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Maker:

Chas. M. Banks  Search this

Meek Company  Search this

Physical Description:

cellulose nitrate (overall material)

paper (overall material)

Measurements:

overall: 3 in x 5 in; x 7.62 cm x 12.7 cm

overall: 1/2 in x 3 in x 5 in; 1.27 cm x 7.62 cm x 12.7 cm

Object Name:

Notebook with Celluloid Cover

Place Made:

United States: Pennsylvania, Lancaster

United States: Delaware, Wilmington

United States: Delaware, Wilmington

Place made:

United States: Ohio, Coshocton

Associated Place:

United States: New Jersey

Date made:

1906

ID Number:

2006.0098.1349

Catalog number:

2006.0098.1349

Accession number:

2006.0098

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Chemistry

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-8a53-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1344814

Author:

Smith & Stroup (Firm)  Search this

Former owner:

Booth, Edwin Gilliam 1810-1886 DSI  Search this

Physical description:

1 map hand-colored 45 x 67 cm, on sheet 74 x 83 cm, folded to 41 x 47 cm

Type:

Maps

History

Place:

Virginia

Yorktown Region

Yorktown (Va.)

Yorktown Region (Va.)

Yorktown

Date:

1881

Siege, 1781

Topic:

Historic sites  Search this

History  Search this

Call number:

G3884.Y6 1881 .S6

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_1035028

Provenance:

Founders Garden Club of Dallas  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Pierce Garden (Dallas, Texas)

United States of America -- Texas -- Dallas -- Dallas

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes worksheets and a photocopy of an article.

General:

In 2014 this half-acre property had 233 different rose plants in raised beds, all documented on spread sheets that included each rose's name, code name, class, color and color code, location, scent, year planted, parentage, hybridizer and registration. Railroad ties were used to build the eight-foot beds scattered around the brick ranch-style house. The garden was started circa 1997 and has become a local feature each spring. Each plant was selected for its color, fragrance, petal count and growth habit, and the roses are cut and shown. Those that do not meet expectations are dug out and replaced. Most are hybrid tea varieties or grandifloras; some are kept for fragrance. Every winter remaining leaves are stripped from the canes, all debris is removed from the beds, each rose is fed with Epsom salts, and a regular program of fertilizing and spraying is carried out until the weather gets too hot. Hydrangeas, herbs in pots, and peonies also are grown.

Related Materials:

Pierce Garden related holdings consist of 1 folder (6 digital images)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Gardens -- Texas -- Dallas  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File TX195

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Texas

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref13492

Provenance:

Garden Club of Nashville  Search this

Landscape architect:

Wells, Steven  Search this

Owner:

Manning, Lisa Z.  Search this

Sculptor:

Hunt, Charlie  Search this

Rice, Tom  Search this

Ironworker:

Merry, Keith  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Extent:

31 Digital images (color, JPEG file. )

Type:

Archival materials

Digital images

Place:

United States of America -- Tennessee -- Davidson County -- Nashville

Meldhaven Home and Gardens (Nashville, Tennessee)

Scope and Contents:

31 digital images and 1 folder.

General:

Meldhaven Home and Gardens is situated on the 129- acre former H.G. Hill estate located six miles west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The property was subdivided in 1995 into estate-sized lots and named Hill Place, leaving the existing Hill home, mature shade trees, white rail fencing, and pastoral land bordering the railroad tracks and Richland Creek.

Meldhaven was partially completed in 1998 by the original owner before the current owners purchased the property in 1999. They began remodeling the home and grounds, adding a swimming pool, pool house, brick walls, garden beds, and soil amendments. The gardens feature a number of propagated rare plants, architectural collections, and also contain pollinator, cutting, and vegetable gardens. The entire property incorporates composting and is cultivated using exclusively organic practices.

Along the front driveway entrance to the home, mature trees native to the original Hill property divide a canopy for an understory bed filled with perennials. On the driveway to the Northern side of the property, specimen trees like the holly tea olive, dwarf-grafted umbrella catalpa tree, hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), china firs, and junipers are interspersed. The loss of a large maple tree facilitated the creation of border and island stumpery beds gathered from a collection of stumps found after years of being submerged underwater. The stumps were placed in beds with architectural rocks, specimen Japanese maples, hellebores, an apricot tree, dwarf bamboo, and ferns. One of the bed features wave walls, with a plaque and a quote by G.W. Carver.

Along the Eastern woodland border sit three beehives shadowed by brown magnolias. Ferns, mosses, and an assortment of perennials are planted along the border, with stumps and rocks interspersed throughout. A path leads to a large compost pile hidden between the border and brick wall. A fountain repurposed from an antique millstone sits nearby. Another path leads to an 18th century pigeonary filled with ferns.

The backyard, swimming pool, pool house, and pergola are enclosed by a brick wall. A sculpture by Tom Rice is surrounded by a bed of shrubs and perennials. White hydrangea blooms near the perennials and shrubs, interspersed with sculptures and architectural pieces. Border beds surrounding the pool include antique planters filled with succulents, a sculpture by Charlie Hunt, a miniature boxwood collection, and containers of exotic plants. The rear wall of the pool house is trellised with mandevilla vines overlooking a pollinator garden. The pergola near the main house shelters a container garden of succulents and cacti during the warmer summer months. During the winter, the greenhouse is used for housing container plants and growing fennel lettuces, fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Persons associated with the garden include: Stephen Wells (landscape architect, 1999); Lisa Z. Manning (current owner and horticulturist, 2000); Charlie Hunt (sculptor); Keith Merry (ironwork); Tom Rice (sculptor).

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Gardens -- Tennessee -- Nashville  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File TN122

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Tennessee

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref32898

Patent owner:

Penn, Thomas  Search this

Penn, Richard  Search this

Former owner:

Ingles, James  Search this

Ingles, John  Search this

Beary, Christian  Search this

Beary, Daniel  Search this

Harley, Eli  Search this

Reifsnyder, John  Search this

Reitenbaugh, Joseph Elwood  Search this

Bullock, Anthony N.  Search this

Brooke, G. Clymer  Search this

Shelton Claude  Search this

Clevenger, Robert  Search this

Reading Railroad  Search this

Schuylkill Navigation Company  Search this

Provenance:

Four Counties Garden Club  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

Company Farm (Pottstown, Pennsylvania)

United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Montgomery County -- Pottstown

Scope and Contents:

The folder includes a worksheet, copies of photographs, copy of Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey form, copies of public sale announcements, 1843 property inventory, 1754 deed, and garden plan.

