Cummings, Homer S. (Homer Stillé), 1870-1956 Search this
Extent:
5.94 Linear feet (20 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Photographic prints
Autograph albums
Memorabilia
Place:
Washington (D.C.)
Date:
1932-1993
bulk 1942-1980
Summary:
The collection, which dates from 1932 to 1993 and measures 5.94 linear feet, documents the career and personal life of Washington, DC cabdriver Percival Bryan. The collection is comprised of an autobiography, autograph books, citations, correspondence, memorabilia, photographic prints, and printed materials.
Arrangement note:
The papers are organized into five series. The Photographs series has been further arranged into subseries. The contents of each series and subseries are arranged alphabetically. There are oversize materials in the Biographical and Photographs series. The series and subseries are arranged as follows:
Series 1: Autobiographical
Series 2: Biographical
Series 3: Autograph albums
Series 4 Memorabilia
Series 5: Photographs
Subseries 5.1: Portraits
Subseries 5.2: Bryans and friends
Subseries 5.3: Special events
Subseries 5.4: Social groups
Subseries 5.5: Travel and recreation
Subseries 5.6: Miscellaneous
Biographical/Historical note:
Born in Galena, St. Mary's Parish, Jamaica, Percival Bryan (1906-1996) came to the United States in 1924 as a stowaway in search of adventure and opportunity. He settled in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C., involved himself with various social and civic organizations, and was instrumental in forming the Caribbean American Inter-cultural Organization. He worked as a White House butler under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), Harry S. Truman (1884--972), and Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969). Bryan also served as a chauffer for Attorney General Homer S. Cummings (1870-1956) before becoming a cab driver. An autograph collector, Mr. Bryan collected over 100,000 signatures of notable individuals.
Separated Materials note:
Three-dimensional items located in the objects collection.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Autobiographies
Date:
1931-1932
Scope and Contents:
Southern Cheyenne personal narratives and stories in English collected by Truman Michelson in Oklahoma. The stories were handwritten by Mack Haag and another person. Contents include: "Medicine Woman. 55 years old. Cheyenne" (written by Mack Haag.), 37 pages; "The Unknow[n] Greyhound" (writer unidentified.), 7 pages; "Plum Man" (writer unidentified), 2 pages; The Stuff[ed] Bear" 3 pages; "The Spider and the Rat" (writer unidentified), 5 pages; "Tipi Decorator. White Buffalo [daugther of Black Kettle]. 43 years old. Cheyenne" (writer unidentified), 17 pages; "The Beaded back tipi" (writer unidentified), 8 pages; "Lame Bull. True Story" (writer unidentified), 4 pages; "The Buffalo Robe" (writer unidentified), 4 pages; and "Slow Bull. (Cheyenne age 60). 1931" (written by Mack Haag), 9 pages.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Autobiographies
Narratives
Manuscripts
Date:
1932 June
Scope and Contents:
Notebook containing autobiographies of two Kiowa women handwritten in English by Truman Michelson. The two women, ages 72 and 73, recount memories from their childhood and their marriages. Topics include childhood amuseuments, being vaccinated for smallpox, adultery, and interpersonal relationships between relatives.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3341
Local Note:
Title changed from "Autobiographies; sociology" 5/28/2014.
Most material in this collection was generated by Trigg early in his career as an industrial research fellow at Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh, 1916-1920. It includes laboratory notebooks; formal weekly reports (typewritten) on his investigations; correspondence with his industrial sponsors; a few personal letters and some correspondence relating to his interest in coffee processing; his patents and correspondence relating to them; clippings and reprints of technical articles on tea and coffee processing and culture, 1883-1963; U.S. patents relating to these subjects, 1834-1921; foreign patents--British, French and German--1855-1918. Pamphlets contain technical articles on coffee and related subjects, including U.S. Department of Agriculture and Canadian government publications. Trigg's personal file of more than 5000 4" x 6" cards (mainly hand-written, arranged chronologically) reflect his extensive reading of technical literature; they contain bibliographical data and Trigg's brief abstractions.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into six series.
