Search Results

Author:

Natwick, Grim  Search this

Howard Lowery (Firm)  Search this

Subject:

Natwick, Grim  Search this

Walt Disney Productions  Search this

Physical description:

47 p. : ill. ; 28 cm

Type:

Catalogs

Place:

United States

Date:

1991

[1991]

Topic:

Animated films  Search this

Call number:

N40.1.N296x H8 1991

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_456085

Creator:

Woodward, Inc.  Search this

Vaughan Furniture Co., The.  Search this

Steelcase, Inc.  Search this

Lane Company, The.  Search this

Kessler Industries, Inc.  Search this

Jasper Cabinet Co.  Search this

Howland, Richard H., Dr. (special assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1978-1979))  Search this

Hooker Furniture Corp.  Search this

Furniture World.  Search this

American Heirloom Galleries.  Search this

Drexel Heritage Furnishings  Search this

Broyhill Industries.  Search this

Century Furniture Co., Inc.  Search this

Bass Brothers Furniture Co.  Search this

Source:

Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI).  Search this

Former owner:

Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI).  Search this

Extent:

4 Cubic feet (10 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Schedules

Sales catalogs

Date:

1977-1980

Scope and Contents note:

The collection consists of the raw materials (completed schedules and catalogues) for a survey of material of historical interest and importance associated with American furniture manufacturers. There is a folder for each of the approximately 210 furniture manufacturing companies asked to participate in the survey, filed alphabetically by company.

Nearly all of the material has been kept in the original folders (not acid free) which are filed alphabetically by company. It is in excellent condition (1988) but should be transferred to acid free folders if a decision to keep it indefinitely is made).

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged alphabetically by company name.

Biographical/Historical note:

This collection constitutes the raw materials from an attempt to survey the archival holdings of American furniture manufacturers which was undertaken by the office of Dr. Richard H. Howland, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1978-1979. The survey was intended as a preliminary study of industry owned collections and the possibility of a repository for such material. A letter and schedule were sent to approximately 210 furniture companies in the summer of 1979. In some instances follow up letters were sent in the fall. Each company was asked to complete a single page schedule and to send a catalogue if available.

Of the approximately 210 companies which received schedules, over 100 companies failed to respond. Forty five schedules were returned and more then 60 companies provided catalogues. Several companies sent brochures, pamphlets or annual reports in addition to or in lieu of catalogues. A few folders contain correspondence relating to prospective visits by the project director, or to preliminary plans for the survey.

The material received was not analyzed and no formal report was written. Funding did not materialize and the project was discontinued.

David A. Hanks, who worked on various projects under Dr. Howland's sponsorship before moving to New York in 1979 and Mrs. Johanna Rieg, a volunteer, worked on the project.

Page 5 of David Hanks paper before the Decorative Arts Archives Conference held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 21, 1979 refers to a report by Mrs. Rieg on the initial findings of the survey. A telephone conversation with Mrs. Rieg March 2, 1988 indicated that her statement was an informal one not a written paper. At that time the project was not far enough along for any significant data to be available.

Provenance:

Immediate source of acquisition unknown.

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: fees for commercial use.

Topic:

Furniture industry and trade  Search this

advertising  Search this

Business -- History  Search this

Genre/Form:

Schedules

Sales catalogs

Citation:

American Furniture Industries Survey Collection, 1978-1980, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0286

See more items in:

American Furniture Industries Survey Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0286

Artist:

Henry Inman, 28 Oct 1801 - 17 Jan 1846  Search this

Sitter:

James Henry Hackett, 15 Mar 1800 - 28 Dec 1871  Search this

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

Stretcher: 76.8 x 64.1 x 2.5cm (30 1/4 x 25 1/4 x 1")

Frame: 105.4 x 92.1 x 10.2cm (41 1/2 x 36 1/4 x 4")

Type:

Painting

Place:

United States\New York\Kings\New York

Date:

c. 1832

Topic:

Weapon\Gun\Rifle  Search this

Exterior\Landscape\Rural  Search this

Nature & Environment\Animal\Bird\Owl  Search this

James Henry Hackett: Male  Search this

James Henry Hackett: Literature\Writer  Search this

James Henry Hackett: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor\Theater  Search this

James Henry Hackett: Performing Arts\Theater Manager  Search this

Portrait  Search this

Credit Line:

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Object number:

NPG.96.47

Restrictions & Rights:

CC0

See more items in:

National Portrait Gallery Collection

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm47e1f0cf4-bfae-49b5-acbb-4e0634701aa0

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:npg_NPG.96.47

Measurements:

overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in; 13.97 cm x 8.89 cm

Object Name:

stereographs

ad lit

Brochures

postage stamps

envelopes

sales catalogs

picture postcards

picture postcard

Date made:

1909

Subject:

Portraits  Search this

Mail  Search this

ID Number:

2016.0066.070

Accession number:

2016.0066

Catalog number:

2016.0066.0070

See more items in:

Work and Industry: Photographic History

Photography

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b2-feac-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1806432

Measurements:

overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in; 13.97 cm x 8.89 cm

Object Name:

stereographs

ad lit

Brochures

postage stamps

envelopes

sales catalogs

picture postcards

picture postcard

Date made:

1909

Subject:

Portraits  Search this

Mail  Search this

ID Number:

2016.0066.071

Accession number:

2016.0066

Catalog number:

2016.0066.0071

See more items in:

Work and Industry: Photographic History

Photography

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-4a76-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1806433

Measurements:

overall: 1/8 in x 18 in x 24 in; .3175 cm x 45.72 cm x 60.96 cm

Object Name:

medical sales catalog

ID Number:

2014.3012.0474

Nonaccession number:

2014.3012

Catalog number:

2014.3012.0474

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Medicine

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-2056-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1463043

Measurements:

overall: 11 5/8 in x 16 1/4 in; 29.5275 cm x 41.275 cm

Object Name:

medical sales catalog

ID Number:

2014.3012.0475

Nonaccession number:

2014.3012

Catalog number:

2014.3012.0475

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Medicine

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-2057-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1463045

Measurements:

overall: 18 3/8 in x 23 1/4 in; 46.6725 cm x 59.055 cm

Object Name:

medical sales catalog

ID Number:

2014.3012.0476

Nonaccession number:

2014.3012

Catalog number:

2014.3012.0476

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Medicine

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-167b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1463049

Measurements:

overall: 17 1/2 in x 23 1/2 in; 44.45 cm x 59.69 cm

Object Name:

medical sales catalog

ID Number:

2014.3012.0477

Nonaccession number:

2014.3012

Catalog number:

2014.3012.0477

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Medicine

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-167c-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1463051

Maker:

Electro Rent Corporation  Search this

Object Name:

Catalog

Date made:

Fall 1985

Credit Line:

Joan Krammer

ID Number:

1987.3128.116

Nonaccession number:

1987.3128

Catalog number:

1987.3128.116

See more items in:

Medicine and Science: Computers

Data Source:

National Museum of American History

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-0a97-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:nmah_1281188

Creator:

Underwood & Underwood  Search this

Publisher:

