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Henry P. Whitehead collection

Collector:: Whitehead, Henry P. (Prenton), 1917-2002 Search this

Extent:: 156.91 Linear feet (178 boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Pamphlets; Sound recordings; Clippings; Memorabilia; Newspapers; Photographs; Books; Brochures

Date:: 1843-2010; bulk 1940-1986

Summary:: The papers of historian Henry P. Whitehead measure 156.91 linear feet and date from 1843 to 2010 (bulk 1945-1986). The collection documents Whitehead's careers, as well as his family and personal life. The collection also includes the personal papers of Tomlinson D. Todd, Elizabeth B. Delaney and the Howard Theatre Foundation. The combined collection is comprised of black theatrical memorabilia; materials relating to civil rights activities in the District of Columbia; and the African American experience in general. Included are playbills, sheet music, admission tickets, newspapers, magazines, books, photographs, clippings, flyers, brochures, pamphlets, sound recordings, research files, and other material.

Scope and Contents note:: The papers of historian Henry P. Whitehead measure 156.91 linear feet and date from 1843 to 2010 (bulk 1945-1986). The collection includes the personal papers of Henry P. Whitehead, Tomlinson D. Todd, Elizabeth B. Delaney and the Howard Theatre Foundation. The collection is divided into four series.

Series I focuses on Whitehead and includes papers dating from 1843 to his death in 2011. This series includes biographical material including a large amount of appointment books, identification and membership cards, resumes, certificates, and personal and family material. There is a limited amount of correspondence, which focuses on his personal relationships with family, friends, and general correspondence relating primarily to his work as a local historian.

Also found within Whitehead's papers are countless records from his time employed by the Washington DC government. Materials include memoranda, notes, research material, handbooks, guides, manuals, affirmative action info and records, affirmative action plans, promotion recommendations, recruitment plans and summaries, personnel files (complaints), civil actions and reports related too Whitehead's 37 years of government employment. It reflects the activities of numerous departments, primarily in regards to employment and affirmative action.

There are also a number of files that document Whitehead's involvement in numerous community organizations. Among the organizations in which Whitehead was involved include U Street Festival, Lincoln Corporation, and the U Street Theater Foundation. The papers of the U Street Foundation document the production and establishment of the annual U Street Festival. The Lincoln Theater Foundation and the U Street Theater Foundation papers document the efforts to reopen the Lincoln Theater. Also included are Whitehead's research on the Lincoln as well as old Lincoln Theatre programs. Additionally found within this series are documents and clippings on the economic development within Washington DC particularly in the Shaw/U Street location.

The majority of this series consists of printed material. Printed material in this series includes books, clippings, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, press releases, sheet music, programs as well as promotional material for several Washington DC theaters and organizations. There is a large quantity of theater programs dating from 1900-1986. The majority of the clippings and magazines are theater related topics, coupled with a miscellaneous selection of clippings on topics that presumably captured Whitehead's attention.

Research, notes and writings include a large amount of scrapbooks compiled by Whitehead of mostly photocopied clippings documenting Washington DC history, African American theater history, and general African American history. Five scrapbooks were compiled by an unknown source and were previously housed in the New York Public Library collection. Two scrapbooks are about general theater history one about Frances Starr and one about Margaret Anglin. There is also one scrapbook pertaiing to Mae Hall. Also included are a large amount of research notes and notebooks along with general miscellaneous notes.

There are several photographs of African Americans in the performing arts as well as images of Washington DC and several unidentified men, women, and children.

Audio recordings include 23 cassette from the Alexandria Church of God.

The remainder of the collection consists of the papers of Tomlinson D. Todd, Elizabeth B. Delaney, and those about the Howard Theatre.

The Howard Theatre papers are arranged in Series II and include documents relating to the Washington DC historic Howard Theatre and date from 1910 to 1986. The papers in this series predominantly document the Howard Theatre Foundation's efforts to reestablish and run the Howard Theatre in which Whitehead was the vice president. Records include business correspondence, founding documents, photographs, memoranda, press releases, member lists, financial records, clippings, and scrapbooks of clippings pertaining to the organization and theatre.

The correspondence in the collection include a handful of letters from the Washington DC government along with individuals and organizations. Also included is a large amount of interoffice memoradums.

Administrative records include lawsuits, resolutions, meeting minutes, grant proposals, press releases, memoranda, member lists, studies and reports.

Financial records include check stubs, receipts, invoices, bank statements, expenses, and contribution lists. Printed material includes original and photocopied clippings relating to the history and coverage of the foundation activities. Mostly promotional material as flyers, brochures, and press releases along with programs. In particular two 1920 Howard Theatre programs.

The scrapbooks of original and photocopied clippings compiled by Whitehead chronicle the history of the theatre and coverage of the foundation activities.

There are three VHS cassette featuring Whitehead discussing the Howard Theatre. Also found in series 2 are numerous stock investment record books belonging to A.E. Lichtman one of the early managers of the Howard Theatre. In addition early correspondence between Lichtman and the Rex Amusement Company concerning operational management issues of the Howard Theatre.

The Tomlinson D. Todd papers are arranged in Series III and date from 1902-1986 they include organization files, collected printed materials, subject files, and personal papers.

The collection includes materials relating to organizations in which there was a relationship to Todd's work and in which he had an interest primarily during the 1940s and 1950s, organizations include the National Negro Congress (ca, 1946-1947); the Congress for Industrial Organizations (1943-1947); National Council of Negro Women (1947-1949); Committee for Racial Democracy in the Nation's Capital (1947-1948).

The subject files include documents from three of Todd's organizations; Institute on Race Relation, Club Internationale, and his radio program "Americans All". As well as printed material from Todd's alma mater Lincoln University.

The largest subject file is "Americans All" which includes radio scripts as well as audio recording of a few programs and public service announcements. Also found are several black and white photographs of Todd at the radio studio. Printed materials include newspapers, leaflets, convention proceedings, and flyers, There are a large amount of programs ranging from church worship to convention as well as performance. Also present is a small amount of personal papers, including resumes, certificates, admission tickets, family documents, and travel ephemera from his all expense paid trip to Nigeria.

There are a few photographs of Todd at functions and with notable individuals as well as some family, friends and travel.

Elizabeth's B. Delaney papers are arranged in Series IV and date from 1874-1973.

The papers primarily document her involvement in four organizations, the Grand Oder of Odd Fellow of Kentucky, the Order Eastern Star Kentucky, the State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs of Kentucky and the National Association of Colored Women. There is a small amount of printed material belonging to her son primarily the Alpha Phi Alpha material and Gospel Choral Sheet Music, and books.

The Scrapbook was complied by Whitehead consisting of photocopied clipping documenting the life of Elizabeth B. Delaney.

Arrangement note:: This collection is arranged into four series:

Series 1: Henry P. Whitehead papers Series 2: Howard Theatre Series 3: Tomlinson D. Todd Series 4. Elizabeth B. Delaney

Biographical/Historical note:: Henry Preston Whitehead Jr., was a native of Columbus Ohio. A graduate of Ohio State University, where he also attended law school and was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Mr. Whitehead discovered Washington's "Black Broadway" in 1940, when he was a soldier in town on a weekend furlough. As he served in the Army in the South Pacific during World War II. Prior to moving to Washington DC Henry P. Whitehead worked for five years as a liquor inspector. Mr. Whitehead moved to Washington D.C. in 1949 and worked for the Post Office before working for the District of Columbia government where he stayed 21 years. He led several equal employment initiatives during the 1960s and 1970s, and was last employed as associate director of the District's Office of Human Rights. In 1980 after putting in 37 years of government service Mr. Whitehead retired. Mr. Whitehead was an historian who led efforts to restore Washington's U Street cultural corridor and achieved recognition as an authority on and collector of black theatrical memorabilia. Mr. Whitehead worked to promote and preserve the city's rich African American cultural heritage.

Mr. Whitehead, served as the chairman and president for 10 years of the Howard Theater Foundation Inc., which he helped establish. There he led the effort to include Howard Theatre in the National Register of Historic Places.

Similarly he was an active member of the U Street Festival Foundation. He was an adviser to the Kennedy Center, Anacostia Museum, and other Smithsonian Institution units and contributed materials to their exhibitions. He was also a consultant to historical documentaries broadcast on public television and radio, including PBS's "Duke Ellington's Washington." His writings included "Remembering U Street," a book used for annual festivals in the historic area.

Mr. Whitehead was also the founder and board member of the Lincoln Theatre Foundation.

Henry P. Whitehead Jr. died on January 8th 2002 at the age of 84.

Provenance:: The collection was donated to the Anacostia Community Museum on September 1, 2005 by Michael A. Watkins.

Restrictions:: Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.

Rights:: The Henry P. Whitehead collection is the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.

Topic:: Howard Theatre (Washington, D.C.) Search this; African Americans Search this; National Negro Congress (U.S.) Search this; National Council of Negro Women Search this; Radio broadcasting Search this; African American neighborhoods Search this; African American musicians Search this

Genre/Form:: Pamphlets; Sound recordings; Clippings; Memorabilia -- 20th century; Newspapers; Photographs; Books; Brochures

Citation:: Henry P. Whitehead collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Michael A. Watkins.

Identifier:: ACMA.06-042

See more items in:: Henry P. Whitehead collection

Archival Repository:: Anacostia Community Museum Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa751389911-f3d5-474b-82b4-126047b9cc46

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-acma-06-042

Online Media:

Newport -- Third and Elm Press, The

Provenance:: Newport Garden Club Search this

Photographer:: Whitney, Kate Lucey (Kathryn Lucey) Search this

Collection Creator:: Garden Club of America Search this

Type:: Archival materials

Place:: United States of America -- Rhode Island -- Newport -- Newport; The Third and Elm Press (Newport, Rhode Island)

General:: 18 digital images (2019), 1 file folder, and a copy of "My Garden" Illustrated and written by the owner.; Occupied since the 18th century the gable roofed two story house on a corner 2,500 square foot lot has a four-season pocket garden influenced by Japanese aesthetic. That backyard was used for dumping sand, ash and refuse and for a time in the 20th century was paved over with cement. Starting in 1965 the owners brought in enriched topsoil and planted vegetables and flowers. The desire for year-round beauty led them to add perennials and evergreens; with increasing shade the room has been changed to a predominantly green foliage garden with color accents. There are brick or stone walkways throughout with two island beds of mixed plantings. Iron hand-railings have been added recently to aid the owner's access. Japanese features include a dry pond in one of the beds and a dry waterfall along a perimeter. A large topiary rooster, mountain laurel, persimmon and pear trees fill the shady north side of the garden, underplanted with violet monkshood. In the corner there is a pink climbing rose that blooms all summer, peonies for spring bloom, arborvitae, dwarf Japanese cedar, holly and skimmia flanking the fence and dry waterfall of tumbling rocks with Solomon's seal and larkspur as understory. Continuing along the fence line there are azaleas and rhododendron, Japanese andromeda, hinoki, euonymus, heuchera, Japanese painted fern and hellebore. A small brick dining patio has potted specimens including a calamondin orange, bonsai, olive and oleander. Nearby there are bush blueberries.

One island bed is devoted to tall violet, lavender, deep pink and ivory perennials: echinacea, windflower, bachelor buttons, columbine and iris. Miniature roses, boxwood, hinoki, and artemisia separate the bright colors and add texture. The other island features a Japanese maple, a dry pond comprised of flat river stones surrounded by hosta, astilbes, mugo pine and dwarf hinoki bordered by succulent sedum and hens and chicks. Perimeter trees have grown but most of the plants are best viewed while sitting. The garden participates in Newport's Secret Garden tour in June.

Persons associated with the garden include: Samuel Nichols (former owner, 1771- ); James Tanner (former owner, 1775- ); Gideon Spooner (former owner, 1835- ); Sarah Spooner (former owner, 1876- ); William Harris (former owner, 1893- ); Rose and William Ladyman (former owners, 1921- ); Isabella Basile (former owner, 1947- ); Hyman and Mary Katzman (former owners, 1955- ); Francis and Lillian chase (former owners, 1955- ); John Ettlinger (former owner, 1965- ); Alexander and Ilse Nesbitt (owners and garden designers, 1965- ).

Collection Restrictions:: Access to original archival materials 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. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:: Gardens -- Rhode Island -- Newport 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 RI180

See more items in:: The Garden Club of America collection; The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Garden Images / Rhode Island

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Gardens

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb6a06d2a25-8dfe-447a-9734-398cd64e2407

EDAN-URL:: ead_component:sova-aag-gca-ref33214

No Image Available

Minutes of meeting of Group of 8, 1919 Dec. 31

Creator:: Gussow, Bernard, 1881-1957 Search this; Gussow, Bernard, 1881-1957 Search this

Subject:: Bouché, Louis Search this; Maurer, Alfred Henry Search this; Stella, Joseph Search this; Weber, Max Search this; Zorach, William Search this; Exposition d'artistes de l'école Américaine (1919 : Paris, France) Search this

Topic:: Art, American -- Exhibitions Search this; Art, Modern -- 20th century Search this

Theme:: American Art and Artists in a Global Context Search this

Record number:: (DSI-AAA_CollID)10580; (DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214056; AAA_collcode_gussbern

Theme:: American Art and Artists in a Global Context

Data Source:: Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_214056

Cook Labs records

Creator:: Cook Labs Search this; Cook, Emory, 1913-2002 Search this

Names:: Cook Labs Search this

Extent:: 6.3 Cubic feet (Phonograph albums); 63.5 Cubic feet (Open-reel tapes); 8.75 Cubic feet (Business records); 78.55 Cubic feet

Culture:: Afro-Caribbean cults Search this; 10th Naval District Steel Band Search this; Almerico, Tony, 1905- Search this; American Indians Search this; Animal sounds Search this; Audio Engineering Society Search this; Ast, Anita Search this; Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750 Search this; Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827 Search this; Big Shell Band Search this; Boston Chorale Search this; Brahms, Johannes, 1833-1897 Search this; Brokenshire, Norman, 1898-1965 Search this; Brundage, Al (Alfred) Search this; Brute Force Band Search this; Camp, Red Search this; Carroll, Jimmy Search this; Crowley, Daniel J., 1921- Search this

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Audiotapes; Photographic prints; Business records; Artifacts; Contracts; Phonograph records; Correspondence; Christmas music

Place:: Cuba; West Indies -- Lesser Antilles; Caribbean Area; Antigua; Barbuda; Amazon River Region; Benítez (Venezuela); Baja California (Mexico : Peninsula); Brazil; Connecticut; Cuba; Haiti

Date:: 1908-2002, bulk 1948-1965

Summary:: The Cook Labs records, which date from 1939-2002, document the activities of audio engineer Emory Cook and his label Cook Labs. The contents include business records, materials relating to recording artists, photographs, and production materials, as well as phonograph records, master recordings and unpublished recordings produced by or associated with the Cook Labs label. The collection also contains two interviews conducted with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer. There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.

Scope and Contents note:: There are two primary components of the Cook Labs records: the records, master tapes and other audio recordings, and the related paper files.

The Cook Labs records contains about 150 of the 200 released Cook recordings, and 739 master tapes. In addition, there are 330 unpublished tapes.

The the paper files include acquisition materials; business correspondence; recording reports; various production notes on records produced; news articles both about and by Emory Cook and Cook Labs; copyright, licensing, and trademark materials; photographs, correspondence, contracts, and other materials relating to recording artists; production materials for each Cook Labs release; and other miscellany. Many contracts are signed by both Cook Labs and the artist. Correspondence is primarily between business associates.

Two interviews were done with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer; both interviews are included in the Cook Labs records.

