Massachusetts Institute of Technology, vol. 32, no. 8, July 1930; vol. 63, no. 7, May 1961; and vol. 64, no. 1, November 1961.
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:
Arthur Raymond Brooks Collection, NASM.1989.0104, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Innovation was founded by Benjamin H. Stansbury in 1969 as a successor to his firm, Product Specialists. Stansbury formed Innovation to take conceptual ideas to the point of commercialization and to then license or sell them. Materials in this series consist of a nine page typescript document detailing the mission of Innovation, background on Stansbury and details about income sources, retainer fees, major product categories the company worked on, method of presentation to customers, and worksheets for new product evaluation and return on investment.
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.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Business Ventures. Smithsonian Entertainment Search this
Extent:
3 cu. ft. (3 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Clippings
Color photographs
Video recordings
Date:
1989-2000
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records that document the media project activities of Lee Woodman-Cioffi, Executive Producer of Smithsonian Entertainment, a branch office
of Smithsonian Business Ventures. Materials also include records that date from when Woodman-Cioffi was Manager of Multimedia Projects, first under the Office of Telecommunications
(OTC) and later reporting to the Office of the Under Secretary; and from when she was Audio-Visual Production Specialist for OTC prior to 1990. Woodman-Cioffi left the Smithsonian
Institution in July 2000. These records consist of personal correspondence and memoranda; marketing, proposal, and treatment samples; media planning material, including on-site
color photographs, for the movie The Patriot; Creative Artists Agency and multimedia company information; and research articles from newspapers and magazines.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 00-109, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Business Ventures, Smithsonian Entertainment, Media Project Records
The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury. It contains correspondence; photographs and slides; memoranda, manuals and other internal company documents; design drawings; clippings; and trade literature. The bulk of the material relates to Stansbury's work at the Stansbury Company and the PULSAR electric toothbrush.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Personal Materials, 1954-1983
Series 2: Walter Dorwin Teague and Associates Records, 1959-1971
Series 3: Dymo, 1961, 1966
Series 4: Mattel Toymakers, Inc., 1962-1966
Series 5: Product Specialists, 1962-1971
Series 6: Innovation, undated
Series 7: Industrial Design Affiliates, 1964-1973
Series 8: The Stansbury Company, 1966-1994 (bulk 1978-1990)
Series 9: Ronco Teleproducts, Inc., 1978-1980
Series 10: Pulse Innovations, Inc., 1990-1995
Biographical / Historical:
Benjamin H. Stansbury, Jr. (September 26, 1934-March 11, 1996) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and graduated high school from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (founded in 1883 as an engineering school). He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Architecture, earning a BS in Engineering in 1957. From 1957 to 1961, Stansbury worked for Walter Dorwin Teague Associates in New York as an industrial designer. At Teague, Stansbury worked on a variety of products and missile components. In 1960, he won the Industrial Design Institute Design Award Citation for the Euphorian dental chair (for Ritter Dental). While at Teague, Stansbury met Helen Marie Beheney (December 5, 1935-July 27, 2014) who was a secretary. The couple married in 1961 in California and had two children, Claude and Jacqueline.
Stansbury left New York for Berkeley, California where he joined Dymo Industries, Inc. as Director of New Product Planning from 1961 to 1965. At Dymo, Stansbury crafted a new corporate image and supervised plant and office construction. From 1965 to 1966 he worked for Mattel Toymakers in Hawthorne, California as Director of Corporate Planning and Acquisitions. In 1966, Stansbury, along with John Pylant, formed Product Specialists in Santa Monica. Rudy Hurwich later invested in the company as a three-way partner. Product Specialists focused on product development, manufacturing and marketing. While at Product Specialists, Stansbury developed and built a folding polypropylene boat called the Stowboat (US Patent 4,556,009) available in three sizes (seven, eight and nine feet). His marketing included the phrase, "Let's Go Stowboating!" Stansbury obtained approximately thirty-five patents, many of which were design patents. Almost all of the patents issued to him were assigned to the company who contracted his services. In 1969, Stansbury founded Innovation, a company to take conceptual ideas to the point of commercialization and to then license or sell them.