American Stereoscopic Co.  Search this

H. C. White Co.  Search this

Killela, J.J.  Search this

Underwood, Bert, 1862-1943  Search this

Underwood, Elmer, 1859-1947  Search this

Photographer:

Ponting, Herbert George, 1870-1935  Search this

Underwood, Bert, 1862-1943  Search this

Underwood, Elmer, 1859-1947  Search this

White, Clarence W.  Search this

Extent:

160 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Stereographs

Photographs

Stereoscopic photographs

Lantern slides

Date:

1895-1921

Scope and Contents:

The major part of the collection, series 1-4, contains nearly 28,000 glass plates, including original stereoscopic negatives, interpositives, and both negative and positive non-stereoscopic plates used to produce lantern slides and paper prints. The photographs were taken all over the world. The majority are from the Underwood & Underwood active files, but plates from other publishers are also included. Series 5 is a small collection of paper stereographs. Series 6 contains 4 Underwood & Underwood descriptive sales catalogs and 1 H. C. White & Co. catalog (numbers on the Underwood plates correspond to the numbers on catalog captions). Series 7 is apparatus--four stereoscopes.

The approximately 28,000 glass plates in this collection have not been completely inspected at this point due to handling problems associated with asbestos contamination of the collection. A preliminary survey, however, indicated that the selections of images cover the full range of subject matter encompassed by the "Underwood Travel System." The subject matter is most easily comprehended by consulting one of the Underwood sales catalogs which accompany the collection. The catalog captions are arranged geographically, for the most part, and generally represent an organized "tour" which could be purchased as a boxed set, complete with maps and guide book, although individual images could be purchased separately. The catalogs indicate that the Underwood files were continually updated, for extensive modifications in some of the sets can be seen from edition to edition, and actual inspection of published stereographs shows that alternate views with identical Underwood catalog numbers were substituted from time to time, and that new subjects (with new catalog numbers) were sometimes introduced into the sets and old subjects were retired. There are glass plate negatives as well as positives in this collection. The positive images were probably interpositives used for the production of duplicate negatives. Some of the original stereo negatives were cut apart and the images transposed; they were then bound with an additional glass support (in many cases the tape has deteriorated). Half stereo positives also appear in the collection: these probably were intended for use in lantern slide production. Frequently a drawer of plates contains several incarnations of a single image, including the original negative, a copy negative, an interpositive, and a positive lantern slide. In other cases a drawer may contain only a single mode, e.g., original negatives, while corresponding positives and/or lantern slides appear in separate drawers.

A small quantity of the Underwood & Underwood plates are not from the Travel System, but represent humorous and genre subjects which were cataloged and marketed separately. The work of several other publishers, usually without Underwood catalog numbers, is also represented, including H. C. White, American Stereoscopic Company, and J. J. Killela.

The arrangement of the collection seems to reflect a combination of permanent reference storage as well as active use files. The apparent anomalies or inconsistencies probably indicate the pulling of plates from permanent files into temporary work files, and the collection may consist of a combination of permanent storage and temporary working files. As the drawers do not appear to have been renumbered according to any easily discernible pattern, they have become intermixed and rearranged in storage. The contents of each drawer usually have been found in good order, however, and the plates were nearly always arranged numerically,usually with the low numbers at the rear of the drawer and the highest number at the front. As the plates have been rehoused, the reverse numerical order has been corrected. When all the plates have been rehoused and inventoried, consideration will be given to general collection rearrangement and renumbering of the containers, either strictly in numerical order or topically and/or geographically with a numerical sequence within each group.

The collection is in good condition for the most part, although conservation attention will be required. There is a certain amount of emulsion peeling or frilling at the edges of some plates, but this is a condition to which emulsions on glass frequently are prone. A few plates, bound in a sandwich arrangement between cover glass and acetate facing the emulsion, have suffered severe damage, peeling, and image losses through the apparent ferrotyping and sticking of emulsion to the plastic, probably under conditions of high humidity at some stage. There is surprisingly little glass breakage within the collection.

Most of the stereoscopic negatives and many of the positives are defaced with a double "XI' scratched into the emulsion of either the left or right side, as described above in the historical note. Of particular interest and presumed rarity are cards found interfiled with plates in many of the drawers. These cards, filed by Underwood (i.e., catalog) numbers, bear printing'or production dates and notes, along with the unique, chronological accession numbers which the company assigned to each plate, regardless of the "active" number which it might eventually receive. A check mark on a card usually refers to a plate actually in the collection and with which the card is found physically associated; additional accession numbers without check marks listed on the cards possibly refer to variant views which were discarded or may in fact be in the Keystone Mast Collection (pending further research). For ease of handling and in the interest of conservation, the cards have been separated from the plates within each drawer and are arranged as a group at the rear, but can still be located easily. Frequently when a plate and/or its original envelope does not bear both the "active" and accession numbers, the missing number can be located on one of these cards.

Photographers represented include Herbert G. Ponting and Clarence W. White. A photographer and/or publisher named J. J. Killela is also represented.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in seven series. Series 1, 2, and 3 are each divided into negative and positive subseries. Plates are arranged numerically in groups based on geographical and subject content. Controlled at the series level in the finding aid and at the item level in a computer database.

Series 1, H. C. White glass plates

Series 2, American Stereoscpopic Co. glass plates

Series 3, Underwood & Underwood glass plates

Series 4, Broken glass plates

Series 5, Original company catalogs

Series 6, Paper stereographs

Series 7, stereoscopes (viewers)

Biographical / Historical:

Underwood & Underwood was established at Ottawa, Kansas, by the young brothers Elmer and Bert Underwood in 1882. They initially operated as distributors for eastern photographers' stereographs to new markets in the West. Their activities included door to door canvassing with views by Charles Bierstadt, J. F. Jarvis, and Littleton View Co.(1) Underwood & Underwood, Publishers, opened a branch office in Baltimore in 1887.(2)

Soon Underwood & Underwood and other large stereograph publishers began recruiting college students to work as salesmen during summer months (1890). Underwood and Underwood claimed that their organization alone sent out as many as 3,000 college students in one Summer [sic]. With the other ... big companies each employing more than 1,000, it is easy to understand how the countryside of the Nation literally swarmed with stereograph salesmen throughout the summer months! ... The competition between the salesmen themselves was likewise aggressive, with no holds barred. Many successful business and professional men of today relate with considerable pride that they got their start on their careers in this practical and very effective school of salesmanship.(3)

The company moved its main office from Ottawa, Kansas to New York City (1891),(4) and gradually began to publish its own stereographs. Bert Underwood finally took photography lessons from M. Abel in Mentone, France during the same year.(5) B. L. Singley, erstwhile salesman for the Underwood & Underwood and James M. Davis & Co. firms, in 1892 formed the Keystone View Company of Meadville, Pennsylvania, which was to become Underwood & Underwood's chief competitor and imitator.(6)