There are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and a condenser microphone.

Arrangement note:: Many of the items in this list have been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been grouped together to create seven series:

Series 1: Business Papers, 1939-1990

Series 2: Recording Artists, 1949-1981, bulk 1950-1959

Series 3: Photographs, undated, 1957

Series 4: Production files, 1948-1995, bulk 1952-1963

Series 5: Objects, undated, 1908-1964

Series 6: Audio Interviews, 1990

Series 7: Audio Recordings

Biographical/Historical note:: Emory Cook (1913-2002) is widely regarded as a highly influencial audio engineer. Born and raised in Albany, New York, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1932. After his discharge in 1934 he obtained his degree from Cornell University and began working for Western Electric in the Audio Engineering Force. During World War II, while still at Western Electric, Cook supervised the creation of a fire-controlled radar "Trainer," for which he received a Commendation from the Service.

In the late 1940's, convinced he could do better than what was on the market, Cook began experimenting with making his own audio equipment. Cook Laboratories was started in 1945 when he developed a new cutting head to be used in record production. Future development of equipment brought about the discovery that he could record frequencies as high as 20,000 hertz, more than any other recording company at the time. He cut a record of piano and organ music to demonstrate this discovery, and took it to the 1949 Audio Fair in New York. When he demonstrated the record with the hopes to sell the recording equipment, he found that people were much more interested in buying the record itself. Shortly after, Sounds of Our Times, later called Cook Records, was born.

Cook Records collected many different sounds and was mostly aimed at the devoted high-fidelity listener. Cook believed that hearing was a sense often overlooked by people, and he wanted listeners of his albums to be able to hear things they might otherwise miss. In a New Yorker profile by Daniel Lang in 1956, Cook claimed that hearing was "always being kicked aside in favor of sight… There's a time and a place for everything, and that includes sound." In order to encourage listening, he put out many albums full of everyday sounds, such as Voice of the Sea, an album of noises of the ocean and Eye of the Storm, recorded during a thunderstorm. One of the most successful albums was Rail Dynamics, an album of steam trains pulling in and out of a station.

Cook Records also produced traditional music albums from its plant in Stamford, Connecticut. The label produced everything from organ music to folk, flamenco guitar, calypso and steel band. Cook had little interest in name musicians and instead searched high and low for anything he thought might be an interesting contribution to his label. He even invited listeners to send in their favorite sounds, some of which he eventually recorded.

Cook had such a large interest in Calypso music that he set up a second pressing plant in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. There he pressed calypso and steel band music for both a Trinidadian and American audience, and most albums sold well in both countries.

In addition to the wide range of music Cook recorded, he was also an inventor. It was Cook who first came up with the idea of pressing records with powdered, rather than solid, vinyl, a technique he dubbed "microfusion." This technique not only saved money, but cut out many of the traditional crackles and pops associated with records.

He also developed the binaural system of recording and playing records, which he thought was superior to the more commonly used stereo method. Binaural was more precise than stereo, and it required placing two microphones six inches apart, approximately the space between two ears, during the recording. It was then played back with a special two-needle playing arm. Binaural recordings were thought by Cook to best duplicate the original sound.

Emory Cook died at the age of 89 in 2002 after a long hospitalization.

COOK RECORDINGS - NUMERICAL LISTING:: 001 20,000 Cycle Demo (1949) COOK00001

002 Night Rain and Surf COOK00002

003 Specimen Heart Beats COOK00003

004 Katydids, Frogs and Forrest Birds

E101 Grenada Stories and Songs (1957-58) COOK00101

E102 Amazon Sound: Yacu River Tribes (Rituals and Rites) (1954) COOK00102

E103 Music of St. Lucia (1953) COOK00103

E104 Rada (1958) COOK00104

E105 JOSE RAMON FORTUNE AND OLGA MAYNARD Nancy Stories (1956) COOK00105

106 Afro-West Indian Cultural Practices (1957-58) COOK00106

107 ESCOLA DE SAMBA DE BRAZIL The Boli, The Cocolute, and Brazil (1957-58) COOK00107

901 Steelband Jump Up Boys Town, Tropical Harmony, Silvertone COOK00901

904 THE ESSO STEEL BAND Esso Steelband of Bermuda (1958) COOK0904

906 LORD MELODY Lord Melody Sings Calypso (1958-59) COOK00906

911 TOM CHARLES AND HIS SYNCOPATER ORCHESTRA Fete for So! (1959) COOK00911

914 LORD MELODY Again! Lord Melody Sings Calypso (1957-58) COOK00914

916 Calypso Cross Section Young Killer, The Mighty Bomber, Small Island Pride, The Mighty Wrangler (1957-58) COOK00916

920 THE MIGHTY SPARROW King Sparrow's Calypso Carnival (1959) COOK00920

927 LORD MELODY Calypso through the Looking Glass (1959) COOK00927

928 CLARENCE CURVAN His Drums, His Orchestra COOK00928

930 Belly to Belly Clarence Curvan, Johnny Gomez, Tom Charles, Fitz Vaughn Bryan (1960-61) COOK00930

931 LORD MELODY Lord Melody, 1962 COOK0931

1000 TITUS MOODY DDDs of Binaural (1952) COOK01000

1011 The Christmas Music Box (1950) COOK01011

1012 Music Boxes of Long Ago (1950) COOK01012

1013 CHARLIE MAGNANTE Accordion Pops Concert (1954-55) COOK01013

1014 CHARLIE MAGNANTE AND LaVERGNE SMITH His and Hers (1954-55) COOK01014

1020 SAM ESKIN Sam Eskin's Songs of All Time COOK01020

1021 GROUPE MI-O Un Ti Bo (1958) COOK01021

1022 LAVINIA WILLIAMS' GROUPE FOLKLORIQUE Haiti Confidential (1958) COOK01022

1023 The Ramayana (Hindu Ceremony) (1961) COOK01023

1024 GUSTAVO ZEPOLI Concert Guitar (1954) COOK01024

1025 SEAN McGONIGAL AND ST. COLUMCILLE'S UNITED GAELIC PIPE BAND Kilts on Parade (1950) COOK01025

1026 ANITA AST AND THE VIENNA KONZERTSCHRAMMEREIN Inside Vienna (1952) COOK01026

1027 CARLOS MONTOYA AND THE JOSE GRECO TROUPE Fiesta Flamenca (1952) COOK01027

1028 CARLOS MONTOYA Montoya (1952) COOK01028

1030 EDWARD VITO The Harp (1951) COOK01030

1031 EDWARD AND JOSEPH VITO Dual Harp (1951) COOK01031

1032 RUTH WELCOME AND DICK MARTA Zither and Cimbalom (1951) COOK01032

1035 Barrelhouse Piano (1950) COOK01035

1036 FRANK GLAZER Liszt's Paganini Variations (1952) COOK01036

1037 GRETA AND JOSEF DICHLER Two Famous European Pianos (1952) COOK01037

1038 SAMUEL SORIN Piano: The Romantic Fabric (1953) COOK01038

1039 LEONID HAMBRO A Perspective of Beethoven (1953) COOK01039

1040 Steel Band Clash Brute Force Steel Band, Big Shell Band, and Hell Gate Band (1955)

1041 JIMMY CARROLL PERCUSSION EMSEMBLE WITH RED CAMP Speed the Parting Guest (1953) and The Hot Tempered Clavichord (1957) COOK01041

1042 BRUTE FORCE STEEL BAND Brute Force Steel Band of Antigua with Big Shell Band (1955) COOK01042

1043 Three Rituals (1955) COOK01043

1044 The Compleat In Fidelytie: Sounds Natural and Unnatural (1956) COOK01044

1045 Drums of Trinidad (1956) COOK01045

1046 Champion Steel Bands of Trinidad The Highlanders, Southern All Stars, The Katzenjammers, others (1957) COOK01046

1047 THE KATZENJAMMERS The Enchanted Steelband (1957) COOK01047

1048 BRUTE FORCE STEEL BAND Music to Awaken the Ballroom Beast (1957) COOK01048

1049 BRUTE FORCE STEEL BAND Beauty and the Brute Force (1957) COOK01049

1050 MICHAEL CHESHIRE The Pipe Organ, volume 1 (1952) COOK01050

1051 MICHAEL CHESHIRE The Pipe Organ, volume 2 (1952) COOK01051

1052 REGINALD FOORT Percussion and Pedal, volume 3 (1952) COOK01052

1053 REGINALD FOORT Reginald Foort at the Mosque, volume 4 (1952) COOK01053

1054 REGINALD FOORT Organ in Symphony Hall, volume 1 (1954) COOK01054

1055 REGINALD FOORT Organ in Symphony Hall, volume 2 (1954) COOK01055

1056 ALFONSO VEGA NUÑEZ Morelia Cathedral Organ (1954) COOK01056

1057 REGINALD FOORT Foort Pops (1956) COOK01057

1058 REGINALD FOORT Waltz and Ballet: The Mosque Organ (1956) COOK01058

1059 REGINALD FOORT Intermission at the Mosque (1956) COOK01059

1060 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Brahms First Symphony (1954) COOK01060

1061 FESTIVAL CASALS ORCHESTRA Hector Campos Parsi (1958) COOK01061

1062 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Stravinsky, Villa Lobos, and Bach (1955) COOK01062

1063 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Debussy (1955) COOK01063

1064 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Masterpieces of the Dance (1955) COOK01064

1065 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Mozart Symphony No. 40 (1955) COOK01065

1066 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Masterpieces of the Theater (1955) COOK01066

1067 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (1955) COOK01067

1068 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON New Orchestral Society of Boston (1966) COOK01068

1069 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Haydn Symphony No. 100: Military (1966) COOK01069

1070 Rail Dynamics: Steam Locomotives and Train Sounds (1950-54) COOK01070

1071 Burlesque Uncensored (1954) COOK01071

1072 Jump-up Carnival: Calypso Tent (1956) COOK01072

1073 Holy Week: Malaga (Spain) (1961) COOK01073

1074 Benevolent Society for the Preservation of Ancient Rhymes and Limerix Limerick Party COOK01074

1075 Voices of the Sky: Propellers and Jets (1957) COOK01075

1077 Voice of the Storm (1957-58) COOK01077

1078 A Double Barrel Blast: High Cost of Dying and Computer Conversations (1962) COOK01078

1079 Tour of High Fidelity (1965) COOK01079

1080 TRIO LEONES Trio Leones of Cabrito (1954) COOK01080

1081 LaVERGNE SMITH LaVergne Smith (01014B plus) (1954) COOK01081

1082 Le Jazz Primitif from Trinidad Rupert Clemendore and John Buddy Williams (1961) COOK01082

1083 Jawbone of an Ass: Musica de Cuba (1955) COOK01083

1084 SID DAVILLA AND FREDDIE KOHLMAN'S BAND WITH RED CAMP Blowout at Mardi Gras (1955) COOK01084

1085 TONY ALMERICO'S PARISIAN ROOM BAND Clambake on Bourbon Street (1954-55) COOK01085

1086 WILLIE RODRIGUEZ The Drums of Rodriguez (1953) COOK01086

1087 RED CAMP Camp Inventions: Jazz Piano and Zither Music (1955) COOK01087

1088 RED CAMP Red Camp Horizontal (1954) COOK01088

1089 RED CAMP Red Camp Upright (1954) COOK01089

1090 ARTHUR BILLINGS HUNT Arthur Billings Hunt Sings Hymns (1950) COOK01090

1091 ARTHUR BILLINGS HUNT Hunt Sings Old Favorites (1950) COOK01091

1092 HUFSTADER SINGERS Hufstader Singers (1953) COOK01092

1094 REGINALD FOORT AND THE BOSTON CHORALE The Seven Last Words of Christ (1954) COOK01094

1095 ST. JOHN'S RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHOIR Russian Christmas (Spring Valley, New York) (1961) COOK01095

1096 ST. JOHN'S RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHOIR Russian Easter Midnight Service (Spring Valley, New York) (1961) COOK01096

1097 ST. JOHN'S RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHOIR St. John's Russian Orthodox Choir (1961) COOK01097

1101 THE INVADERS FROM ST. CROIX Steel Band in San Juan (1964) COOK01101

1102 10TH NAVAL DISTRICT STEEL BAND New Paths for Steel Band (1965) COOK01102

1120 BENITEZ-VALENCIA TRIO Ecuador (1958) COOK01120

1121 Island in the Moonlight Trio Los Rubies, Grupo Paquito Lopez Cruz, Las Hermanas Colón, Martita Cuadrado (1958) COOK01121

1122 Hellish Calypso King Fighter, The Mighty Bomber, others (1962) COOK01122

1123 Calypso Atrocities King Fighter, The Mighty Bomber, others COOK01123

1124 HAYWIRE MAC McCook LabsINTOCK Haywire Mac (1951) COOK01124

1125 LORD MYRTLE, CECIL MITCHEL, AND JAMES CONVERY Calypso Jamaica (1960) COOK01125

1126 THE MIGHTY SPARROW Sparrow in Hi-Fi (1963) COOK01126

1127 STEVE CAMACHO Folk and Other Songs (1962) COOK01127

1131 BRUCE PRINCE-JOSEPH The Pedal Harpsichord (1953) COOK01131

1132 SHINCHI YUIZE The Japanese Koto (1955) COOK01132

1133 RED CAMP The New Clavichord (1957) COOK01133

1134 LUIS BONFA Guitar in Brazil (1959) COOK01134

1140 Steelband Promenade Brute Force Steel Band, The Merrymakers, Southern All Stars (1958) COOK01140

1150 BILL FLOYD The King of Organs (1957) COOK01150

1151 REGINALD FOORT The Theatre Organ, volume 2 COOK01151

1152 REGINALD FOORT The Theatre Organ, volume 3 COOK01152

1154 REGINALD FOORT The Theatre Organ, volume 5 COOK01154

1155 REGINALD FOORT The Theatre Organ, volume 6 COOK01155

1156 REGINALD FOORT The Baroque Organ, volume 1 COOK01156

1157 REGINALD FOORT The Baroque Organ, volume 2 COOK01157

1169 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet, Serenade for Strings (1962) COOK01169

1180 Dance Calypso Johnny Gomez Band, Small Island Pride, Dictator, others (1956) COOK01180

1181 LIZZIE MILES Lizzie Miles Buglin' Sam DeKemel and the Parisian All Stars (1954-55) COOK01181

1182 LIZZIE MILES Moans and Blues Red Camp and Tony Almerico's All Stars (1956) COOK01182

1183 LIZZIE MILES Hot Songs My Mother Taught Me Red Camp, Tony Almerico's All Stars, Albert French (1956) COOK01183

1184 LIZZIE MILES Torchy Lullabies My Mother Sang Me Red Camp and Tony Almerico's All Stars (1956) COOK01184

1185 Calypso Kings and Pink Gin: Trinidad Carnival Tent Lord Melody, The Might Sparrow, others (1957) COOK01185

1186 ENSEMBLE AUX CALEBASSES Meringue (1958) COOK01186

1187 A Night at the Tropicoro Juan Luis, Oswaldo Seda, and Lito Peña Band (1959) COOK01187

1188 Dirty Jazz from Down South: Trinidadian Instrumentals (1958) COOK01188

1189 Calypso Exposed Lord Melody, Brute Force Steel Band, King Sparrow, The Mighty Cypher, and Skipper (1961) COOK01189

1280 Caribbean Limbo Music Rupert Clemendore Orchestra, Cyril Diaz Orchestra, others COOK01280

1281 Songs from the Garden of Love Jefferson-Jones' Orchestra COOK01281

1282 Italian Moom Jefferson-Jones' Orchestra COOK01282

2004 Tour of Stereo (1958) COOK02004

2066 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Masterpieces of the Dance, volume 3 COOK02066

