainline of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1855 he began his professional relationship with Montgomery C. Meigs when he was appointed to the position of assistant engineer on the Washington Aqueduct. He also served as division engineer on this project until construction was shut down in 1861 because of the outbreak of the Civil War. Fortunately for Hutton, the construction on the Aqueduct was resumed in 1862, and when Congress transferred the supervision of the aqueduct project from the War Department to the Department of the Interior, Hutton was made chief engineer. By the end of the Civil War, Hutton's reputation as a civil engineer was established (6).

During this decade Hutton also served as the chief engineer for the Annapolis Water Works (1866) and as chief engineer for one of his most famous projects, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (1869-1871). Although some historians minimize Hutton as just one of many engineers to work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, he did make one major contribution to its construction: the Georgetown Canal Incline. Perhaps the final effort of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal company to compete with the emerging and fast expanding railroad, the Georgetown Incline was designed to allow canal boats to travel through the canal with low water levels and to alleviate canal congestion. Unfortunately, by the time the incline was completed use of the canal had decreased so significantly that it was no longer needed to help control traffic (7). Despite this, Hutton continued to work as a consulting engineer for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company until 1881, when he was let go because of the dwindling fortunes of the company (7).

In the 1870s and 1880s Hutton was busy with several engineering projects. During 1871-1873, he was the chief engineer in the completion of the Western Maryland Railroad to Hagerstown and Williamsport (9). He also practiced as an architect with his brother, the prominent Baltimore architect Nathanial Henry Hutton, during the years 1873-1880. He relocated to New York in 1880, serving as chief engineer for the Washington Bridge in 1888 and 1889 and the Hudson River Tunnel from 1889 to 1891. In 1886, he became the consulting engineer for the New Croton Aqueduct and served in the same position for the Colorado Midland Railway between the years of 1886-1889 (10).

As his personal and professional correspondence shows, Hutton continued to work on various engineering and architectural projects until his death on December 11, 1901. In addition to these projects, he also invented the innovative system of locks and moveable dams used in the Kanawha River Canal. He was awarded the Diplome d'Honneur for this featat the Paris Exposition in 1878 (11). His correspondence also demonstrates how Hutton was respected within his professional community. These letters refer to the accuracy of his work, his willingness to help other colleagues and supply them with reference materials and information, and, in addition to all this, his politeness. It seems that these qualities defined not only his personality but also his ideology. In one of the cashbooks in the collection, dated 1899, a hand written note contains a religious parable of "The Straw." The phrase in this parable that speaks most to Hutton's work ethic, and to the spirit of inventors everywhere, is this: "Even so however lowly may be the act, however little opportunities we may have of assisting others, we may still do something. Let us beg to fulfil our duty in this regards by making ourselves useful to others by some little act of thoughtful charity..." (12). Hutton, in his dedication to civil engineering, seems to have lived up to this virtue, and in his work he changed the landscape of Washington, D.C. and New York.

The Fairy Godfather: Hutton's Personal History

His professional records reveal a man who was fiercely dedicated to his work. His obituary references his professional life more than his personal life (13). Despite his reputation in the professional engineering community, his personal records demonstrate that Hutton was also dedicated to his family and children. In 1855, he married Montgomery County native Mary Augusta Clopper (died 1915). Together they lived on her family's estate known as the Woodlands, and had five children: Frank C. Hutton, Mary Hutton, Elizabeth Hutton (later Caulfield), Rosa Hutton, and Annie Salome Hutton (14). It is at this estate that Hutton died and was buried. The personal letters to his wife found in the Woodlands Collection held at the Montgomery County Historical Society show a man in love and willing to take time from his work to write to his wife. His letters to his children show a similar interest and compassion. In the many letters found in this collection from his daughter Elizabeth (Bessie) one can see a father who is interested in not only his daughter's activities abroad, but also in her opinion. This interest also extends to his son Frank Hutton, as their correspondence shows Hutton offering his son advice on his own engineering projects.

Hutton also served as executor to many of his extended family's estates. Many letters show the conflicts that Hutton had to mediate and the dependence of his cousins on him for advice and money. Although his family was wealthy (his cousin was Benjamin H. Hutton whose daughters married into the court of Napoleon III), they were volatile, and his records seem to indicate that he served as a mediator for many of their disputes. In addition to this, as his nickname of Fairy Godfather suggests, Hutton was always willing to lend his family either financial or moral support when needed. Unfortunately, little other documentation concerning Hutton's personal life exists outside of this collection and the one held at the Montgomery County Historical Society.

References:

1. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942).

2. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): ix.

3. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942). and Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): x-xi.

4. Waters, Willard O., "Introduction," California 1847-1852 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942).

5. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): xvii.

6. Waters, Willard O., "Memoir," Glances at California 1847-1853 (San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1942): xvii-xviii.

