Unrestricted research use by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
"Beat this if you can," written in the margin. Photographer unidentified.
Arrangement:
In Series ?, Box ?, Folder ?
Local Numbers:
AC0205-0000075 (AC Scan No.)
94-1818 (OPPS Neg.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Caption under image: "25. Cable on beach just before pulling / into manhole at Keansburg, N.J." Photographer unidentified.
Local Numbers:
AC0205-0000127 (AC Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
This collection consists of eleven gelatin-silver photographs printed by the International Film Service as commercial post cards of the US Navy NC Transatlantic expedition of 1919, showing various stages of the flight, from the departure from NAS Rockaway (New York, USA) to shots of the Curtiss NC-4 at anchor in Lisbon, Portugal, and its crew being congratulated on arrival in Plymouth, England (UK).
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of eleven gelatin-silver photographs printed by the International Film Service as commercial post cards of the US Navy NC Transatlantic expedition of 1919, showing various stages of the flight, from the departure from NAS Rockaway (New York, USA) to shots of the Curtiss NC-4 at anchor in Lisbon, Portugal, and its crew being congratulated on arrival in Plymouth, England (UK).
Arrangement:
Post cards have been arranged in chronological order based on the card titles and assigned NASM Archives image reference numbers NASM-9A19917 through NASM-9A19927.
Biographical / Historical:
On May 8, 1919, the Curtiss-built flying boat NC-4, in company with the NC-1 and NC-3, departed from the Naval Air Station Rockaway (New York) on the first leg of a transatlantic flight. Intermediate legs were planned for Naval Air Station Chatham (Massachusetts); Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Trepassey, Newfoundland. On May 16, the three aircraft began the longest leg of their mission -- from Newfoundland to the Azores. Naval vessels were stationed along the route to indicate the route to the aviators. NC-1 became disabled, and its crew was rescued by the Greek freighter SS Iona. NC-3 was forced down but was able to taxi in to harbor in the Azores. NC-4 arrived safely in Horta (Ilha do Faial), in the Azores on May 17. After delays for repairs, NC-4 took off on May 27 and landed at Lisbon, Portugal, 9 hours later, becoming the first aircraft to make a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The NC-4 continued via Ferrol, Spain, to Plymouth, England, arriving on May 31, 1919.
After service during World War I with the US Navy, commercial photographer Norbert George Moser partnered for a short time with the International Film Service (IFS) to publish photo post cards of Navy-related subjects. This group of US Navy "Transatlantic Flight May 14th 1919" post cards likely reproduces scenes captured by several different photographers. Note that the last card in the collection (NASM-9A19927), despite being titled as "Congratulating crew of the N.C.4 on arrival in England" is a US Navy photograph of officers of the seaplane tender USS Shawmut congratulating the crew of the Curtiss NC-4 at Lisbon, Portugal, on May 28, 1919.
Provenance:
Paul E. Garber, gift, 1982, NASM.XXXX.1102
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.
1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., approx. 2-3/4" x 1-3/4".)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Dijon (France)
Date:
[1919.]
Scope and Contents:
Full-length photograph of Meyer Later in uniform.
Local Numbers:
AC1140-0000002 (AC Scan No.)
Related Materials:
Meyer Later World War I Memorabilia
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., approx. 1-3/4" x 1-5/8".)
Type:
Archival materials
Toning (photography)
Photographs
Place:
Dijon (France)
Date:
[1919.]
Scope and Contents:
Bust portrait of Meyer Later in uniform, sepia-toned.
Local Numbers:
AC1140-0000003 (AC Scan No.)
Related Materials:
Meyer Later World War I Memorabilia
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
The papers document Leo H. Baekeland, a Belgian born chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile plastic. The papers include student notebooks; private laboratory notebooks and journals; commercial laboratory notes; diaries; patents; technical papers; biographies; newspaper clippings; maps; graphs; blueprints; account books; batch books; formula books; order books; photographs; and correspondence regarding Baekeland, 1887-1943.