2070 Aboard a Fast Express / Jet Dynamics COOK02070

4057 REGINALD FOORT The Theater Organ COOK04057

4069 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Hayden Military Symphony COOK04069

5001 American Storytellers, Volume 1 Harry Wass, Master Marriner's Association (1952) COOK05001

5002 K.C. DOUGLAS K.C. Douglas (1952) COOK05002

5003 Caribeana: Hidden Music from the Caribbean (1949) COOK05003

5004 TIRORO Tiroro: Haitian Drummer (1948) COOK05004

5005 RED CAMP Camp Has a Ball (1954) COOK05005

5006 AL BRUNDAGE Square Dance (1951) COOK05006

5007 Mexican Marimba Band (1954) COOK05007

5008 American Storytellers, Volume 2 John Hawley Cook (1954) COOK05008

5009 American Storytellers, Volume 3 Captain Charles A. Chace, Matthew Richards (1954) COOK05009

5010 Calliope, Carousel, and Hand Organ (1953) COOK05010

5011 Voice of the Sea (1954) COOK05011

5012 Earthquake (1953) COOK05012

5013 Ionosphere (1955) COOK05013

5014 Mariachi Music of Mexico (1954) COOK05014

5015 Mexican Firecrackers (1951) COOK05015

5016 Calypso Lore and Legend (1956) COOK05016

5017 Bamboo-tamboo, Bongo, and Belair (1956) COOK05017

5018 East Indian Drums of Tunapuna, Trinidad (1956) COOK05018

5019 ALONZO CRUZ Blind Troubadour of Oaxaca (1956) COOK05019

5020 Epilogue to the String Band Tradition (1956) COOK05020

5022 ABCs of Hi Fi COOK05022

5025 BUCKMINSTER FULLER Buckminster Fuller Speaks His Mind COOK05025

5050 NORMAN BROKENSHIRE Radio Moscow and the Western Hemisphere COOK05050

5051 FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The Four Inaugural Addresses COOK05051

6061 BUCKMINSTER FULLER The Clock Is Stopping COOK06061

8374 BUCKMINSTER FULLER Dymaxion Ditties: Buckminster Fuller Sings COOK08374

10001 Sound Effects, volume 1 COOK10001

10002 Sound Effects, volume 2 COOK10002

10003 Sound Effects, volume 3 COOK10003

10120 Music Boxes, Carousels, and Hand Organs (01012 and 05010) (1950-53) COOK10120

10248 The Voice of Mexico Gustavo Zepoli, Trio Leones (01024 and 01080) (1954) COOK10248

10251 SEAN McGONIGAL AND ST. COLUMCILLE'S UNITED GAELIC PIPE BAND Kilts on Parade (01025 plus solos) (1950-53) COOK10251

10271 CARLOS MONTOYA AND THE JOSE GRECO TROUPE Fiesta Flamenca (selections from 01027 and 01028) (1952) COOK10271

10289 CARLOS MONTOYA Montoya (selections from 01028 plus) (1952) COOK10289

10301 EDWARD AND JOSEPH VITO The Harp (selections from 01030 and 01031 plus) (1951-54) COOK10301

10326 Cafe Continental Ruth Welcome, Dick Marta, and Anita Ast (selections from 01026 and 01032) (1951-52) COOK10326

10350 Nickelodion and Calliope (selections from 01035 and 05010) (1950-53) COOK10350

10500 REGINALD FOORT The Theater Organ COOK10500

10501 MICHAEL CHESHIRE Pipe Organ in the Mosque (selections from 01050 and 01051) (1952) COOK10501

10523 REGINALD FOORT Percussion and Pedal (selections from 01052 and 01053) (1952) COOK10523

10545 REGINALD FOORT The Organ at Symphony Hall (01054 plus) (1954) COOK10545

10579 REGINALD FOORT Foort Pops (selections from 01057 and 01058) (1956) COOK10579

10646 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Tempo Vivace: Symphonic Masterpieces of Dance & Theater (selections from 01064 and 01066) (1955-56) COOK010646

10657 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Two Classical Symphonies: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (01065 and 01067) (1955) COOK10657

10659 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Two Classical Symphonies: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Haydn Symphony No. 100 (01065 and 01069) (1955-56) COOK10659

10683 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Modern Orchestral Textures (01068 and 01063) (1955) COOK10683

10850 RUPERT Cook LabsEMENDORE BAND Le Jazz Trinidad COOK10850

10867 Before and After Willie Rodriguez (selections from 01086 and 05007) (1953-54) COOK010867

10889 RED CAMP Horizontal & Upright & Downright & Dunright (01088 and 01089) (1954) COOK10889

10890 The Castiliane Johnny Gomez Band, John Buddy Williams Band, Girl Pat Steel Band, And Grand Curacaye String Orchestra (1956) COOK10890

11312 BRUCE PRINCE-JOSEPH AND HUFSTADER SINGERS The Forgotten Pedal Harpsichord and Hufstader Singers (01131 and 01092) (1953) COOK11312

11815 TONY ALMERICO'S PARISIAN ROOM BAND AND LIZZIE MILES Clambake on Bourbon Street (1954-55) COOK11815

50130 Tour of Cook Labs COOK50130

70889 RED CAMP Popular Piano and Combo COOK70889

80134 LUIZ BONFA Waterfall: Guitar COOK80134

80417 MARIMBA ORCHESTRA Waterfall: Children's Music COOK80417

80680 NEW ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY OF BOSTON Waterfall: Symphonic COOK80680

XX1 Audio Follies Sampler COOK00XX1

XX2 Calypso Jazz Sampler COOK00XX2

Series 10 Cook Series 10 COOK_Series10

Series 30 Cook Series 30 COOK_Series30

Series 60 Cook Series 60 COOK_Series60

Series 70 Cook Series 70 COOK_Series70

Series 80 Cook Series 80 COOK_Series80

Series 90 Cook Series 90 COOK_Series90

Series 100 Cook Series 100 COOK_Series100

Series 300 Cook Series 300 COOK_Series300

Series 301 Cook Series 301 COOK_Series301

Series 302 Cook Series 302 COOK_Series302

Series 303 Cook Series 303 COOK_Series303

Provenance:: The Smithsonian Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections acquired the Cook Labs Records in 1990, when Emory and Martha Cook donated their company records to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Anthony Seeger, then Director of Smithsonian Folkways Records, received a call from Mr. Cook in the summer of 1989 offering to donate the Cook label to the Smithsonian. Dr. Seeger visited him in August of that year to view the contents of the collection, and the Smithsonian received custody of the collection in May 1990. In return for the donation from Mr. Cook, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage agreed to keep the record titles available and to store the papers in the archives.

Restrictions:: Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at (202) 633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.

Rights:: Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information.

Topic:: Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this; Wit and humor Search this; Calypso (Music) Search this; Folk music -- Caribbean Area Search this; Folk music Search this; Sounds Search this; Music -- 18th century Search this; Folk music -- United States Search this; Jazz -- Louisiana -- New Orleans Search this; Jazz Search this; Accordion music Search this; Airplane sounds Search this; Audio equipment industry Search this; Blues (Music) Search this; Bonfá, Luiz Search this; Calypso (Music) Search this; Burlesque (Theater) Search this; Calliope music Search this; Calypso (Music)--Trinidad and Tobago Search this; Campos Parsi, Héctor, 1922- Search this; Catholicism Search this; Christianity Search this; Christmas Search this; Cimbalom and zither music Search this; Clavichord Search this; Clemendore, Rupert Search this; Drum Search this

Genre/Form:: Audiotapes; Photographic prints; Business records; Artifacts; Contracts; Phonograph records; Correspondence; Christmas music

Citation:: Cook Labs records, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: CFCH.COOK

See more items in:: Cook Labs records

Archival Repository:: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/bk50980aef1-30c4-4f77-9de4-97337007b9f0

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-cfch-cook

Online Media:

Col. West A. Hamilton papers

Creator:: Hamilton, West A., Colonel Search this

Names:: District of Columbia. Board of Trustees of Public Schools Search this; Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) Search this; Public Schools of the District of Columbia Search this; Hamilton, West A., Colonel Search this

Extent:: 4.5 Linear feet (9 boxes; 1 folder oversize)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Certificates; Minutes; Yearbooks; Photographic prints; Ledgers (account books); Correspondence; Reports; Awards; Photographs; Books; Diaries; Magazines (periodicals); Greeting cards

Place:: Washington (D.C.)

Date:: 1887-1991; bulk 1937-1978

Summary:: The Col. West A. Hamilton papers, which dates from 1887 to 1991 and measures 4.50 linear feet, are the personal papers of West A. Hamilton most noted for his service on the Board of Education for Washington, D.C. The papers comprise books, certificates, correspondence, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Scope and Contents note:: The papers which date from 1887-1991, bulk dates 1937-1978, document the personal and public life of Col. West A. Hamilton. The majority of material relates to Col. Hamilton's involvement with Washington D.C.'s educational system, both as a teacher and civic activist. A series of letters in particular highlight his efforts to help Dunbar High School, which he was an alum. There are also documents and photographs from his long serving military career and printing business.

Arrangement note:: The papers are arranged into six series. Folders are arranged alphabetically within series, while documents are organized chronologically. Four series contain oversized material and include: Biographical Files, Career, Photographs, and Printed material. Non archival materials associated with the papers are housed in the Collections Department.

Series 1: Biographical files

Sub-series 1.1: Correspondence

Sub-series 1.2: Education

Sub-series 1.3: General

Series 2: Books

Sub-series 2.1: Club Books

Sub-series 2.2: Fiction

Sub-series 2.3: Religious Books

Sub-series 2.4: Text Books

Series 3: Career

Sub-series 3.1: Committee Work

Sub-series 3.2: Correspondence

Sub-series 3.3: General

Series 4: Financial Records

Series 5: Photographs

Series 6: Printed Materials

Biographical/Historical note:: Col. West A. Hamilton was born in 1886 to John A. Hamilton, a missionary and social worker, and Julia West Hamilton, a prominent club woman and activist in the Washington D.C. area. Mrs. Hamilton socialized with some of the most well known African American intellectuals of her time, including Mary McLeod Bethune. It was the early experiences of his parents' work with their community that would influence Hamilton later in life.

Throughout his life Col. Hamilton's activities could be divided into three areas: the military, public service, and private business. As a child Hamilton earned his education through Washington's public school system. He graduated from Dunbar High School and went on to receive his teaching degree from Minor Teachers College. After working as a teacher for ten years, Hamilton enlisted with the National Guard for the first time in 1905. It would be the first of many reenlistments and would include World War I, riding with the 10th Cavalry Regiment Buffalo Soldiers near the Mexican border, and commanding the 366th Infantry in North Africa and Italy during World War II. In 1983 Col. Hamilton became an honorary Brigadier General at the age of 96 for his long and distinguished service with the U.S. Armed Forces.

While working as a teacher and joining the military, Hamilton was also an entrepreneur. Joining forces with his brother Percival Y. Hamilton, the Hamilton brothers went into the publishing business and produced their own newspaper called the Sentinel. They established the Hamilton Printing Company in 1910 and worked from two previous locations before permanently locating on the corner of 14th and U St from 1922 to the 1970s.

Outside his many careers Hamilton carried on his mother's altruistic pursuits and involved himself heavily in club work and civic organizations. He served on Washington D.C.'s Board of Education, the Board of Elections, the recreation board, as well as, the American Legion and the Masons. For many years his mother, Julia West Hamilton, served as President of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA and Col. Hamilton continued her work with the organization.

Col. Hamilton married twice but never had children. He died in 1985 just shy one year from his 100th birthday.

Restrictions:: Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.

Rights:: The Col. West A. Hamilton papers are the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to the author/creator or their legal heirs and assigns. Rights to work produced during the normal course of Museum business resides with the Anacostia Community Museum. For further information, and to obtain permission to publish or reproduce, contact the Museum Archives.

Topic:: African American educators Search this; African American military personnel Search this

Genre/Form:: Certificates; Minutes; Yearbooks -- 1940-1950; Photographic prints; Ledgers (account books); Correspondence; Reports; Awards; Photographs; Books; Diaries; Magazines (periodicals) -- 20th century; Greeting cards

Citation:: The Col. West A. Hamilton papers, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Col. West A. Hamilton estate.

Identifier:: ACMA.06-006

See more items in:: Col. West A. Hamilton papers

Archival Repository:: Anacostia Community Museum Archives

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa7880dca83-83af-4639-8c63-32625cd479f8

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-acma-06-006

Esther McCoy papers

Creator:: McCoy, Esther Search this

Names:: Historic American Buildings Survey Search this; Society of Architectural Historians Search this; University of California, Los Angeles. School of Architecture and Urban Planning Search this; Ain, Gregory, 1908-1988 Search this; Barragán, Luis, 1902- Search this; Bradbury, Ray, 1920- Search this; Davidson, Julius Ralph, b. 1889 Search this; Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945 Search this; Ellwood, Craig Search this; Gill, Irving, 1870-1936 Search this; Grotz, Dorothy Search this; Hollein, Hans, 1934- Search this; Jones, A. Quincy (Archie Quincy), 1913-1979 Search this; Maybeck, Bernard R. Search this; Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970 Search this; O'Gorman, Juan, 1905- Search this; Rand, Marvin Search this; Schindler, R. M. (Rudolph M.), 1887-1953 Search this; Shulman, Julius Search this; Soriano, Rafael, 1920- Search this; Watanabe, Makoto Search this; Worlidge, T. (Thomas), 1700-1766 Search this

Extent:: 44 Linear feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Diaries; Etchings; Photographs; Sound recordings; Interviews; Video recordings; Slides (photographs); Transcripts; Drawings; Memoirs

Date:: circa 1876-1990; bulk 1938-1989

Summary:: The papers of Southern California architectural historian, critic, and writer Esther McCoy measure 44.0 linear feet and date from 1876 to 1990 (bulk 1938-1989). McCoy was interested in both Italian and Mexican architecture as well as the folk art and crafts of Mexico and South America. The collection documents McCoy's career, as well as her family and personal life through biographical material, extensive correspondence, personal and professional writings, project files, Southern California architects' files, clippings and other printed material, a large collection of photographs and slides, and taped interviews of Southern California modern architects.

Scope and Content Note:: The papers of Southern California architectural historian, critic, and writer Esther McCoy measure 44.0 linear feet and date from 1876 to 1990 (bulk 1938-1989). McCoy was interested in both Italian and Mexican architecture as well as the folk art and crafts of Mexico and South America. The collection documents McCoy's career, as well as her family and personal life through biographical material, extensive correspondence, personal and professional writings, project files, Southern California architects' files, clippings and other printed material, a large collection of photographs and slides, and taped interviews of Southern California modern architects.

Biographical and family material consists of awards, resumes, identification documents, and other documentation of McCoy's personal life. Included are a transcript of a 1984 interview of McCoy by Makoto Watanabe and material relating to her friend, Theodore Dreiser.

Correspondence focuses on her personal relationships with family, friends, and lovers, and general correspondence relating primarily to her work as a writer. McCoy's personal correspondence is valuable to researchers who are interested in her personal life, her struggles as a young writer, and the way in which her family, friends, lovers, mentors, and colleagues helped to shape her work and career. As documented in this correspondence, her life offers a glimpse into twentieth-century American social and political history, especially the radical leftist movements of the 1920s and 1930s. Researchers interested in the roots of feminism in the United States should also find these papers useful in documenting the life of a creative and productive woman who was successful in a field then almost entirely dominated by men. Correspondents of note include her husband Berkeley Tobey, lovers Geoffrey Eaton and Albert Robert, writers Ray Bradbury and Theodore Dreiser, and artists and architects, such as Dorothy Grotz, Craig Ellwood, A. Quincy Jones, Hans Hollein, and J. R. Davidson. General correspondence is primarily with researchers, professors, architects, publishers, and professional organizations.