7. Skramstad, Harold, "The Georgetown Canal Incline," Technology and Culture, Vol. 10, no. 4 (Oct. 1969): 555.

8. Business Correspondence, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 22 February 1881, William R. Hutton Papers, 1830-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, box number 27, folder number 29.

9. "William Rich Hutton," The Club: A Journal of Club Life for Men and Women,(July 1894):37

10. Ibid.

11. Monzione, Joseph, "William R. Hutton," A.P.W.A. Reporter (Sept. 1977): 7.

12. Cashbook, 1899, William R. Hutton Papers, 1830-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, box number 23, folder number 5.

13. The Woodlands Collection, Montgomery County Historical Society.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center

The Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, 1870-1890, (AC0987). Contains materials relating to the construction of the Washington Aqueduct including a book of drawings illustrating reservoirs, tunnels, culverts, and other structural elements, a Government Senate Document relating to construction progress, scrapbooks created by Meigs that include newspaper clippings about the Washington Aqueduct project, water supply, engineering projects, building construction, architecture and other subjects. Collection is currently unprocessed, but is available for research.

Materials in Other Organizations:

The William Rich Hutton Papers, 1840-1961, are located at the Huntington Library in California (see http://catalog.huntington.org).

The collection contains 95 drawings, 13 letters, and 39 facsimile copies of letters and manuscripts. The illustrative material includes both watercolor and pencil drawings of California (including Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco, the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, and the California missions), Baja California, Mexico, and Peru. There are also five pieces in the collection related to the author MarĂ­a Amparo Ruiz de Burton. In 1942, the Huntington Library published Glances at California 1847--853: Diaries and Letters of William Rich Hutton, Surveyor and California 1847--852: Drawings by William Rich Hutton.

The Hutton family papers are located at the Montgomery County Historical Society, Sween Library (see http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/sites/default/files/Family_Files.pdf).

The collection contains account books from the Woodlands estate, recipe books, livestock records, records of Mary Augusta Hutton (wife), Mary and Rose Hutton (daughters), newspaper clippings (including his obituary), correspondence, record books, deeds, bills and receipts, engineering papers, religious momentos (funeral service cards), and insurance papers.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Mr. and Mrs. James J. Madine, a relative of Hutton's and last owners of the Woodlands estate; the Department of Forests and Parks, Maryland; Louis Fischer; and Mr. and Mrs. Mayo S. Stuntz, 1965-1966, 1974.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Dams  Search this
Hydraulic engineering  Search this
Canals  Search this
Underwater tunnels  Search this
Railroad bridges  Search this
Railroad construction  Search this
Water-supply  Search this
Construction workers  Search this
Construction equipment  Search this
Concrete construction  Search this
Concrete  Search this
Coal -- Transportation  Search this
Civil engineers  Search this
Civil engineering  Search this
Canals -- Panama  Search this
Canals -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this
Canals -- Maryland  Search this
Canals -- Design and construction  Search this
Bridges -- United States  Search this
Waterworks  Search this
Tunnels  Search this
Tunnels -- New York (N.Y.)  Search this
Construction -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this
Underground construction  Search this
Locks and dams  Search this
Shipping  Search this
Iron and steel bridges  Search this
Sewage disposal  Search this
Railroads -- Maryland  Search this
Railroads -- 19th century  Search this
Railroad engineering  Search this
Railroad companies  Search this
Aqueducts  Search this
Arch bridges  Search this
Architects -- 19th century  Search this
Books  Search this
Bridges -- New York (N.Y.)  Search this
Bridges -- Design and construction  Search this
Bridge construction industry -- United States  Search this
Engineering notebooks  Search this
Docks  Search this
Domestic and family life  Search this
Architecture -- United States  Search this
Architecture -- Washington (D.C.)  Search this
Harlem River Bridge  Search this
Western Maryland Railroad  Search this
Annapolis Waterworks  Search this
Steam engineering  Search this
Harlem River Bridge Commission  Search this
Washington (D.C.) -- 19th century  Search this
Reservoirs  Search this
Patents  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Letterpress copybooks
Blueprints
Diaries
Drawings
Photographs -- 19th century
Cashbooks
Business records -- 19th century
Business letters
Notebooks
Topographic maps
Tax records
Technical drawings
Stock certificates
Technical literature
Photoengravings
Notes
Maps -- 19th century
Microfilms
Linen tracings
Letter books
Letters
Land titles
Legal documents
Sketches
Salted paper prints
Reports
Receipts
Plans (drawings)
Photostats
Photographic prints
Architectural drawings
Administrative records
Albumen prints
Albums
Annual reports
Booklets
Account books -- 19th century
Books -- 19th century
Family papers -- 18th century
Financial records -- 19th century
Diaries -- 19th century
Drawings -- 19th century
Cyanotypes
Correspondence -- 19th-20th century
Deeds
Printed material
Correspondence
Contracts
Photograph albums
Specifications
Christmas cards
Menus
Citation:
William R. Hutton Papers, dates, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0987
See more items in:
William R. Hutton Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep84f6824ce-7291-4ac4-ab0f-abaa2071815e
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0987
Online Media:

Western Union Telegraph Company Records

Creator:
United Telegraph Workers.  Search this
Western Union Telegraph Company  Search this
Extent:
452 Cubic feet (871 boxes and 23 map folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Administrative records
Articles
Books
Clippings
Contracts
Drawings
Photographs
Patents
Newsletters
Photograph albums
Scrapbooks
Specifications
Technical documents
Date:
circa 1820-1995
Summary:
The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.
Scope and Contents:
The collection is divided into twenty-six (26) series and consists of approximately 400 cubic feet. The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Information, 1851-1994

Series 2: Subsidiaries of Western Union, 1844-1986

Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987

Series 4: Presidential Letterbooks and Writings, 1865-1911

Series 5: Correspondence, 1837-1985

Series 6: Cyrus W. Field Papers, 1840-1892

Series 7: Secretary's Files, 1844-1987

Series 8: Financial Records, 1859-1995

Series 9: Legal Records, 1867-1968

Series 10: Railroad Records, 1854-1945

Series 11: Law Department Records, 1868-1979

Series 12: Patent Materials, 1840-1970

Series 13: Operating Records, 1868-1970s

Series 14: Westar VI-S, 1974, 1983-1986

Series 15: Engineering Department Records, 1874-1970

Series 16: Plant Department Records, 1867-1937, 1963

Series 17: Superintendent of Supplies Records, 1888-1948

Series 18: Employee/Personnel Records 1852-1985

Series 19: Public Relations Department Records, 1858-1980

Series 20: Western Union Museum, 1913-1971

Series 21: Maps, 1820-1964

Series 22: Telegrams, 1852-1960s

Series 23: Photographs, circa 1870-1980

Series 24: Scrapbooks, 1835-1956

Series 25: Notebooks, 1880-1942

Series 26: Audio Visual Materials, 1925-1994

Series 27: Addenda
Biographical / Historical:
In 1832 Samuel F. B. Morse, assisted by Alfred Vail, conceived of the idea for an electromechanical telegraph, which he called the "Recording Telegraph." This commercial application of electricity was made tangible by their construction of a crude working model in 1835-36. This instrument probably was never used outside of Professor Morse's rooms where it was, however, operated in a number of demonstrations. This original telegraph instrument was in the hands of the Western Union Telegraph Company and had been kept carefully over the years in a glass case. It was moved several times in New York as the Western Union headquarters building changed location over the years. The company presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1950.

The telegraph was further refined by Morse, Vail, and a colleague, Leonard Gale, into working mechanical form in 1837. In this year Morse filed a caveat for it at the U.S. Patent Office. Electricity, provided by Joseph Henry's 1836 "intensity batteries", was sent over a wire. The flow of electricity through the wire was interrupted for shorter or longer periods by holding down the key of the device. The resulting dots or dashes were recorded on a printer or could be interpreted orally. In 1838 Morse perfected his sending and receiving code and organized a corporation, making Vail and Gale his partners.

In 1843 Morse received funds from Congress to set-up a demonstration line between Washington and Baltimore. Unfortunately, Morse was not an astute businessman and had no practical plan for constructing a line. After an unsuccessful attempt at laying underground cables with Ezra Cornell, the inventor of a trench digger, Morse switched to the erection of telegraph poles and was more successful. On May 24, 1844, Morse, in the U.S. Supreme Court Chambers in Washington, sent by telegraph the oft-quoted message to his colleague Vail in Baltimore, "What hath God wrought!"

In 1845 Morse hired Andrew Jackson's former postmaster general, Amos Kendall, as his agent in locating potential buyers of the telegraph. Kendall realized the value of the device, and had little trouble convincing others of its potential for profit. By the spring he had attracted a small group of investors. They subscribed $15,000 and formed the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Many new telegraph companies were formed as Morse sold licenses wherever he could.

The first commercial telegraph line was completed between Washington, D.C., and New York City in the spring of 1846 by the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Shortly thereafter, F. O. J. Smith, one of the patent owners, built a line between New York City and Boston. Most of these early companies were licensed by owners of Samuel Morse patents. The Morse messages were sent and received in a code of dots and dashes.

At this time other telegraph systems based on rival technologies were being built. Some companies used the printing telegraph, a device invented by a Vermonter, Royal E. House, whose messages were printed on paper or tape in Roman letters. In 1848 a Scotch scientist, Alexander Bain, received his patents on a telegraph. These were but two of many competing and incompatible technologies that had developed. The result was confusion, inefficiency, and a rash of suits and counter suits.