General:

The property, being primarily a farm, had a relatively simple garden behind the house except for more sophisticated landscaping by the former owners of the Tudor-style house. Historically, there has been a strong connection of the property to the old Schuylkill Canal. In the early 19th century, the farm was used to raise mules needed to pull the barges from upstate Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. The present owners wished to emphasize the natural landscape. A pond is fed from run-off from a spring. Rhododendrons are interspersed with grassy areas and stone walls. A trip to a Japanese garden, designed by Kobori Enshu, inspired the owners to recreate it using stones to represent cranes and a small central peninsula representing the island of eternal youth. A later trip to Thailand inspired the garden's Thai Spirit House. The garden has been used for Thai students to perform dances, for weddings, and as a gathering place for Easter sunrise services and garden tours.

Special appreciation for the owners' children's hard work is shown by placing bronze statues in special garden settings. "Celebration," by L'Deane Trueblood (1999), is dancing in a large oval garden. The bronze statue, "Wings," by Gary Price (1996), stands on a high rock depicting a young boy launching his model plane. "Child of Peace," by Edward Fenno Hoffman III. (1960), depicts a boy cuddling a dove. "Garden Chimes," by Val Bertoia (2000), represents the gardener's love for music.

Persons associated with the garden include: Thomas and Richard Penn (patent owners, 1754); James and John Ingles (former owners, 1754-1806); Christian and Daniel Beary (former owners, 1806-1836); Eli Harley (1836-1844); John Reifsnyder (former owner, 1844-1847); Schuylkill Navigation Company (former owner, 1847-1896); Reading Railroad (former owners, 1896-1914); Joseph Elwood Reitenbaugh (former owner, 1914-1928); Anthony N. Bullock (former owner, 1928-1934); G. Clymer Brooke (former owner, 1934-1945); Claude and Minnie Shelton (former owners, 1945-1970); and Robert Clevenger (former owner, 1970).

Related Materials:

Company Farm related holdings consist of 1 folder (12 35 mm. slides and 2 photoprints)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Gardens -- Pennsylvania -- Pottstown  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File PA620

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Pennsylvania

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref16557

Provenance:

Planters Garden Club  Search this

Former owner:

Houston family  Search this

Owner:

Druim Moir Homeowners' Association  Search this

Architect:

G.W. and W.D. Hewitt  Search this

McGoodwin, Robert Rodes  Search this

Ironworker:

Yellin, Samuel  Search this

Head gardener:

Kraut, Charles  Search this

Garden manager:

Breman, Naomi  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Place:

United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Philadelphia

Druim Moir Formal Garden

General:

27 digital images, 1 35mm slide (photograph), and 2 folders.

See also the Eleanor Weller Reade Collection for another copy of PA474001.

The Druim Moir Formal Garden was built in 1921 in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Henry Howard Houston, a prominent Pennsylvania Railroad entrepreneur, constructed the Scottish baronial castle in 1886 on a 50-acre parcel on one of the highest points in the city. He named his home Drium Moir, which means "high ridge" in Gaelic. The castle was built with 54 rooms and a five-story tower. A dower home, Brinkwood, was also built on the property as a wedding present for Houston's second son, Samuel F. Houston. Both Druim Moir and Brinkwood were designed by the architectural firm G.W. and W.D. Hewitt, and were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

In 1921, as a distraction from the tragedy of their son killed in action in World War I, Charlotte Houston commissioned a formal garden. It was designed by architect Robert Rodes McGoodwin, who planned a seven-level terrace axis, a bowling green, and a sunken garden below. Wrought iron gates connect each of the rooms, constructed by metalworker Samuel Yellin. The garden rooms were dug out of the slopes by returning World War I veterans.

In the 1990s, new boxwoods were planted as borders for the perennial beds, however the structure of the garden has not changed since 1921. Druim Moir is known for the architectural beauty of its walls made of local stone, terraces, and handcrafted ironworks. Many shrubs and trees from the original garden continue to thrive nearly a century after the garden's establishment. Currently, the formal garden is preserved by the Druim Moir Homeowners' Association in accordance with the original plan prepared by Robert Rodes McGoodwin. A team of part time gardeners, arborists, and community volunteers cultivate the gardens under the direction of three residents.

Persons associated with the garden include: Henry Howard Houston and Samuel F. Houston (former owners, 1886-1952); Edith Houston Brown and the Houston Foundation (former owners, 1953-1980); Druim Moir Corporation, Developer and Sales Agent (former owner, 1980); Druim Moir Homeowners' Association (current owner, 1981-), G.W. and W.D. Hewitt (architects, 1886) Robert Rodes McGoodwin (architect, 1921- 1922); Samuel Yellin (iron worker, 1921-1922), Charles Kraut (head gardener), Naomi Breman (garden manager, 2017-).

Related Materials:

Related images of the property are located at the Chestnut Hill Conservancy.

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Gardens -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia  Search this

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File PA474

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Pennsylvania

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref32329

Former owner:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  Search this

Chimel, Stanley  Search this

Fahey, James P.  Search this

Rogers, Bryan  Search this

Rice, Cynthia  Search this

Creator:

Friday's Perennials  Search this

Kubrick brothers Garden Center  Search this

Zero Fossil  Search this

Pond designer:

Plumline Nursery  Search this

Collection Creator:

Garden Club of America  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Digital images

Place:

Choderwood (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

United States of America -- Pennsylvania -- Allegheny County -- Pittsburgh

Scope and Contents:

26 digital images, 1 DVD and 1 file folder.

General:

The foursquare house on this ¾-acre property was built circa 1908 by the U.S. Army corps of engineers to be used by one of two lockmasters, preferably with large families, employed to maintain busy locks 24/7 on the Allegheny River. The federal government provided some landscaping in the 1930's and 1940's, and there is photographic evidence of a vegetable garden. There were mature white pine, catalpa, river birch, ash and silver maple and stands of invasive Japanese knotweed when the current owners began developing gardens in 2001. The entrance garden behind a nine-foot tall wooden fence was built first, with an arched wooden bridge over a bubbling waterfall and fish pond with koi, shaded by two river birches, a dwarf Japanese maple, oakleaf hydrangea, azaleas, and an understory of Solomon's seal, Japanese painted fern, hellebores and hosta. The shabby chic garden is more formal with intersecting boxwood hedges edging beds of flowering shrubs, roses, bulbs and perennials. The focal point is a two-level cement fountain set in another koi pond with a nearby statue of St. Francis of Assisi. A collection of stone statues of Buddha and a hot tub, with shade perennials and a view of the Allegheny River comprise the Buddha bed. The dam wall garden features an arbor created from fallen branches, stone steps descending 20 feet with ground cover, ferns and daylilies planted on the hillside, a fire pit on the riverbank but no vegetation on the dredged river sand and gravel.