Personal writings include McCoy's diaries, notebooks, and memoirs, and writings by others including friends, lovers, and colleagues. Also included are drafts of McCoy's fictional works, both published and unpublished, including short stories, teleplays, and novels.

The collection contains in-depth documentation of McCoy's pioneering study of the modernist work of twentieth-century architects in Southern California. The bulk of her papers consist of her writing files for books, exhibition catalogs, articles, and lectures on architecture. Because many of the architects about whom McCoy wrote were her contemporaries, she developed personal relationships with several of them through her research and writing. Her writing files include drafts, notes, research material, photographs, and correspondence. McCoy also traveled extensively, particularly in Italy and Mexico, and wrote about architecture, craft, and culture in those countries. Project files document McCoy's other activities related to architectural history, such preservation projects, juries, grants, the Dodge House Preservation Campaign and related film project, her work for the Society of Architectural Historians and the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), and her work at the UCLA School of Architecture and Urban Planning, compiling a slide library and cataloging the Richard Neutra's papers. McCoy also maintained architect files which may contain correspondence, notes, photographs, research material, interview transcripts, about architects and their works. Among these extensive records, the files documenting the careers of R. M. Schindler, Irving Gill, Richard Neutra, and Juan O'Gorman are particularly rich.

Printed material in this collection documents McCoy's career as well as her personal interests. Included are books, clippings, magazines, newsletters, press releases, as well as publications arranged by subject such as architecture, art, Italy, and Mexico. McCoy also collected literary and leftist publications. The small amount of artwork in this collection consists of artwork sent to her by friends, including a drawing of her by Esther Rollo and etchings by various artists including Thomas Worlidge.

There are personal photographs of family and friends and of McCoy at different times in her life, as well as photographs gathered during the course of her research on architecture. Found here are photographs of architects and their works, including a large number depicting the work of Gregory Ain, Luis Barragan, J. R. Davidson, Irving Gill, Bernard Maybeck, Juan O'Gorman, R. M. Schindler, and Raphael Soriano. Many of these photographs were taken by notable architectural photographers Julius Shulman and Marvin Rand. Also found are photographs of architecture designed for the Case Study House program of Arts & Architecture magazine; exhibition photographs, primarily for the exhibition "Ten Italian Architects" in 1967; and other research photographs primarily documenting architecture and craft in other countries and the history of architecture in California. This series also includes approximately 3,600 slides of architecture.

Audio and video recordings include a videocassette of McCoy's 80th birthday party and 55 taped interviews with architects, people associated with architectural projects, and artists.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into 10 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical and Family Material, 1881-1989 (boxes 1, 48; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1896-1989 (boxes 1-6, 4.9 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal Writings, 1919-1989 (boxes 6-14; 8.1 linear feet)

Series 4: Architectural Writings, 1908-1990 (boxes 14-24, 42, 49, 50; 10.2 linear feet)

Series 5: Projects, circa 1953-1988 (boxes 24-26, 47, FC 53-56; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 6: Architect Files, 1912-1990 (boxes 26-28, 42; 2.2 linear feet)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1885-1990 (boxes 28-31, 42; 2.9 linear feet)

Series 8: Artwork, 1924-1967, undated (box 31; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographs and Slides, circa 1876-1989 (boxes 31-38, 41-46, 51; 8.3 linear feet)

Series 10: Audio and Video Recordings, 1930-1984 (boxes 38-40, 47; 2.5 linear feet)

Biographical Note:: Esther McCoy (1904-1989) is remembered best for her pioneering work as an architectural historian, critic, and proponent of Southern California modern architecture of the early to mid-twentieth century. McCoy was interested in both Italian and Mexican architecture as well as the folk art and crafts of Mexico and South America. Although her professional interests ranged from writing fiction to studying the folk architecture and crafts of Mexico, McCoy achieved her most notable success for her numerous articles, books, and exhibitions about Southern California architecture and the architects associated with the modernist movement.

Born in Arkansas in 1904, Esther McCoy grew up in Kansas and attended various schools in the Midwest. In 1926 she left the University of Michigan to launch a writing career in New York, where she moved in avant-garde literary circles and conducted research for Theodore Dreiser. She began writing fiction in New York and continued to write after moving to Los Angeles in 1932, working on short stories, novels, and screenplays. She published numerous short stories between 1929 and 1962, with works appearing in the New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, and university quarterlies. Her short story, "The Cape," was reprinted in Best Short Stories of 1950. Many of the novels that she wrote from the mid-1960s through the 1980s were related thematically to architects and architecture.

During the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, McCoy participated in the politically radical movements of the period and wrote for leftist publications. Her interest in the lowcost housing projects of modern architects was prompted by one of her articles about slums for Epic News. During World War II she entered a training program for engineering draftsmen at Douglas Aircraft and in 1944 was hired as an architectural draftsman for the architect R.M. Schindler. As she became increasingly interested in modern architecture and design, she combined her two major career interests and began to focus her energies on architectural research, writing, and criticism. Her first article on architecture, "Schindler: Space Architect," was published in 1945 in the journal Direction.

McCoy began writing about architecture in earnest in 1950 as a free-lance contributor to the Los Angeles Times. From then until her death in 1989, she wrote prolifically for Arts & Architecture magazine, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Architectural Record, L'Architectura, Zodiac (Italy), Progressive Architecture, Lotus (Italy), and Architectural Forum. In addition to her numerous articles, McCoy wrote several books on Southern California modern architecture and architects. Her first major work, Five California Architects, published in 1960, is now recognized as a classic work in modern architectural history. It promoted a serious study of modern architecture in Southern California and introduced to the world several leading California architects and their work: Bernard Maybeck, Irving Gill, Charles and Henry Greene, and R.M. Schindler. That same year, she published another important book focusing on the work of the California architect Richard Neutra. Other books by McCoy include Modern California Houses: Case Study Houses (1962), Craig Ellwood (1968), Vienna to Los Angeles: Two Journeys (1979), and The Second Generation (1984).

In addition to these books, McCoy organized and wrote catalogs for several significant exhibitions focusing on contemporary architects. Her first was the R.M. Schindler Retrospective, a 1954 exhibition at the Landau Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Her other exhibitions and accompanying catalogs include Roots of California Contemporary Architecture, 1956, Los Angeles Municipal Art Department; Felix Candela, 1957, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Irving Gill, 1958, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Juan O'Gorman, 1964, San Fernando Valley State College; and Ten Italian Architects, 1967, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Moreover, McCoy contributed numerous essays to other exhibition catalogs and publications, lectured at the University of Southern California, participated in preservation projects, organized tours for the Society of Architectural Historians, and contributed to a number of documentary films. Her energy and interests also led her to catalog and transcribe Richard Neutra's papers at the University of California Los Angeles Archives.

McCoy received national recognition from the American Institute of Architects for her seminal and prolific work in the field of Southern California modern architectural history and criticism. Her interests, however, were not exclusively bound to California. She traveled the world and was interested in both Italian and Mexican architecture as well as the folk art and crafts of Mexico and South America. She made five extended trips to Italy during the 1950s and 1960s, publishing regularly about the architecture there and curating the exhibition Ten Italian Architects. She was a contributing editor to two Italian journals, Zodiac and Lotus, and was awarded the Star of Order of Solidarity in 1960 by the Republic of Italy for her research and writing.

Esther McCoy died of emphysema on December 30, 1989, at the age of eighty-five. Her last contribution was an essay for the exhibition catalog Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study House. The show opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles one month before her death.

Missing Title

1904 -- Born November 18 in Horatio, Arkansas. Raised in Kansas.

1920 -- Attended preparatory school at Central College for Women, Lexington, Missouri.

1922-1925 -- College education: Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas; University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; University of Michigan.

1924 -- Visited Theodore Dreiser in Michigan.

1926-1938 -- Began writing in New York City.

1926-1938 -- Researched and read for Theodore Dreiser.

1926-1938 -- Worked for editorial offices and publishers.

1926-1938 -- Traveled to write in Paris (1928), Key West, Florida (1930), and Los Angeles, California (1932-1935).

1938 -- Moved to Santa Monica, California.

1941 -- Married Berkeley Greene Tobey.

1942-1944 -- Employed as engineering draftsman at Douglas Aircraft.

1944-1947 -- Worked as architectural draftsman for R.M. Schindler.

1945 -- Began architectural writing career.

1950 -- Wrote script for film Architecture West.

1950 -- Joined editorial board of Arts & Architecture.

1950-1968 -- Worked as free-lance writer for the Los Angeles Times.

1951-1955 -- Traveled to, researched, and wrote about Mexico and Mexican art and architecture.

1954 -- R.M. Schindler Retrospective exhibition at the Landau Art Gallery, Los Angeles.

1956 -- Roots of California Contemporary Architecture exhibition, Los Angeles Municipal Art Department.

1957 -- Felix Candela exhibition, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

1958 -- Irving Gill exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Traveled to Italy.

1959-1968 -- Contributing editor to Italian periodicals Zodiac and Lotus.

1960 -- Five California Architects (New York: Reinhold).

1960 -- Richard Neutra (New York: G. Braziller).

1960 -- Awarded Star of Order of Solidarity by the Republic of Italy for reporting on arts and crafts in Italy.

1962 -- Death of Berkeley Greene Tobey.

1962 -- Modern California Houses: Case Study Houses (New York: Reinhold) (reprinted as Case Study Houses, Los Angeles: Hennessey and Ingalls, 1978).

1963 -- Resident Fellow at Huntington Hartford Foundation.

1964 -- Juan O'Gorman exhibition, San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, Calif.

1965 -- Consultant for the California Arts Commission.

1965-1966 -- Wrote and produced the film Dodge House.

1965-1968 -- Lecturer at University of California at Los Angeles, School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

1966 -- Resident Fellow at MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire.

1967 -- Ten Italian Architects exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

1967 -- Honorary Associate of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

1967 -- Regents' Lecturer at University of California, Santa Barbara.

1968 -- Craig Ellwood (New York: Walker).

1968 -- Distinguished Service Citation from the California Council of AIA.

1969-1970 -- Lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

1969-1989 -- Contributing editor of Progressive Architecture.

1971-1978 -- Graham Foundation Grants.

1974 -- Regents' Lecturer at the University of California,Santa Cruz.

1979 -- Vienna to Los Angeles: Two Journeys (Santa Monica, Calif.: Arts & Architecture Press).

1979 -- Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

1981 -- Los Angeles Chapter Women's Architectural League Honorary Member.

1982 -- Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Modern and Contemporary Art Council Award for Distinguished Achievement.

1983 -- Home Sweet Home: The California Ranch House exhibition at California State University.

1984 -- The Second Generation (Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books).

1985 -- American Institute of Architects, Institute Honor.

1986 -- High Styles exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

1987 -- Vesta Award for outstanding scholarship.

1989 -- Award from the Historical Society of Southern California.

1989 -- Award from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

1989 -- Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study House exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Died in Santa Monica, California, December 30.

Related Material:: Also in the Archives of American Art are eight sound cassettes of a transcribed interview with Esther McCoy conducted by Joseph Giovannini, June 8-November 14, 1987.

Provenance:: The collection was given to the Archives of American Art by Esther McCoy in 1986. Before her death in 1989, McCoy assisted in the organization and identification of the papers. Original pre-print film elements for Dodge House 1916 were donated to the Archives of American Art by the Academy Film Archive in 2018.

Restrictions:: Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of audiovisual recordings without access copies requires advance notice.

Rights:: The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:: Architectural historians -- California Search this; Art critics -- California Search this

Topic:: Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- Mexico Search this; Architects -- Italy Search this; Architecture, Domestic -- California Search this; Authors -- California Search this; Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- California Search this; Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- Europe Search this; Architects -- California Search this; Feminism and art Search this; Latino and Latin American artists Search this

Genre/Form:: Diaries; Etchings; Photographs; Sound recordings; Interviews; Video recordings; Slides (photographs); Transcripts; Drawings; Memoirs

Citation:: Esther McCoy papers, circa 1876-1990, bulk 1938-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:: Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:: AAA.mccoesth

See more items in:: Esther McCoy papers

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Art

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw93ee58e3b-f2fc-4d98-acf9-de6f76bfed63

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aaa-mccoesth

Online Media:

Western Union Telegraph Company Records

Creator:: United Telegraph Workers. Search this; Western Union Telegraph Company Search this

Extent:: 452 Cubic feet (871 boxes and 23 map folders)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Administrative records; Articles; Books; Clippings; Contracts; Drawings; Photographs; Patents; Newsletters; Photograph albums; Scrapbooks; Specifications; Technical documents

Date:: circa 1820-1995

Summary:: The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.

Scope and Contents:: The collection is divided into twenty-six (26) series and consists of approximately 400 cubic feet. The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.

Arrangement:: The collection is divided into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Information, 1851-1994

Series 2: Subsidiaries of Western Union, 1844-1986

Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987

Series 4: Presidential Letterbooks and Writings, 1865-1911

Series 5: Correspondence, 1837-1985

Series 6: Cyrus W. Field Papers, 1840-1892

Series 7: Secretary's Files, 1844-1987

Series 8: Financial Records, 1859-1995

Series 9: Legal Records, 1867-1968

Series 10: Railroad Records, 1854-1945

Series 11: Law Department Records, 1868-1979

Series 12: Patent Materials, 1840-1970

Series 13: Operating Records, 1868-1970s

Series 14: Westar VI-S, 1974, 1983-1986

Series 15: Engineering Department Records, 1874-1970

Series 16: Plant Department Records, 1867-1937, 1963

Series 17: Superintendent of Supplies Records, 1888-1948

Series 18: Employee/Personnel Records 1852-1985

Series 19: Public Relations Department Records, 1858-1980

Series 20: Western Union Museum, 1913-1971

Series 21: Maps, 1820-1964

Series 22: Telegrams, 1852-1960s

Series 23: Photographs, circa 1870-1980

Series 24: Scrapbooks, 1835-1956

Series 25: Notebooks, 1880-1942

Series 26: Audio Visual Materials, 1925-1994

Series 27: Addenda

Biographical / Historical:: In 1832 Samuel F. B. Morse, assisted by Alfred Vail, conceived of the idea for an electromechanical telegraph, which he called the "Recording Telegraph." This commercial application of electricity was made tangible by their construction of a crude working model in 1835-36. This instrument probably was never used outside of Professor Morse's rooms where it was, however, operated in a number of demonstrations. This original telegraph instrument was in the hands of the Western Union Telegraph Company and had been kept carefully over the years in a glass case. It was moved several times in New York as the Western Union headquarters building changed location over the years. The company presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1950.

The telegraph was further refined by Morse, Vail, and a colleague, Leonard Gale, into working mechanical form in 1837. In this year Morse filed a caveat for it at the U.S. Patent Office. Electricity, provided by Joseph Henry's 1836 "intensity batteries", was sent over a wire. The flow of electricity through the wire was interrupted for shorter or longer periods by holding down the key of the device. The resulting dots or dashes were recorded on a printer or could be interpreted orally. In 1838 Morse perfected his sending and receiving code and organized a corporation, making Vail and Gale his partners.

