Schuylkill Construction and Supply Company. Search this
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931 Search this
Former owner:
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of Search this
Extent:
6.3 Cubic feet (6 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Business records
Papers
Place:
Shenandoah (Pa.)
Bloomsburg (Pa.)
Date:
1909-1938
Summary:
The collection documents E.R. Beers's business records, his personal collection of Edison trivia, and correspondence between Beers and General Electric (1909-1922).
Scope and Contents note:
This collection consisting of records of the Schuylkill Electric Construction & Supply Co. and the E.R. Beers Electric Co. and includes correspondece, advertisements, sales receipts, limited cash statements, and bids for electrical modifications. The bulk of the data is from the period from 1909 through the 1920's and mid 1930's. The collection contains advertisements that reflect the introduction of the electrical appliance to the home. Important transitions in the electrical industry are represented. For example, in July 1910 there is an acceptance by Lehigh Valley Railroad of rewiring of the Shenandoah Station according to "the rules and regulations of the Underwriter's Association" and agreement to furnish certificate of approval. Further, in February 1922 there the statement "Service for direct current motors is gradually being eliminated and will eventually be discontinued ... ."
Biographical/Historical note:
The Schuylkill Electric Construction & Supply Co., a small electrical operation in a very important period of time, 1909 to 1938, particularly for electrical appliances reflecting the conversion of gas lighting to incandescent lighting to decorative and arc lighting. At first there were two stores, one in Reading, Pennsylvania and one in Shenandoah, PA. The partnership was dissolved January 1911, resulting in the closing of the Reading, Pennsylvania store and the continued operation of the Shenandoah, Pennsylvania store. The Kauffman Electric Co., Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania was purchased in 1919 and named the E.R. Beers Electric Company.
Provenance:
Collection donated by E.R. Beers, December 1985.
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.
United States. Department of Agriculture Search this
Extent:
10.1 Cubic feet (31 boxes, 1 oversized folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Trade catalogs
Manuals
Scrapbooks
Newsletters
Lecture notes
Articles
Specifications
Publications
Photographs
Correspondence
Date:
1927-2002
Summary:
The Mamer collection includes a wide range of materials used to teach concepts and the usage of electricity to predominately rural audiences. Mamer kept many of her materials in labeled notebooks; other papers were filed loosely with no apparent order. The collection materials date pre-dominantly from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s. There are some materials from the late 1930s. There is only one item from 1927 and one from 1999.
Scope and Contents:
The Mamer collection materials date pre-dominantly from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s. There are some materials from the late 1930s. There is only one item from 1927 and one from 1999. Many materials are undated. The collection includes a wide range of materials used to teach concepts and the usage of electricity to predominately rural audiences. Mamer kept many of her materials in labeled notebooks; other papers were filed loosely with no apparent order.
The arrangement is generally by type or purpose of document. Original order and subject headings have been maintained where it is readily apparent. Mamer filed some materials in broad subject categories, for instance L.P. Gas, Lighting and Electric Ranges; are in Series 1, Subseries 1.2. One of Mamer's systems of keeping notes for presentations was to type talking points on paper, and then cut them into strips, and file them in envelopes under broad categories. These may have been used during oral presentations as mnemonic devices or as simple maxims pertaining to the topic being discussed. (In an October 2004 phone interview Mamer could not recall their specific use.) These can be found in Series 1, Subseries 1.1. Many of the documents in this collection were originally printed on highly acidic paper and extreme care is recommended in handling them.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series. The arrangement is generally by type or purpose of document. Many materials are undated.