On the main level there is a swimming pool inside a pool house/greenhouse with a retractable roof. Its shady garden has ferns, liriope, spotted dead nettle, ornamental grasses, heuchera, hosta, Joe Pye weed, a meandering stream and another pond with koi and ducks. The pool house walk has a wisteria-covered pergola and birdhouses. The gathering garden has a meditation hut cantilevered over the riverbank with plantings of hydrangea, mountain laurel, hosta, hellebores, astilbe, bellflowers, Japanese anemone and blueberry bushes shaded by white pine. The sunny farm or potager is comprised of raised beds separated by gravel walkways planted with perennial flowers, herbs, vegetables and rhubarb from grandmother's garden. Additional outbuildings include a chicken house with chickens free to roam, a duck house and a shed with solar panels that provide electricity for these buildings.

Choderwood is located between a defunct short line railroad and the Allegheny River, an urban oasis in a formerly industrial location, and is a certified wildlife habitat. The owners have participated in garden tours and host events as well as lodgers on two riverboats.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (former owners, 1908-1957); Stanley Chimel (former owner, 1957-1992); James P. Fahey (former owner, 1992-1994); Bryan Rogers and Cynthia Rice (former owners, 1994-2000); Friday's Perennials (entrance ponds and gardens, 2001); Kubrick brothers Garden Center (stone steps, potager beds, 2002); Plumline Nursery (pond designer and builder); Zero Fossil (garden shed solar panels, 2014)

Collection Restrictions:

Access to original images by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Collection Rights:

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens.

Topic:

Gardens -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh  Search this

Genre/Form:

Digital images

Collection Citation:

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Sponsor:

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Identifier:

AAG.GCA, File PA839

See more items in:

The Garden Club of America collection

The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Pennsylvania

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Gardens

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref32756

Inventor:

Del Mar, Bruce E., 1913-  Search this

Source:

Del Mar Avionics Corporation  Search this

Former owner:

Del Mar Avionics Corporation  Search this

Extent:

3 Cubic feet (8 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Correspondence

Date:

1951-2011

Summary:

Collection documents the development of the Holter Monitor, a portable device for continuously monitoring heart activity for an extended period, through engineering logbooks, drawings, operator manuals, correspondence, photographs, sales brochures and catalogs, biographical information about the engineering staff who worked on the monitor, patents and trademarks, and marketing and sales materials.

Scope and Contents:

The collection includes engineering logbooks, drawings, operator manuals, correspondence, photographs, sales brochures and catalogs, biographical information about the engineering staff who worked on the monitor, patents and trademarks, and marketing and sales materials documenting the development of the Holter Monitor, a portable device for continuously monitoring heart activity.

The records document the successful collaboration of an independent inventor and a manufacturing firm to identify problems, develop solutions and bring to market diagnostic technologies. Bruce Del Mar's role as an innovator and collaborator with Holter is especially important, because Del Mar's work spurred the development of an entire diagnostic industry. In addition, the records also chronicle how "Holter technology" was affected by progressive technological innovations in the industry, as vacuum tubes were replaced by transistors, as microprocessors gave way to microchips and circuit boards, and as analog recordings were replaced by digital formats.

Documenting manufacturing developments (highs and lows) and marketing considerations is an important element in better understanding the invention process. Del Mar Avionics was the first to design and manufacture instrumentation for long-term monitoring of the human heart for the medical profession. Today, Holter Monitors continue to be an important diagnostic tool for monitoring the health of the heart.

Series 1, Historical Background, 1951-2010 and undated, consists of biographical materials for Bruce Del Mar, founder of Del Mar Avionics, company histories, copies of the Del Mar Avionics newsletter Pacemaker, employee information, newspaper clippings and ephemera, and photographs of some employees. The employee information contains a 1979 handbook, explaining company policies and the benefits of employment with Del Mar Avionics and a 1951 memo detailing overtime working hours for women, presumably from Douglas Aircraft, where Bruce Del Mar was employed.

Series 2, Del Mar Avionics Engineering, 1958-1976, is divided into three subseries, Subseries 1, Correspondence, 1965-1976; Subseries 2, Reports, 1964-1969; and Subseries 3, Drawings, 1958-1968. The documentation consists primarily of correspondence from the engineering department, 1965 to 1976, related to the development, design, budgeting, testing, and marketing of the Holter Monitor. The majority of the documentation is correspondence and is written by engineering staff members, but also included are quotation requests, trip reports, and technical reports. Correspondence between Holter and Del Mar about the development of the Holter Minotor is in Series 6. The drawings, 1958-1968, include six drawings (22" x 34" or smaller) for Avionics Research Products projects (panel assembly, chassis assembly, and battery chargers for model 602), and Electromation Company (degausser single coil).

Series 3, Patents and Trademarks, 1965-2002 and undated, consists of copies of patents by Norman J. Holter, W.E. Mills, and W.E. Thornton, Cliff Sanctuary. and Isaac Raymond Cherry related to the development of the Holter Monitor. Also included are lists of United States patents issued to Del Mar Avionics employees, as well as lists of registered trademarks and activities for Del Mar Avionics and copies of trademarks issued to the company.

Series 4, Product Literature, 1968-2010 and undated, consists of product literature for Del Mar Avionics products and some of its competitors. The product literature for Del Mar Avionics is arranged chronologically by model number, and the competitor literature is arranged alphabetically. All of the product literature is related to medical instrumentation with the exception of the Hydra Set, a precision load positioner which is the only product Del Mar Avionics sells today.

Series 5, Sales, 1967-1985, consists of price lists, price catalogs (both domestic and international) and sales objectives for medical instrumentation sold by Del Mar Avionics.

Series 6, Holter Monitor Materials, 1958-2005 and undated, is divided into three subseries, Subseries 1, Background Materials, 1958-2005 and undated; Subseries 2, Model 445, 1974-1978; and Subseries 3, Model 660, 1967-1978 and undated, and consists of materials documenting the relationship between Norman J. Holter, an inventor, and Del Mar Avionics.

Holter and Wilford R. Glassock were issued United States Patent 3,215,136 on November 2, 1965 for the Electrocardiographic Means. Dr. Eliot Corday introduced Holter to Bruce Del Mar, founder of the Del Mar Avionics Corporation in Irvine, California. Del Mar engineers developed the "electrocardiocorder" for clinical use, producing a commercially viable monitor which came to be known as the Holter Monitor Test. Further refinements led to the creation of a "minimonitor" in 1968 which was described by Holter as being the "size of a cigarette package." Commercial production of the Holter minimonitor, AVSEP, Jr., began in 1969. The Holter Research Foundation ultimately sold exclusive rights to their patents to Del Mar Engineering Laboratories.