By 1851 there were over fifty separate telegraph companies operating in the United States. This corporate cornucopia developed because the owners of the telegraph patents had been unsuccessful in convincing the United States and other governments of the invention's potential usefulness. In the private sector, the owners had difficulty convincing capitalists of the commercial value of the invention. This led to the owners' willingness to sell licenses to many purchasers who organized separate companies and then built independent telegraph lines in various sections of the country.

Hiram Sibley moved to Rochester, New York, in 1838 to pursue banking and real estate. Later he was elected sheriff of Monroe County. In Rochester he was introduced to Judge Samuel L. Selden who held the House Telegraph patent rights. In 1849 Selden and Sibley organized the New York State Printing Telegraph Company, but they found it hard to compete with the existing New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company.

After this experience Selden suggested that instead of creating a new line, the two should try to acquire all the companies west of Buffalo and unite them into a single unified system. Selden secured an agency for the extension throughout the United States of the House system. In an effort to expand this line west, Judge Selden called on friends and the people in Rochester. This led, in April 1851, to the organization of a company and the filing in Albany of the Articles of Association for the "New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company" (NYMVPTC), a company which later evolved into the Western Union Telegraph Company.

In 1854 there were two rival systems of the NYMVPTC in the West. These two systems consisted of thirteen separate companies. All the companies were using Morse patents in the five states north of the Ohio River. This created a struggle between three separate entities, leading to an unreliable and inefficient telegraph service. The owners of these rival companies eventually decided to invest their money elsewhere and arrangements were made for the NYMVPTC to purchase their interests.

Hiram Sibley recapitalized the company in 1854 under the same name and began a program of construction and acquisition. The most important takeover was carried out by Sibley when he negotiated the purchase of the Morse patent rights for the Midwest for $50,000 from Jeptha H. Wade and John J. Speed, without the knowledge of Ezra Cornell, their partner in the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company (EMTC). With this acquisition Sibley proceeded to switch to the superior Morse system. He also hired Wade, a very capable manager, who became his protege and later his successor. After a bitter struggle Morse and Wade obtained the EMTC from Cornell in 1855, thus assuring dominance by the NYMVPTC in the Midwest. In 1856 the company name was changed to the "Western Union Telegraph Company," indicating the union of the Western lines into one compact system. In December, 1857, the Company paid stockholders their first dividend.

Between 1857 and 1861 similar consolidations of telegraph companies took place in other areas of the country so that most of the telegraph interests of the United States had merged into six systems. These were the American Telegraph Company (covering the Atlantic and some Gulf states), The Western Union Telegraph Company (covering states North of the Ohio River and parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota), the New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company (covering New York State), the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company (covering Pennsylvania), the Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company (covering sections of Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois), and the New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company (covering the southern Mississippi Valley and the Southwest). All these companies worked together in a mutually friendly alliance, and other small companies cooperated with the six systems, particularly some on the West Coast.

By the time of the Civil War, there was a strong commercial incentive to construct a telegraph line across the western plains to link the two coasts of America. Many companies, however, believed the line would be impossible to build and maintain.

In 1860 Congress passed, and President James Buchanan signed, the Pacific Telegraph Act, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to seek bids for a project to construct a transcontinental line. When two bidders dropped out, Hiram Sibley, representing Western Union, was the only bidder left. By default Sibley won the contract. The Pacific Telegraph Company was organized for the purpose of building the eastern section of the line. Sibley sent Wade to California, where he consolidated the small local companies into the California State Telegraph Company. This entity then organized the Overland Telegraph Company, which handled construction eastward from Carson City, Nevada, joining the existing California lines, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Sibley's Pacific Telegraph Company built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. Sibley put most of his resources into the venture. The line was completed in October, 1861. Both companies were soon merged into Western Union. This accomplishment made Hiram Sibley leader of the telegraph industry.

Further consolidations took place over the next several years. Many companies merged into the American Telegraph Company. With the expiration of the Morse patents, several organizations were combined in 1864 under the name of "The U.S. Telegraph Company." In 1866 the final consolidation took place, with Western Union exchanging stock for the stock of the other two organizations. The general office of Western Union moved at this time from Rochester to 145 Broadway, New York City. In 1875 the main office moved to 195 Broadway, where it remained until 1930 when it relocated to 60 Hudson Street.

In 1873 Western Union purchased a majority of shares in the International Ocean Telegraph Company. This was an important move because it marked Western Union's entry into the foreign telegraph market. Having previously worked with foreign companies, Western Union now began competing for overseas business.

