Covered horse-drawn vehicle coming down narrow street toward viewer, with passers-by on sidewalks. Signs stretched across street include Kodak advertisement in English, with image of folding camera, for "Suarez & Lychenheim, / Opticians and Dealers in Photographic Supplies / Agents for Eastman Kodak Co." The Suarez & Lychenheim shop, at no.106, appears at left.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
1989.0438.2368, Souvenir poster commemorating the New York World's Fair held in Queens in 1964. Inscribed "Portland [/] Cement [/] Association [/] Everywhere you look [/] at the World's Fair [/] You see what [/] versatile concrete [/] can do;" render...
Collection Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Cultural History Search this
Zim, Larry (Larry Zimmerman), 1931-1987 Search this
Container:
Map-folder 82
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1964
Scope and Contents:
22 5/8 x 14 in.; 57.4675 x 35.56 cm
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but two oversize folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Larry Zim World's Fair Collection, 1841-1988, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
1989.0438.2368, Souvenir poster commemorating the New York World's Fair held in Queens in 1964. Inscribed "Portland [/] Cement [/] Association [/] Everywhere you look [/] at the World's Fair [/] You see what [/] versatile concrete [/] can do;" render...
Collection Collector:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Cultural History Search this
Zim, Larry (Larry Zimmerman), 1931-1987 Search this
Container:
Map-folder 82
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1964
Scope and Contents:
22 5/8 x 14 in.; 57.4675 x 35.56 cm
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but two oversize folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Larry Zim World's Fair Collection, 1841-1988, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.9" x 4.5".)
Container:
Box 18, Folder 5
Type:
Archival materials
Biographies
Diaries
Place:
Yonkers (N.Y.) -- 1900-1910
Date:
1910 February 1-1910 May 31
Scope and Contents:
Inscription on flyleaf: "Journal from February 1, 1910 to May 31, 1910."
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5".)
Container:
Box 19, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Biographies
Diaries
Place:
Yonkers (N.Y.) -- 1900-1910
Date:
1912 November 21-1913 March 26
Scope and Contents:
Inscription on flyleaf: "I / Journal of / Dr. L.H. Baekeland / Yonkers, NY [sic] / November 21, 1911 / to March 26, 1913." The diary details Baekeland's daily activities. He writes often of his visits and discussions, and the subjects of correspondence he has written and received. It sheds light on the use and distance of travel by automobile in the early twentieth century. In the notes, Baekeland explains increasing time spent in the laboratory at the end of 1911 into 1913.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5".)
Container:
Box 19, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Biographies
Diaries
Place:
Yonkers (N.Y.) -- 1900-1910
Date:
1913 July 1-1914 March 11
Scope and Contents:
Inscription on flyleaf: "I / Journal of / Dr. L.H. Baekeland / Yonkers, NY [sic] / July 1, 1913 / to March 11, 1914." The diary details Baekeland's daily activities. He writes often of his visits and discussions, and the subjects of correspondence he has written and received. It sheds light on the use and distance of travel by automobile in the early twentieth century. In the notes, Baekeland explains increasing time spent in the laboratory at the end of 1913 into 1914.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5")
Container:
Box 21, Folder 4
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Date:
1927 December 25-1928 August 31
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5")
Container:
Box 21, Folder 6
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Date:
1931 December 17-1932 May 30
1931 December 12 - 1932 May 30
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5")
Container:
Box 21, Folder 9
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Date:
1935 January 1- 1935 December 31
1935 June 1- 1935 December 31
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5")
Container:
Box 22, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Date:
1938 September 12-1939 December 31
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Papers document Henry Booth's invention, use, and marketing of the PhotoMetriC custom tailoring system.
Scope and Contents:
The Henry Booth Collection, 1942-1974, focuses primarily on the PhotoMetriC custom tailoring system. It consists of advertisements, brochures, photographs, glass slides, a 16mm film, correspondence, financial records, meeting minutes, an operating manual, scrapbooks, magazines, and a guest register.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into five series.
Series 1: PhotoMetriC Apparatus Materials, 1948-1965
Series 2: PhotoMetriC Advertising and Press Materials, 1942, 1948
Series 3: PhotoMetriC Retail Materials, 1958-1974
Series 4: PhotoMetriC General Business Materials, 1947-1974
Series 5: Hillandale Handweavers, 1960-1962
Biographical / Historical:
Henry Booth was a textile jobber who invented the PhotoMetriC custom tailoring system in the 1940s, an innovation which temporarily revolutionized a small corner of the custom clothing industry.