Scope and Contents:
Baekeland documented his life prolifically through diaries, laboratory notebooks, photographs, and correspondence. These constitute the bulk of the collection. The Bakelite company history is also incompletely documented in this collection through Baekeland's correspondence, the commercial laboratory notebooks, and some company ledgers.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Reference Materials, 1863-1868 and undated
Subseries 1.1: Biographical, 1880-1965
Subseries 1.2:Company History, 1910-1961
Subseries 1.3: Related Interests, 1863-1968 and undated
Series 2: Published and Unpublished Writings (by Leo H. Baekeland), 1884-1945
Series 3: Correspondence, 1888-1963
Subseries 3.1: Personal Correspondence, 1916-1943
Subseries 3.2: Charitable Donations, 1916-1938
Subseries 3.3: Family Correspondence, 1888-1963
Subseries 3.4: Clubs and Associations, 1916-1943
Series 4: Diaries, 1907-1943
Series 5: Reading and Lecture Notes, 1878-1886
Series 6, Laboratory Notebooks, 1893-1915
Series 7: Commercial Laboratory Notebooks, 1910-1920
Series 8: Bakelite Company, 1887-1945
Series 9, Patents, 1894-1940
Series 10: Bakelite Corporation Ledgers, 1910-1924; 1935; 1939
Series 11: Photographs, 1889-1950 and undated
Subseries 11.1: Photographs, 1889-1950 and undated
Subseries 11.2: Film Negatives, 1900-1941 and undated
Subseries 11.3: Photoprints, 1894-1941
Subseries 11.4: Stereographs, 1888-1902 and undated
Subseries 11.5: Film and Glass Plate Negatives, 1899-1900 and undated
Series 12: Audio Materials, 1976
Biographical / Historical:
Leo Hendrik Baekeland was an industrial chemist famous for his invention of Bakelite, the first moldable synthetic polymer, and for his invention of Velox photographic paper. Baekeland's career as an inventor and innovator was punctuated by an urge to improve existing technologies and a willingness to experiment both meticulously and daringly. Born in Ghent, Belgium in 1863, Baekeland was a distinguished chemistry student and became a young professor at the University of Ghent. He had a long standing interest in photography and sought to further photographic technology with his expertise in chemistry. In 1887 he obtained his first patent for a dry plate which contained its own developer and could be developed in a tray of water. With the support of a business partner/faculty associate, Jules Guequier, he formed a company named Baekeland et Cie to produce the plate, but the venture failed due to lack of capital.
On August 8, 1889, he married Celine Swarts, daughter of his academic mentor Theodore Swarts, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Ghent. After his wedding he travelled to different countries using a traveling scholarship he had been awarded two years previously. His travels ended in the United States where he was offered a job researching chemical problems associated with manufacturing bromide papers and films with A. and H.T. Anthony and Company, a photographic supply producer. Leo and Celine Baekeland had three children: George, Nina and Jenny (1890-1895).
He left Anthony and Company in 1891 to be a consulting chemist. During that time he invented a photographic print paper using silver chloride which could be developed in artificial light instead of sunlight and thus offered more flexibility and consistency to photographers. In 1893, with financial support from Leonard Jacobi, a scrap metal dealer from San Francisco, he formed the
Nepera Chemical Company in Yonkers, New York, to manufacture "gaslight" paper under the trade name Velox. The paper became quite popular and the company expanded its operations after its first three years. Finally, George Eastman bought the company for a reported $750,000 which afforded Baekeland the time to conduct his own research in a laboratory he set up on his estate, "Snug Rock," in Yonkers.
Baekeland worked on problems of electrolysis of salt and the production of synthetic resins. He was hired as a consultant to work with Clinton P. Townsend to perfect Townsend's patented
electrolytic cell. Baekeland's work there contributed to the success of the Hooke Electrochemical Company which began in operations in Niagara Falls in 1905.
Simultaneously, in 1902 Baekeland began researching reactions of phenol and formaldehyde, and by 1907 was able to control the reactions and produce a moldable plastic (oxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride) which he named Bakelite. Although the process was not perfected for another couple of years, Baekeland applied for a patent for Bakelite right away.