Underwood & Underwood entered the education market (1895) by producing packaged sets of 100 or more stereographs with descriptive texts.(7) From 1897 the firm employed full time staff photographers as well as free lancers. By 1901 the Underwoods were publishing 25,000 stereographs per day (i.e.,total number of cards). Increasing production levels led them to gain control of the Jarvis, Bierstadt, and William H. Rau photoprinting facilities in 1897 1898.(8)

The Keystone view Company created its own Educational Department in 1898. This division sustained the Keystone View Company past the period of the stereograph's popularity. In this year Underwood & Underwood reprinted Oliver Wendell Holmes's series on the stereograph and stereoscope which originally appeared in The Atlantic Monthly between 1859 and 1863. This eighty page booklet included testimonials from eminent scholars on the value of the stereograph in education. The company had been test marketing what itlater called "The Underwood Travel System." This consisted of a boxed set of stereo views of a country or region, a guide book describing the significance of the places shown, and a map showing their location and the viewpoints from which the stereographs were taken. Captions on the backs of the stereographs were sometimes printed in six languages.(9) As stereographs began to be used in schools as visual aids, the firm promoted its Travel System with endorsements from prominent educators, citing the usage of the system by various schools and universities.(10)

The H. C. White Company, which had manufactured stereoscopes for several decades, entered the stereo publication field in 1899.(11) Much of its production seemed to imitate Underwood & Underwood cards, including typography and the color of mount stock. Underwood & Underwood expanded into news photography by 1910 and gradually decreased its stereographic work. Few new stereo negatives were added to the file after 1912 except for a flurry of activity during the early war years, 1914 1916. The total number of Underwood & Underwood "titles" in stereo were from 30,000 to 40,000 (there might be a substantially larger number of actual negatives, since the files frequently were updated with newer views for old catalog numbers).(12)

Underwood & Underwood sold a portion of its negative file to the educational division of Keystone View Company in 1912,(13) and between 1921 1923 conveyed to this competitor their remaining stereo stock (presumably both cards and negatives) and rights.(14) In addition to its involvement as a news photographic agency, the company eventually opened portrait studios which flourished during the World war II years. A former Smithsonian employee, Vince Connolly, worked for Underwood & Underwood, which competed with Harris & Ewing in general portrait work during that period: he did portraiture and other photography, but says he was unaware of his employer's earlier stereo publishing activities.

Underwood & Underwood donated approximately 6000 negatives to the Section of Photography of the Division of Graphic Arts (1964). These photographs are primarily 4" x 5", captioned glass plate and film negatives. The subjects are news events and theatrical, sports, and political subjects of the early 20th century. In a letter to the Smithsonian of March 25, 1966 (in accession number 270586), Mrs. John M. Stratton described another collection of Underwood & Underwood photographs, stating that her husband had been a partner in Underwood & Underwood Illustrations and owned Underwood & Underwood News Photos. In November of the same year Mr. and Mrs. Stratton donated this collection of glass plates by Underwood & Underwood and other publishers to the Division of Photographic History (then the Section of Photography of the Division of Graphic Arts) . This material consists of both negative and positive stereographic plates, as well as non stereoscopic plates, chiefly copies made from the stereographs, with some catalogs, stereoscopes, and other material. The donor estimated 12,900 plates, but in 1983 the Smithsonian Institution inventory yielded a total of approximately 28,000 plates.

The Keystone View Company's stereoscopic production continued much later than Underwood & Underwood's. It was not until 1939 when declining interest in stereography led the firm to discontinue stereograph production and enter the field of visual optometrics. The stereoscopic negative collection, including material obtained from Underwood & Underwood and other firms, was placed in storage in concrete vaults. The Mast family of Davenport, Iowa, eventually purchased the collection in 1963, and in 1977 donated the collection to the University of California for its California Museum of Photography in Riverside. The University took physical possession of this vast collection in 1979.(15)

Many of the Underwood & Underwood plates donated by the Strattons (which were transferred to the Archives Center in 1983), in effect have been cancelled by having diagonal lines (double "X" marks) scratched into the emulsion of either the left or right image of each stereo pair (never both sides). These cancellation marks do not appear on the Underwood & Underwood plates in the Keystone Mast Collection in Riverside. This leads to several theories: (a) that these cancellations were in fact the reason that the Smithsonian plates were not purchased by Keystone in either 1912 or 1921, since Keystone clearly intended to use the Underwood material for stereograph production and the defaced plates would be of no value to them for this purpose; or (b), as stereo collector John Waldsmith suggests, that the cancellations were part of an agreement between Underwood & Underwood and Keystone: Keystone may have asked Underwood & Underwood to cancel one side of each stereoscopic plate not being sold to Keystone so that Underwood & Underwood would no longer be able to compete with Keystone in the stereo market. The defaced plates, as well as other material which Keystone did not purchase, apparently remained in Underwood custody and eventually were acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Stratton. The cancellation marks in the Smithsonian's collection are the subject of further conjecture. Edward Earle at Riverside feels that, since Underwood & Underwood sought to abandonded stereograph production much earlier than Keystone's departure from the field in order to enter the non stereoscopic lantern slide market, the cancellation may have served to indicate which side of each sterescopic pair should be converted to lantern slide production use; the existence of the 4" x 5" copy negatives and positives from stereographs in this collection seem to corroborate this. The Underwood & Underwood conversion from stereograph to lantern slide materials seems to coincide with the ascendance of lantern slide projection as visual aids in schools. The company apparently modified the type of photographic product which they published at least partially in recognition of this new educational trend.

NOTES

1. edward W. Earle, ed., Points of View: The Stereograph in America A Cultural @ Visual 'g . E!Ltory, Rochester, F.Y., Th Studies Workshop ress, 1979, p. 60; William Culp Darrah, The World of Stereographs, Gettysburg, Pa., 1979, p. 46.

2. Tbid., p. 62.

3. George E. Hamilton, Oliver Wendell Holmes, His Pioneer SLtuereoscope and Later Industry, New York, New )men Society, 1949, p. 17, quoted in Points of 1=e w:, 6 4 . P.

4. Points of View., p. 66.

5. Darrah, p. 47.

6. points of View, p. 66.

7. Ibid., p. 68.

8. Darrah, p. 47.

9. Points of View, p. 70.

10. Howard S. Becker, "Steteographs: Local, National, and International Art Worlds," in Points of View, p. 95. 11. points of View, p. 72.

12. Darrah, p. 48.

13. Darrah, p. 48, quoted in Points of View, P. 82.

14. Darrah, p. 48.

15. Chris J. Kenney, introduction to "Perspective and the Past: The Keystone Mast Collection," CMP Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1982.

Related Materials:

California Museum of Photography, University of California--Riverside, Riverside, California 92521.

Underwood & Underwood stereographs in this collection and the Smithsonian Underwood & Underwood Collection originally were components of the same company file.

Provenance:

Collection donated by June Stratton (Mrs. John M.) on December 19, 1966.

Restrictions:

The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment.