In 1969, Stansbury was hired by Industrial Design Affiliates (IDA) of Beverly Hills to help turn around the faltering design practice. After years of creative frustration working for someone else, Stansbury left IDA and founded his own design firm, the Stansbury Company, in 1973. Stansbury believed in giving creative people as much freedom as possible and all of his employees were encouraged to be part of the creative process. His company provided full service product development--concept, design, appearance models, engineering development, prototype construction and testing, tool patterns, and pre-production models. A strong emphasis was placed on engineering and manufacturability. Some of the diverse products created included: an exercise bike, roller skates, a smokeless ashtray, a sewage treatment device for boats, cosmetic bottles, surgical rubber gloves, musical toys, a dental chair, packaging (Elvis concert album), and special effects (twenty-four foot alligator) for the film Alligator and miniature sets for the disaster filmMeteor. In 1978, The Stansbury Company was awarded the Western Plastics Art and Design Award for the toy category (sun runner roller skates) and the rotational molding category (La Chair). Some of his clients included: Honda Motor Car, Mansfield Sanitary, Procter and Gamble, Max Factor & Company, Mattel Toys, Schlage Lock, Technicolor, Tomy Toys, Redkin, Jaybee Manufacturing, American Hospital Supply Company and Ronco Teleproducts, Inc.
Stansbury was also a senior consultant to the Bender Corporation, which advised large manufacturing facilities about air quality issues and engineering improvements. He worked with the company on matters related to fluid dynamic modeling and to devise optimal air movements/clearance within a structure.
Stansbury was heavily involved in local politics in Beverly Hills, California. He served as traffic commissioner (1973-1977) and as a planning commissioner (1977-1980). In 1980, Stansbury was elected to the Beverly Hills City Council serving as mayor in 1983 and 1988. After leaving politics, Stansbury continued to invent and in 1992, moved to King City, Ontario, Canada to pursue his invention of the PULSAR Electric Toothbrush (US Patent 5,259,083). The patent was later reissued (RE 35,941) on November 3, 1998. Stansbury was an initial shareholder in Pulse Innovations, Inc., a Canadian corporation formed to develop, market, and license the Pulse toothbrush. The other shareholders in Pulse Innovations included Spark Innovations, Inc. (SPI), a Canadian venture capital incubator and other investors. At SPI, Stansbury was Vice-President of technical services and acted as an engineering consultant and technical advisor on other products under development. In 1995, Procter & Gamble was given an exclusive development option for the Pulse toothbrush, but ultimately Procter & Gamble underwent a restructuring and returned its focus to core products which did not include electric toothbrushes. In 1996, Pulse entered into an agreement with Butler Gum, Canada's largest consumer oral care product company. Stansbury's children, Claude and Jacqueline sold their parents' shares in Pulse Innovations to other shareholders.
Stansbury returned to the United States in 1995 and died on March 16, 1996, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts related to the Ronco Egg Scrambler are located in the Division of Work and Industry.
Artifacts related to The Mr. Dentist, Pulse toothbrushes, Hayes School Publishing Co. posters for "Good Manners" (1957) and Safety (1957), a Sesame Street learning kit and parent guides (1970) are located in the Division of Home and Community Life.
A Hayes School Publishing Company poster for "Good Habit Check Charts" (1959) is located in the Division of Medicine and Science.
Materials related to Helen Stansbury's volunteer work for the Democratic Party, especially a George McGovern Handbook, 1972 and Mike Dukakis materials, 1988 are in the Division of Political History.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center by Benjamin H. Stansbury's daughter, Jacquelyn Stansbury in 2015.
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.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Product Specialists was formed in 1966 by John Pylant and Benjamin H. Stansbury. Stansbury worked at Product Specialists from 1966-1969. Rudy Hurwich invested in the company as a three-way partner in 1966. The company developed products for clients and worked to create, develop and manufacture a line of proprietary items for the recreation industry. One of the company's first products was Stowboat (US Patent 3,482,368), a portable, foldable boat weighing between 35 and 55 pounds which Stansbury invented.
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.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Benjamin H. Stansbury Collection, 1959-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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:
Forman H. Craton Collection, 1902-1983, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Collection is open for research. 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.
Collection Citation:
Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
National Museum of American History. Department of Public Programs Search this
Extent:
41 cu. ft. (41 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Floor plans
Videotapes
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Brochures
Illustrations
Clippings
Floppy disks
Electronic records
Date:
1968-1992
Descriptive Entry:
These records mostly consist of staff correspondence and memoranda documenting administrative and program-oriented activities of the Department of Public Programs.
The records pertain to fundraising, social history lectures and seminars, the Senior Series Program, budget, educational outreach proposals, grant information, planning for
the Program of Hispanic American History, and the Country Music Program. In addition, there are budget reports; videotapes, audiotapes, abstracts, and planning documents from
the Conference on Music in America at the Smithsonian Institution; minutes of meetings; information on educational projects for NMAH exhibitions; research material consisting
of exhibition scripts, blueprints, and photographs; outline of Highlight Tours at NMAH; and brochures, articles, and newspaper clippings on NMAH special events.