He announced his discovery to the scientific community in 1909, and in 1910 formed the General Bakelite Company. Bakelite was a thermosetting resin that, unlike Celluloid became permanently solid when heated. It was virtually impervious to heat, acids, or caustic substances. It could be molded into a wide variety of shapes and was an excellent electric insulator that came to replace hard rubber and amber for electrical and industrial applications. It was also suitable for a wide variety of consumer products such as billiard balls, jewelry, pot handles, telephones, toasters, electric plugs, and airplane instrument knobs.
Two companies challenged Bakelite with significant competition, Condensite Corporation of America and Redmanol Chemical Products Company. Bakelite finally merged with these two companies in 1922 to become the Bakelite Corporation. Union Carbide finally bought the corporation in 1939.
Baekeland sustained his interest in photography by taking numerous photographs throughout his lifetime. He also devoted much of his spare time to professional societies and received various
honorary degrees and awards such as the Perkin Medal. He had several hobbies such as boating, wine and beer making, and, exotic plants. He also traveled extensively throughout the world, which is documented in his diaries and photographs.
Baekeland spent his final years mostly in his Coconut Grove, Florida home where he became increasingly eccentric until his mind failed him and he was institutionalized. He died in 1943 at the age of eighty.
Scope and Content: Baekeland documented his life prolifically through diaries, laboratory notebooks, photographs, and correspondence. These constitute the bulk of the collection. The Bakelite company history is also incompletely documented in this collection through Baekeland's correspondence, the commercial laboratory notebooks, and some company ledgers.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Albany Billiard Ball Company Records (AC0011)
Celluloid Corporation Records (AC0009)
J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics (AC0008)
Materials at Other Organizations
The Hagley Museum and Library, Manuscripts and Archives Department in Delaware also several related collections including: the Directors of Industrial Research Records, 1929 -982; the Du Pont Viscoloid Company, Survey of the Plastics Field, 1932; The Society of the Plastics Industry, 1937-1987; the Roy J. Plunkett Collection, 1910-1994 (inventor of Teflon); and the Gordon M. Kline Collection, 1903.
Separated Materials:
The National Museum of American History, Division Medicine and Science has several artifacts associated with Baekeland including the original "Bakalizer" the apparatus in which Bakelite was first made. See accession numbers: 1977.0368; 1979.1179; 1981.0976; 1982.0034; 1983.0524; 1984.0138.
Provenance:
The bulk of the collection was donated to the National Museum of American History's Division of Physical Sciences in November, 1981, by Celine Karraker, Leo H. Baekeland's granddaughter.
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.
Belden & Company (45 Clinton Street, Newark, N.J.) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (in loose-leaf album, Silver gelatin on paper, mounted on linen or canvas, punched for loose-leaf binder., 7.5" x 9.6")
Container:
Box 20
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1918 - 1919
Local Numbers:
AC0214-0000009 (AC Scan No.)
2000-11261 (OIPP Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Belden & Company (45 Clinton Street, Newark, N.J.) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 7.3" x 9.5")
Container:
Box 32, Number 85
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Connecticut -- 1900-1950
New Haven (Conn.)
Date:
December 31, 1919
Scope and Contents:
New York, New Haven and Hartford Station. Thomas Starrett Company, Building Construction. Interior of partially built station with a man on a ladder.
Local Numbers:
AC0214-0000042 (AC Scan No.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Imprint at bottom of mount: Tarsy [sic?] / The Ettlin Studio / 17 Chatham Square, N.Y. / 8 Catherine St.
Local Numbers:
AC0555-0000003.tif (AC Scan)
1994.3135 (NMAH Acc.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
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.
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Cavalry mounted on horseback with musical instruments.
Postcard printed on Azo paper. With message, apparently from a K Troop band member ("this is a Photo of the Band...") and is addressed, but not stamped. Message identifies the unit. Photographer unidentified.
General:
Item No. 786, Series 1, Subseries 7, box 10 (1.7.786). "163" imprinted in negative, lower left.
Collection Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Rights:
OPPS. Neg. No., from 99-382 to 99-385 [needs to be checked]. Copyright probably expired and image is in public domain; however, the Smithsonian Institution makes no warranty or representation regarding the fitness for publication of information derived from or copies from its collections. Reproduction permission available through Archives Center.