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:

Traveling sales personnel  Search this

Travel photography -- 1890-1930  Search this

Genre/Form:

Stereographs -- 1890-1930

Photographs -- Interpositives -- Glass -- 1890-1930

Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Glass -- 1890-1930

Photographs -- 1900-1950

Stereoscopic photographs -- Glass -- 1890-1930

Lantern slides

Photographs -- 1890-1900

Citation:

Underwood &Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0143

See more items in:

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0143

Creator:

Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969  Search this

Extent:

2.58 Cubic feet (consisting of 5.5 boxes, 4 oversize folders, 1 map case folder.)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Trademarks

Letterheads

Sales catalogs

Business ephemera

Business cards

Print advertising

Business letters

Ephemera

Invoices

Receipts

Catalogs

Patents

Publications

Trade catalogs

Labels

Printed ephemera

Catalogues

Trade cards

Recipes

Trade literature

Periodicals

Manufacturers' catalogs

Commercial catalogs

Menus

Mail order catalogs

Instructional materials

Business records

Advertising mail

Advertisements

Commercial correspondence

Advertising

Auction catalogs

Legal documents

Sales records

Beverage labels

Legislation (legal concepts)

Manuals

Correspondence

Sales letters

Exhibition catalogs

Advertising cards

Advertising fliers

Date:

1748-1994

Summary:

A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Wines forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana

Scope and Contents:

In 1953, Warshaw launched a year-long collecting campaign, soliciting material on whiskey and wine. He expanded this effort to also include items related to the drinking habit of notable persons. The wine category has been separated from this original grouping and contains material primarily related to wine traders and merchants, wine auction and exhibition materials, import and export legislation, and the creation and subsequent history of certain wines. Additional topics represented in the collection include medicinal uses of wine, cooking and wine, wine-related organizations, and wine in religious traditions.

The bulk of the represented content is print material including advertisements, business records, price lists, invoices, correspondence, and import/export records. While several companies are represented, there are no comprehensive business records for any entity represented in the collection.

Advertising represents a large portion of the collection, and provides a varied and expansive look at the evolution of wine-related art in advertising. Other strengths of the collection lie in the diversity of subject material, allowing researchers to get a broad introduction to several facets of the wine industry and wine in culture.

Arrangement:

Wines is arranged in three series.

Also included is a partial Brand Name Index - Guide Supplement (Box 1, Folder Admin).

Business Records

Genre

Subject

Forms Part Of:

Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.

Series 1: Business Ephemera

Series 2: Other Collection Divisions

Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers

Series 4: Photographic Reference Material

Provenance:

Wines is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.

Rights:

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

Topic:

Trade associations  Search this

Wine -- Storage  Search this

Labels -- Alcoholic beverages  Search this

Trademarks -- Design  Search this

advertising -- Alcoholic beverages  Search this

Drinking of alcoholic beverages -- Law and legislation  Search this

Consumer goods -- Catalogs  Search this

Retail trade  Search this

Licenses  Search this

Wine labels  Search this

Wine industry  Search this

Wine and wine making  Search this

Alcohol  Search this

Labels -- Design  Search this

Genre/Form:

Trademarks

Letterheads

Sales catalogs

Business ephemera

Business cards

Print advertising

Business letters

Ephemera

Invoices

Receipts

Catalogs

Patents

Publications

Trade catalogs

Labels

Printed ephemera

Catalogues

Trade cards

Publications -- wine industry

Recipes

Trade literature

Periodicals

Manufacturers' catalogs

Commercial catalogs

Menus

Mail order catalogs

Instructional materials

Business records

Publications -- Business

Advertising mail

Advertisements

Commercial correspondence

Advertising

Auction catalogs

Legal documents

Sales records

Beverage labels

Legislation (legal concepts)

Manuals

Correspondence

Sales letters

Exhibition catalogs

Advertising cards

Advertising fliers

Citation:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Wines, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Wines

See more items in:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Wines

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0060-s01-01-wines

Creator:

Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969  Search this

Extent:

7.38 Cubic feet (consisting of 12 boxes, 2 folders, 11 oversize folders, 1 map case folder, 3 boxes (1 full, 2 partial), plus digital images of some collection material.)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Advertising

Advertising fliers

Advertising cards

Advertising mail

Advertisements

Beverage labels

Business cards

Business letters

Business ephemera

Business records

Caricatures

Catalogues

Commercial catalogs

Commercial correspondence

Correspondence

Ephemera

Invoices

Illustrations

Labels

Instructional materials

Legal documents

Legislation (legal concepts)

Letterheads

Mail order catalogs

Manuals

Manufacturers' catalogs

Menus

Periodicals

Printed ephemera

Print advertising

Publications

Recipes

Receipts

Sales catalogs

Sales letters

Sales records

Signs (declaratory or advertising artifacts)

Trade catalogs

Trade cards

Trade literature

Date:

1743-1963

bulk 1846-1962

Summary:

A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana

Scope and Contents note:

In 1953, Warshaw launched a year-long collecting campaign, soliciting material on whiskey and wine. He expanded this effort to also include items related to the drinking habit of notable persons. This category was originally labeled "whiskey" but has been retitled as the content covers a wide variety of distilled beverages, spirits, liquors, liqueurs, and hard alcohol.

The bulk of the content is print material in the form of advertising, circulars, price lists, marketing and promotional items with also a sampling of business records consisting of transactional documents such as receipts, invoices, correspondence, and import/export paperwork. Some bottle labels and a couple of packaging examples are present, as are drink recipe booklets and entertainment/pairing guides. Only a small portion of this series covers regulatory aspects such as licensing and taxation, including a Prohibitionists' Text-Book from 1880. The rich volume of advertising provides much in the way of visuals regarding the culture of drinking and entertainment through several 19th and 20th Century eras.

The Warshaw Survey Campaign Records series provides insight to his collection building strategy. Samples of his outbound solicitations exist and to a greater extent, the inbound replies help demonstrate his process and some of the relationships he had with institutions, businesses, and individuals. Of particular note are some of the anecdotal responses, plus several essays and memoir pieces related to the effects of alcohol consumption; not always positive, not always negative.

See also Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series 2: Other Collection Divisions, Liquor & Wine Labels and Advertisements, 1893-1905, which contains two additional boxes of scrapbooks filled with printed advertisements, dealers' receipts, labels and drink recipe books.

Arrangement note:

Whiskey, Liquor, and Spirits is arranged in five subseries.

Business Records and Marketing Material

Genre

Subject

Warshaw's Whiskey and Wine Survey and Collecting Campaign Records

Oversize Material

Brand Name Index:

The following is a list of brand names for various alcoholic beverages and related names that appear on this list is a compilation of those found on materials in the vertical document boxes. It is not a complete list of all the brand names for whiskey.

Brand Name Index

Brand Name -- Manufacturer

Adam Schneider's Dutch -- Seagram Distillery

Alleghany -- Phoenix Mills Dist.Co.

Ambassador -- Taylor & Ferguson

Ancestor -- John Dewar & Sons

Anderson Co. Club -- Phoenix Mills Dist. Co.

Angostura Bitters -- Philip Goldberg

Antiquary -- Jas. Hardie

Apry -- Schieffein & Co.

Arkansas Traveler -- Seagram Distillers

B & B -- Wright & Taylor

Bailey' s -- Huey & Christ

Banquet -- Ginter Co.