Series 1: Demonstration & Training Materials, 1932-2002
Subseries 1.1: Demonstrator Notes and Resources, 1936-1994
Subseries 1.2: Electrical Appliance and Subject Files, 1932-1952
Subseries 1.3: Cooperative Study Courses, 1938-1953
Subseries 1.4: Adviser Packets and Co-op Shop Paks, circa 1948-1974
Series 2: Publications, 1927-1999
Series 3: Photographs, Filmstrips, Slides and Vu-Graphs, 1943-1952, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Louisan E. Mamer (1910-2005) was born on August 28, 1910 to Louis H. and Anna Mary Elizabeth Mies Mamer. She graduated from the University of Illinois, College of Agriculture with an AB in 1931. Mamer begin her government career with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), moving to the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1935. The REA was one of President Franklin Roosevelt's programs described collectively as the New Deal. The REA's goal was to bring affordable electricity to rural America. Electrification brought prosperity and an elevated standard of living to rural areas, but initially there was a great deal of ignorance about electricity in its applications and uses. Mamer was hired by the REA as a Home Electrification Specialist, or "demonstrator," to educate people in the uses of electricity.
Mamer was based at the REA headquarters in Washington, DC but traveled extensively throughout the Midwest performing demonstrations of electrical appliances, planning and teaching "training schools" for rural electrical co-op advisors, demonstrators, and home economics teachers initially in the states of Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. This traveling show came to be known as the "electric circus." Her first show was in the Maquoketa Valley Rural Electric Co-op near Anamoso, Iowa. Mamer described the process in a 1975 interview: "We would usually move into a town over the weekend. Having made the move and set up the tents [two large circus tents] and gotten ready for the show during the daytime, say, on a Monday, that night we would have the home electrification specialist (which was my job) demonstrate lighting equipment. I believe the next morning we had a laundry equipment demonstration at about 10 a.m., and in the afternoon, we demonstrated small appliances and some kitchen and laundry planning along the way. The last evening, the home electrification specialist conducted a big cooking duel between two local men. That was a highlight of the whole program." [1]
The electric circus was discontinued in 1941, a victim of WWII gas shortages. Mamer continued educating rural America with the Electro-Economy Tour designed to help the war effort. This was also discontinued due to WWII shortages. After the war, Mamer began traveling and demonstrating again while also developing training courses for the REA and REA co-ops nationwide. Through her demonstrations and training materials, Mamer was not only teaching rural America in the uses of electricity but in a lifestyle reflecting the goals of the New Deal - a better life for average Americans. Mamer's largest audiences seem to have been rural housewives but men were included as well, especially in the "cooking duel". Mamer identified with these women and from her notes and interviews she seems to have firmly believed in her mission to better people's lives through electricity.
In a 1948 article for Practical Home Economics magazine, Mamer briefly described her background and work:
My background is rural; locale, southern Illinois. As I grew, 'college' like 'mama's bank account' was always with us, and we worked to get the money for it --selling pecan meats, mowing, raking, doing everything but plowing for the same pay as the hired men. Finally I had almost $1,000, a fashionable suntan, unfashionable broad shoulders and a "harrowing" walk that served me well in getting about at the University of Illinois.
That first year I planned to become a writer, but by my sophomore year I decided that I should learn something to write about. So I spent my last three years and four summers more becoming a home economist and satisfied my craving for writing on The Daily Illini and the Illinois Agriculturist, college sheets of which I was woman's editor.
My background was, as astrologers would put it, propitious to home economics. My mother had already mothered one family of seven brothers, and she operated on a big scale. We butchered; we churned; we canned; we baked bread; we had two acres of garden, fruit, chickens and a milk route. All this-sans electricity, sans running water.
When I started teaching, an all-electric foods laboratory was a rarity, but I got one and was very proud of it. I also got a great deal of experience which came in handy when I left teaching to take a job in Washington writing for NYA.
REA was so new then that home economics hadn't entered the picture, so I went in as a writer. In 1937, after a training period in TVA, REA sent me to Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska as a regional home economist. Except for being lent briefly to WPB I've been in REA ever since.
My secret ambition is to build a modern house; furnish it modern and Chinese; equip it all-electric and with a husband guaranteed not to wander; operate the whole arrangement at enough profit to provide myself with all the secretarial and other help I would like to have to do my job the way I would like to do it and write besides. [2]
Mamer married Arthur C. Hagen (1911-2000), an REA electrical engineer, on March 20, 1954. She devoted her working life to the REA retiring in 1981. Mamer died in Washington, DC in December 2005.
Footnotes
1. "Bringing Light to Rural America," Rural Cooperatives magazine, March 1998.