Henry Booth (1895-1969), son of a Methodist minister, was born in Canada and raised in England where his grandfather, General William Booth, founded the Salvation Army. In 1911, Henry Booth came to the United States from England on the Lusitania. He worked in the textile industry for a few years; specifically as a manager for John B. Ellison jobbing offices in Portland and Seattle. In 1922 he formed his own firm with Harry Kemp and Robert Walker. By 1929, Booth moved east to New York City in order to pursue his career in the textile industry. He formed Amalgamated Textiles Limited with John and Blake Lawrence. In 1938, Booth met Curt Erwin Forstmann and entered into an agreement whereby Amalgamated Textiles Limited became fabric stylists and sole agents for the Forstmann Woolen Companies.
In the early 1940s, Booth came up with the idea for the PhotoMetriC camera system to be used in the custom tailoring industry. The system consisted of a specially-designed arrangement of nine mirrors. Eight mirrors reflected separate views of the customer and one mirror reflected the customer's name and other information. These angled mirrors allowed a photograph to be taken which showed the customer from the front, back, side, and top. A slide of this photographic measurement would be sent, along with the customer's garment order, to the manufacturer. When the order arrived, the tailor would project the customer's image on a special screen which facilitated the taking of certain physical measurements. With the aid of the PhotoMetriC calculator, the tailor translated the measurements into specifications for a customer-specific garment. When finished, the garment would be mailed directly to the customer's home. According to testimonials in the collection, the garments fit perfectly the first time, every time. The PhotoMetriC system both saved the tailor money and relieved the customer of the inconvenience of having to return to the tailor again and again for time-consuming fittings, alterations, and adjustments.
The camera which supported this invention needed to be virtually foolproof, enabling the average shop clerk to reliably collect the necessary data. To this end, Booth took his idea to the Eastman Kodak Company, where he worked with Dr. Kenneth Mees, Director of Research and Fred Waller, a camera expert. Waller designed the camera; the remainder of the system design was done by Booth. The PhotoMetriC system made its debut in two Richard Bennett stores in New York City on May 17, 1948. It was subsequently licensed to other select retailers such as: The Custom Gentleman (Englewood, NJ); Nathan's (Richmond, VA); The Golden Fleece (Point Pleasant Borough, NJ); and Joseph's (Terre Haute, IN).
Hillandale, a Brooklyn, CT farm which Booth purchased about 1940, was later used to produce hand woven wool fabrics. These fabrics were used extensively by various PhotoMetriC retail outlets. Henry Booth's son, Robert (b. 1924), took over farm operations circa 1960 and opened a retail outlet on the premises which featured a PhotoMetriC fitting room which provided custom tailoring until the mid-1970s. Robert Booth, with his wife, Jimmie, operated the Golden Lamb Buttery Restaurant in Brooklyn, Connecticut. It closed in 2017.
Patents of Henry Booth:
United States Patent: #2,037,192/RE #20,366, "Visible inventory and sales recording device, April 14, 1936
United States Patent: #2,547,367, "Method and apparatus for testing fabrics, April 3, 1951
United States Patent: #2,547,368, "Cloth rack," April 3, 1951
United States Patent: #2,563,451, "Photographic fitting method," August 7, 1951
United States Patent: #2,624,943, "Proportionally balancing garments," January 13, 1953
United States Patent: #2,664,784,"Apparatus for measuring objects by photography," January 5, 1954
United States Patent: #2,688,188, "Apparatus for proportionally balancing garments," September 7, 1954
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Virginia "Jimmie" Booth Collection, 1936-1998 (AC0729). Jimmie Booth is the wife of Robert Booth and she was a buyer for Lord and Taylor.
Materials in the National Museum of American History
The Division of Work and Industry holds a PhotoMetric camera, stand, and measuring harness in the Photographic History collection.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Henry Booth's son, Robert Booth, in April 2000.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Helicopter Air Service Program: Hearings before the Aviation Subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, Eighty-Ninth Congress, First Session on Helicopter Air Service Program, March 8-11, 1965, US Government (Washington, DC) Serial No. 89-4.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
New York Airways Collection, Acc. NASM.1992.0052, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
New York Airways Collection, Acc. NASM.1992.0052, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
"Science Finds Silver Mines in Movie Studios" February 26, 1932
"Beware the Motor Oil GYPS" May 13, 1932
"The Switch Engine of the Air"
"Practical Exposure and Development"
Miscellaneous Notes
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection 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 http://airandspace.si.edu/permissions
Collection Citation:
Joseph D. Mountain Collection, Acc. 1991-0079, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