In 1843 Morse received funds from Congress to set-up a demonstration line between Washington and Baltimore. Unfortunately, Morse was not an astute businessman and had no practical plan for constructing a line. After an unsuccessful attempt at laying underground cables with Ezra Cornell, the inventor of a trench digger, Morse switched to the erection of telegraph poles and was more successful. On May 24, 1844, Morse, in the U.S. Supreme Court Chambers in Washington, sent by telegraph the oft-quoted message to his colleague Vail in Baltimore, "What hath God wrought!"

In 1845 Morse hired Andrew Jackson's former postmaster general, Amos Kendall, as his agent in locating potential buyers of the telegraph. Kendall realized the value of the device, and had little trouble convincing others of its potential for profit. By the spring he had attracted a small group of investors. They subscribed $15,000 and formed the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Many new telegraph companies were formed as Morse sold licenses wherever he could.

The first commercial telegraph line was completed between Washington, D.C., and New York City in the spring of 1846 by the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Shortly thereafter, F. O. J. Smith, one of the patent owners, built a line between New York City and Boston. Most of these early companies were licensed by owners of Samuel Morse patents. The Morse messages were sent and received in a code of dots and dashes.

At this time other telegraph systems based on rival technologies were being built. Some companies used the printing telegraph, a device invented by a Vermonter, Royal E. House, whose messages were printed on paper or tape in Roman letters. In 1848 a Scotch scientist, Alexander Bain, received his patents on a telegraph. These were but two of many competing and incompatible technologies that had developed. The result was confusion, inefficiency, and a rash of suits and counter suits.

By 1851 there were over fifty separate telegraph companies operating in the United States. This corporate cornucopia developed because the owners of the telegraph patents had been unsuccessful in convincing the United States and other governments of the invention's potential usefulness. In the private sector, the owners had difficulty convincing capitalists of the commercial value of the invention. This led to the owners' willingness to sell licenses to many purchasers who organized separate companies and then built independent telegraph lines in various sections of the country.

Hiram Sibley moved to Rochester, New York, in 1838 to pursue banking and real estate. Later he was elected sheriff of Monroe County. In Rochester he was introduced to Judge Samuel L. Selden who held the House Telegraph patent rights. In 1849 Selden and Sibley organized the New York State Printing Telegraph Company, but they found it hard to compete with the existing New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company.

After this experience Selden suggested that instead of creating a new line, the two should try to acquire all the companies west of Buffalo and unite them into a single unified system. Selden secured an agency for the extension throughout the United States of the House system. In an effort to expand this line west, Judge Selden called on friends and the people in Rochester. This led, in April 1851, to the organization of a company and the filing in Albany of the Articles of Association for the "New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company" (NYMVPTC), a company which later evolved into the Western Union Telegraph Company.

In 1854 there were two rival systems of the NYMVPTC in the West. These two systems consisted of thirteen separate companies. All the companies were using Morse patents in the five states north of the Ohio River. This created a struggle between three separate entities, leading to an unreliable and inefficient telegraph service. The owners of these rival companies eventually decided to invest their money elsewhere and arrangements were made for the NYMVPTC to purchase their interests.

Hiram Sibley recapitalized the company in 1854 under the same name and began a program of construction and acquisition. The most important takeover was carried out by Sibley when he negotiated the purchase of the Morse patent rights for the Midwest for $50,000 from Jeptha H. Wade and John J. Speed, without the knowledge of Ezra Cornell, their partner in the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company (EMTC). With this acquisition Sibley proceeded to switch to the superior Morse system. He also hired Wade, a very capable manager, who became his protege and later his successor. After a bitter struggle Morse and Wade obtained the EMTC from Cornell in 1855, thus assuring dominance by the NYMVPTC in the Midwest. In 1856 the company name was changed to the "Western Union Telegraph Company," indicating the union of the Western lines into one compact system. In December, 1857, the Company paid stockholders their first dividend.

Between 1857 and 1861 similar consolidations of telegraph companies took place in other areas of the country so that most of the telegraph interests of the United States had merged into six systems. These were the American Telegraph Company (covering the Atlantic and some Gulf states), The Western Union Telegraph Company (covering states North of the Ohio River and parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota), the New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company (covering New York State), the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company (covering Pennsylvania), the Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company (covering sections of Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois), and the New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company (covering the southern Mississippi Valley and the Southwest). All these companies worked together in a mutually friendly alliance, and other small companies cooperated with the six systems, particularly some on the West Coast.

By the time of the Civil War, there was a strong commercial incentive to construct a telegraph line across the western plains to link the two coasts of America. Many companies, however, believed the line would be impossible to build and maintain.

In 1860 Congress passed, and President James Buchanan signed, the Pacific Telegraph Act, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to seek bids for a project to construct a transcontinental line. When two bidders dropped out, Hiram Sibley, representing Western Union, was the only bidder left. By default Sibley won the contract. The Pacific Telegraph Company was organized for the purpose of building the eastern section of the line. Sibley sent Wade to California, where he consolidated the small local companies into the California State Telegraph Company. This entity then organized the Overland Telegraph Company, which handled construction eastward from Carson City, Nevada, joining the existing California lines, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Sibley's Pacific Telegraph Company built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. Sibley put most of his resources into the venture. The line was completed in October, 1861. Both companies were soon merged into Western Union. This accomplishment made Hiram Sibley leader of the telegraph industry.

Further consolidations took place over the next several years. Many companies merged into the American Telegraph Company. With the expiration of the Morse patents, several organizations were combined in 1864 under the name of "The U.S. Telegraph Company." In 1866 the final consolidation took place, with Western Union exchanging stock for the stock of the other two organizations. The general office of Western Union moved at this time from Rochester to 145 Broadway, New York City. In 1875 the main office moved to 195 Broadway, where it remained until 1930 when it relocated to 60 Hudson Street.

In 1873 Western Union purchased a majority of shares in the International Ocean Telegraph Company. This was an important move because it marked Western Union's entry into the foreign telegraph market. Having previously worked with foreign companies, Western Union now began competing for overseas business.

In the late 1870s Western Union, led by William H. Vanderbilt, attempted to wrest control of the major telephone patents, and the new telephone industry, away from the Bell Telephone Company. But due to new Bell leadership and a subsequent hostile takeover attempt of Western Union by Jay Gould, Western Union discontinued its fight and Bell Telephone prevailed.

Despite these corporate calisthenics, Western Union remained in the public eye. The sight of a uniformed Western Union messenger boy was familiar in small towns and big cities all over the country for many years. Some of Western Union's top officials in fact began their careers as messenger boys.

Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century the telegraph became one of the most important factors in the development of social and commercial life of America. In spite of improvements to the telegraph, however, two new inventions--the telephone (nineteenth century) and the radio (twentieth century)--eventually replaced the telegraph as the leaders of the communication revolution for most Americans.

At the turn of the century, Bell abandoned its struggles to maintain a monopoly through patent suits, and entered into direct competition with the many independent telephone companies. Around this time, the company adopted its new name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

In 1908 AT&T gained control of Western Union. This proved beneficial to Western Union, because the companies were able to share lines when needed, and it became possible to order telegrams by telephone. However, it was only possible to order Western Union telegrams, and this hurt the business of Western Union's main competitor, the Postal Telegraph Company. In 1913, however, as part of a move to prevent the government from invoking antitrust laws, AT&T completely separated itself from Western Union.

Western Union continued to prosper and it received commendations from the U.S. armed forces for service during both world wars. In 1945 Western Union finally merged with its longtime rival, the Postal Telegraph Company. As part of that merger, Western Union agreed to separate domestic and foreign business. In 1963 Western Union International Incorporated, a private company completely separate from the Western Union Telegraph Company, was formed and an agreement with the Postal Telegraph Company was completed. In 1994, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. was acquired by First Financial Management Corporation. In 1995, First Financial Management Corporation merged with First Data Corporation making Western Union a First Data subsidiary.

Many technological advancements followed the telegraph's development. The following are among the more important:

The first advancement of the telegraph occurred around 1850 when operators realized that the clicks of the recording instrument portrayed a sound pattern, understandable by the operators as dots and dashes. This allowed the operator to hear the message by ear and simultaneously write it down. This ability transformed the telegraph into a versatile and speedy system.

Duplex Telegraphy, 1871-72, was invented by the president of the Franklin Telegraph Company. Unable to sell his invention to his own company, he found a willing buyer in Western Union. Utilizing this invention, two messages were sent over the wire simultaneously, one in each direction.

As business blossomed and demand surged, new devices appeared. Thomas Edison's Quadruplex allowed four messages to be sent over the same wire simultaneously, two in one direction and two in the other.

An English automatic signaling arrangement, Wheatstone's Automatic Telegraph, 1883, allowed larger numbers of words to be transmitted over a wire at once. It could only be used advantageously, however, on circuits where there was a heavy volume of business.

Buckingham's Machine Telegraph was an improvement on the House system. It printed received messages in plain Roman letters quickly and legibly on a message blank, ready for delivery.

Vibroplex, c. 1890, a semi-automatic key sometimes called a "bug key," made the dots automatically. This relieved the operator of much physical strain.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center

Additional moving image about Western Union Telegraph Company can be found in the Industry on Parade Collection (AC0507). This includes Cable to Cuba! by Bell Laboratory, AT & T, featuring the cable ship, the C.S. Lord Kelvin, and Communications Centennial! by the Western Union Company.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware.

Western Union International Records form part of the MCI International, Inc. Records at the First Data Corporation, Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Records of First Data Corporation and its predecessors, including Western Union, First Financial Management Corporation (Atlanta) and First Data Resources (Omaha). Western Union collection supports research of telegraphy and related technologies, and includes company records, annual reports, photographs, print and broadcast advertising, telegraph equipment, and messenger uniforms.

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867

This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper clippings concerning the expedition; copies of notes on natural history taken by Robert Kennicott; and a journal containing meteorological data recorded by Henry M. Bannister from March to August, 1866.

Separated Materials:: Artifacts (apparatus and equipment) were donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society, now known as the Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History.

Provenance:: The collection was donated by Western Union in September of 1971.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. 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:: Communications equipment Search this; Communication -- International cooperation Search this; Electric engineering Search this; Electric engineers Search this; Electrical equipment Search this; Electrical science and technology Search this; Telegraphers Search this; Telegraph Search this

Genre/Form:: Administrative records; Articles; Books; Clippings; Contracts; Drawings; Photographs -- 19th century; Patents; Photographs -- 20th century; Newsletters; Photograph albums; Scrapbooks -- 19th century; Scrapbooks -- 20th century; Specifications; Technical documents

Citation:: Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0205

See more items in:: Western Union Telegraph Company Records

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b72e8493-288c-4bd0-84d5-011155da30a7

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0205

Online Media:

No Image Available

Audio Visual Materials

Collection Creator:: United Telegraph Workers. Search this; Western Union Telegraph Company Search this

Type:: Archival materials

Date:: 1925-1994

Scope and Contents:: This series consists of 16mm films, 3/4" videotape cassettes, 35mm film elements, and 1/2" VHS videotape cassettes. The bulk of the series is 16mm film.

Employee Training films includes films from the 1920s to the 1940s depicting how Western Union wanted its telegraph operators to do their jobs, how to work accurately and efficiently in order to maintain speed of operation, detailed operation of complex telegraphic equipment, and more recent sales and customer service employee incentive films.

Public Relations/Promotional Films, circa 1929-1980s, includes consumer awareness segments from NBC's "Today" show and WNBC-TV in New York featuring Betty Furness reporting on Mailgram, Telegram, and Money Transfer; and numerous films and videos which emphasize Western Union's wide variety of services, its modernity, and ability to keep up with the changing communications field. Heavily featured are films from the 1970s and 1980s on Westar, the first telecommunications satellite (launched in 1974), and its influence on Western Union service. Several films and videos depict early facsimile machines in the 1940s and 1950s, and two films depict underwater cable laying operations.

Television Commercials, circa 1974-1991, emphasize the ease of use of the company's services, the firms modernity and competitive edge in the telecommunications market; the return of the singing telegram in the 1980s; videoconferencing; satellite communications; and several recent Spanish language commercials.

Acquired Films, circa 1946-1989, includes several videotape copies of the 20th Century Fox production of WESTERN UNION [1941], films produced outside Western Union using Western Union footage or mention Western Union or its products, and depictions of various aspects of the history of telegraphy.

Films Documenting Corporate Activities, circa 1928-1994, contains films made at the building site of Western Union's old New York headquarters during construction; videotapes of various company executives addressing employees on the company's financial situation, restructuring plans, and consequences of the AT&T divestiture in the 1980s; short compilation videos looking back nostalgically at the history of Western Union through archival photographs and footage; films depicting office operations; and a parody of Gone with the Wind about the corporate buyout of Western Union in 1994.

The microfilm contains selected reels for Board of Directors Meetings, Executive Committee Minutes, and Subsidiaries. See Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987 for additional materials regarding these executive functions.

Arrangement:: The series is arranged in six subseries:

1. Employee Training Films, 1925-circa 1980s

2. Public Relations/Promotional Films, ca.1929-1993

3. Television Commercials, circa 1974-1991

4. Acquired Films, circa 1946-1989

5. Films Documenting Corporate Activities, circa 1928-1994

6. Microfilm, undated

Collection Restrictions:: Collection is open for research but Series 11 and films are stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audiovisual materials. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Collection Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Collection Citation:: Western Union Telegraph Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0205, Series 26

See more items in:: Western Union Telegraph Company Records

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b78e0037-9688-4a4b-8460-539e046f9463

EDAN-URL:: ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0205-ref10201

Jantzen Knitting Mills Collection

Creator:: Jantzen, Carl C. Search this

Names:: Jantzen Knitting Mills. Search this; National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Costume Search this; Portland Knitting Company. Search this; Zehntbauer, John C. Search this

Extent:: 7 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Business records; Catalogs; Photograph albums

Date:: 1925-1977

Summary:: Carl C. Jantzen and John C. Zehntbauer founded the Portland Knitting Company in 1910 as a retail store selling knitted products (i.e. sweaters, hosiery, jackets). Carl Jantzen later invented an automated circular knitting machine that allowed the company to make light-weight materials for swimsuits. In 1916, the company first used the name Jantzen as their trademark and went on to specialize in swimsuits.

Scope and Contents:: This collection has a thorough representation of company newsletters, Jantzen Yarns, and many sample and print catalogues from the 1970s which show the Jantzen clothing and swimwear lines for misses, juniors, and men during that time. There are several company histories written by Zehntbauer which were printed in Jantzen Yarns. The photographs, though few in number, are a good sampling documenting Jantzen headquarters, as well as employees at work. The films, are aimed at store buyers and feature different lines of Jantzen clothing or swimwear, or are training films for sales representatives.

Series 1: SAMPLE CATALOGUES, 1974-1976, includes sample catalogs are for misses, juniors, and men.

Series 2: PUBLICATIONS, 1925-1977, contains issues of Jantzen Yarns (house publication), 1925-1973 (some of the covers of the newsletters include cover art by noted "pin-up" artists George Petty, Jon Whitcomb, Pete Hawley, and Rene Gruau); Intra-Views (company newspaper); and clothing and swimwear catalogues for women, juniors, and men, 1972-1977.

Series 3: COMPANY HISTORY, 1921, 1923-32, 1973, includes photocopies of various company histories written by John A. Zehntbauer; a photocopy of a patent; and an annual report for 1973 (many volumes of Jantzen Yarns [Series 2] have annual reports as an issue).

Series 4: PHOTOGRAPHS, ca. 1920s/30s, consists of a group of photos (originally from an album) showing the main office building, warehouses, and photographs of groups of employees at work or in posed groups.