The materials include biographical materials about Norman J. Holter, journal articles about the Holter Monitor, correspondence, engineering notebooks, a licensing agreement, product literature, reports, price lists, catalogs, operating manuals and specific information about the Dynamic Del Mar Avionics ElectroCardioCorder (Model 445), 1977, and the ElectroCardioScanner (Model 660), 1971. Both models were developed by Del Mar's medical device manufacturing staff. The licensing agreement and correspondence detail in chronological order the relationship between Norman Holter and Del Mar Avionics, specifically president Bruce Del Mar, in the rapid commercial marketing and development of Holter's electrocardiorecorder. Although Holter assigned exclusive rights to his patent to Del Mar Avionics, he was involved in the design and development process, albeit from a distance. The engineering staff at Del Mar kept Holter informed, and it is clear that Holter regularly visited the company.

The engineering notebooks relate to the models 445 and 660. The notebooks were maintained by engineering staff members D. Anderson, N. Mohammedi, Ray Cherry and Fike. The notebooks are handwritten, although in some instances memos and other information have been inserted. For example, N. Mohammedi's notebook documenting Model 445 contains black-and-white prints, magnetic tape samples, and recorder tape (EKG graph paper) samples with data from the monitor. The notebooks are bound and paginated, and individual pages are stamped sequentially.

Series 7, Slides, circa 1990s, consists of color slides used for presentations by Del Mar Avionics staff to discuss and promote the marketing of the Holter Monitor.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1, Historical Background, 1951-2010 and undated

Series 2, Del Mar Avionics Engineering, 1958-1976

Subseries 1, Correspondence, 1965-1976

Subseries 2, Reports, 1964-1969

Subseries 3, Drawings, 1958-1968

Series 3, Patents and Trademarks, 1965-2002 and undated

Series 4, Product Literature, 1968-2010 and undated

Subseries 1, Del Mar Avionics, 1968-2010 and undated

Subseries 2, Competitors, 1974 and undated

Series 5, Sales, 1967-1985

Series 6, Holter Monitor Materials, 1958-2005

Subseries 1, Background Materials, 1958-2005

Subseries 2, Model 445, 1974-1978

Subseries 3, Model 660, 1967-1978 and undated

Series 7, Slides, circa 1990s

Biographical / Historical:

Norman Jefferis "Jeff" Holter (1914-1983) was born in Helena, Montana, to a prominent Montana pioneering family. After attending public schools in Helena, he earned master's degrees in chemistry from the University of Southern California (1938) and physics from the University of California, Los Angeles (1940). During these years Holter also organized Applied Micro Sciences, a scientific photography business, and began working with Dr. Joseph A. Gengerelli of UCLA on nerve stimulation in frogs and brain stimulation in rats. Holter's interest in studying electrical activity in humans in their daily activities without touching them, spawned his lifelong pursuit to develop the Holter Monitor.

During World War Two, Holter served as a senior physicist for the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Ships, conducting research into the behavior of ocean waves in preparation for wartime amphibious operations. After the war, in 1946, Holter headed a staff of oceanographic engineers at Bikini Atoll during Operation Crossroads, the first postwar atomic bomb tests, measuring wave actions and underwater disturbances caused by the explosions.

Because of demands of his family's business affairs, Holter returned to Helena in 1947 to continue his research activities. In 1947 he formed the Holter Research Foundation, with a laboratory originally located in the rear of the Holter Hardware Company building. From 1956 to 1971 the laboratory facilities were located in the Great Northern Railroad depot building in Helena. The foundation was initially funded by Holter and other members of his family, but in 1952 Holter began to receive grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Holter continued his collaboration with Dr. Gengerelli of UCLA in attempting to transmit information, primarily brain waves, by radio. Holter turned his attention from the brain to the heart because the heart's greater voltage made the electronics easier, and because heart disease was far more prevalent than cerebral disease. Holter's introduction to Dr. Paul Dudley White (1886-1973), a renowned physician and cardiologist, helped convince him to focus his research on recording electrical activity from the heart. Holter's goal was to radio broadcast and record the more obvious electrophysiological phenomena occurring in humans while carrying on their normal activities, rather than having to lie quietly on a couch.

The first broadcast of a radioelectrocardiogram (RECG) took place circa 1947 and required eighty to eighty-five pounds of equipment, which Holter worn on his back while riding a stationary bicycle. This was not practical and in no way could be worn by a patient. The initial transmitter and receiver required that the subject remain in the general area of the laboratory, so a portable and lighter RECG receiver-recorder had to be developed.

Next, Holter created a briefcase-like device that could be carried by a patient. By using very thin magnetic recording tape, twenty-four hours of RECG could be captured on a reel five inches in diameter. The initial method of examining the voluminous records from the tape recordings developed by Holter was called Audio-Visual Superimposed ECG Presentation (AVSEP). AVSEP made it possible to examine twenty-four hours of RECGs in twenty minutes, with signals being presented visually on an oscilloscope and audibly through a speaker.

With the development of transistors, radioelectrocardiography was made obsolete, and it became possible for the amplifier, tape recorder, temperature-control circuits, motor speed control circuits, and batteries to be placed in a single unit small enough for a coat pocket or purse. In 1952, Holter succeeded in creating a small unit that weighed 1 kilogram. Wilford R. Glassock, a senior engineer working with Holter, traveled to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (now Cedars-Sinai Hospital of Los Angeles) in 1962 to demonstrate the Holter monitor system and discuss making it more practical. At Cedars, Dr. Eliot Corday observed the practicality of the system and not only embraced the technology, but collaborated with Holter's team and was an early promoter of the technology to both industry and physicians. Holter and Glassock were issued US Patent 3,215,136 on November 2, 1965 for the Electrocardiographic Means.

As articles describing the foundation's invention of these devices began to appear in the professional literature, there was considerable demand from doctors and hospitals for the equipment. Dr. Corday introduced Holter to Bruce Del Mar, founder of the Del Mar Avionics Corporation in Irvine, California. Del Mar engineers developed the "electrocardiocorder" for clinical use, producing a commercially viable monitor which came to be known as the Holter Monitor Test. Further refinements led to the creation of a "minimonitor" in 1968, which was described by Holter as being the "size of a cigarette package." Commercial production of the Holter minimonitor, AVSEP, Jr., began in 1969. The Holter Research Foundation ultimately sold exclusive rights to their patents to Del Mar Engineering Laboratories.

Later known as Del Mar Avionics, a team of engineers diverted their attention from successful manufacturing of military weapons training devices to focus on improving the speed and accuracy of computerized ECG analysis and they became the acknowledged leader in Holter monitoring technology for over 40 years. In 1969, because of the increased amount of required paper work and red tape, Holter canceled the grant funding his foundation had been receiving from NIH. He was also in constant conflict with the Internal Revenue Service over the foundation's non-profit status, rights to patents, and commercial production of equipment. The foundation continued to maintain a laboratory and conduct varied scientific work, but on a much smaller scale. The Holter Research Foundation, Inc. was dissolved in 1985, two years after Holter's death.