Series 1: C.W. Trigg Work At Mellon Institute
Series 2: Personal Data and Patents of C.W. Trigg
Series 3: Abstracts From Technical Articles on Coffee and Tea
Series 4: Patents and Patent Abstracts
Series 5; Technical Publications
Series 6: Trigg Card File
Biographical / Historical:
Charles W. Trigg (1898-1989) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. he graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute(1914); B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh (1917); and a M.A., University of Southern California (1931). He was an Industrial Research Fellow at Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh, 1916-1920, doing original research on processes for producing instant coffee. In 1920, he joined King Coffee Products Corporation, Detroit, as chief chemist. He later served in various college teaching positions; dean of instruction and lecturer, University of Southern California (1950-1963). During World War II, Trigg served as Lt. Cmdr., USNR. He published numerous articles in trade journals, was granted five patents related to coffee processing and was book review editor of the Journal of Recreational Mathematics. Trigg was considered one of the foremost recreational mathematicians of the twentieth century.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
University of Calgary Library
Charles W. Trigg fonds,1894-1986, predominant 1940-1986
11.7 m of textual records consisting of correspondence; research material on a broad range of mathematical topics; manuscripts of mathematical articles, notes, calculations and solutions to mathematical problems; and published work.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Mrs. Charles W. Trigg, 1991, May 8.
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.
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
Minimally covers the terminus of the wind-powered (sail) era and more fully documents the peak of the engine (steam) era of commercial cargo and passenger vesselsk, including freight and dockage services, maintenance and provisioning, ferry service, navigation (tug and tow) assistance, plus leisure cruising and touring. There is not a significant amount of material on battle or war ships. Includes both short distance routes such as lakes, rivers, and islets, and longer trans-oceanic crossings.
Documents within the collection consist of handbills, broadsides, leaflets, books, business cards, advertisements, insurance forms, wreck reports, passenger lists, baggage tags, freight manifests, rate cards, correspondence on letterhead stationery, booklets, newspaper clippings, postcards, menus, periodicals, manuals, photographs, engravings, woodcuts, sketches, bills of lading, receipts, catalogues, ledgers, journals, purchase orders, broadsides, brochures, custom forms, schedules, shipping and receiving documents, early steam guides, timetables, lithographs, announcements, etc. There are no navigational nautical maps. There is very little in the way of international import/export records. However, domestic and North American freight services are well-covered through invoices, bills of lading, manifests, and receipts for goods and services.
Some materials cover the history and development of steamships, particularly in the latter half of the nineteenth century with the iron screw replacing the wooden paddle steamer in the 1850s. The late 1860s brought the compound engine, which led to the steamship, previously used for the conveyance of mails and passengers, to compete with the sailing vessel in the carriage of cargo for long voyages. The 1870s brought improvements in accommodation for the passenger, with the midship saloon, conveniences in state-rooms, and covered access to smoke rooms and ladies cabins.
Ownership of specific lines and vessels was very fluid throughout shipping history, including the renaming of vessels. Mergers, dissolution, and absorption of fleets were frequent. Thus, researchers should independently seek out a more detailed history for any entity of particular interest.
The general maritime business series focuses on good and services related to maritime operations such as repair, shipbuilding, parts, ticket agents, chandlers, groceries, coal supply, dockage, wharfs/marinas, etc.
Operation records of named vessels contains primarily bills of lading and similar receipts for the movement of material goods or in-water services such as tow and tug assistance.
The largest series covering shipping lines and conglomerates offers a wide assortment of miscellaneous, nonexhaustive operation records for cargo and passenger lines and corporations, typically those with multiple holdings. These documents may include receipts, bills of lading, correspondence, and financial ledgers, plus promotional material for services and routes offered. Passenger sailings and luxury cruise documentation may contain menus, passenger lists, itineraries, shore excursion information, souveniers such as luggage tags, ticket stubs, and postcards. See also the subject category Menus, for additional examples of passenger and cruise ship menus.
When not associated with any of the above, general examples of materials related to the industry have been by arranged by their material type such as images, reports, and serial publications. More formal documentation, especially legal and reports, can be found here.
Narrative type materials related to lore, history, and building and design specifications have been sorted by subject. A scarce amount of material covers ships used for military service. Likewise, there are a few examples of maritime related material from the art world, mostly in the form of catalogues for exhibits or auction of paintings and scale models.
A note on vessel names: those used as contract carriers of mail and when in service, were entitled to unique prefix designations such as Royal Mail Ship (RMS.), otherwise, the ship name may be preceded by the more generic S.S. for single-screw steamer or steamship, SV for sailing vessel, PS for paddle steamer, RV for research vessel or similar type prefix. USS is the standard for the United States Navy commissioned ships while in commission, with HMS used for His/Her Majesty's Ship of the British Royal Navy.