Barton -- Revere Distilling Co.

Bay State -- Revere Distilling Co.

Beechwood -- Applegate & Sons

Beefeater -- Kobrand Corp.

Big Cat -- General Distillers Corp.

Black & White -- Fleischmann Dist.

Black Warrior, The -- Seagram Distillers

Blue Blood Club -- Kentucky Liquor Co.

Blue Ribbon -- Altschul Distilling Co.

Bombay -- A. M. Penrose

Bond & Lillard -- W.H. McBrayer

Bonnie Brae -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Bos -- Pease Son & Co.

Bottoms Up -- Brown-Forman Distillery Co.

Briar Mint -- Cincinnati Distillers

Briar Mint -- General Distillers Corp.

Brunswick Club -- H.& H.W. Catherwood

Buckingham -- Venable & Heyman

Burks Spring -- Thos. L. Smith & Sons

Cabinet -- Woodrow & George

Canadian Club -- Hiram Walker & Son

Cap'n Jack -- Cincinnati Distillers

Carioca -- Schenley Co.

Carstairs -- Stewart Distilling Co.

Cedar Brook -- Wm.H. McBrayer

Cedar Valley -- Weideman, Holmes & Co.

Cee Bee Sloe Gin -- Cook & Bernheimer Co.

Celery -- Cook & Bernheimer Co.

Charteuse -- Shieffein & Co.

Cherry Heering -- Schenley Import Co.

Chivas Regal -- General Wine & Spirits Co.

Churchill 88 -- Fleischmann Distilling Corp.

Clover Club -- Boyle & McGlinn

Club, The -- G.F. Heublein & Bros.

Club House -- M. Shaughnessy & Co.

Cold Spring Jockey Club -- John Kissel & Son

Commodore -- J. Brown & Co.

Commonwealth Club -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Corby's -- Jas. Barclay & Co.

Cordon Bleu -- Martell

Coates Plymouth -- Schiefflin & Co.

County Chairman -- General Distillers Corp.

Courvoisier -- W.A. Taylor & Co.

Crcaker Jack -- General Distillers Corp.

Creme Yvette -- Sheffield Co.

Cuckoo -- Rex Distilling Co.

Cutty Shark -- Berry Bros . & Rudd Ltd.

Dekuyper -- National Distillers Products

Dewey's Victory -- A.B. Sheaffer

Dews of Erin -- Cobb Hersey Co.

D.J.A. -- David & John Anderson Ltd.

D.O.M. Benedictine -- Julius Wile Sons

Drambuie -- W.A.Taylor & Co.

Drip Rock -- Cold Spring Distilling

Duff Gordon -- Munson G. Shaw Co.

Eagle Liqueur -- Rheinstrom Bros .

Early Times -- Brown-Forman Distillery

Gold Dust -- A.R. Champney Co.

El Bart -- Camberwell Distillery

Embassy Club -- Continental Distilling

Empire Club -- G.F. Coshland & Co.

Everett Spring -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Fairfax County -- Austin, Nichols & Co.

Fairview -- Schmidt & Ziegler, Ltd.

Fellsglen -- John E. Fells

Fenbrook -- Charles S. Gove Co.

Fig Rye -- F. Madlener

Four Roses -- Frankfort Distilleries

Fulton -- Myers & Co.

Fundador -- Canada Dry Import Co.

Gair Loch -- Stromness Dist. Co.

Galliano -- McKesson & Robbins

Gaston Fontaine's -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Geneva -- United Dist. Co.

George Mills -- Woodrow & George

Geyser -- Peoples Distilling Co.

Gilbey' s Gin -- National Distillers Prod.ucts

Gold Fax -- Clune & Torpy

Golden Seal -- W. Scott Gillespie

Golden Truth -- Despres Distilling Co.

Grand Marnier -- Carillon Importers Ltd.

Grant 63 -- Revere Distilling Co.

Grandpa' s Delight -- Pembrook Distilling Co.

Grant's Stand Fast -- Austin, Nichols & Co.

Green River -- McCulloch

Greensboro -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Grouse -- Seggerman Slocum

Harrisville -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Harvest Home -- Seagram Distillers

Hazel Dell -- Rheinstrom Bros.

Heather Blossom -- B.H.R. Distilling Co.

Hennessy -- Schieffein & Co.

Hillside -- Steinhardt Bros. & Co.

Hine Cognac -- 21 Brands Inc.

Hoffman House -- P.H. Hamburger

Holland Process -- Rosenberger Bros.

Home Comfort -- Max Stiner & Co.

House of Lords -- Wm.Whitely & Co.

House of Lords -- W.A. Taylor & Co.

Hunter -- Wm. Lanaham & Sons

Imperial -- Hiram Walker & Sons

Inverness Club -- J.W. Cheesman Co.

Irish Mist -- Munson G. Shaw Co.

Jackson Club -- O'Bryan Bros.

Jefferson -- Seagram Distillers

Jessie Moore -- General Distillers Corp

Joel Hill -- Woodrow & George

Jockey Club -- Excelsior Distilling Co.

J.& F. Martell's Brandy -- G.S.Nicholas & Co.

Kenton Belle -- Simon Kenton Co.

Kentucky Favorite -- United Dist. Co.

Kentucky Gentleman -- Barton Distilling Co.

Kentucky Nectar -- General Distillers Corp

Kentucky Tavern -- Glenmore Distillers

Keuka Club -- O'Dea Home Supply Co.

Keystone -- Wm.H.Graham & Co.

Kilty -- R.Thorne & Sons, Ltd.

King -- Brown-Forman Distillery

King's Ransom -- Edradour Distillery

King's Ransom -- Wm. Whitely & Co.

Kuban -- General Distillers Corp

Laganda Club -- Altschul Distilling Co

Lamplighter -- J.& w . Nicholson Co.

Latonia Club -- Sheldon Co.

La Rojena (Jose Cuervo) -- Young' s Market

Lechmere -- Doyle, F.M. & Co.

Lemon Hart -- Julios Wile Sons

Lick Run -- General Distillers Co.

Lindenwood -- Spiess & Bachenheimer

London Dry -- Sir Robert Burnett & Co

London Gin -- Wm. Reed

Lorraine Club -- Felix Coblentz & Co.

MacNaughton -- Schenley Co.

Maker' s Mark -- Star Hill Distilling Co

Mammoth Cave Springs -- Seagram Distillers

Manhattan Club -- Mac Stiner & Co.

Maryland Club -- John Belt & Co.

Mentor -- Ginter Co.

Monitor -- J.C. Childs & Co.

Mosaic -- People's Distilling Co.

Mount Vernon -- Cook & Bernheimer

Mount Vernon -- Mannis Distilling

Mouquin -- Austin, Nichols & Co.

Myers -- General Wine & Spirits Co. Thos. Smith Co.

M & Z -- Thos. Smith Co.

Nectar -- Woodrow & George

Nelson County -- Wm.S.Turner Dist.Co.

Novena -- Rheinstrom Bros.

Number 30 -- General Distillers Corp.