Del Mar Avionics was founded on January 9, 1952, as Del Mar Engineering Laboratories in Los Angeles, California by Bruce Del Mar, who led the development of aircraft cabin pressurization systems. Del Mar was born in Pasadena, California in 1913. An engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and businessman, Del Mar graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (1937) with a Bachelor of Science degree. Del Mar worked for Douglas Aircraft (1933-1951) as a research engineer on many projects before founding Del Mar Engineering Laboratories. In 1938, Del Mar married Mary Van Ness. The couple had two daughters, Patrica Jean Parsons and Marna Belle Schnabel.

In 1958, Del Mar formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Electromation Inc., which manufactured tape recording and communication equipment. He later established, Aeroplastics Corporation to manufacture plastic products and Avionics Research Products Corporation to develop and produce biomedical instrumentation. By the mid-1960s, the company had become a leading U.S. Defense Department prime contractor in the development and production of aerial tow target systems for weapons training and instrumented ground targets for scoring air-to-ground automatic weapons delivery. It also produced helicopter target drones and helicopter flight trainers for the U.S. Army.

In 1961, the company entered the growing medical instrumentation market with the development of the first long-term ambulatory monitoring systems.

In 1965, the company introduced the Hydra Set Load Positioner that controls the precise vertical positioning of loads up to 300 tons (272,000 kg) in increments as small as 0.001 inch (0.025mm). This unique product, mounted between the load and the crane (or hoist), permits precise mating and de-mating of critical components, thus eliminating unforeseen damage to valuable loads. Hydra Set Load Positioners are in use worldwide in the aerospace, military/commercial aviation, nuclear and fossil fuel power generating industries and in various industrial applications. In 1975, the company, then re-named Del Mar Avionics, moved to its current location in Irvine, California.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center

Project Bionics Artificial Organ Documentation Collection [videotapes], 2002 (AC0841) documents the invention and development of artificial internal organs through oral history interviews with scientists and others involved.

The James A. E. Halkett and Sigmund A. Wesolowski, M.D., Papers, 1948-1951 (AC0200) documents Halkett and Wesolowski's experiments on an early mechanical heart. Halkett and Wesolow(ski) materials show the process of technological innovation through laboratory protocols.

The George Edward Burch Papers, 1984-1986 (AC0316) documents Burch's pioneering work in clinical cardiology and research through technical notes, diagrams, and correspondence regarding laboratory work on the "2-pump heart model," 1984-1986.

Wilson Greatbatch Innovative Lives Presentation, 1996 (AC0601) documents the invention of the implantable cardiac pacemaker in 1958.

The Ronald J. Leonard Papers, circa 1980-1997 (AC1109) documents Leonard's development of pumps and oxygenators used in cardio-pulmonary bypass surgery.

Materials in the Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History

The Division of Medicine and Science (now Division of Medicine and Science) holds two monitors: the Dynamic and the Del Mar Avionics ElectroCardioCorder (Model 445), 1977 and the ElectroCardioScanner (Model 660), 1971. Both were developed by Del Mar's Medical Device Manufacturing staff. See accession #: 2011.0196.

Materials at the Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives

Holter Family papers, 1861-1968

Includes documentation about the Holter Research Foundation, Inc.

Holter Research Foundation, Inc. records, 1914-1985

The Holter Research Foundation, Inc. was a private, non-profit, scientific research foundation started in Helena, Montana, in 1947 by Norman J. "Jeff" Holter. Records (1914-1985) include correspondence, financial records, laboratory records, subject files, photographs, etc. Also included are subgroups for N.J. Holter; his work in the U.S. Navy on bombs and waves; his work as assistant chancellor at University of California, San Diego; and the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Del Mar Avionics through Bruce Del Mar, President on September 12, 2011.

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 intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Medical innovations  Search this

Patents  Search this

Medical instruments and apparatus  Search this

Genre/Form:

Correspondence

Citation:

Del Mar Avionics Holter Monitor Records, dates, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1249

See more items in:

Del Mar Avionics Holter Monitor Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1249

Collection Collector:

Robrecht, Jack  Search this

Container:

Box 6, Folder 9

Type:

Archival materials

Text

Date:

1896

Collection Restrictions:

The 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:

Jack Robrecht Collection of Firefighting Photographs, 1852-1983, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

See more items in:

Jack Robrecht Collection of Firefighting Photographs

Jack Robrecht Collection of Firefighting Photographs / Series 2: Research Files

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-1231-ref29

Collection Creator:

Meigs, Montgomery C., 1816-1892  Search this

Collection Photographer:

Russell, Andrew J., 1829-1902  Search this

Container:

Box 2

Type:

Archival materials

Text

Date:

1876 July 16 to 1878 May 28

Scope and Contents:

Volume 3 covers a wide range of topics that include Russian-Turkish War, the Indian Wars, new industrial and mechanical products, politics, and changing military affairs. There is no index, and the pages are not numbered. The scrapbook is a collection of newspaper clippings and illustrations, along with a few handwritten notes and drawings.

The main themes are the Russian-Turkish War, Indian affairs, military affairs, and industrial/mechanical advertisements and stories. Throughout the volume there are printed illustrations of military and political figures from the United States and other countries. Meigs gave considerable attention to following the progress of the Russian-Turkish War, as well as stories on the Indian Wars. There are many references to Sitting Bull, the Nez Perce, and Crazy Horse. This volume also contains advertisements and stories for and about new industrial and mechanical products--from sewing machines to railroads and new clothing accessories and firearms. There is a heavy focus on military affairs, especially changes in military policy and leadership and new technology and thought. Meigs also included several stories about the Washington Monument's construction and challenges to its progress. There are some stories related to archaeological discoveries around the world.

Some of the publications included in Volume 3 areThe New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Army and Navy Journal, The World, The American Architect and Building News, The Evening Star, The Daily Graphic, and the National Union.