2. "Methods of Teaching Home Use of Electricity," part 1 by Louisan E. Mamer, Practical Home Economics magazine, April and May 1948.
Sources
"Bringing Light to Rural America," Rural Cooperatives magazine, March 1998.
Campbell, Dan, "When the Lights Came On," Rural Cooperatives Magazine, August 2000.
Troppa, Gina M., "The REA Lady --A Shining Example," Illinois Currents, 2002
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Reddy Kilowatt Records (AC0913)
Provenance:
Donated by Louisan E. Mamer to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian in June 2004.
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.
(subsidiary of) Daystrom Inc. ; Heath / Schlumberger Instruments ; see also Heath Aviation Co. Search this
Notes content:
"Heathkits" ; quality electronic equipment in kit form ; kits to build televisions, clock-radios, fishing & marine equipment, time & temperature weather kits, metal locators, etc. ; "Skinner" air scoop and filter, lifetime windowshields, plastic enclosures, aircraft radios, air phones, plywood skis, plywood floats, inspection covers, loop direction floats, heavy duty tailwheel, shock cord covers, windowshield covers, and tie down kits for airplanes ; "Heath" vacuum tube voltmeters ; home protection systems ; automotive test equipment ; generators ; speakers ; turntables ;audio recording equipment ; etc. ; Heathkit Catalog Supplement 80/03 and 80/04 (1962) ; "Malmstadt-Enke Instrumentation Laboratory" catalogue ; two catalogues for the "pH Meter/Recording Electrometer Module" to be used with the "Malmstadt-Enke Servo Recorder" ; catalogue is accompanied by two articles reprinted from Journal of Chemical Education, titled "A Versatile and Inexpensive pH Recording Electrometer" (vol. 41, no. 3; March 1964) and "A Versatile and Inexpensive Controlled Potential Polarographic Analyzer" (vol. 41, no. 4; April 1964) ; Heath EU Series Bulletin (vol. 1, no. 2; 1965) ; article titled "pH Stat with Digital Readouts for Quantitative Chemical Determinations" reprinted from Analytical Chemistry (vol. 37, no. 1; January 1965) ; article titled "A Multipurpose High Precision Recording Photometer" reprinted from Journal of Chemical Education (vol. 41; May 1964) ; Heathkit 1966, Catalog-810/60A ; small catalogue advertising a book titled "Electronics for Scientists" by Howard V. Malmstadt, Christie G. Enke, and E. Clifford Toren, Jr. ; Heathkit Catalog, Fall and Winter 1961-1962 ; separate print advertisements ; physics laboratory equipment as used at University of California Berkeley ; Heathkit preamplifier ; Heathkit Catalog No. 200, Christmas 1985 ; Heathkit assembly manual for "HW-16 CW transceiver" ; Heathkit assembly manual for "HP-1144 AC Power Supply ; Heathkit "kit builders guide" ; Heathkit assembly manual for "cantenna" dummy RF load" ; product information for "Heath Berkeley Physics Laboratory stations ; Heathkit assembly manual for "HD-20 Crystal Calibrator" ; Heathkit assembly manual for "AM Table Radio" ; Heathkit assembly manual for "HG-10B Amateur VFO" ; Heathkit assembly manual for "HD-1234 Coaxial Switch" ; Heathkit assembly manual for "HD-10 Electronic Keyer"
Electrical equipment for industry ; radio and laboratory supplies ; timers ; time switches ; temperature controls ; telephone system ; "walkie-talkies" ; motor generator ; motors
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Physical description:
15 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Department store; dry goods and mail order catalogs Search this
Inglewood, CA ; Grand Rapids, MI ; Cincinnati, OH ; New York, NY ; Garland, TX ; Denver, CO ; Oak Park, MI ; Minneapolis, MN ; New Orleans, LA ; Houston, TX ; Detroit, MI Search this
Newark Electric Co. (previous name?) ; (subsidiary of) Premier Industrial Corp. ; see also Hudson Radio & TV (?) ; Motorola Inc. (semiconductor products sector) ; Newark Xpress (Kingsport, TN) ; Premier Farnell Co. Search this
Notes content:
Distributors. Electronic radio and television parts ; electrical apparatus and equipment ; military products ; semiconductors ; resistors ; potentiometers ; thermistors ; capacitors ; filters ; inductors ; switches ; sensors ; timers ; counters ; knobs ; relays ; contractors ; solenoids ; transformers ; surge suppressors ; power conditioners ; circuit boards ; fuses ; batteries ; connectors ; terminal blocks ; sockets ; circuit breakers ; wires ; heat shrinking tubes ; chemicals ; solder equipment ; television tuners ; tubes ; cabinets ; test instruments ; sound equipment ; receivers ; amplifiers ; high fidelity systems ; speakers
Packard Bioscience Co. ; PerkinElmer ; Canberra Packard Inc. ; Packard Bioscience and CCS Packard ; Ambac Industries Inc. ; Packard Instrument International S.A. (Zurich, Switzerland) ; Canberra Packard International S. A. (Zurich, Switzerland) ; Canberra Co. Search this
Notes content:
Press kits containing booklets on various products ; "Packard '92 The Changing Face of Radioassay Counting" ; gamma counter ; "Test Your Gamma IQ" (1993) ; "Matrix Solid Supports" vol. 1, issue 1, Summer 1991 (a scientific newsletter published by Packard Instrument Co.) ; "Tri-Carb 2500TR" ; "Matrix 96 Direct Beta Counter" ; "Flame Oxidation Sample Oxidizer Model 307" ; "Cobra Auto-Gamma" ; "Packard '90 Packard: MAPP to Success" ; "Riastar: Simple Fast Smart" ; "Auto-Gamma 5500 Benchtop Gamma Counters" ; "Packard Pesticide Analyzer" (1967) ; "The Future of Microplate Assays is Here -- 384-well Radioscopic and Luminescence Counting!" (1996) ; SpeedQuant Molecular Biology Instant Imager electronic autoradiography system (1995) ; "Chemicals & Supplies Catalog for Liquid Scintillation and Gamma Counting" (1987) ; "Packard Today: Forty Years of Life Science Innovation" (1994) including information on Robotics in assaying ; Tri-Carb Liquid Scintillation Analyzer (1994) ; Ultima Gold LCS cocktail ; "Packard '93 Accelerating the Pace of Scientific Research Worldwide" ; autoradiography ; "The 2420 Tri-Carb Spectrometer New Simplicity and Convenience in Liquid Scintillation Counting" (1970) ; "Microvolume Radio-HPLC...Resolution Just Got Better" (1998) ; "Model 7150 Radioactive Flow Monitor Trace II" (1985) ; gas chromatography network ; "Model 830 Network Manager" (1985) ; instruments for radioactivity measurement and chromatography ; "TopCount" Microplate Scintillation and Luminescence Counters ; "Cyclone" Storage Phosphor System ; includes business cards. Founded 1949 (see "The Business of Chemistry" page 132, pubs.acs.org/supplements/chemchronicles2/pdf/131.pdf?sessid=5964.) Packard Instruments, later Packard Bioscience was a developer, manufacturer and marketer of instruments and related consumables and services and services, for use in drug discovery and other life sciences research, such as basic human disease research and biotechnology. Packard BioScience is primarily focused on the rapidly growing areas of drug screening, functional genomics and proteomics. In 2001 PerkinElmer, Inc. acquired Packard. (see http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=89380&p=irol-pressRelease&t=Regular&id=201704&).
Includes:
Trade catalog, price lists and histories
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
54 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Meriden, Connecticut, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Biotechnology and biochemical equipment and supplies Search this
For those who are searching for anthropologically substantive materials, special note should be made of the Manuscript and Pamphlet File. A potpourri of documents, the file includes correspondence, notes, drawings, maps, photographs, printed and processed materials, paper specimens, reports, writings, catalogs, motion picture film (now in the Smithsonian's Human Studies Film Archives), bibliographies, and other types of documents. Of concern is a wide variety of subjects such as anthropological specimens, museology and museums, Smithsonian history, archaeological and ethnological methods, exhibits, expeditions, history of anthropology, and so forth.