Some of the major lines/companies represented in the collection include: American Line, American Steamship Company, Anchor Line, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Cunard-Anchor Line, Cunard Line, Cunard Steam Ship Company, Limited, Cunard White Star Line, Eastern Steamship Lines, Furness, Withy & Company, Hamburg American Line (HAPAG) / Hamburg Amerika Linie, Holland America Line (N.A.S.M. / HAL), Inman Line, International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM), International Navigation Company, North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen), Panama Pacific Line, Peninsular and Oriental, Red Star Line, Royal Mail Steam Packet, U.S. Mail Steamship Company, United States Lines, White Star Line.
Arrangement:
Ships, Boats, and Vessels is arranged in three subseries.
Business Records and Marketing Material
General Maritime Businesses
Operation Records of Named Vessels
Shipping Lines/Conglomerates
Miscellaneous Business Records and Marketing Material
Genre
Keepsakes
Images
Ledger
Legal
News Clippings
Regulatory
Reports
Serial Publications
Stamps/Cigarette Cards
Associations and Societies
Images, Artwork, Racing, Technical Literature
Subject
Battleships, Warships
Destination Guides
Employment and Licensing
Insurance
Maritime History
Maritime Models and Art
Revue Generale Des Sciences
Warshaw Administrative Records
Related Materials:
Several other Warshaw Subject Categories may have closely related material such as Submarines and Transportation. For casual and recreational boating see Boats and Boating Equipment and Yachts. Other subject categories that may have related materials include: Canals, Dredging, Engines, Menus, Railroads (point of common transportation transfer), and Tours. .
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Steamboats [Ships, Boats, and Vessels] is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile 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.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Ships, Boats, and Vessels, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
A portfolio of stereographic inkjet photoprints, including views of American bridges, such as the Brooklyn Bridge, roads and highways, Hoover Dam, views taken from the World Trade Center, New York, and one image of Tokyo.
Scope and Contents:
Collection consists of a portfolio in black case: 25 color digital stereoscopic prints, numbered and captioned, unsigned. Views include American bridges, such as the Brooklyn Bridge, roads and highways, Hoover Dam, and views taken from the World Trade Center, New York. Contains one image of Tokyo.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Series 1: Prints, 1989-2008
Biographical / Historical:
Robert L Covington is a New York state based photographer specializing in images of the built environment and natural world including images using the stereographic technique. His stated purpose is using photography for " its ability to provide a viewer an experience that is, at its heart, the same experience that drove me to take the picture. This ability to recreate an experience, unconstrained by time and place, is the essential power of the medium. This does not minimize the importance of the picture, but sees it as a part of a larger process, not the end point...I photograph in two modes with multi-image collages capturing the experience of looking around while stereo photographs capture the experience of the looking at details."
Source
http://www.covingtons-space.com/ (accessed on January 3., 2018)
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by the artist Robert Covington.
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.
The Archival collections of the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni (NACCCA) donated in 2006. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), created as part of the New Deal legislation initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, was a public work relief program for unemployed men designed to reduce high unemployment during the Great Depression. The CCC carried out a broad natural resource conservation program on national, state, and municipal lands from 1933 to 1942. This collection contains papers, photographs, and ephemera collected and created by alumni of the CCC and donated to the NACCCA archives.
Scope and Contents:
This material was acquired by the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni (NACCCA)from CCC alumni and originally housed in the NACCCA archives in St. Louis, Missouri. Photographic materials, including loose photos, slides, snapshots, group photos, panoramic photos, and albums and binders of photographs; printed materials, including newspapers published by individual companies, camps and districts, and the national CCC newspaper, Happy Days; materials documenting each camp, including camp histories, personal memoirs, blueprints of camps and projects worked on; the papers of C.E. Ward, Educational Director of the CCC's 3rd Corps, which document the planning and implementation of educational activities in that region; miscellaneous materials, including camp rosters, cartoons, menus, poems, pamphlets, booklets, magazines, manuals, enrollee discharge papers, work logs, and sheet music; and other more recent materials such as research papers, books on the CCC, selected audiotape and video interviews with some of the alumni; and other miscellaneous items. The collection is arranged into nine series.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into nine series.