Collection Restrictions:

The 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:

Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

See more items in:

Montgomery C. Meigs Papers

Montgomery C. Meigs Papers / Series 1: Scrapbooks

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0984-ref17

Creator:

Tupper, Earl Silas, 1907-  Search this

Tupper Corporation  Search this

Names:

Tupperware (Firm).  Search this

Tupper, Glenn O.  Search this

Tupper, Miles  Search this

Extent:

14 Cubic feet (27 boxes, 1 map-folder)

14 Cubic feet (27 boxes, 1 map-folder)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Letters (correspondence)

Advertising fliers

Business records

Personal papers

Photographs

Business letters

Notes

Clippings

Family papers

Interviews

Date:

2003

1908-1989

2003

1908-1989

Summary:

Papers documenting inventor Earl S. Tupper, his inventions, Tupperware and the Tupper Company.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents the life of inventor Earl S. Tupper through correspondence, notes, photographs, drawings and sound recordings.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into five series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1910-1989

Series 2: Early Business Papers and Scientific Notes, 1930-1965

Series 3: Tupper Corporation/Tupperware Business, 1908-1983

Series 4: Neil Osterweill Oral Histories and Research Notes, 1926-1989

Subseries 4.1: Research Files, 1926-1989

Subseries 4.2: Original Masters, 1987-1989

Subseries 4.3:Research Copies, 1987-1989

Subseries 4.4:Research Copies, 1987-1989

Subseries 4.5: Preservation Copies, undated

Series 5: Center for Advertising History, Oral History Interviews, 1992

Subseries 5.1: Original Masters, 1992

Subseries 5.2: Research Copies, 1992

Subseries 5.3: Research Copies, 1992

Subseries 5.4: Preservation Copies, 1992

Subseries 5.5: Abstracts and Transcripts, 1992, 2003

Biographical / Historical:

Earl Silas Tupper was born in 1907, to a New Hampshire farming family of modest means. During his youth and boyhood in New England, his mother Lulu Clark Tupper, took in laundry and ran a boarding house, while his father, Earnest Leslie operated a small family farm. Earnest Tupper loved to tinker, developing labor-saving devices for the farm and family greenhouses; one of his devices, a frame to facilitate the cleaning of chickens, was granted a patent. It is from his father that Earl Tupper is said to have developed a love for invention. Even as a boy, Tupper showed an enterprising and entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of 10, Earl discovered he could move more of the family's produce by selling door-to-door, bringing the product directly to the customer.

After high school graduation in 1925, Tupper continued to work in the family greenhouses in Shirley Massachusetts for two years. Tupper was an ambitious young man, though, and he was determined to earn his first million by the time he was thirty. During the twenties, he set out on a number of different paths, including work as a mail clerk and on a railroad labor crew. In 1928, he took a course in tree surgery, with the idea of setting up his own tree surgery and landscaping business. He continued to help out with the family business, and got married in 1931. Through the early thirties, the landscaping and nursery business continued to grow and thrive, despite the Depression, enabling Tupper to pursue some of his ideas and inventions. His scientific notebooks for this period reflect the diversity of his interests. Even after Tupper Tree Doctors was forced into bankruptcy in 1936, Tupper remained optimistic about his ability to develop and manufacture some of his inventions.

In 1936, Tupper met Bernard Doyle, the inventor of Viscoloid, the plastics manufacturing division of DuPont, located in nearby Leominster, Mass. He went to work for DuPont in 1937, but stayed there only one year. Later, Tupper would say it was at Dupont "that my education really began." Tupper took the experience he had gained in plastics design and manufacturing at DuPont, and struck out on his own. In 1938, he formed the Earl S. Tupper Company, advertising the design and engineering of industrial plastics products in Leominster, Massachusetts. Much of the fledgling company's early work was performed under subcontract to DuPont. Business was good during the war, because despite the difficulty of acquiring the raw materials necessary for plastics production for the domestic market, Tupper Plastics was able to garner several defense contracts, molding parts for gas masks and Navy signal lamps.

After the war, Tupper turned his attention to developing plastics for the growing consumer market. Many of his earliest designs, which included plastic sandwich picks, cigarette cases, and an unbreakable tumbler for the bathroom, were offered as premiums with other products. For example, Tek toothbrushes offered the tumbler with purchase of a toothbrush, and cigarette companies and other businesses offered cigarette cases imprinted with their logo.

Plastics was still in its infancy in the forties, and the commercial market for plastics product was limited by plastic's reputation for being brittle, greasy, smelly and generally unreliable. Tupper's contributions were twofold. First, he developed a method for purifying black polyethylene slag, a waste product produced in oil refinement, into a substance that was flexible, tough, non-porous, non-greasy and translucent. Second, he developed the Tupper seal, an airtight, watertight lid modeled on the lid for paint containers. Together, these innovations laid the foundations for the future success of Tupperware. Nevertheless, marketing the new product presented a challenge. Tupper experimented with department store sales, but as Businessweek reported in 1954, "in retail stores it fell flat on its face." It seemed clear that the new lid required explanation or demonstration.

In the late 1940s, Thomas Damigella (in Massachusetts) and Brownie Wise (in Florida) were selling household products through Stanley Home Products. Purchasing through local plastics distributors, both began offering Tupperware as part of their product line, and were moving enough Tupperware to attract Earl Tupper's attention. In 1948, Tupper met with Damigella, Wise, and several other local distributors at a Sheraton in Worcester Massachusetts to discuss a new distribution plan. Modeled on the home party plan pioneered by Stanley Home Products and expanded and refined by Brownie Wise, the home party plan became and remains the exclusive outlet for Tupperware. Wise was named Vice President of the company (named Tupperware Home Parties) in 1951, a position she held until 1958, when Tupper sold the company to Rexall for $16 million.

Tupperware's success stems from the combined genius of Earl Tupper, the self-styled Yankee inventor and entrepreneur and Brownie Wise, the consummate saleswoman and motivator. If Tupper personified reverence for the product, Wise personified respect for the sales force. "If we build the people," she was fond of saying, "they'll build the business." Almost half a century later, their legacy remains an important part of Tupperware's continuing success.

Earl S. Tupper died on October 5, 1983.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center

Leo Baekeland Papers (AC0005)

DuPont Nylon Collection (AC0007)

J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics (AC0008)

Celluloid Corporation Records (AC0009)

Albany Billiard Ball Company Records (AC#0011)

Brownie Wise Papers (AC0509)

Ann and Thomas Damigella Collection (AC0583)

Materials at the National Museum of American History

Tupperware related artifacts are located in the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life), the Division of Medicine and Science and the Division of Work and Industry. See accessions: 1983.0711; 1984.1098; 1985.3014; 1985.3015; 1987.0180; 1990.3055; 1992.0209; 1992.0605; 1993.0257; 1994.0118; 1994.0124; 1995.0109; 1998.0070; 1998.0220; 2012.0133; and 2014.3077.

Provenance:

The materials were donated to the Archives Center in 1992 by Glenn O. Tupper, Earl Tupper's son.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but master (preservation) tapes 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.

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.

Topic:

Plastics  Search this

Plastic container industry  Search this

Plastic tableware  Search this

Product demonstrations  Search this

Business -- History  Search this

Marketing  Search this

advertising  Search this

Inventors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Letters (correspondence) -- 20th century.