The record unit also includes records which date back to the Division of Performing Arts. Performing Arts records primarily consist of working files; videotapes and audiotapes
of performances from the Country Music Program, Jazz at the Smithsonian, and the Festival of American Folklife; and budgetary information.
Historical Note:
In 1980 an Office of Public and Academic Programs was established at the National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT), subsequently the National Museum of American
History (NMAH). Josiah O. Hatch, a Special Assistant to the Director of the Museum, was assigned as Director of the Office. Hatch submitted reports for Public and Academic
Programs to Douglas E. Evelyn, Deputy Director of NMAH.
When the Smithsonian Institution's Division of Performing Arts became defunct in 1983, part of its staff was reassigned to the Office of Public and Academic Programs. In
1984, the Office was reorganized as the Department of Public Programs. It included sections of production, education, the Program in Black American History, performances,
publications, and the Office of Public Affairs. Hatch became its head as the Assistant Director for Public Programs. The next year, Lonn W. Taylor succeeded Hatch.
The Department of Public Programs is responsible for a variety of tasks associated with providing the public with opportunities for learning. It works with the Museum's
other departments to produce educational materials such as scholarly publications, kits and guides, and information on various topics of interest that interpret NMAH exhibitions.
The Department also sponsors or coordinates programs and performances using Museum collections; presents special programs on important aspects of American life and culture
that cannot be exhibited through artifacts alone; and organizes colloquia, symposia, and lectures. Staff has included Josiah O. Hatch, Director of the Department of Public
Programs, 1980-1983, and Assistant Director for Public Programs, 1984; Lonn Taylor, Deputy Assistant Director for Public Programs, 1984, and Assistant Director, 1985- ; Harold
A. Closter, Production Director, 1983-1986, Program Manager, 1987-1990, and Deputy Assistant Director, 1991- ; Bernice Johnson Reagon, Director of the Program in Black American
History, 1983-1987; James M. Weaver, Director of Performance Programs, 1983-1986; Shirley E. Cherkasky, Coordinator of Museum Programs, 1983- ; Elizabeth M. Sharpe, Education
Specialist, 1985-1986, and Deputy Assistant Director for Public Programs, 1987- ; and Manuel J. Melendez, Performing Arts Production Specialist, 1984-1991.
Happy Birthday, Hirshhorn Museum (Television production)
Keeping Orchids Alive (Television production)
Something to Hang the Paint On (Television production)
Restoring it to 'Wright' (Television program)
Advertising: Yesterday and Today (Television production)
Black Wings (Television production)
Air and Space Anniversary (Television production)
Corals in Captivity (Television production)
Smithsonian Holiday (Television production)
King Herod's Dream (Television production)
New Deal Murals (Television production)
On the Air (Television production)
Zoo Vets (Television production)
Brush of Innocence (Television production)
Tending a Sculpture Garden (Television production)
Holiday Celebration (Television production)
Decorative Designs of Frank Lloyd Wright (Television production)
Here at the Smithsonian (Television program)
Creator::
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications Search this
Extent:
4 cu. ft. (4 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Brochures
Clippings
Exhibition catalogs
Manuscripts
Newsletters
Pamphlets
Picture postcards
Black-and-white photographs
Color photographs
Color transparencies
Date:
1981-1989
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records that document the planning, development, and execution of television productions for the "Here at the Smithsonian" (HATS) series.
Also included are developmental materials for ideas that were not carried through to a full production, as well as material relating to singular projects unrelated to HATS.
Subject matter for the HATS series were wide and varied, including: orchids, Frank Lloyd Wright, insects, aviation, kites, ballooning, Duke Ellington, jewelry, and the National
Zoo.
The "Here at the Smithsonian" series was aired nationwide over the Public Broadcasting System between 1982-1989. Productions were created to highlight and or record significant
Smithsonian anniversaries and events, holidays, special projects, major exhibitions, or areas of unique or special interest.
Some of the earliest records may have been created by Ann Carroll who served as Series Producer for HATS (1981-1985; volumes I-IV). However, the bulk of the records were
created and maintained by John P. Meehan, Audio Visual Production Specialist, and Series Producer for HATS (1986-1989; volumes V-VIII). Please note that Carroll and Meehan
acted as producers on both the series and segment level during the time of the series.
Materials include contracts, correspondence, editing logs, memoranda, notes, research material, scripts, and tape logs.
NOTE: See accession 00-132 for the video tapes of the above referenced productions.
Topic:
Video recordings -- Direction and production Search this