Series 1: Scrapbooks, 1853-2003, undated
Series 2: State Material, 1922-2008, undated
Series 3: Publications, 1924-2006, undated
Series 4: C.E. Ward, 3rd Corps, 1933-2001, undated
Series 5: Photographs, 1929-2008, undated
Series 6: General Ephemera, 1915-2006, undated
Series 7: Bidwell Addendum, 1933-1987, undated
Series 8: Bires Addendum, 1934-1985, undated
Series 9: Audiovisual Materials, 1933-2009, undated
Biographical / Historical:
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a New Deal era program, created in 1933 to reduce unemployment, a direct result of the Great Depression. The CCC provided national conservation work across the United States for young, unmarried men. Veterans could be enrolled in the CCC after verification of their service by the Veteran's Administration. Veterans were exempt from the age and marriage restriction. Projects included planting trees, bulding flood barriers, combatting forest fires, maintaining forest roads and trails, and building recreational facilities in the National Park system and a host of other projects. There were separate CCC programs for Native Americans of recognized tribes and African Americans. In 1942, with the waning of the Great Depression and America's entry into World War II in December 1941, resources devoted to the CCC (men and materials) were diverted to the war effort. Congress ceased funding for the CCC and liquidation of the CCC was included in the Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Act (56 Stat. 569) on July 2, 1942, and for the most part completed by June 30, 1943. Appropriations for the liquidation of the CCC continued through April 20, 1948.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
National Archives and Records Administration
Record Group 35, Civilian Conservation Corps
Provenance:
Collection donated by National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni in 2006.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research use.
Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with cotton gloves. Researchers may 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 and as resources allow.
Viewing film portions of the collection requires special appointment, please inquire; listening to LP recordings is only possible by special arrangement.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view materials in cold storage. Using cold room materials requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 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:
Conservation of natural resources -- 1930-1950 Search this
The collection documents trailer park life, particularly the Ryder Mobile Homes Park founded by Ralph Ryder in New Haven, Connecticut in 1930.
Scope and Contents:
The collecton consists of photographs, trade literature, plans, park bulletins, specifications, sales materials and contracts from manufacturers, articles, and sales literature on the company's own products. There are some personal items relating to the company founder Ralph Ryder. The photographs depict the Ryder Mobile Homes Park, and its trailers and residents, as well as other mobile homes and recreational vehicles.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Series 1: Ryder Mobile Homes Park, 1930-1990s
Series 2: Residential Mobile Homes Materials, 1947-2001
Series 3: Recreational Trailer Materials, 1967-1972
Series 4: Mobile Homes Trade Literature, circa 1920s-circa 1970s
Series 5: Mobile Homes Accessories Trade Literature, 1945-1994
Series 6: Magazines, 1936-1973
Series 7: Photographs, 1928-1989
Historical note:
Ryder Mobile Homes, Inc. operated a mobile home park in New Haven, Connecticut from 1930 to 1981. Ralph Ryder established the company in 1930. He built and lived in a house car, a trailer on a truck body, near New Haven, Connecticut. The company designed and built its own recreational vehicles in the 1940s and operated a dealership circa 1950 to 1981, where it sold many different brands of mobile home trailers and recreational vehicles. Ryder began selling trailers in 1936 and moved his sales operation and trailer home to a ten-acre wooded lot in Hamden, Connecticut, that he purchased from Henry Usher. He opened his trailer lot to other residents, creating one of the first mobile home parks in the United States. The trailer lot expanded to sixty acres and is still in operation. Ryder's nephew, Gary Zink, joined the business in 1947. Zink continued the business operations after Ryder's death in 1973 and then sold the business in 1999.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Scott and Phillip G. Zink on July 10, 2001.
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.
Mostly photographs illustrating Leonard Karr's hunting and fishing activities in the Pacific Northwest; plus letters from Karr, photographs of his inventions, articles and other printed information, drawings and patterns for a kayak that Karr designed, clippings, scrapbooks, and albums. Personal materials relate to his personal life and his employment as a sign painter.
Scope and Contents:
The bulk of the collection consists of photographs illustrating in vivid detail Karr's hunting and fishing interests. The collection is approximately 3 cubic feet and contains photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, albums and drawings and is divided into two series: Series 1: Sporting Materials and Series 2: Personal Materials. The collection is rich in photographic documentation of goose hunting and related sporting activities in the Pacific Northwest.