Advertising fliers

Business records -- 20th century

Personal papers -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Business letters

Notes

Clippings

Family papers

Interviews

Citation:

Earl S. Tupper Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0470

See more items in:

Earl S. Tupper Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0470

Creator:

Naff, Alixa, 1919-2013  Search this

Names:

Naff, Faris  Search this

Naff, Yamna  Search this

Extent:

120 Cubic feet (295 boxes )

2,000 Photographs

450 Cassette tapes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Cassette tapes

Date:

1875 - 2004

Summary:

The collection is the result of research conducted by Dr. Alixa Naff relating to the study of the early Arab immigrant experience in the United States from about 1880-World War II. The study began with oral history interviews in 1962 and became a major project in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It documents the assimilation of Arabic speaking immigrants in the United States.

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents the immigration and assimilation of mostly Christian Syrian-Lebanese who came to America at the turn of the twentieth century. The immigrants were predominately-small land-owning peasants and artisans from the village of Syria and Lebanon. According to Alixa Naff, immigrants knew exactly where they were going to live and what they were going to do once they immigrated to America. They mostly chose to live in cities where earlier immigrants had already created communities. The majority of the immigrants became peddlers. Peddlers carried packs containing scissors, razors, pins, buttons, ribbons, threads, needles, combs, mirrors, soap, voile and muslin, lace and crotchet crafts, perfume, scarves, picture frames, oriental rugs, fine linens, leather goods, pictures of saints, religious notions from the holy land, confections and cakes. Peddling offered the immigrants a source of income and a way to learn the English language, American customs and lifestyles. It often led to ownership of a small dry goods store. More successful businesspersons then went on to own a department store or a chain of stores. For those Syrian/Lebanese who chose not to pursue peddling as a source of income other occupations included farming, work in New England textile mills, Midwestern factories, Pittsburgh and Birmingham steel mills and Detroit's automobile assembly lines.

It was in these Syrian communities created by Arab immigrants that Dr. Naff sought interviews, photographs and personal papers. For Alixa Naff this pioneering generation of people offered a wealth of information on the immigrant experience and the critical role that peddling played. Naff conducted interviews in urban and small town communities with an emphasis on Midwestern states. Her informants included first and second generation Christians, Druze and Muslims. Locations of interviews included Detroit, Michigan because it was an industrial city with a large and stable Syrian population of all faiths. Cedar Rapids, Iowa was smaller, a railroad depot at the turn of the century and home to the earliest Muslim groups. Peoria, Illinois was also a small, railroad depot at the turn of the century and it consisted predominately of the Maronite Sect originally from one village in Mount Lebanon. Spring Valley, Illinois was a small mining town with a Christian community and the remnant of a once flourishing peddling settlement. Their Eastern Rite Syrian Orthodox Church was the only one in Illinois until 1961 and served smaller Syrian groups.

Oral history interviews deal with the sociological factors of the assimilation process. Most tapes have been fully transcribed or abstracted. Information from the interviews are supported with published articles; demographic statistics; articles from the Arab-American press, books, journals and dissertations published in the United States or in Arab countries. Personal papers collected from individuals and families provide evidence of the experiences discussed in the interviews and add a personal touch to the reference materials. While there are a number of original items included among the personal papers, there is a substantial amount of duplicate materials. Naff would often collect the originals make copies and then return the originals to the donors.

Arrangement:

Alixa Naff arranged the collection materials and the Archives Center staff maintained this arrangement due to the size of the collection. Materials are arranged mostly by subject and type.

The collection is arranged into eight series.

Series 1: Personal Papers

Subseries 1.1: Individuals

Subseries 1.2: Organizations

Series 2: Photographs

Series 3: Oral interviews, Abstracts, Transcripts and Supporting Materials, 1962-1995

Subseries 3.1: Abstracts and Transcripts

Subseries 3.2: By Topic

Subseries3.3: Other Projects

Series 4: Publications

Series 5: Subject Files

Series 6: Project Files

Series 7: Alixa Naff Personal Papers

Series 8: Audio Visual Materials

Biographical / Historical:

The Faris and Yamna Naff Collection is the result of the dedication and research efforts of Dr. Alixa Naff, the daughter of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants. She has spent most of her life documenting the early American experience of the generation of Arabs, mostly Christian, from Syria/Lebanon who came to this country around the turn of the century.

After an administrative career in private industry, Alixa Naff enrolled at the University of California to obtain her B.A. degree. During her senior year, she was required to write a paper for an American history seminar. The topic for the seminar was immigration. Alixa Naff chose Arabs in America as her subject. According to Naff, there was a lack of reference materials relating to her topic. Therefore, she relied mostly on conversations with her parents' friends. Impressed by her work, Alixa Naff's professor offered her a grant to collect Arab folklore.

Alixa Naff conducted her research during the summer of 1962. She interviewed eighty-seven people in sixteen communities across the United States and eastern Canada. All of her informants were at least sixty years old at the time of the interviews and represented the last surviving members of her parents' pioneer immigrant generation. After completing her fieldwork, Naff went on to earn her master's and Ph.D. degrees. She taught on the college level at California State University and the University of Colorado. In 1977, she left teaching citing anti-Arab feelings as the reason for her shift in career paths. Her desire to counter the anti-Arab stereotyping with accurate sources of information created yet another opportunity for her to pursue more research about Arab Americans.

Later in 1977, Alixa Naff served as a consultant on a documentary film relating to Arabs in America. She again realized existed on the subject of the Arab immigrant experience in America. Moreover, much of what she found conflicted with what pioneer informants had told her. Naff was also painfully aware that family members of decreased Arab immigrants often discarded the early artifacts, personal papers, photographs and books brought to America. Shortly after, she began working on a study on the history of Arab immigrants. In 1979, Alixa Naff met Gino Baroni, then undersecretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and founder of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs. His center helped her secure funding for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities and provided an office for her to work. The result of this work was a book entitled Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience published in 1985. Richard Ahlborn, then curator of the Smithsonian's Community Life Division (now its Department of Cultural Affairs), convinced Naff to donate the collection to the Smithsonian in honor of her parents, Faris and Yamna Naff, and their generation of Arabs who immigrated to America.

Alixa Naff died on June 1, 2013 at the age of 93.

Related Materials:

Materials at the National Museum of American History

The Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life)holds artifacts related to this collection including. See Accession #: 2007.3245.