Series 5: AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS, 1951, 1976, undated, is divided into two subseries. Subseries 5.1: Films, circa 1951, undated, consists of four films produced for store buyers and sales representatives. Subseries 5.2: Slide Presentation Materials, 1976, includes slides, script, and audiocassette for an in-plant presentation on the Misses Fall 1976 line of Jantzen clothing.

Arrangement:: This collection is arranged into five series.

Series 1: Sample Catalogues, 1974-1976

Series 2: Publications, 1925-1977

Series 3: Ccompany History, 1921, 1923-32, 1973

Series 4: Photographs, circa. 1920s-1930s

Series 5: Audiovisual Materials, 1951, 1976, undated

Subseries 5.1: Films, 1951

Subseries 5.2: Slide Presentation Materials, 1976

Biographical / Historical:: Known primarily for its swimsuits, the Jantzen Knitting Mills are located in Portland, OR. John A. Zehntbauer and Carl C. Jantzen founded the company in 1910. It was then called the Portland Knitting Co. and consisted of a retail store and "a few knitting machines on the second floor" where heavy sweaters, woolen hosiery and other articles of clothing were manufactured.

The two partners were intent on expanding their company, especially by means of a product that would give them an edge in the highly competitive knitting industry. Fortunately, a member of a rowing club approached them one day and asked if they could make him a pair of rowing trunks "of a rib stitch." The success of this item led to the company's specialization in the manufacture of swimsuits in the elastic rib stitch. A patent for this suit was granted in 1921. Carl Jantzen's inventiveness was responsible for the development of an automated circular knitting machine, a derivative of hosiery knitting machines, with a fine needle-bed which produced the light-weight material needed for swimsuits. It also reduced the cost of knitting dramatically.

In 1916 the company first used the name Jantzen as a trademark in advertising, and in 1918 they changed the name officially to the Jantzen Knitting Mills. The name was again changed in 1954 to Jantzen Inc.

Early advertising campaigns were aimed at encouraging swimming. One of the longest used slogans was "the Suit that Changed Bathing to Swimming." An idea for a cut-out sticker of a "diving girl" in a red Jantzen suit and knitted cap was reported in a 1923 issue of Men's Wear N.Y. as "proving popular with auto-drivers--[and that] many windshields carry as many as 3 or 4 of the figure." It also became the Jantzen logo. Billboards were used extensively with artwork by George Petty and McClelland Barclay. Ads in Life and Vogue in 1921 represented the first national advertising of the bathing suits and established the product as "first class."

Before the peak year of 1930, the firm operated factories in Canada, England, and Australia, in addition to exporting to many countries in Europe, South America, and the Phillippines. After the Depression years of 1931-34, a decision was made to license companies in Europe, rather than operating there. The decision was based on the uncertainty of U.S. foreign trade regulations and on the awareness of Zehntbauer, after a trip to Europe, of the political changes taking place.

In 1936 Jantzen made one of its greatest plant investments: a new spinning mill which was considered "the most up to date dying and spinning mill in the U.S." It enabled Jantzen to experiment with different fibers instead of having to purchase them from other mills. In the same year the firm hired their first female designer.

In 1937 serious considerations of making satin latex swimsuits--which were cut and sewn--were resolved in favor of keeping the elastic knit stitch. By 1973 sales and earnings were the highest in the 63 year history. Employees numbered 4,500.

Currently, Jantzen is owned by Vanity Fair Corporation. The company also operates an archives which is limited to serious research inquiries. Some historical information may also be located on their website: http://www.jantzen.com.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center

Industry on Parade Film Collection (AC0507)

Contains a 1952 film about Jantzen entitled "Suited for Swimming!" which describes the manufacture of swim suits at the company's Portland, Oregon, plant.

Separated Materials:: Related collections in the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life). The collection includes bathing and swimming suits and men's, women's and children's clothing (tennis and exercise outfits, blouses, and trousers (1912-1990s). Items have been donated by Jantzen as well as private donors. Also available in the Division are samples of advertisements from the 1940s to 2000 and news articles about Jantzen.

Provenance:: Donated by Jantzen, Inc. in November 1973 and November 1978.

Restrictions:: The collection is open for research use.

Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.

Topic:: Bathing suits Search this; Clothing Manufacturers Search this; Knitting companies (Mills) Search this; Textile industry Search this; Textile fabrics Search this

Genre/Form:: Business records -- 20th century; Catalogs; Photograph albums -- 20th century

Citation:: The Jantzen Knitting Mills Collection, 1925-1977, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0233

See more items in:: Jantzen Knitting Mills Collection

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep83ac0a371-0431-42a8-a7a2-1e69e8df50d0

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0233

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Leo H. Baekeland Papers

Creator:: Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this

Names:: Bakelite Corporation Search this; Nepera Chemical Co. Search this

Extent:: 15 Cubic feet (49 boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Professional papers; Clippings; Laboratory notes; Personal correspondence; Photographs; Notebooks; Diaries

Date:: 1976; 1863 - 1968

Summary:: The papers document Leo H. Baekeland, a Belgian born chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile plastic. The papers include student notebooks; private laboratory notebooks and journals; commercial laboratory notes; diaries; patents; technical papers; biographies; newspaper clippings; maps; graphs; blueprints; account books; batch books; formula books; order books; photographs; and correspondence regarding Baekeland, 1887-1943.

Scope and Contents:: Baekeland documented his life prolifically through diaries, laboratory notebooks, photographs, and correspondence. These constitute the bulk of the collection. The Bakelite company history is also incompletely documented in this collection through Baekeland's correspondence, the commercial laboratory notebooks, and some company ledgers.

Arrangement:: Series 1: Reference Materials, 1863-1868 and undated

Subseries 1.1: Biographical, 1880-1965

Subseries 1.2:Company History, 1910-1961

Subseries 1.3: Related Interests, 1863-1968 and undated

Series 2: Published and Unpublished Writings (by Leo H. Baekeland), 1884-1945

Series 3: Correspondence, 1888-1963 Subseries 3.1: Personal Correspondence, 1916-1943

Subseries 3.2: Charitable Donations, 1916-1938

Subseries 3.3: Family Correspondence, 1888-1963

Subseries 3.4: Clubs and Associations, 1916-1943

Series 4: Diaries, 1907-1943

Series 5: Reading and Lecture Notes, 1878-1886

Series 6, Laboratory Notebooks, 1893-1915

Series 7: Commercial Laboratory Notebooks, 1910-1920

Series 8: Bakelite Company, 1887-1945

Series 9, Patents, 1894-1940

Series 10: Bakelite Corporation Ledgers, 1910-1924; 1935; 1939

Series 11: Photographs, 1889-1950 and undated

Subseries 11.1: Photographs, 1889-1950 and undated

Subseries 11.2: Film Negatives, 1900-1941 and undated

Subseries 11.3: Photoprints, 1894-1941

Subseries 11.4: Stereographs, 1888-1902 and undated

Subseries 11.5: Film and Glass Plate Negatives, 1899-1900 and undated

Series 12: Audio Materials, 1976

Biographical / Historical:: Leo Hendrik Baekeland was an industrial chemist famous for his invention of Bakelite, the first moldable synthetic polymer, and for his invention of Velox photographic paper. Baekeland's career as an inventor and innovator was punctuated by an urge to improve existing technologies and a willingness to experiment both meticulously and daringly. Born in Ghent, Belgium in 1863, Baekeland was a distinguished chemistry student and became a young professor at the University of Ghent. He had a long standing interest in photography and sought to further photographic technology with his expertise in chemistry. In 1887 he obtained his first patent for a dry plate which contained its own developer and could be developed in a tray of water. With the support of a business partner/faculty associate, Jules Guequier, he formed a company named Baekeland et Cie to produce the plate, but the venture failed due to lack of capital.

On August 8, 1889, he married Celine Swarts, daughter of his academic mentor Theodore Swarts, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Ghent. After his wedding he travelled to different countries using a traveling scholarship he had been awarded two years previously. His travels ended in the United States where he was offered a job researching chemical problems associated with manufacturing bromide papers and films with A. and H.T. Anthony and Company, a photographic supply producer. Leo and Celine Baekeland had three children: George, Nina and Jenny (1890-1895).

He left Anthony and Company in 1891 to be a consulting chemist. During that time he invented a photographic print paper using silver chloride which could be developed in artificial light instead of sunlight and thus offered more flexibility and consistency to photographers. In 1893, with financial support from Leonard Jacobi, a scrap metal dealer from San Francisco, he formed the Nepera Chemical Company in Yonkers, New York, to manufacture "gaslight" paper under the trade name Velox. The paper became quite popular and the company expanded its operations after its first three years. Finally, George Eastman bought the company for a reported $750,000 which afforded Baekeland the time to conduct his own research in a laboratory he set up on his estate, "Snug Rock," in Yonkers.

Baekeland worked on problems of electrolysis of salt and the production of synthetic resins. He was hired as a consultant to work with Clinton P. Townsend to perfect Townsend's patented electrolytic cell. Baekeland's work there contributed to the success of the Hooke Electrochemical Company which began in operations in Niagara Falls in 1905.

Simultaneously, in 1902 Baekeland began researching reactions of phenol and formaldehyde, and by 1907 was able to control the reactions and produce a moldable plastic (oxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride) which he named Bakelite. Although the process was not perfected for another couple of years, Baekeland applied for a patent for Bakelite right away. He announced his discovery to the scientific community in 1909, and in 1910 formed the General Bakelite Company. Bakelite was a thermosetting resin that, unlike Celluloid became permanently solid when heated. It was virtually impervious to heat, acids, or caustic substances. It could be molded into a wide variety of shapes and was an excellent electric insulator that came to replace hard rubber and amber for electrical and industrial applications. It was also suitable for a wide variety of consumer products such as billiard balls, jewelry, pot handles, telephones, toasters, electric plugs, and airplane instrument knobs. Two companies challenged Bakelite with significant competition, Condensite Corporation of America and Redmanol Chemical Products Company. Bakelite finally merged with these two companies in 1922 to become the Bakelite Corporation. Union Carbide finally bought the corporation in 1939.

Baekeland sustained his interest in photography by taking numerous photographs throughout his lifetime. He also devoted much of his spare time to professional societies and received various honorary degrees and awards such as the Perkin Medal. He had several hobbies such as boating, wine and beer making, and, exotic plants. He also traveled extensively throughout the world, which is documented in his diaries and photographs.

Baekeland spent his final years mostly in his Coconut Grove, Florida home where he became increasingly eccentric until his mind failed him and he was institutionalized. He died in 1943 at the age of eighty.

Scope and Content: Baekeland documented his life prolifically through diaries, laboratory notebooks, photographs, and correspondence. These constitute the bulk of the collection. The Bakelite company history is also incompletely documented in this collection through Baekeland's correspondence, the commercial laboratory notebooks, and some company ledgers.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center

Albany Billiard Ball Company Records (AC0011)

Celluloid Corporation Records (AC0009)

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

Materials at Other Organizations

The Hagley Museum and Library, Manuscripts and Archives Department in Delaware also several related collections including: the Directors of Industrial Research Records, 1929 -982; the Du Pont Viscoloid Company, Survey of the Plastics Field, 1932; The Society of the Plastics Industry, 1937-1987; the Roy J. Plunkett Collection, 1910-1994 (inventor of Teflon); and the Gordon M. Kline Collection, 1903.

Separated Materials:: The National Museum of American History, Division Medicine and Science has several artifacts associated with Baekeland including the original "Bakalizer" the apparatus in which Bakelite was first made. See accession numbers: 1977.0368; 1979.1179; 1981.0976; 1982.0034; 1983.0524; 1984.0138.

Provenance:: The bulk of the collection was donated to the National Museum of American History's Division of Physical Sciences in November, 1981, by Celine Karraker, Leo H. Baekeland's granddaughter.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.

Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:: Phenolic resins Search this; Travel -- Photographs Search this; Chemists -- 1880-1970 Search this; Inventors -- 1880-1970 Search this; Plastics -- 1880-1970 Search this; Chemistry Search this

Genre/Form:: Professional papers -- 1880-1970; Clippings -- 1880-1970; Laboratory notes; Personal correspondence -- 1880-1970; Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 19th-20th century; Notebooks -- 1880-1970; Diaries -- 1880-1970; Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 19th-20th century; Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Nitrate -- 19th-20th century

Citation:: Leo Baekeland Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.0005

See more items in:: Leo H. Baekeland Papers

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep846e88df6-033d-4805-99e2-b308002a75f4

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0005

Online Media:

W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records - Accretion 2

Creator:: W. Atlee Burpee Company Search this; Burpee, W. Atlee (Washington Atlee), 1858-1915 Search this; Burpee, David, 1893-1980 Search this; Wm. Henry Maule (Firm) Search this; James Vick's Sons (Rochester, N.Y.). Search this

Extent:: 200 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Trade catalogs; Business records; Commercial correspondence; Instructional materials; Ledgers (account books)

Date:: circa 1873-1980

Summary:: The W. Atlee Burpee & Company records, dated circa 1873-1986, document the firm's business activities developing plant varieties, working with contract seedsmen, and marketing and selling seeds. They include seed trial records, seed contracts, sales and acccounting records, inventories, office correspondence, seed catalogs, promotional and instructional materials, advertisements and advertising reports, contest letters, daybooks, photographs, reference materials, and other items relating to the company and some of its competitors. The collection also includes Burpee family papers.

Content Description:: This collection documents W. Atlee Burpee & Co., a mail-order seed company based in Philadelphia, from its early beginnings in 1876 when its founder, W. Atlee Burpee, started in the agricultural business, to the 1970s when his son, David Burpee, sold the firm. The collection also includes personal papers of the Burpee family dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.

Business-related content in the collection consists of crop propagation and management records; company correspondence; administrative and personnel records; advertising files; legal papers; property records and plans; reports, studies, and technical data; notes and drafts; files on professional outreach activities and events; trade literature (published by both the Burpee company and a number of its competitors); and awards and certificates received by the company. Significant topics documented in these files include the development of notable flower and vegetable varieties introduced by the company; the impact of World Wars I and II on gardening and the global seed trade; advertising strategies, technology, and innovation; and David Burpee's advocacy of the marigold as the national floral emblem of the United States.

The Burpee family papers consist of personal files unrelated to the company's business operations. These include records generated by W. Atlee's father (David Burpee, 1827-1882) and grandfather (Washington L. Atlee, 1808-1878), as well as W. Atlee's wife, Blanche (1863-1948); David Burpee (1893-1980) and his wife, Lois (1912-1984); and W. Atlee Burpee II (1894-1966). There are genealogical surveys conducted on both the Atlee and Burpee families as well as clippings about family members. W. Atlee and David Burpee's series are the most extensive, and cover their involvement with numerous social and philanthropic clubs and organizations. The series include personal correspondence; financial, accounting, and tax records; travel-related files; reference material; and will and estate papers.

The Burpee collection also has a large number of images related to the Burpee business and family in a variety of formats including photographs, film and glass plate negatives, and advertisement mock-ups. Other formats include architectural and site plans, original artwork for advertisements, films, cassettes, audio tapes, and ephemera.

Arrangement:: Collection is arranged into six series:

Series 1: Plant/Farm Related Material Series 2: Business Records Series 3: Material Published About the Burpee Company Series 4: Awards and Certificates Series 5: Photographic and A/V Materials Series 6: Burpee Family Papers

The collection's original order was maintained wherever possible, though many records were found scattered throughout the collection and artificial files were necessarily created for them.

Most files are arranged chronologically or alphabetically by person or topic.