Series 1: Sporting Materials, 1930-1991
The first series illustrates Karr's interests in hunting and fishing and consists of photographs, decoy designs, correspondence, scrapbooks and albums. The photos are of particular value in documenting goose hunting and other outdoor activities in the Pacific Northwest. Also of interest to researchers are Karr's designs of his decoys, kayak, and a man-sized, goose-shaped hunting blind known as "Supergoose". Although most of the photographs are unidentified the bulk of the material seems to date from the mid 1930s through the early 1970s.
Series 2: Personal Materials, 1930-1995
This series contains photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks, albums, designs and drawing relating to Leonard Karr's personal life and his work as a sign painter. Of interest to students of advertising are the photos and scrapbooks that Karr maintained of signs that he worked on or found noteworthy. The majority of photographs are undated and unidentified, but presumably depict his family and friends.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1: Sporting materials, 1930-1991
Series 2: Personal materials, 1934-1995
Biographical / Historical:
Leonard Karr was born on December 25, 1913 in Yakima, Washington to John Ross Karr and Teakla Kohlman. He attended the Yakima district schools and graduated in 1931. Prior to World War II, Karr worked as a sign painter and designer for several sign companies in the Yakima area. During World War II Karr served in the military as a sign painter for the 216th Unit of the Army Air Force at Wendover Field in Utah. After the war he returned to private life as a sign painter and designer for the Sun Beem Neon Sign Company. He later moved to the Valley Neon Service and then in 1955 joined Dwinnel's Neon Central where he worked until his retirement in 1983. Mr. Karr was an ardent and successful fisherman and hunter, especially of geese. Karr designed a number of implements to assist in his hunting, including decoys, pit covers and a stake hole punch. In 1933 Karr designed and built his own kayak for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. In 1954 he patented his 2-dimensional goose decoys (US 2,746,196) and marketed them to hunters in the American Northwest. Karr did not renew his patent after its initial term and after it expired his basic design was pirated. Karr died on March 13, 1995.
Related Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts, National Museum of American History holds artifacts relating to Leonard Karr and his hunting activities in the Northwest, including a kayak with paddle and car roof rack, three flat metal decoys and stakes, and a three-dimensional, hollow, pit cover used for concealment during hunting.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in February 2001 by Rayne Beaudoin, a hunting companion of Leonard Karr.
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.
The collection documents S. Newman Darby's development of the sailboard, which became known as the windsurfer through sketches, mechanical drawings, plans, patent specifications, legal documents, photographs, correspondence, notebooks, clippings, periodicals, and an 8mm film.
Scope and Contents:
The S. Newman Darby Windsurfing Collection, 1946-1998, documents the body of Newman Darby's inventive output as well as the development of the windsurfing industry. It consists of sketches, mechanical drawings, plans, patent specifications, legal documents, photographs, correspondence, notebooks, clippings, periodicals, an 8mm film and a videocassette. The collection is particularly rich in the material related to the development of the sailboard, including Darby's personal memoirs. It contains U.S. and foreign patents related to windsurfing as well as records and reports related to Darby's testimony in litigation and the recognition of the priority of his invention. the collections research value lies in the documentation of the invention of the windsurfer and the industry and culture it spawned. It documents the processes of invention and marketing of new devices. It is evidence of the full range of S. Newman Darby's imagination, life and career.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Biographical materials, 1969-1982
Series 2: Inventions and designs, 1953-1990
Series 3: Darby Industries, 1982-1983
Series 4: History of windsurfing, 1944-1998
Series 5: Photographs, 1946-1997
Series 6: Audio-Visual materials, 1965-1997
Biographical / Historical:
S. Newman Darby is recognized as the first person in the United States to conceive of connecting a hand-held sail rig fastened with a universal joint to a floating platform for recreational use. He called it sail boarding in 1965, when he published his designs in Popular Science Monthly magazine. Although he and his brothers Ronald and Kenneth began manufacturing the boards through their company Darby Industries, they never applied for a patent.
S. Newman Darby (1928-2016) was born in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. He graduated from West Pittston High School in 1946. A sign painter and artist, like his father Sidney Darby, he studied drafting at the Pennsylvania State University extension school where he took chemistry, business, art, and photography courses for one year. His first invention, the Darby Dory, a folding rowboat dates from 1953. The sailboard developed out of Darby's experiments with a personal pontoon catamaran, each hull being big enough for one foot and designed to be operated with a hand-held sail and no rudder. By 1964 he had designed a universal joint that connected a mast to a flat bottom sailing scow. This board had a centerboard, tail fin and kite shaped free sail. Early tests were conducted on Trailwood Lake and the Susquehanna River, near West Pittston.