Materials at the Smithsonian Institution

Photo Lot 2011-02, Alixa Naff photographs of Europe, the Middle East and the Mediterranean and audio tapes on Mediterranean folklore, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Provenance:

The collection is the result of research conducted by Dr. Alixa Naff relating to the study of the early Arab immigrant experience in the United States from about 1880-World War II. The study began with oral history interviews in 1962 and became a major project in 1980 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Researchers must use microfilm copies. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.

Viewing film portions of collection require special appointment; please inquire with a reference archivist. Do not use when original materials are available on reference video or audio tapes.

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.

Citation:

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab-American Collection Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0078

See more items in:

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab American Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0078

Collection Creator:

Naff, Alixa, 1919-2013  Search this

Extent:

1 Sound tape reel (1/4" open reel)

Container:

Box 262, Reel AC0078-OT0001

Type:

Archival materials

Sound tape reels

Date:

1962 July

Scope and Contents:

Location: Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario

Subseries Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Researchers must use digital reference copies in the Smithsonian Institution's Digital Asset Management System (DAMS).

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:

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab-American Collection Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab American Collection

Faris and Yamna Naff Arab American Collection / Series 8: Audiovisual Materials / 8.1: 1962 Interviews

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0078-ref3351

Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Former owner:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Extent:

2.5 Cubic feet (6 boxes, 21 volumes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Cost account books

Albumen prints

Account books

Photographs

Order books

Lists

Place:

Delaware

Date:

1884-1948

Scope and Contents:

This collection contains order books, including design details of a wide variety of passenger, freight and specialty cars (including self-propelled electric cars), and cost accounts for the production department. Also included are 21 volumes of photographs of finished cars, arranged by lot number. These have separate indexes arranged alphabetically and by photograph number.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into two series.

Series 1: Records, 1885-1948

Series 2: Photographs

Biographical / Historical:

The Jackson and Sharp Car Company, a manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, street railway cars, and ships, was incorporated in Delaware on February 24, 1869, as the successor to the partnership of Jackson & Sharp. Job H. Jackson (1833 1901), a tinsmith and mechanic, and Jacob F. Sharp (ca. 1815 1888), an experienced car builder, opened a small car building shop in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1863. Wilmington was a major center for the manufacture of railroad passenger cars prior to the development of Pullman, Illinois, in 1881. Sharp retired from the business in 1870. Soon after, Jackson erected the larger Delaware Car Works facility at the foot of 8th Street. A shipyard was added in 1875. By the late 1880s, the company was turning out about 400 cars per year, as well as sash work and panelling for buildings.

The American Car & Foundry Company purchased Jackson and Sharp in 1901 when Jackson died. American Car & Foundry, incorporated in New Jersey in 1899, was a typical late 19th century merger of many small car building companies. The Jackson and Sharp plant in Wilmington was used primarily for the construction of railroad cars for export orders until around 1920. From the end of World War One until 1938, the plant was kept open by building small pleasure boats. During World War Two the plant produced minesweepers. The plant was closed around 1945.

Related Materials:

The Delaware State Archives

Collection of approximately 3,000 negatives and photographs from Jackson and Sharp and American Car & Foundry. These include views of ships, electric railway cars, and railroad equipment. A description of the Delaware State Archives' collection can be found in the control file for coll. #156 and a copy of the microfiche listing of these photos is available in the Archives Center's microfiche cabinet. The Archives also holds over 160 drawings and blueprints for cars and ships, dating from 1881 1937 The Hagley Museum and Library of Wilmington, Delaware, contains several collections of Jackson & Sharp records. These include historical materials; contracts for car orders, 1898 1905; and drawings and blueprints, 1895 1930. A smaller body of Jackson & Sharp records is in the Historical Society of Delaware, in Wilmington.

New Jersey Historical Society

Manuscript Group 802, William F. Cone (1874-1966), Business records and negatives, 1880s-1966

Series 6 documents the production of railroad cars and marine vessels by the Jackson & Sharpe Plant of the American Car & Foundry Co., Wilmington, Delaware mostly between 1913-1929. Images of railroad cars the company produced include wooden and steel open platform cars, baggage cars, refrigerator cars, Pullman cars, railway post offices, sleeping cars, dining cars, engine rooms, parlor cars, box cars, gondola cars, flat cars, four-wheel trucks (the sets of wheels under train cars), underframes, interior furnishings for railroad cars, mantles, moldings and medallions. These products were made for railroad companies in the U.S., South America, Central America, and Cuba. Also included are images of the marine vessels the company produced including tugboats, scows and dredges, and several "named" vessels.

John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library

Collection consists of the corporate archives of the American Car and Foundry Company and selected predecessor firms. Materials include plans, production data, promotional and advertising items, and thousands of rare photographs cover the many products ACF manufactured for the world's transportation needs. Included are thousands of photographs depicting the company's freight and passenger cars, many of which are shown in multiple views. Selected movies produced by the firm are also included. The collection includes the records of the firm's Research and Development Department. Many of ACF's other business interests - such as nuclear power plants and wartime military production -- are well-represented in the collection. The collection is notable for the inclusion of thousands of detailed Bill of Materials listings for individual freight and passenger cars.

Provenance:

Immediate source of acquisition unknown.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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.

Topic:

Railroads -- Cars  Search this

Genre/Form:

Cost account books

Albumen prints

Account books

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver albumen -- 1850-1900

Order books

Lists -- Photographs

Citation:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0156

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0156

Collection Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Collection Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Container:

Volume 11-12

Volume 14-26

Volume 8

Type:

Archival materials

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection / Series 2: Photographs

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0156-ref33

Collection Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Collection Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Container:

Volume 1, Page 16-17

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1894

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection / Series 2: Photographs / Jackson & Sharp Co. Electric Equipment

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0156-ref549

Collection Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Collection Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Container:

Volume 1, Page 19-20

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

1894

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection / Series 2: Photographs / Jackson & Sharp Co. Electric Equipment

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0156-ref551

Collection Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Collection Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Container:

Volume 1, Page 26

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection / Series 2: Photographs / Jackson & Sharp Co. Electric Equipment

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0156-ref557

Collection Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Collection Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Container:

Volume 1, Page 28

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection / Series 2: Photographs / Jackson & Sharp Co. Electric Equipment

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0156-ref559

Collection Creator:

American Car and Foundry Co. (Jackson & Sharp Car Co.)  Search this

Jackson & Sharp Car Co.  Search this

Collection Source:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation  Search this

Container:

Volume 1, Page 33

Type:

Archival materials

Photographs

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special care required in handling photographs, as the bound volumes are in poor condition.

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:

Jackson and Sharp Car Co. Records and American Car and Foundry Co. Collection, 1884-1948, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

See more items in:

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection

Jackson & Sharp Car Company Records and American Car & Foundry Company Collection / Series 2: Photographs / Jackson & Sharp Co. Electric Equipment

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0156-ref562