O.F.C. -- Geo. T. Stagg Co.

O.F.C. -- Schenley Co.

Old Amor Rye -- H.W .Huguley Co.

Old Angus -- Train & Mcintrye, Ltd.

Old Anvil -- General Distilleries Corp.

Old Benton -- Excelsior Distilling C

Old Boone -- Wm.S.Turner Dist.Co.

Old Charter -- Wright & Taylor

Old Chuck -- General Distilleries Corp.

Old Crow -- Hermitage Distillery

Old Crow -- H.B.Kirk & Co.

Old Elk -- Stoll, Vanatta & Co.

Old Fitzgerald -- Stitzel-Wellwe Distillery

Old Forester -- Brown-Forman Distillery Co.

Old Goodenough -- United Distributing Co.

Old Grain Belt -- Pure Food Dist. Co.

Old Grist Mill -- John F.Gillespie

Old Hickory Hollow -- Wm. S.Turner Dist.Co.

Old Homestead -- Seagram Distillers

Old Home Still -- Sheldon co. Cocktail

Old Hundred -- Wm.S.Turner Dist.Co.

Old Judge -- Altschul Distilling Co.

Old Lanark -- York Distilling

Old Maid -- Irene Parker Co.

Old Maysville -- Manufacturer Unknown

Old Minden -- Revere Distilling

Old Pilgrim -- Revere Distilling Co.

Old Prentice -- J.T.S.Brown & Sons

Old Pugh -- R.S.Strader & Son

Old Rampart -- General Distillers Corp.

Old Richmond -- Thos. L. Smith Co

Old Rip -- J.C. Childs & Co

Old Saratoga -- Rosskam, Gerstley & Co.

Old '67 Rye -- Wm.S.Turner Dist. Co

Old Star -- A & G J.Caldwell

Old Talent -- Cobb Hersey Co

Old Time -- John N.Thomas & Co.

Old Tom -- Wm.Reed

Old Tom Gin -- DuVivier & Co.

Old Underoof -- Chas.Dennehy & Co

Old Valley -- Woodrow & George

Owl Club -- Wm.S.Turner

Oxford -- Simon Kenton Co.

Paddy -- Cork Distributer

Paddy -- York Distilleries

Paddy -- Austin, Nichols & Co

Paul Jones -- Frankfort Distilleries

Perfection -- D.& J. Mc Callum's

Pernod -- Julius Wile Sons

Pilgrimage -- W.H.McBrayer

Pioneer, The -- Seagram Distillers

Pimm's Cup -- Julius Wile Sons

Pointer -- Gottschalk Co.

Pot Still Gin -- Milshire

Prince Hurbert Polignac -- Dennis & Hippert

Private Stock -- Cincinnati Distillers

Queen Louise -- Rose City Importing Co

Ramshead -- Hannah & Hogg

Red Top Rye -- Ferdinand Westheimer & Sons

Remy Martin -- Renfield Importers Ltd

Richwood -- W.H. McBrayer

Robin Olg -- Geo. Beer & Son

Rock Hill -- Wm.S.Turner

Rock Spring -- Dudley P.Ely

Rock & Rye -- Sheldon co.

Rogers -- United Distributing Co

Ronrico -- General Wine & Spirits Co

Rose Annoo -- Henry Hollander

Rosebud -- Applegate & Sons

Rose Wood -- General Distillers Corp.

Royal Club -- John N.Thomas & Co.

Secrestat Bitters -- G.S.Nicholas & Co.

Sheridan Club -- Despres Distilling Co

Silver Lake -- Seagram Distillers

Silver Thistle -- Hannah & Hogg

Stag -- A.M. Bininger & Co

Stand Fast -- Grant's

Standard -- Steinhardt Bros. & Co.

Sterling -- Steinhardt Bros, & Co.

Storm King -- J.C. Childs & Co.

Strega -- Canada Dry Imprt Co.

Summerfield -- Cobb Hersey Co.

Sunbeam -- Cobb Hersey Co

Sunny Valley -- Revere Distilling Co.

Susquehanna -- W.H. McBrayer

Swan Gin -- Ferd.Ruttman & Son

Sweet Home -- Altschul Distilling Co

Tea Kettle -- W.H.McBrayer

Tia Maria -- W.A.Taylor & Co.

Trimble -- White, Hentz & Co.

Tullamore Dew -- Munson G.Shaw Co.

Upper Ten -- H.& H.W Catherwood

Usher's Whiskey -- G.S.Nicholas & Co.

Virginia Gentleman -- Austin, Nichols & co.

Waterfill & Frazier -- W.H. McBrayer

Whipple Creek -- General Distillers Corp

White Dove -- Revere Distilliing Co.

White Label -- John Krissel & Son

White Label -- John Dewar & Sons

White Lily -- Cobb Hersey Co.

White Horse -- Mackie & Coy

White Seal -- Carstairs

Wild Cat -- Seagram Distillers

Wolf Creek -- Frankfort Distilleries

Woodland -- Crigler and Crigler

w.w.w -- Angela Myers

Forms Part Of:

Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.

Series 1: Business Ephemera

Series 2: Other Collection Divisions

Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers

Series 4: Photographic Reference Material

Provenance:

Whiskey, Liquor, and Spirits is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.

Rights:

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

Topic:

advertising -- Alcoholic beverages  Search this

advertising -- Beverages  Search this

Alcohol  Search this

Alcoholism  Search this

Bars (Drinking establishments)  Search this

Beverages  Search this

Beverages -- 20th century  Search this

Beverages -- advertising -- 1940-1990  Search this

Consumer goods -- Catalogs  Search this

Dining  Search this

Distilleries  Search this

Drinking of alcoholic beverages -- Law and legislation  Search this

Drinking behavior  Search this

Food  Search this

Labels -- Alcoholic beverages  Search this

Labels -- Design  Search this

Medicine  Search this

Restaurants  Search this

Retail trade  Search this

Restaurants -- United States  Search this

Taverns (Inns)  Search this

Trade associations  Search this

Genre/Form:

Advertising

Advertising fliers

Advertising cards

Advertising mail

Advertisements

Beverage labels

Business cards

Business letters

Business ephemera

Business records

Caricatures

Catalogues

Commercial catalogs

Commercial correspondence

Correspondence

Ephemera

Invoices

Illustrations

Labels

Instructional materials

Legal documents

Legislation (legal concepts)

Letterheads

Mail order catalogs

Manuals

Manufacturers' catalogs

Menus

Menus -- 20th century

Menus -- 21st century

Menus -- 1940-1950

Periodicals

Printed ephemera

Print advertising

Publications

Publications -- Business

Recipes

Receipts

Sales catalogs

Sales letters

Sales records

Signs (declaratory or advertising artifacts)

Trade catalogs

Trade cards

Trade literature

Citation:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Whiskey, Liquor, and Spirits, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Sponsor:

Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Whiskey

See more items in:

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Whiskey, Liquor, and Spirits

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0060-s01-01-whiskey

Creator:

O'Brien Galleries (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this

Subject:

Betts, Louis  Search this

Homer, Winslow  Search this

O'Brien, Martin  Search this

O'Brien, William Vincent  Search this

House of O'Brien  Search this

M. O'Brien & Son  Search this

O'Brien Art Galleries  Search this

O'Brien's Art Emporium  Search this

Type:

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6159

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)216391

AAA_collcode_obrigall

Theme:

The Art Market

Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_216391

Creator:

Gifford, R. Swain (Robert Swain), 1840-1905  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)8204

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)210375

AAA_collcode_giffr

Theme:

Lives of American Artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_210375

Creator:

Haskell, Ernest, 1876-1925  Search this

Subject:

Hartt, Hildegarde Haskell  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9005

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211194

AAA_collcode_haskerne

Theme:

Diaries

Lives of American Artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211194

Creator:

New York University  Search this

Arthur, James, 1842-1912 ((machine shop owner))  Search this

Names:

Jones, Ezekiel  Search this

Extent:

15 Cubic feet (32 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Reports

Sales catalogs

Advertisements

Publications

Clippings

Business records

Inventories

Patents

Manuscripts

Press releases

Date:

1743-1967.

Scope and Contents note:

These records contain material on the Arthur collection of clocks and watches. Includes publications, inventories, manuscripts, reports, photographs, advertisements, catalogues, newspaper clippings, patents, and business records; correspondence files of NYU curators concerning the administration of the collection; a watch record book of sales of Ezekiel Jones, carried on bookkeeping, 1822 and 1825; and a copy of the Smithsonian-NYU permanent loan agreement, 1964.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into 10 series.

Series 1, Correspondence, 1937-1964 (bulk 1950-1957)

Series 2, Subject Files

Series 3, Organizations

Series 4, The Arthur Collection at New York University, 1930-1968

Series 5, Patent Specification (Unprocessed)

Series 6, Horological Pamphlets and Articles, 1743-1947 (Unprocessed)

Series 7, Miscellaneous, 1825-1966 (Unprocessed)

Series 8, Clock Makers Directory, 15 volumes (Unprocessed)

Series 9, Press Clippings about watches and clocks (Unprocessed)

Series 10, Photographs (Unprocessed)

Biographical/Historical note:

James Arthur owned and operated a New York machine shop for patent models. He came to the United States from Scotland in 1871. Fourteen years later he established Arthur Machine Works in New York City for the construction of original and special machinery. He was a skillful, ingenious, highly trained mechanic. While not technically a clockmaker or a watchmaker, he was especially interested in horology and timekeeping devices. From boyhood, clocks and watches were his hobby and he was a discriminating collector.

For more than forty years, he collected watches and clocks from many countries and periods. Arthur was quick to recognize any features of a clock or watch that gave it a distinctive character. His fondness for the fine points of the machinery did not blind him to distinctions of form and beauty in the cases, to originality in the maker, or to the historical significance of the work. He was devoted to the science no less than to the art of timekeeping. Arthur's collection contained some 1,200 watches, 300 clocks, and numerous accessories.

Provenance:

Collection donated by New York University, 1964.

Restrictions:

Portions of this collection are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to access it.

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:

Watches  Search this

Collectors and collecting  Search this

Clocks and watches  Search this

Horology  Search this

Models (Patents)  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 1850-1900

Reports

Sales catalogs

Advertisements

Publications

Clippings

Business records -- 19th century

Inventories

Patents

Manuscripts -- 19th century

Press releases

Photographs -- 20th century

Citation:

James Arthur Clock and Watch Collection, 1743-1967, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Lent by New York University.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0130

See more items in:

James Arthur Clock and Watch Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0130

Creator:

Clark, George Howard, 1881-1956  Search this

Source:

Electricity and Modern Physics, Division of, NMAH, SI.  Search this

Names:

American Marconi Company.  Search this

Radio Corporation of America.  Search this

Former owner:

Electricity and Modern Physics, Division of, NMAH, SI.  Search this

Extent:

220 Cubic feet (534 boxes, 25 map-folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Technical manuals

Clippings

Patents

Correspondence

Blueprints

Letters patent

Photographs

Sale catalogs

Technical drawings

Date:

circa 1880-1950

Summary:

The collection forms a documentary record of over half a century of the history of radio, with the greatest emphasis on the period 1900-1935. The collection includes materials that span the entire history of the growth of the radio industry. It is useful for those historians and other researchers interested in technological development, economic history, and the impact of applications of technology on American life.

Scope and Contents:

The materials accumulated in this collection represent the overriding collecting passion of one individual, George H. Clark. The collection forms a documentary record of over half a century of the history of radio, with the greatest emphasis on the period 1900-1935.

The collection includes materials that span the entire history of the growth of the radio industry. It is useful for those historians and other researchers interested in technological development, economic history, and the impact of applications of technology on American life.

In particular, the collection is rich in biographical information on the men who developed the technical aspects of radio and the industry; information on the inception, growth, and activities of radio companies, most notably the National Electric Signaling Company and RCA; and in photographs of all aspects of Radioana.

While most materials document technical aspects of radio, there is much information (e.g. Series 109, 134) on broadcasting and on the early history of television.

The collection, housed in over 700 boxes (about 276 linear feet), was organized into 259 numbered "classes" or series by Clark. Sixty series numbers were never used or were eliminated by Clark and combined with other series. The unused numbers are scattered throughout the filing system. The collection also includes material from series that were eliminated. These materials were never reclassified and are included as an unprocessed series at the end of the series descriptions. The collection also contains material that was never assigned a "class" designation by Clark (Lettered Series: D, E, F, G, H).

The arrangement of the collection is Clark's own; his adaptation of the Navy filing system he helped devise in 1915. Clark periodically revised the filing system and reclassified items within it.

Clark assigned class numbers to types of equipment (e.g. broadcast receivers), systems (impulse-excited transmitters and systems), scientific theories (circuit theory), and topics (company history, biography). Box 1 contains descriptions of the classification system.

When Clark classified an item and filed it he also assigned a serial number. This classification begins with 1 (or 1A) for the first item in the class and continues with successive numbers as items were added. As a consequence, the order of individual items within a series reflects the order in which Clark filed them, not any logical relationship between the items. Clark created cross references for items dealing with more than one subject by making notations on blank sheets of paper placed in related series.

Clark made cross references between series when there was no logical relationship between them; that is, when a person using the collection would not normally look in the series. For example no cross reference would be made of an engineer from series 87 (portraits) to series 4 (biography), but one would be made from series 87 to series 142 (history of television) if the item showed the engineer, say, working on a television installation.

Clark created the insignia "SRM" as the sign on the bottom of all sheets of paper numbered by him for binding. SRM stood for Smithsonian Radio Museum. This replaced the earlier though not greatly used sign "CGM." For a time about 1930, the class number on each sheet was preceded by these: "C.G.M.", for Clark, Martin, and Goldsmith, the earliest contributors to what would become the Clark Radioana Collection. After about 1933-34 Clark used C.W.C. for Clark Wireless Collection.

There are many photographs located in most series throughout the collection. But there are also three exclusive photographic series. Lettered series A, B, C. See index; and also series descriptions under lettered series.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into 223 series.

