The papers contain correspondence, reports, drawings, blueprints, cost estimates, contracts, specifications, regulations, legal documents, photographs, profiles, diagrams, clippings, and publications concerning projects which Forgie worked on, especially the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, the Midtown Hudson Tunnels in New York City. Also included are publications and patents on subaqueous tunneling, subway stations, and bridges, and material on the Forgie submarine.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into four series.
Series 1: Professional Papers, 1892-1945
Series 2: Projects, 1914-1957
Series 3: Publications, 1856-1952
Series 4: Drawings, 1888-1951
Biographical / Historical:
James Forgie (1868-1958) was born in Longside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Forgie graduated from Gordon's Technical College, Aberdeen, Scotland (1881-1885) and apprenticed in the office of civil engineer George Gordon Jenkins from 1885-1889. Forgie came to the United States in 1902 to work as a chief assistant engineer to the Pennsylvania Railroad on tunnels in New York City. He joined the private engineering practice with partners Charles M. Jacobs and J.Vipond Davies of Jacobs and Davies, Inc. from 1909-1923. Forgie was awarded the Tedlford Gold Medal from the Institute of Civil Engineering (British) in 1915 in recognition of his paper "The Laxaxalpam Aqueduct Tunnels in Mexico." He authored numerous articles about tunneling and consulted as a an expert witness and arbitrator in many legal cases involving tunneling. Forgie was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Institute of Civil Engineers of Canada, and New York Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Forgie married Martha Maitland Thom (1868-1936) in 1895. They had four children: Martha (b. 1900), Wilhelmina (b. 1902), James (b. 1904), and Christina (b. 1906). Forgie later married Anne McDougall (b. 1872) in 1937.
Related Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History:
Materials at the Archives Center
The Foundation Company Records (AC0974)
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Tunnels (AC0060)
Herbert S. Grassman Papers (AC0955)
Penn Station, New York Photographs (AC1048)
Lawrence Talma Smith Papers (AC0988)
Silas H. Woodward Papers (AC1038)
Alfred Maevis Collection (AC0954)
William R. Hutton Papers (AC0987)
Montgomery C. Meigs Papers (AC0984)
Henry Grattan Tyrrell and Mary Maude Knox Tyrrell Papers (AC0948)
Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas Records Collection (AC0969)
Chicago Surface Lines Drawings (AC0212)
Grand Central Terminal Collection (AC1071)
Modjeski and Masters Company Records (AC0976)
Thomas Norrell Railroad Photographs Collection (AC1174)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry holds a model of a Ram for driving tunnel shields (1933). It was used in driving the Union Tunnel for the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1933-1934 by James Forgie. See accession #MC.329243.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Mrs. James Forgie, 1967.
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.
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series 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.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Law and Lawyers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
This collection documents a patent dispute between the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company and the Williams Typewriter Company.
Scope and Contents:
This collection concerns a patent dispute between the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company and the Williams Typewriter Company. The dispute centered on the manufacture and sale by the White company of typewriters on behalf of the Brooks Typewriter Company. These were a typewriting machine developed and patented by Byron A. Brooks in 1891. The Williams company produced a very similar machine which Brooks claimed was infringing on his patents. The records in this collection document Brooks' and the White company's efforts to prove Brooks' claims.
The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence received or sent by the S. S. White Company. Most of these letters are from either Byron A. Brooks or Joseph I. Peyton, a Washington, D.C., patent attorney. A group of summary notes and memoranda about the correspondence (filed separately) provides insight into the nature and progress of the case. The collection includes a number of legal agreements between the various parties, as well as a copy of the 1890 Incorporation Certificate of the Union Writing Machine Company and the original Incorporation Certificate of the Brooks Typewriter Company. Also of interest are a number of credit reports prepared by R. G. Dun & Company of New York in 1893 1896; these report on the background and assets of the Union Writing Machine Company and the Elliott & Hatch Book Typewriter Company. Also included in the collection are balance sheets for production of the Brooks Typewriter, 1894 1896.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into
Biographical / Historical:
The S. S. White Company was a dental supply house founded in Philadelphia in 1844 by dentist Samuel Stockton White. Initially, White manufactured porcelain teeth only for his own use. He eventually gave up his dental practice in favor of full time production of dental instruments, supplies, and teeth. His porcelain teeth won awards at both the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition in London and the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1881 the firm was incorporated as the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company. Soon afterwards, extensive manufacturing facilities were acquired on Staten Island, New York. The firm's main offices were located in Philadelphia and two additional factory buildings were located in that city's Frankford section. In addition to producing dental supplies, such as teeth, amalgams for fillings, and precision instruments, the firm manufactured dental machinery such as vulcanizers and sterilizers. It also interested itself in and produced other types of machinery, such as typewriters. In 1970 the company was merged into the Penn Walt Company.
Related Materials:
Mr. Fitzgerald deposited photostatic copies of some of the records in this collection in the Dietz collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum. The bulk of surviving records from the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company are located at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, where they form accession #1320 in the Manuscripts and Archives Department.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Thomas E. Fitzgerald, December 19, 1989.
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.