In the late 1870s Western Union, led by William H. Vanderbilt, attempted to wrest control of the major telephone patents, and the new telephone industry, away from the Bell Telephone Company. But due to new Bell leadership and a subsequent hostile takeover attempt of Western Union by Jay Gould, Western Union discontinued its fight and Bell Telephone prevailed.

Despite these corporate calisthenics, Western Union remained in the public eye. The sight of a uniformed Western Union messenger boy was familiar in small towns and big cities all over the country for many years. Some of Western Union's top officials in fact began their careers as messenger boys.

Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century the telegraph became one of the most important factors in the development of social and commercial life of America. In spite of improvements to the telegraph, however, two new inventions--the telephone (nineteenth century) and the radio (twentieth century)--eventually replaced the telegraph as the leaders of the communication revolution for most Americans.

At the turn of the century, Bell abandoned its struggles to maintain a monopoly through patent suits, and entered into direct competition with the many independent telephone companies. Around this time, the company adopted its new name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

In 1908 AT&T gained control of Western Union. This proved beneficial to Western Union, because the companies were able to share lines when needed, and it became possible to order telegrams by telephone. However, it was only possible to order Western Union telegrams, and this hurt the business of Western Union's main competitor, the Postal Telegraph Company. In 1913, however, as part of a move to prevent the government from invoking antitrust laws, AT&T completely separated itself from Western Union.

Western Union continued to prosper and it received commendations from the U.S. armed forces for service during both world wars. In 1945 Western Union finally merged with its longtime rival, the Postal Telegraph Company. As part of that merger, Western Union agreed to separate domestic and foreign business. In 1963 Western Union International Incorporated, a private company completely separate from the Western Union Telegraph Company, was formed and an agreement with the Postal Telegraph Company was completed. In 1994, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. was acquired by First Financial Management Corporation. In 1995, First Financial Management Corporation merged with First Data Corporation making Western Union a First Data subsidiary.

Many technological advancements followed the telegraph's development. The following are among the more important:

The first advancement of the telegraph occurred around 1850 when operators realized that the clicks of the recording instrument portrayed a sound pattern, understandable by the operators as dots and dashes. This allowed the operator to hear the message by ear and simultaneously write it down. This ability transformed the telegraph into a versatile and speedy system.

Duplex Telegraphy, 1871-72, was invented by the president of the Franklin Telegraph Company. Unable to sell his invention to his own company, he found a willing buyer in Western Union. Utilizing this invention, two messages were sent over the wire simultaneously, one in each direction.

As business blossomed and demand surged, new devices appeared. Thomas Edison's Quadruplex allowed four messages to be sent over the same wire simultaneously, two in one direction and two in the other.

An English automatic signaling arrangement, Wheatstone's Automatic Telegraph, 1883, allowed larger numbers of words to be transmitted over a wire at once. It could only be used advantageously, however, on circuits where there was a heavy volume of business.

Buckingham's Machine Telegraph was an improvement on the House system. It printed received messages in plain Roman letters quickly and legibly on a message blank, ready for delivery.

Vibroplex, c. 1890, a semi-automatic key sometimes called a "bug key," made the dots automatically. This relieved the operator of much physical strain.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center

Additional moving image about Western Union Telegraph Company can be found in the Industry on Parade Collection (AC0507). This includes Cable to Cuba! by Bell Laboratory, AT & T, featuring the cable ship, the C.S. Lord Kelvin, and Communications Centennial! by the Western Union Company.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Western Union records (Western Union Right of Way and Other Agreements, 1848-1990, bulk: 1910-1989 and the Western Union Locality Files, 1892-1995, bulk: 1910-1989) form part of the MCI Communications Corporation Records, 1849-1999. See accession 2225.

First Data Corporation, Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Records of First Data Corporation and its predecessors, including Western Union, First Financial Management Corporation (Atlanta) and First Data Resources (Omaha). Western Union collection supports research of telegraphy and related technologies, and includes company records, annual reports, photographs, print and broadcast advertising, telegraph equipment, and messenger uniforms.

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867

This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper clippings concerning the expedition; copies of notes on natural history taken by Robert Kennicott; and a journal containing meteorological data recorded by Henry M. Bannister from March to August, 1866.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts (apparatus and equipment) were donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society, now known as the Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Western Union in September of 1971.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
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:
Communications equipment  Search this
Communication -- International cooperation  Search this
Electric engineering  Search this
Electric engineers  Search this
Electrical equipment  Search this
Electrical science and technology  Search this
Telegraphers  Search this
Telegraph  Search this
Genre/Form:
Administrative records
Articles
Books
Clippings
Contracts
Drawings
Photographs -- 19th century
Patents
Photographs -- 20th century
Newsletters
Photograph albums
Scrapbooks -- 19th century
Scrapbooks -- 20th century
Specifications
Technical documents
Citation:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0205
See more items in:
Western Union Telegraph Company Records
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b72e8493-288c-4bd0-84d5-011155da30a7
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0205
Online Media:

Zabriskie Gallery records, 1905-2011

Creator:
Zabriskie Gallery  Search this
Subject:
Zabriskie, Virginia M.  Search this
Galerie Zabriskie  Search this
Citation:
Zabriskie Gallery records, 1905-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Theme:
Art Gallery Records  Search this
Art Market  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)10983
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214845
AAA_collcode_zabrgall
Theme:
Art Gallery Records
Art Market
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_214845
Online Media:

Zabriskie Gallery records

Creator:
Zabriskie Gallery  Search this
Names:
Galerie Zabriskie  Search this
Zabriskie, Virginia M., 1927-1991  Search this
Extent:
110.5 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1905-2011
Summary:
The Zabriskie Gallery records measure 110.5 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2011. The records document the history of the Zabriskie Gallery through leases, permits, floor plans, and other administrative files; guestbooks; appointment books, notebooks, and other desk diaries; correspondence from New York and Paris galleries, museums, clients, and other correspondence; appraisals, inventories, consigments, and other registrar files; artist files consisting of resumes, correspondence, exhibition material, and photographs of artwork; institution files consisting of correspondence, consignments,and artwork inquiries with museums, galleries, and corporations; exhibition files consisting of loan agreements, press releases, and correspondence related to exhibitions shown at the gallery; invoices, price lists, and other financial records; clippings, press packets, newsletters, and other printed material; photographs, slides, and transparencies of exhibitions and artists works; and correspondence, photographs, awards, and other personal records of Virginia Zabriskie.
Scope and Contents:
The Zabriskie Gallery records measure 110.5 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2011. The records document the history of the Zabriskie Gallery through leases, permits, floor plans, and other administrative files; guestbooks; appointment books, notebooks, and other desk diaries; correspondence from New York and Paris galleries, museums, clients, and other correspondence; appraisals, inventories, consigments, and other registrar files; artist files consisting of resumes, correspondence, exhibition material, and photographs of artwork; institution files consisting of correspondence, consignments,and artwork inquiries with museums, galleries, and corporations; exhibition files consisting of loan agreements, press releases, and correspondence related to exhibitions shown at the gallery; invoices, price lists, and other financial records; clippings, press packets, newsletters, and other printed material; photographs, slides, and transparencies of exhibitions and artists works; and correspondence, photographs, awards, and other personal records of Virginia Zabriskie.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into twelve series.

Series 1: Administrative Files, 1969-2010 (1.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 2: Guestbooks, 1954-1995 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)

Series 3: Desk Diaries, 1968-1997 (3.4 linear feet; Boxes 3-7)

Series 4: Correspondence, 1958-2010 (7.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-14)

Series 5: Registrar Files, 1970-2010 (10.0 linear feet; Boxes 14-22, 110-111, OV 112)

Series 6: Artist Files, 1905-2010 (66.7 linear feet; Boxes 22-87, OV 113-114)

Series 7: Institution Files, 1951-2009 (5.5 linear feet; Boxes 88-93)

Series 8: Exhibition Files, 1955-2009 (6.3 linear feet; Boxes 93-99)

Series 9: Financial Records, 1960-2011 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 99-103)

Series 10: Printed Material, 1948-2010 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 103-104)

Series 11: Photographic Material, 1950-2006 (5.6 linear feet; Boxes 103-108, OV 112)

Series 12: Virginia Zabriskie Personal Records, 1943-2008 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 108-109)
Biographical / Historical:
Zabriskie Gallery was founded by Virignia Zabriskie in 1954 when she purchased the Korman Gallery from Marvin Korman. The gallery featured works from artists such as Robert De Niro Sr., Lester Johnson, Mary Frank, and Pat Adams. Some of the more notable exhibitions included "Surrealism 1936 — Objects, Photographs, Collages and Documents" (1986), "Surrealism and the Book" (1991), and "André Masson in America" (1996). In 1977, Zabriskie opened Galerie Zabriskie in Paris to primarily show photography as there was only one gallery at the time doing so in Paris. Zabriskie closed the Galerie Zabriskie in 1998, but continued to operate the Zabriskie Gallery in New York unitl it closed in 2010.