Various photographs interspersed in correspondence files were kept where they were originally found. All other photographic and audio/visual materials found on their own were grouped in Series 5 Photographic and A/V Material which documents aspects of both the Burpee company and Burpee family.

Biographical / Historical:: Washington Atlee Burpee (1858-1915) began a mail-order poultry and livestock business in 1876 in Philadelphia, which he soon expanded to include corn seed for chicken feed. In 1878, he founded W. Atlee Burpee & Co. to sell livestock and vegetable, fruit, and flower seeds through the mail. His company went on to become one of the most notable seed distributors in the world.

In 1888, W. Atlee bought a tract of land named Fordhook Farms in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It was initially established as an experimental farm to test and evaluate new varieties of vegetables and flowers and to produce seeds for the mail-order market. Burpee spent many summers traveling throughout the United States and Europe visiting farms and searching for the best flowers and vegetables. Certain plants he found were shipped back to the firm for testing and propagation; other seeds were obtained through contracts with growers throughout the U.S., a practice common in the seed industry at that time. Promising varieties were bred with healthier specimens to produce hardier hybrids that were more resistant to disease. Other Burpee trial grounds were later established at Sunnybrook Farm near Swedesboro, New Jersey, and at Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California (1909/1910). The company went on to purchase more land for farming in California, and established sales branch headquarters in Sanford, Florida (circa 1930s), Clinton, Iowa (1942), and Riverside, California (1949).

W. Atlee Burpee married Blanche Simons (1863-1948) in 1892. They had three sons: David (1893-1980); W. Atlee Jr. ("Junior") (1894-1966); and Stuart Alexander (1901-1934). Both David and Junior attended the Blight School in Philadelphia for elementary school and Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana for preparatory school. While they both attended Cornell University as undergraduates, they left before graduating due to W. Atlee's poor health. Junior married Jeanetta Lee (1893-1981) in November, 1916, and they had two children: W. Atlee III (1917-1971) and Jeanette (1919-2002). David married Lois Torrance (1912-1984) in 1938, and they had two children: Johnathan (b. 1941) and Blanche (b. 1943). Stuart Alexander was apparently born with a disability; according to census records he worked on farms during his lifetime.

David Burpee took over the family business upon his father's death in 1915; W. Atlee Burpee, Jr. served as treasurer of the firm once he returned from serving in the military. At that time, the Burpee company had 300 employees and was the largest mail-order seed company in the world. It distributed over one million catalogs a year and received on average 10,000 orders a day. Under David's tutelage, the company adapted to contemporaneous shifts in business and advertising methods, advancements in plant science, ever-changing consumer demands, and two World Wars. In response to food shortages experienced during World War I, the Burpee company helped promote a "war gardens" campaign that evolved into a "victory gardens" campaign during World War II.

Both W. Atlee and David used their position as head of a major seed house to lobby congressional debates in regard to two topics: postage rates (W. Atlee) and the designation of a national floral emblem for the United States (David). Both men belonged to The Union League of Philadelphia and The Canadian Society of Philadelphia (which W. Atlee helped found), and served on the boards of directors for hospitals and other charitable organizations. Both father and son were politically aligned with the Republican Party.

The firm reorganized its governing structure in 1917 at which time it changed its name from W. Atlee Burpee & Co. to W. Atlee Burpee Co. Burpee's acquired three seed companies between 1878 and 1970: Luther Burbank Seed Company, James Vick's Seeds, Inc., and the William Henry Maule Company. David Burpee sold the company to the General Foods Corporation in 1970 and served as a consultant for the business until 1973. The Burpee brand was bought by its current owner, George J. Ball, Inc., in 1991.

General:: The project to process the W. Atlee Burpee & Co. Records received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.

Related Materials:: Burpee seed catalogs donated to the Smithsonian in 1982 by the W. Atlee Burpee Co. can be found in the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History.

The Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division includes a series of images of Burpee company operations taken in 1943.

The Black Gold Cooperative Library System's Asian/Pacific - Americans on the Central Coast Collection includes images dated 1933-1939 of Japanese employees of the Burpee Co. working at Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California.

Restrictions:: Access to original archival materials 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.

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. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:: Seed industry and trade Search this; Mail-order business -- Catalogs Search this; Gardens -- United States Search this; Horticulture Search this; Vegetables Search this; Trial gardens Search this; Victory gardens Search this; Prize contests in advertising Search this; Advertising, Newspaper -- 20th century Search this; Advertising, magazine -- 20th century Search this; Flower shows Search this

Genre/Form:: Trade catalogs; Business records; Commercial correspondence; Instructional materials; Ledgers (account books)

Citation:: Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records

Identifier:: AAG.BUR2

See more items in:: W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records - Accretion 2

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Gardens

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb697bb6243-1e96-416d-b552-0925a2866fbc

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aag-bur2

Online Media:

view Captain H.C. Gray Balloon Basket digital asset number 1

Captain H.C. Gray Balloon Basket

Materials:: Wicker, wood, rope, metal

Dimensions:: 3-D (Overall basket and ring dimentsions): 143.5 × 100.3 × 220.8cm, 92.5kg (4 ft. 8 1/2 in. × 3 ft. 3 1/2 in. × 7 ft. 2 15/16 in., 204lb.); 3-D (Overall basket with rigging pear ring): 143.5 × 100.3 × 355.4cm (4 ft. 8 1/2 in. × 3 ft. 3 1/2 in. × 11 ft. 7 15/16 in.)

Type:: CRAFT-Balloon

Country of Origin:: United States of America

Date:: 1927

Credit Line:: Transferred from the U.S. Army Air Corps, War Department

Inventory Number:: A19280013000

Restrictions & Rights:: CC0

See more items in:: National Air and Space Museum Collection

Data Source:: National Air and Space Museum

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv9088af853-cd3d-48b4-b6ed-8a39f2e66764

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:nasm_A19280013000

Online Media:

No Image Available

Scan artist how Evelyn Wood convinced the world that speed-reading worked Marcia Biederman

Author:: Biederman, Marcia 1949- Search this

Physical description:: xiv, 250 pages illustrations 24 cm

Type:: Biography; Biographies

Place:: United States; États-Unis

Date:: 2019

Topic:: Speed reading Search this; Women educators Search this; Businesswomen Search this; Lecture rapide Search this; Éducatrices Search this

Data Source:: Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:siris_sil_1116206

W. Atlee Burpee & Company records

Creator:: W. Atlee Burpee Company Search this; Burpee, W. Atlee (Washington Atlee), 1858-1915 Search this; Burpee, David, 1893-1980 Search this; James Vick's Sons (Rochester, N.Y.). Search this; Wm. Henry Maule (Firm) Search this

Extent:: 201 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Advertising; Business records; Correspondence; Account books; Pamphlets; Trade catalogs

Date:: circa 1873-1986; bulk 1890-1930

Summary:: The W. Atlee Burpee & Company records, dated circa 1873-1986, document the firm's business activities developing plant varieties and marketing and selling seeds. They include accounting records, seed trial records, seed contracts, sales records, inventories, office correspondence, seed catalogs, promotional and instructional materials, advertisements and advertising reports, contest letters, daybooks, photographs, reference materials, and other items relating to the company and some of its competitors.

Scope and Contents:: This collection documents W. Atlee Burpee & Co., a mail-order seed company based in Philadelphia, from its early beginnings in 1876 when its founder, W. Atlee Burpee, started in the agricultural business, to the 1970s when his son, David Burpee, sold the family's then-global company. The collection also includes personal papers of the Burpee family dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.

Business-related content in the collection consists of crop propagation and management records; company correspondence; administrative and personnel records; advertising files; legal papers; property records and plans; reports, studies, and technical data; notes and drafts; files on professional outreach activities and events; trade literature (published by both the Burpee company and a number of its competitors); and awards and certificates received by the company. Significant topics documented in these files include the development of notable flower and vegetable novelties introduced by the company; the impact of World Wars I and II on gardening and the global seed trade; advertising strategies, technology, and innovation; and David Burpee's involvement in the national floral emblem congressional debate.

The Burpee family papers consist of personal files unrelated to the company's business operations. This includes records generated by W. Atlee's father (David Burpee, 1827-1882) and grandfather (Washington L. Atlee, 1808-1878), as well as W. Atlee's wife, Blanche (1863-1948); David Burpee (1893-1980) and his wife, Lois (1912-1984); and W. Atlee Burpee II (1894-1966). There are genealogical surveys conducted on both the Atlee and Burpee families as well as clippings about family members. W. Atlee and David Burpee's series are the most extensive and cover their involvement with numerous clubs and societies such as the Canadian Society of Philadelphia, the Union League of Philadelphia, and, for David Burpee, his involvement with Pearl S. Buck's Welcome House charity. The series include personal correspondence; financial, accounting, and tax records; files generated during vacations; reference material; and will and estate papers.

The Burpee collection also has a large number of images related to the Burpee business and family in a variety of formats including photographs, film and glass plate negatives, and advertisement mock-ups. Other formats include architectural and site plans, original artwork for advertisements, films, cassettes, audio tapes, and ephemera.

Arrangement:: Collection is arranged into six series:

Series 1: Plant/Farm Related Material

Series 2: Business Records

Series 3: Material Published About the Burpee Company

Series 4: Awards and Certificates

Series 5: Photographic and A/V Materials

Series 6: Burpee Family Papers

Biographical / Historical:: Washington Atlee Burpee (1858-1915) began a mail-order poultry and livestock business in 1876 in Philadelpia, which he soon expanded to include corn seed for chicken feed. In 1878, he founded W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the primary focus of which was to sell vegetable, fruit, and flower seeds through the mail. This company would go on to become one of the most notable seed distributors in the United States.

By 1888, Burpee's family home, Fordhook Farms, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was established as an experimental farm to test and evaluate new varieties of vegetables and flowers, and to produce seeds. Burpee spent many summers traveling throughout the United States and Europe, visiting farms and searching for the best flowers and vegetables; certain plants he found were shipped to Fordhook Farms for testing. Plants that survived were bred with healthier specimens to produce heartier hybrids that were more resistant to disease. Other Burpee trial gardens were established in Lompoc, California and near Swedesboro, New Jersey.

Burpee's son David took over the family business upon his father's death in 1915. At that time, the Burpee Company had 300 employees and was the largest mail order seed company in the world. It distributed over one million catalogs a year and received as many as 10,000 orders a day. In response to food shortages caused by World War I, the Burpee Company helped promote a "war gardens" campaign that evolved into a "victory gardens" campaign during World War II. Both were aimed at city dwellers and instructed them on how to grow vegetables for their own consumption to aid in the war effort.

Sometime in the 1930s, the Burpee Company entered into a business relationship with the James Vick's Company of Rochester, New York. In 1947, Burpee purchased the assets of and rights to the use of the name of the Wm. Henry Maule Co. In 1970, Burpee was sold to General Foods; the corporate headquarters moved from Philadelphia to Warminster, Pennsylvania in 1974. David Burpee remained a consultant for the company until his death in 1981. In 1991, the Burpee Company was acquired by George J. Ball, Inc.

Related Materials:: Burpee seed catalogs donated to the Smithsonian in 1982 by the W. Atlee Burpee Co. can be found in the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History.

The Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division includes a series of images of Burpee company operations taken in 1943.

The Black Gold Cooperative Library System's Asian/Pacific - Americans on the Central Coast Collection includes images dated 1933-1939 of Japanese employees of the Burpee Co. working at Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California.

Restrictions:: Access to original archival materials 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.

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. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Topic:: Seed industry and trade Search this; Mail-order business Search this; Gardens -- United States Search this; Business Search this; Agriculture Search this; Horticulture Search this; Vegetables Search this; Flowers Search this; Trial gardens Search this; Victory gardens Search this; Contests Search this

Genre/Form:: Advertising; Business records; Correspondence; Account books -- 19th century; Account books -- 20th century; Pamphlets; Trade catalogs

Citation:: Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records.

Identifier:: AAG.BUR

See more items in:: W. Atlee Burpee & Company records

Archival Repository:: Archives of American Gardens

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb61614fe59-fe73-49f7-a297-a129d1ef0c0a

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-aag-bur

Online Media:

Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials

Creator:: Celley, Al Search this; Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974 Search this

Extent:: 2.5 Cubic feet (7 boxes, 1 oversize folder, 2 films)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Contracts; Business records; Correspondence; Financial records; Handbills; Notes; Orchestrations; Passports; Photographs; 78 rpm records; Signatures (names); 16mm motion picture film; Tickets; Writings

Date:: 1943-1989

Summary:: A diverse collection of papers assembled by Duke Ellington's road manager, Al Celley. The collection includes correspondence, photographs of Ellington and his orchestra at various times and locations; concert ephemera; handwritten notes; business and financial documents, primarily receipts; and travel ephemera.

Scope and Contents:: The collection was assembled by Duke Ellington's road manager, Al Celley and includes correspondence, photographs of Ellington and his orchestra at various times and locations; concert ephemera; handwritten notes; business and financial documents, primarily receipts; and travel ephemera.

Arrangement:: The collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Personal Materials, 1943-1962

Subseries 1.1: Al Celley, 1943-1962

Subseries 1.2: Duke Ellington, 1948

Series 2: Correspondence, 1945-1963

Subseries 2.1: Chronological, 1945-1963

Subseries 2.2: Alphabetical, 1949-1961

Series 3: Subject Files, 1948-1963

Series 4: Financial Materials, 1944-1964

Subseries 4.1: Payroll/Salary Ledgers, 1944-1962

Subseries 4.2: Expense Notebooks, 1946, 1959

Subseries 4.3: Receipts and Bills, 1945-1964

Series 5: Photographs, 1947-1967

Series 6: Audio Visual Materials, 1945-1957

Subseries 6.1: Moving Image, 1957

Subseries 6.2: Audio Discs, 1945-1946

Biographical / Historical:: Albert "Al" Joseph Celley (1909-1994) was Duke Ellington's road manager from 1944 to 1964. Celley handled the band's business affairs, such as concert bookings, logistics, staging shows, and organizing tours. Celley also handled the weekly payroll, contracts, collecting money from promoters, paying road expenses, and sending weekly reports to Bill Mittler, an accountant.

Related Materials:: Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Duke Ellington Collection (AC0301)

Duke Ellington Oral History Project (AC0368)

This project includes an interview with Al Celley, July 12, 1989.

Provenance:: Purchased at auction by the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, May 2011.

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.

Reference copies for audio discs and moving image do not exist. Use of these materials requires special arrangement with the Archives Center staff. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.