The collection documents Emile Bachelet, inventor of electro-magnetic therapeutic devices for the treatment of rheumatism.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of approximately .66 cubic feet of biographical materials, correspondence, clippings, patents, photographs, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook relating to Emile Bachelet's invention of a device for magnetically levitating trains and other devices.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1890-1956, consists of Bachelet's passports, citizenship papers, some genealogical notes, clippings, a certificate from the Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and an undated interview with Albert Bachelet, Emile's son. Documentation on Albert Bachelet's work with the Lincoln stereoscopic pairs is also here.
Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1959, includes letters from Emile Bachelet's former secretary, Suzanne Stokvis-Simpson, to Albert Bachelet from 1948 to 1959.
Series 3: Patents, 1903-1929, contains both United States and foreign issued patents for Bachelet's inventions. Also included in this series is information on Bachelet's Wave Generator Machine that was used to treat individuals suffering from rheumatism and other pains by "increasing the vital energies of the blood and creating a vibratory magnetic field in which is placed the patients or patients."
Series 4: Photographs, 1929-1945, include Bachelet's "Magnetically Levitated Railway" device, his "Free Energy Machine", models, equipment, and other devices being demonstrated and portraits of Emile Bachelet.
Series 5: Newspaper Clippings and Scrapbook, 1912-1973, document accounts of the public presentation of Bachelet's model of a magnetically levitated train in London in 1914 and other projects.
Series 6: Miscellaneous, 1915-1917, contains a visitor's book to Bachelet's laboratory, brochures on the Bachelet Wave Generator machine and drawings.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1890-1956
Series 2: Correspondence, 1915-1959
Series 3: Patents, 1903-1929
Series 4: Photographs, circa 1880s-1945
Series 5: Newspaper Clippings and Scrapbook, 1912-1973
Series 6: Miscellaneous, 1915-1917
Biographical / Historical:
Emile Bachelet (1863-1946) was born in Nanterre, France, a village outside Paris and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1880s. He began his career in Boston as an electrician on the building staff of the Boston Institute (now known as Massachusetts Institute of Technology). He was naturalized a United States citizen in 1888, moved to California in 1889 and then to Tacoma, Washington where he worked as an electrician for the city government and later as an inventor of electro-magnetic therapeutic devices for the treatment of rheumatism. Bachelet discovered that arthritic pain disappeared when he was near huge generators and thus began his experimentation with electromagnets. In the 1890s he conceived the idea of magnetic levitation and worked for twenty years on its application to a train. A model was exhibited in London in 1914 and it received worldwide notice and some financial support. In the early 1900s, Bachelet moved to New York City and formed three companies, Bachelet General Magnet Co., Inc., Bachelet Magnetic Wave Company, and Bachelet Medical Apparatus Company to continue his invention work. However, his interest shifted often from one device to another and he later moved to Poughkeepsie, NY where he continued his invention efforts in a small workshop until his death in 1946.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Albert E. Bachelet, son of the inventor.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
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.
Probably the earliest photograph of Bachelet's working model of his magnetically levitated railway in Mt. Vernon, New York (1910) [black and white photoprint]
1 Item (unmounted, Silver gelatin on paper., 5.2" x 8.0")
Container:
Box 1, Folder 12
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1910
Scope and Contents:
"Edwin Levick / New York" blind-stamp at lower right.
Local Numbers:
AC0302-0000014.tif (AC Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Photographer unidentified, but possibly by Brown Bros. Churchill is shown in profile, slightly to the right of the center of the image.
Local Numbers:
AC0302-0000026.tif (AC Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Emile Bachelet and the Lord Mayor of London, Sir T. Vansittart Bowater, wearing a top hat, come for a demonstration of the magnetic levitated railway at Bachelet Works in London.
Local Numbers:
AC0302-0000020.tif (AC Scan)
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
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.
1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper; mounted on paper., 7.0" x 11.0")
Container:
Box 221, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
Circa 1912
Scope and Contents:
Tuner made by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. In ink at bottom of mount: SRM 46 208. "Photo to / G H Clark / from Geo. / Hayes" in ink on mount.
Local Numbers:
AC0055-0000032.tif (AC Scan)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
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.