Virginia Zabriskie (1927-2019) was an American art dealer who worked primarily in New York City and Paris. Zabriskie completed her studies in art history at New York University's Institute of Fine Art. Zabriskie became one of the youngest art dealers in New York in 1954 when she purchased the Korman Gallery. Zabriskie was also a founding member of the Art Dealers Association of America.
Related Materials:
Also included in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Virginia Zabriskie conducted by Paul Cummings, May 28-June 6, 1975.
Provenance:
The Zabriskie Gallery records were donated to the Archives of American Art in seven installments by Virginia Zabriskie between 1992-2011.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- France
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)
Citation:
Zabriskie Gallery Records, 1905-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.zabrgall
See more items in:
Zabriskie Gallery records
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a1494de5-aa0b-4dfb-ade0-49ac762190b2
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-zabrgall
Online Media:

Philip Pearlstein papers

Creator:
Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-  Search this
Names:
WBAI Radio (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
WRFM (Radio station : New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Barnet, Will, 1911-2012  Search this
Blaine, Michael  Search this
Cantor, Dorothy  Search this
Close, Chuck, 1940-  Search this
Downes, Rackstraw  Search this
DĂĽckers, Alexander, 1939-  Search this
Field, Richard  Search this
Haas, Richard, 1936-  Search this
Hampleman, Jean  Search this
Kelly, W. J.  Search this
Levine, Jack, 1915-2010  Search this
McCarthy, David, 1960-  Search this
Shaman, Sanford Sivitz  Search this
Storr, Robert  Search this
Tamburini, Fernando  Search this
Tsao, Vivian, 1950-  Search this
Updike, John  Search this
Viola, Jerome  Search this
Wallin, Leland  Search this
Ward, John  Search this
Warhol, Andy, 1928- -- Photographs  Search this
Witkin, Jerome  Search this
Yezzi, David  Search this
Extent:
31.8 Linear feet
16.68 Gigabytes
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Gigabytes
Interviews
Motion pictures (visual works)
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Sketches
Slides (photographs)
Sound recordings
Transcripts
Video recordings
Date:
circa 1940-2008
Summary:
The papers of New York artist Philip Pearlstein measure 31.8 linear feet and 16.68 GB and date from circa 1940 to 2008. The collection is comprised of biographical material, correspondence, interviews and transcripts, writing projects and lectures, personal business records, printed material, three scrapbooks, photographs and moving images, documentary production material, digital records, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film that documents Pearlstein's career as a painter and educator.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York artist Philip Pearlstein measure 31.8 linear feet and 16.68 GB and date from circa 1940 to 2008. The collection is comprised of biographical material, correspondence, interviews and transcripts, writing projects and lectures, personal business records, printed material, three scrapbooks, photographs and moving images, documentary production material, digital records, sound and video recordings, and motion picture film that documents Pearlstein's career as a painter and educator.

Biographical material includes appointment books, several awards, annotated calendars, a catalogue raisonné working list, identification card, membership files, resumes, and one sound recording. Correspondence is with Will Barnet, Chuck Close, Rackstraw Downes, Richard Haas, Jack Levine, Robert Storr, John Updike, Leland Wallin, Jerome Witkin, family, galleries and museums, students, colleagues, artists, arts organizations, and includes a digital recording.

Also found are sound recordings and transcripts of interviews with Pearlstein by Vivian Tsao, Michael Blaine, Sanford Sivitz Shaman, David McCarthy, and broadcast stations WRFM and WBAI. Writing projects and lectures by Pearlstein consist of student work, numerous articles and essays, sound and video recordings of lectures and speeches, letters, memorials, miscellaneous manuscripts and notes, and a U.S. and U.S.S.R. Workshop Exchange project proposal. Writings by others about Pearlstein are by W.J. Kelly, Alexander DĂĽckers, Richard Field, John Ward, Jerome Viola, Robert Storr, and David Yezzi.

Personal business records contain agreements, consignment and loan documents, donations, financial material, exhibition files, insurance and inventories, recommendations written by Pearlstein, reproduction permissions, digital recordings, and teaching files for various institutions. Art reproductions, clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs for exhibitions of artwork by Pearlstein and others, magazines and journals, newsletters, postcards, and publicity files that include one digital recording are in printed materials.

Two scrapbooks are of Egyptian and Roman architecture and objects accompanied by notes and a small amount of sketches, and one scrapbook is printed material regarding Pearlstein's work and exhibitions. Artwork is by Jean Hampleman, Fernando Tamburini, and unidentified artists. Photographs and moving images that include video recordings and motion picture film of Pearlstein in the studio, portraits, and candids; personal photographs of family, travel, and classmates including Andy Warhol and Dorothy Cantor; artist's models; events and exhibitions; and works of art.