Rights:: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:: African Americans Search this; Big bands Search this; Music Search this; Jazz -- 20th century -- United States Search this; Jazz musicians Search this; Music trade Search this; Musicians Search this

Genre/Form:: Contracts; Business records; Correspondence; Financial records; Handbills; Notes; Orchestrations; Passports; Photographs; 78 rpm records; Signatures (names); 16mm motion picture film; Tickets; Writings

Citation:: Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:: NMAH.AC.1240

See more items in:: Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials

Archival Repository:: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8227b0efa-2c3a-4607-a95d-539a6675e9fe

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1240

Coralline algal Barium as indicator for 20th century northwestern North Atlantic surface ocean freshwater variability

Author:: Jacob, D. E. Search this; Mecking, J. V. Search this; Kunz, B. E. Search this; Zack, T. Search this; Halfar, J. Search this; Hetzinger, S. Search this; Adey, Walter H. Search this

Object Type:: Smithsonian staff publication; Electronic document

Year:: 2013

Topic:: Botany Search this; Plants Search this; Natural History Search this

See others in:: Botany

Data source:: Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:SILSRO_115808

National Congress of American Indians records

Creator:: National Congress of American Indians Search this

Names:: Arrow, Inc. Search this; National Tribal Chairmen's Association Search this; Native American Rights Fund Search this; United Effort Trust Search this; United States. American Indian Policy Review Commission Search this; United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs Search this; United States. Indian Claims Commission Search this; Bronson, Ruth Muskrat Search this; Curry, James E., 1907-1972 Search this; Deloria, Vine Search this; Harjo, Suzan Shown Search this; McNickle, D'Arcy, 1904-1977 Search this; Peterson, Helen L. Search this; Snake, Reuben, 1937-1993 Search this; Tonasket, Mel Search this; Trimble, Charles E. Search this

Extent:: 251 Linear feet (597 archival boxes)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Photographs; Videotapes; Correspondence; Administrative records; Financial records; Audiotapes; Clippings

Date:: 1933-1990; bulk 1944-1989

Summary:: The National Congress of American Indian (NCAI), founded in 1944, is the oldest nation-wide American Indian advocacy organization in the United States. The NCAI records document the organization's work, particularly that of its office in Washington, DC, and the wide variety of issues faced by American Indians in the twentieth century. The collection is located in the Cultural Resource Center of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Scope and Contents:: The records of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) reflect the operations of its Washington, DC, headquarters and, in particular, the activities and responsibilities of its executive director. The papers primarily cover the period 1943 to 1990, although some documents pre-dating NCAI are present. The bulk of the material relates to legislation, lobbying, and NCAI's interactions with various governmental bodies. A large segment also concerns the annual conventions and executive council and executive committee meetings. Finally, the records also document the operations of the NCAI, including personnel, financial, and fundraising material. Materials found throughout the collection include letters, memoranda, handwritten notes, speeches, press releases, newspaper clippings, publications, minutes of meetings, transcripts, reports, agenda, programs, financial records, legislative materials, photographs, and sound recordings.

Arrangement:: The National Congress of American Indians records are arranged in 21 series:

Series 1 -- : NCAI Conventions and Mid-Year Conferences

Series 2 -- : Executive Council and Executive Committee Files

Subseries 2.1: Executive Council

Subseries 2.2: Executive Committee

Subseries 2.3: Executive Committee: Benefit Awards

Series 3 -- : Correspondence Files

Subseries 3.1: Name Files

Subseries 3.2: Chronological Files

Subseries 3.3: Miscellaneous Files

Series 4 -- : Tribal Files

Subseries 4.1: Individual Tribes, Bands and Reservations

Subseries 4.2: Intertribal Organizations

Subseries 4.3: Special Issues

Subseries 4.4: Miscellaneous Tribal Files

Series 5 -- : Records of Indian Interest Organizations

Subseries 5.1: Other Indian Organizations

Subseries 5.2: Non-Indian Support Groups

Subseries 5.3: General Indian Interest Groups

Series 6 -- : NCAI Committees and Special Issue Files

Subseries 6.1: Alaskan Natives

Subseries 6.2: Policy Conference

Subseries 6.3: Religious Freedom and Related Cultural Concerns

Subseries 6.4: Hunting and Fishing Rights

Subseries 6.5: Natural Resources and Indian Water Rights

Subseries 6.6: Nuclear Waste

Subseries 6.7: Solar Bank

Subseries 6.8: AIMS [American Indian Media Surveillance] Committee

Subseries 6.9: HCR 108 and Federal Termination Policies

Subseries 6.10: Emergency Conference of 1954

Subseries 6.11: Jurisdiction --NCAI Commission and Federal Legislation

Subseries 6.12: Law Enforcement

Subseries 6.13: Litigation Committee

Subseries 6.14: Annual Litigation Conference

Subseries 6.15: Trail of Broken Treaties Impact Survey Team

Subseries 6.16: Block Grants

Subseries 6.17: Health and Welfare

Subseries 6.18: Self-Determination and Education

Subseries 6.19: National Conference on Federal Recognition

Subseries 6.20: Economic and Reservation Development

Series -- 7: United Effort Trust (UET)

Subseries 7.1: NCAI and NTCA Joint Committee

Subseries 7.2: Issues

Subseries 7.3: Legislation

Subseries 7.4: News Releases

Subseries 7.5: Indian Organizations

Subseries 7.6: Inter-Tribal Organizations

Subseries 7.7: Non-Indian Organizations

Subseries 7.8: Tribes

Series 8 -- : Attorneys and Legal Interest Groups

Subseries 8.1: Attorneys

Subseries 8.2: Legal Interest Groups

Subseries 8.3: Legal Services

Series 9 -- : Federal Indian Policy and Legislation Files

Subseries 9.1: American Indian Policy Review Task Force

Series 10 -- : Bureau of Indian Affairs

Series 11 -- : State and Local Government Organizations

Series 12 -- : Census

Series 13 -- : General Alpha-Subject Files

Series 14 -- : Records of Charles E. "Chuck" Trimble

Series 15 -- : Records of Suzan S. Harjo

Subseries 15.1: Indian Claims: Eastern Land Claims

Subseries 15.2: Indian Claims: Statute of Limitations

Subseries 15.3: Conference on -- The Indian Reorganization Act - An Assessment and Prospectus Fifty Years Later

Subseries 15.4: Inter-American Indian Institute (IAII)

Subseries 15.5: Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)

Subseries 15.6: Institute of the American West (IAW)

Subseries 15.7: Common Cause

Subseries 15.8: Office Files

Series 16 -- : Fund Raising

Subseries 16.1: Gifts, Bequests, and Contributions

Subseries 16.2: Foundations

Subseries 16.3: General --Arrow and NCAI Fund

Series 17 -- : Business and Financial Records Files

Subseries 17.1: Personnel

Series 18 -- : "Give-Away" Files

Series 19 -- : Publications

Subseries 19.1: -- News/Sentinels -- and -- Sentinel Bulletin

Subseries 19.2: Other Publications

Series 20 -- : Photographs

Series 21 -- : Audio and Film Recordings

Biographical / Historical:: The National Congress of America Indians, which describes itself as the oldest and largest American Indian and Alaskan Native organization in the United States, was founded on November 16, 1944, in Denver, CO. NCAI was intended to serve as a link between individual tribal councils and the United States government, by defining and helping to crystallize Indian thought on the administration of Indian affairs. The Congress also aimed to educate the general public about Indians, preserve Indian cultural values, protect treaty rights with the United States, and promote Indian welfare.

At the first convention, delegates representing fifty tribes ratified the constitution and by-laws, drafted resolutions determining the direction of NCAI policy, and elected the organizations' first officers, with Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Napoleon B. Johnson (Cherokee) as president. The officers, as well as eight elected council members, formed the Executive Council. The Council chose the Executive Director; Ruth Muskrat Bronson (Cherokee) was the organization's first director, from 1944-1948. "Persons of Indian blood" could join the organization either as individuals or as groups. In 1955, however, the constitution was revised to restrict group membership to recognized tribes, committees, or bands, and to make the Executive Council chosen by tribal representatives. These changes gave control of the organization to governing bodies of organized tribes, rather than individuals. A further amendment that year created a five-member Executive Committee, headed by the president, which had all the powers of the Executive Council between council meetings.

Conventions have been held annually in the fall since the formation of the NCAI in 1944. Since 1977, mid-year conferences have been held in May or June of each year, to allow more frequent and thorough discussion of issues. The resolutions passed at these conventions are the basis for all policy of the Executive Committee and Executive Director between meetings. The conventions are also used for informational sessions and meetings of standing and special committees of NCAI. One or two-day workshops may also be held on special topics or Congressional issues of particular concern.

NCAI created a tax-exempt arm in 1949 to accept charitable contributions and apply for grants, the NCAI Fund, which soon changed its name to ARROW, Inc. By 1957, however, ARROW had split off to become an independent organization, and NCAI started a new arm, again called the NCAI Fund. In the coming decades, the NCAI Fund would obtain grants from sources including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Veteran Affairs, Indian Health Service, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Ford Foundation, humanities councils and others, which they used for conferences, workshops, publications, and other projects.

In its early years, NCAI fought for the recognition of land claims of Alaska natives, the enfranchisement of Arizona and New Mexico Indians, the equitable settlement of tribal land claims, and the right of Indians to select their own attorneys. The NCAI lobbied vigorously for an Indian Claims Commission Bill, which became law in August 1946. NCAI's lobbying efforts on behalf of this act set the pattern for the organization's future role in legislative matters: keeping member tribes abreast of proposed legislation and ascertaining their views, and maintaining a presence in Congress through lobbying and testimony.

Beginning in 1954, the threat of termination pushed NCAI into a period of increased activity. Although some tribes were ready to terminate their relationship with the federal government, much of Indian Country felt threatened by the government's new stated policy. NCAI therefore organized an Emergency Conference of American Indians for February 1954 to protest this new termination policy. An agreement was forged at the conference between the NCAI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to work together toward slowly liquidating the BIA. The termination period of the 1950s and 1960s, while challenging, saw NCAI increase in confidence and political acumen.

During the 1960s, a number of other activist Indian groups sprang up and began to dilute the singular influence which NCAI had commanded. Newer, more militant groups often considered themselves at odds with NCAI, which was increasingly perceived as conservative. As the number of Indian advocacy groups grew in the 1960s and 1970s, however, NCAI actively partnered with other organizations, particularly the National Tribal Chairmen's Association (NTCA) and Native American Rights Fund (NARF), on a variety of projects.

Charles E. "Chuck" Trimble (Oglala Dakota) served as Executive Director of NCAI in 1972 until 1977, when he resigned to lead the United Effort Trust, a project designed to fight white backlash to Indian rights. NCAI spent most of the next two years trying to find another permanent director. In 1979, Ronald P. Andrade (Luiseno-Diegueno) joined NCAI and unfortunately found a group that was demoralized and underfunded. He was able to return the organization to good health but left in 1982. Si Whitman (Nez Perce), his successor, remained at NCAI for less than a year.

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne-Creek) became director of NCAI on May 1, 1984. Prior to taking this postions, she had served as Congressional Liaison for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior during the Carter administration and as legislative liaison for the Native American Rights Fund, as well as working for NCAI during the mid-1970s. Harjo was also an active and published poet, as well as a frequent speaker at events around the country. The National Congress of American Indians was particularly active on Capitol Hill while Harjo was director, advocating for government-to-government status, the Tribal Government Tax Status Act of 1983, repatriation legislation, and economic development programs, among other issues. Harjo was herself very involved in the establishment of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.

The NCAI Fund was very successful in receiving grants during this period, although they were chronically short of operating funds. Some of their most active projects during this period were the Indian and Native Veterans Outreach Program (INVOP), Inter-generational Health Promotion and Education Program (IHPEP), Environmental Handbook and related educational seminars, Solar Bank, nuclear waste disposal and transportation information sessions, and voter registration.

For years, NCAI's operating expenses had been funded by the Ford Foundation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). In 1985, the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, opposing the use of Federal monies to support outside organizations, began to block the payment for services due to the NCAI. This created a financial crisis from which the NCAI did not recover during Harjo's tenure, and it became the major issue for which she was not rehired in October 1989.

Following the 1989 Annual Convention, Wayne Ducheneaux (Cheyenne River Sioux) became President of NCAI and A. Gay Kingman (Cheyenne River Sioux) was appointed Executive Director. Their first efforts were focused on recovering the financial well-being of the organization, which meant that less attention was devoted to issues in Congress. One of the successful projects NCAI pursued during the next two years was organization and presentation of the Indian pre-conference of the White House Conference on Library and Information Science, which was held in early 1991.

The National Congress of American Indians is still active today, continuing its work of lobbying, support for tribal governments, and advocacy for American Indian issues.

Related Materials:: Other collections at the NMAI Archives Center that include information on the National Congress of American Indians include:

Arrow, Inc., and the American Indian Tribal Court Judges records, 1949-1999 (NMAI.MS.013) James E. Curry papers, 1935-1955 (NMAI.MS.015) National Tribal Chairmen's Association records, 1971-1978 (NMAI.MS.014) Helen L. Peterson papers, 1944-1992 (NMAI.MS.016) Reuben Snake papers, 1971-1996 (NMAI.MS.012)

Provenance:: The National Congress of American Indians designated the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) as its official repository in 1976. This collection was received by NAA in four accessions between 1976 and 1991. It was transferred from NAA to the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center in 2006.

Restrictions:: Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

Rights:: Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadbast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.

Topic:: Indians of North America -- Government relations -- 1934- Search this; Indians of North America -- Politics and government Search this; Indians of North America -- Social conditions -- 20th century Search this; Indians of North America -- Legal status, laws, etc. Search this; Indian termination policy Search this; Alaska Natives -- Land tenure Search this; Indians of North America -- Civil rights Search this; Indians of North America -- Economic conditions -- 20th century Search this; Radioactive wastes -- United States -- Management Search this; Trail of Broken Treaties, 1972 Search this

Genre/Form:: Photographs; Videotapes; Correspondence; Administrative records; Financial records; Audiotapes; Clippings

Citation:: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Collection Title, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: NMAI.AC.010

See more items in:: National Congress of American Indians records

Archival Repository:: National Museum of the American Indian

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4710475fc-a6c0-427e-ad01-f83634f2caa5

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-nmai-ac-010

Online Media:

Yogini

Medium:: Stone (metagabbro)

Dimensions:: H x W x D: 116 x 76 x 43.2 cm (45 11/16 x 29 15/16 x 17 in)

Type:: Sculpture; Stone

Date:: 10th century

Period:: Chola dynasty

Topic:: Hinduism Search this; goose Search this; Chola dynasty (850 - 1280) Search this; yogini Search this; India Search this; South Asian and Himalayan Art Search this; WWII-era provenance Search this

Credit Line:: Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

Accession Number:: S1987.905

Restrictions & Rights:: Usage conditions apply

Related Online Resources:: Google Cultural Institute

See more items in:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3722f0943-e17d-46d2-9ca0-5e8b54683f5f

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:fsg_S1987.905

Portrait of a Qing Courtier in a Winter Costume

Medium:: Ink and colors on silk

Dimensions:: H x W (painting): 190.1 x 104.5 cm (74 13/16 x 41 1/8 in)

Type:: Painting

Origin:: China

Date:: 19th-early 20th century

Period:: Qing dynasty

Topic:: portrait Search this; Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911) Search this; man Search this; courtier Search this; chair Search this; China Search this; Chinese Art Search this; Pritzlaff collection Search this; WWII-era provenance Search this

Credit Line:: Purchase — Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program and partial gift of Richard G. Pritzlaff

Accession Number:: S1991.110

Restrictions & Rights:: Usage conditions apply

Related Online Resources:: Google Cultural Institute

See more items in:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye33af35d00-15c0-46c1-ba18-72becb634ea5

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:fsg_S1991.110

Portrait of Chinese Woman in a Kingfisher Headdress

Medium:: Ink and colors on silk

Dimensions:: H x W (painting): 161.2 x 94.9 cm (63 7/16 x 37 3/8 in)

Type:: Painting

Origin:: China

Date:: 19th-early 20th century

Period:: Qing dynasty

Topic:: portrait Search this; tiger Search this; Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911) Search this; woman Search this; bat Search this; kingfisher Search this; chair Search this; carpet Search this; China Search this; Chinese Art Search this; Pritzlaff collection Search this; WWII-era provenance Search this

Credit Line:: Purchase — Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program and partial gift of Richard G. Pritzlaff

Accession Number:: S1991.119

Restrictions & Rights:: Usage conditions apply

Related Online Resources:: Google Cultural Institute

See more items in:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Data Source:: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

GUID:: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye32e28d20c-f10c-41e4-b1c3-82a8d6851930

EDAN-URL:: edanmdm:fsg_S1991.119

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