The file seems to have been maintained in the Division of Ethnology — in one document it was referred to as Herbert W. Krieger's morgue — and the subject matter is largely ethnological. Nevertheless, some documents relate to archeology and physical anthropology. The file also contains administrative materials, such as records relating to the Department of Anthropology's use of Work Projects Administration workers during the 1930s. In addition, the file is the main location of materials not generally accepted as being strictly anthropological in the modern sense. It includes, for example, material on period costumes, fish and fisheries, whaling, religions, armor, biblical studies, modern appliances, the seal industry, European music and musical instruments, lace, aeronautics, and other similar subjects. In addition, the file includes sets of papers of Edwin H. Hawley ,Walter Hough, Otis T. Mason, Talcott Williams and Thomas Wilson.
Some documents, both primary and secondary research materials, concern the following cultural groups and geographic areas: Arabs, Bannock, Baubi, Blackfoot, British Columbia, Caddo, Carib, Chinook, Cochiti, Comanche, Cossacks, Cuna, Delaware, Diegueño, District of Columbia, Dyak, Eskimo, Europe, Fox, Goajira, Haida, Hawaii, Hittites, Hupa, India, Innuit, Iran, Ireland, Jamomadi, Japan, Jivaro, Kabyles, Kiowa, Kirghese, Klamath, Korea, Luiseño, Madagascar, Madiera, Maidu, Makah, Maori, Mataco, Maya, Micmac, Micronesia, Mission, Modoc, Mohave, Mongolia, Moro, Morocco, Naltunnetunne, Nanticoke, Narragansett, Navaho, New Guinea, Nez Perce, Nubia, Omaha, Onandaga, Osage, Oto, Papua, Parsee, Pawnee, Peru, Philippines, Pomo, Pueblo, Puerto Rico, Pygmies, Quichua, Quinaielt, Samoa, Sauk, Seminole, Seri, Shoshoni, Spain, Tahiti, Tesuque, Thailand, Texas, Tolowa, Tonga, Tulalip, Utah, Virginia, Washo, Wichita, Wintun, Yavapai, and Zuni.
The manuscript and pamphlet file is virtually a potpourri of documents, including correspondence, notes, drawings, maps, photographs, printed and processed materials, paper specimens, reports, writings, catalogs, motion picture film, bibliographies, and other types of documents. Of concern is a wide variety of subjects such as anthropological specimens, museology and museums, Smithsonian history, archeological and ethnological methods, exhibits, expeditions, history of anthropology, and so forth. The file seems to have been maintained in the Division of Ethnology--in one document it was referred to as being Herbert W. Krieger's morgue--and the subject matter is largely ethnological.
Some documents, however, concern archeology and physical anthropology. The file also contains some administrative materials--records relating to the Department of Anthropology's use of Work Projects Administration workers, for example. In addition, it is the main location of materials not generally accepted as being strictly anthropological in the modern sense. It includes, for example, material on the First Ladies' Gown exhibit now in the National Museum of American History, fish and fisheries, whaling, religions, armour, biblical studies, modern appliances, the seal industry, European music and musical instruments, lace, aeronautics, and other similar subjects.
The file includes the papers of many different persons. The file also includes sets of papers of Otis Tufton Mason, Walter Hough, Talcott Williams, Edwin H. Hawley, and Thomas Wilson. It includes documents, sometimes of a secondary nature, about the following cultural groups and geographic areas; Arabs, Bannock, Baubi, Blackfoot, British Columbia, Caddo, Chinook, Cochiti, Comanche, Cossacks, Cuna, Delaware, Diegueno, District of Columbia, Dyak, Eskimo, Europe, Fox, Goajira, Haida, Hawaii, Hittites, Hupa, India, Innuit, Iran, Ireland, Jamomadi, Japan, Jivaro, Kabyles, Kiowa, Kirghese, Klamath, Korea, Luiseno, Madagascar, Madeira, Maidu, Makah, Maori, Mataco, Maya, Micmac, Micronesia, Mission, Modoc, Mohave, Mongolia, Moro, Morocco, Naltunnetunne, Nanticoke, Narragansett, Navaho,