Completed and unedited video and sound recordings, computer graphics footage, soundtrack material, and administrative records for the 1985 documentary video production Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artist's Model are also in this collection.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 10 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1964-2008 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 1, 36, OV42)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1955-2008 (8.5 linear Feet; Boxes 1-10, OVs 42-43, 0.168 GB; ER01)

Series 3: Interviews and Transcripts, 1957-2003 (0.5 linear Feet; Box 10)

Series 4: Writing Projects and Lectures, circa 1945-2008 (2.5 linear Feet; Boxes 10-13, 37-38, 8.26 GB: ER02-ER13)

Series 5: Personal Business Records, 1955-2007 (1 linear Feet; Boxes 13-14, 3.77 GB: ER14-ER15)

Series 6: Printed Materials, 1946-2008 (3.0 linear Feet; Boxes 14-21, 36, OVs 42-43)

Series 7: Scrapbooks, circa 1953-1970s (0.4 linear Feet; Box 22)

Series 8: Artwork, undated, 1967-2004 (0.2 linear Feet; Box 22, OV 42)

Series 9: Photographs and Moving Images, 1940s-2008 (3.3 linear Feet; Boxes 22, 37, 39-41, 4.18 GB; ER16-ER18)

Series 10: Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artist's Model, Documentary Production Material, 1983-1991 (8.5 linear Feet; Boxes 23-30, SAV 31-35)
Biographical / Historical:
Philip Pearlstein (1924- ) is a painter and educator based in New York, N.Y.

Pearlstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he attended classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art as a child. While still in high school, his paintings were reproduced in Life magazine after winning Scholastic magazine's high school art competition. After graduating from high school Pearlstein enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology's (CIT) art school, but left after a year to serve in the Army during World War II. He gained knowledge of printing, drafting, and sign painting while stationed in Florida and Italy. After the war he returned to CIT as a student and became art editor of the engineering school's Carnegie Technical magazine. During this time Pearlstein met his wife, Dorothy Cantor, and became close friends with Andy Warhol, both classmates at CIT. Pearlstein moved to New York City with Warhol after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1949. In 1955, he completed his thesis on Francis Picabia and received a Master of Arts in art history from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.

As Pearlstein's career evolved, he became known for his realistic nudes and landscapes. Many of Pearlstein's paintings were inspired by his travels to the western United States, Peru, Egypt, and to Italy as a 1958 Fulbright Grant recipient. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, and he has worked closely with the Tanager and Alan Frumkin Galleries in New York. In addition to his painting career, Pearlstein was an instructor at Pratt Institute from 1959 to 1963 and at Brooklyn College from 1963 to 1988. He is also a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, serving as president from 2003 to 2006.

Pearlstein continues to work and live in New York, N.Y.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Philip Pearlstein conducted by Paul Cumming, June 8 to August 10, 1972.
Provenance:
The papers were donated in multiple installments by Philip Pearlstein from 1975 to 2009.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Rights:
Audio visual material "Philip Pearlstein Draws the Artists' Model": Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposese of publication requires written permission from Pearlstein or his heirs. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Architecture -- Egypt  Search this
Architecture, Roman  Search this
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Motion pictures (visual works)
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Sketches
Slides (photographs)
Sound recordings
Transcripts
Video recordings
Citation:
Philip Pearlstein papers, circa 1940-2008. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.pearphil
See more items in:
Philip Pearlstein papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ae8de1cb-660c-49be-b009-d765ed771ebe
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-pearphil
Online Media:

Lapworth -- Packwood House

Former owner:
Featherstone family  Search this
Ash, G. Baron  Search this
Collection Creator:
Garden Club of America  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Place:
Packwood House (Lapworth, Warwickshire, England)
United Kingdom -- England -- Warwickshire -- Lapworth
Scope and Contents:
The folder includes worksheets, photocopied book excerpts, and additional information about the house and garden.
General:
Packwood House is a timber-framed Tudor manor house initially constructed between 1556 and 1560, which has undergone considerable restoration and modification, especially by former 20th century owner G. Baron Ash. Donated to the National Trust (Great Britain) in 1941, the property is noted especially for its Yew Garden, containing over 100 trees. Originally laid out in the mid-17th century by John Fetherston (the Fetherston/Fetherstone family occupied the house from its construction until 1876), the clipped yews are supposed to represent the Biblical "Sermon on the Mount." Twelve large specimens are known as "The Apostles," while four others are "The Evangelists." A hummock called "The Mount" is topped by a single yew known as "The Master." Smaller yews called "The Multitude" were planted in the 19th century to replace an orchard.
Packwood House was visited during the Garden Club of America's June 1929 tour to England. A complete copy of the GCA tour itinerary was printed in the Bulletin of the Garden Club of America (Fourth Series, No. 5), September 1929, pp. 6-25.
Persons associated with the property include the Fetherstone family (former owners, 1556-1876) and G. Baron Ash (former owner, 1925-1941).
Related Materials:
Packwood House related holdings consist of 1 folder (6 lantern slides)
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Topic:
Gardens -- England -- Warwickshire -- Lapworth  Search this
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Identifier:
AAG.GCA, File ENG032
See more items in:
The Garden Club of America collection
The Garden Club of America collection / Series 2: International Garden Images / United Kingdom -- England
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Gardens
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb63d082a92-7245-4a03-a7d1-b07493dbc8f9
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref4472

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