Today sail boarding is known as windsurfing. It adopted its name from Windsurfer International, a company Hoyle Schweitzer and Jim Drake established on the basis of a patent granted to them in 1970 for a "wind-propelled apparatus." In all essential qualities, their claims duplicated Newman Darby's earlier work.
After Schweitzer bought out Drake's share in 1973, he energetically promoted the sport and licensed manufacturing rights to more than 20 companies around the world. Schweitzer forcefully prosecuted patent infringements he perceived among windsurfer manufacturers and he threatened to sue the 1984 Olympic Committee should it authorize a board produced by a manufacturer not licensed by Windsurfer International.
Although he was aware of the growth of the sport and the profits flowing into Windsurfer International through its licensing activities, Darby was unable to mount a legal challenge to Schweitzer. His priority in the invention of the sport was overlooked and almost forgotten.
In the late 1970's, Mistral, a Swiss manufacturer sued by Windsurfer International in Germany, located Darby and presented his "prior art" as a defense. In the early 1980's, courts in the United States were asked to rule on the validity of the Windsurfer International patent. Newman Darby's prior art was at the center of the controversies. The court voided Windsurfer's original patent and Schweitzer was forced to apply for a reissue based on severely limited claims. He lost the use of "windsurfer" as a trademark. Schweitzer retained the reissued patent through further challenges until it expired in 1987. The example of Newman Darby has become a textbook case of the importance of thorough searches for "prior art" for patent attorneys.
Following completion of the patent litigation Darby designed original sail rigs for Mistral in Europe and Horizon in the United States. In 1982 Newman entered into a new partnership with his brothers Ronald and Kenneth and formed NRK, Inc., to design and manufacture windsurfing boards, training devices and to produce written and video documentaries of his contributions to the history of the sport.
Naomi Albrecht Darby, Newman's wife, sewed the first sails for the boards and participated in their testing and marketing. She documented Darby's inventions through the years in photographs and moving images. Over the years, Darby has worked on numerous inventions--most of them related to wind propulsion. Like many independent inventors, Newman Darby conceives of his ideas, executes all of the mechanical plans, builds his own prototypes and tests them. Darby continues to research improvements in windsurfing and to teach courses in boat building and design.
Related Materials:
An original sailboard, rig, mast and daggerboard from the same period are also housed in the Pennsylvania State Museum at Harrisburg.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts holds artifacts relating to S. Newman Darby and his invention of the windsurfer, including an original board, boom and mast, and sail dating from 1964. See accessions #1998.0086 and #1998.0323.
Provenance:
Most of the collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History by S. Newman Darby and his wife Naomi on February 3, 1998.
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.
Some of the 345 silver gelatin photoprints, mounted on gray paper pages in this album, apparently were taken in Houston, as the title page indicates. However, many others were taken in New Orleans, and possibly other areas in the Gulf States. The New Orleans pictures depict City Park, St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, above ground cemeteries, the French Quarter, the French Market, the Hotel Royal (the old St. Louis Hotel), etc. Other subjects include informal portraits of men, two of which are identified and dated 1911; people fishing; horse drawn carriages, streetcars and automobiles in urban areas; women typing in an office; army barracks and tents, soldiers, and sailors; people in front of a Barnum & Bailey circus poster, a clown, and other circus scenes; houses; etc. Most of the pictures, of varying sizes, seem to be amateur work, but others are more advanced or possibly professional in style and quality.
Arrangement:
Album of photographs. Unarranged: original order of pages uncertain.
Historical:
Nothing is known about this unbound album of photographs. The content of the photographs themselves and the title page provide the only documentation. The album was found incomplete and unbound, and the original cover has been discarded because it was in poor condition and was contaminating the album pages and photographs. The "Queen" style album was manufactured by Tatum (?), patented July 13, 1909(?).
Provenance:
The album, found in the Museum vault, presumably was part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, or might have been acquired later in the late 1960s to early 1980s, by Dr. John Hoffman when he was curator of the collection.
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.
![view Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Steamboats [Ships, Boats, and Vessels] digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