Numbered Series 1-233:

Series 1, Library Operating System, 1915-1950

Series 2, Apparatus Type Numbers, 1916-1931

Series 3, Photographic Lists, 1925-1928

Series 4, Biographies of Radio Personages, Technical Index to Correspondents in Series 4

Series 5, History of Radio Companies, 1895-1950

De Forest Radio Company, 1905-1930s

Jenkins Televsion Corporation, 1924-1931

Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, 1908-1929

National Electric Signaling Company, 1896-1941

Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company, 1906-1929

Radio Corporation of America, 1895-1950

Series 6, Shore Stations, 1900-1940

Series 7, Marine Stations, 1900-1930s

Series 8, Broadcasting Stations, 1910s-1940s

Series 9, Amateur Stations, 1910s-1940s

Series 10, Miscellaneous Information, 1911-1914

Series 11, Radio Antiques, 1921-1938

Series 13, Specifications of Radio Apparatus, 1910s-1930s

Series 14, General History, 1899-1950s

Series 15, Radio Companies Catalogues & Bound Advertisements, 1873-1941

Series 16, Log Books, 1902-1923

Series 17, Radio Companies' House Organs, 1896-1942

Series 18, Prime Movers, 1904-1911

Series 19, Batteries, 1898-1934

Series 20, Rectifiers, 1875-1935

Series 21, Motor Generators, 1898-1936

Series 22, Nameplates of Apparatus, 1928

Series 23, Switchboards and Switchboard Instruments, 1910-1935

Series 24, Radio Frequency Switches, 1905-1905-1933

Series 25, Transmitter Transformers, 1893-1949

Series 26, Operating Keys, 1843-1949

Series 27, Power Type Interrupters, 1902-1938

Series 28, Protective Devices, 1910-1925

Series 30, Message Blanks, 1908-1938

Series 31, Transmitter Condensers, 1849-1943

Series 32, Spark Gaps, 1905-1913

Series 33, Transmitter Inductances, 1907-1922

Series 34, Transmitter Wave Changers, 1907-1924

Series 37, ARC Transmitters, 1907-1940

Series 38, Vacuum Tube Type of Radio Transmitter, 1914-1947

Series 39, Radio Transmitter, Radio-Frequency, Alternator Type, 1894-1940

Series 41, Vacuum Tubes, Transmitting Type, 1905-1948

Series 43, Receiving Systems, 1904-1934

Series 45, Broadcast Receivers, 1907-1948

Series 46, Code Receivers, 1902-1948

Series 47, Receiving Inductances, 1898-1944

Series 48, Receiving Condensers, 1871-1946

Series 49, Audio Signal Devices, 1876-1947

Series 50, Detectors, 1878-1944

Series 51, Amplifiers, 1903-1949

Series 52, Receiving Vacuum Tubes, 1905-1949

Series 53, Television Receivers, 1928-1948

Series 54, Photo-Radio Apparatus, 1910-1947

Series 59, Radio Schools, 1902-1945

Series 60, Loudspeakers, 1896-1946

Series 61, Insulators, 1844-1943

Series 62, Wires, 1906-1945

Series 63, Microphones, 1911-1947

Series 64, Biography, 1925-1948

Series 66, Antennas, 1877-1949

Series 67, Telautomatics, 1912-1944

Series 69, Direction Finding Equipment, Radio Compasses, 1885-1948

Series 71, Aircraft Transmitters, 1908-1947

Series 72, Field or Portables Transmitters, 1901-1941

Series 73, Mobile Radio Systems, 1884-1946

Series 74, Radio Frequency Measuring Instruments, 1903-1946

Series 75, Laboratory Testing Methods and Systems, 1891-1945

Series 76, Aircraft Receivers, 1917-1941

Series 77, Field Portable Receivers, 1906-1922

Series 78, Spark Transmitter Assembly, 1909-1940

Series 79, Spark Transmitter System, 1900-1945

Series 82, Firsts in Radio, undated

Series 85: Distance Records and Tests, 1898-1940

Series 87, Photographs of Radio Executives, and Technical Types, 1857-1952

Series 90, Radio Terms, 1857-1939

Series 92, Static Patents and Static Reducing Systems, 1891-1946

Series 93, Low Frequency Indicating Devices, 1904-1946

Series 95, Articles on Radio Subjects, 1891-1945

Series 96, Radio in Education, 1922-1939

Series 98, Special Forms of Broadcasting, 1921-1943

Series 99, History of Lifesaving at Sea by Radio, 1902-1949

Series 100, History of Naval Radio, 1888-1948

Series 101, Military Radio, 1898-1946

Series 102, Transmitting & Receiving Systems, 1902-1935

Series 103, Receiving Methods, 1905-1935

Series 108, Codes and Ciphers, 1894-1947

Series 109, Schedules of Broadcasting & TV Stations, 1905-1940

Series 112, Radio Shows and Displays, 1922-1947

Series 114, Centralized Radio Systems, 1929-1935

Series 116, United States Government Activities in Radio, 1906-1949

Series 117, Technical Tables, 1903-1932

Series 120, Litigation on Radio Subjects, 1914-1947

Series 121, Legislation, 1914-1947

Series 122, History of Radio Clubs, 1907-1946

Series 123, Special Applications of Radio Frequency, 1924-1949

Series 124, Chronology, 1926-1937

Series 125, Radio Patents & Patent Practices, 1861-1949

Series 126, Phonographs, 1894-1949

Series 127, Piezo Electric Effect, 1914-1947

Series 128, ARC Transmitting & Reciving Systems, 1904-1922

Series 129, Spark Systems, 1898-1941

Series 130, Vacuum Tubes Systems, 1902-1939

Series 132, Radiophone Transmitting & Receiving System, 1906-1947

Series 133, Photo-Radio, 1899-1947

Series 134, History of Radio Broadcasting, 1908-

Series 135, History of Radiotelephony, Other Than Broadcasting

Series 136, History of Amateur Radio

Series 138, Transoceanic Communication

Series 139, Television Transmitting Stations

Series 140, Radio Theory

Series 142, History of Television

Series 143, Photographs

Series 144, Radio Publications

Series 145, Proceedings of Radio Societies

Series 146: Radio Museums

Series 147, Bibliography of Radio Subjects and Apparatus

Series 148, Aircraft Guidance Apparatus

Series 150, Audio Frequency Instruments

Series 151, History of Radio for Aircrafts

Series 152, Circuit Theory

Series 154, Static Elimination

Series 161, Radio in Medicine

Series 162, Lighting

Series 163, Police Radio

Series 169, Cartoons

Series 173, Communications, Exclusive of Radio (after 1895)

Series 174, Television Methods and Systems

Series 182, Military Portable Sets

Series 189, Humor in Radio (see Series 169)

Series 209, Short Waves

Series 226, Radar

Series 233, Television Transmitter

Lettered Series

Series A, Thomas Coke Knight RCA Photographs, circa 1902-1950

Series B, George H. Clark Collection of Photographs by ClassSeries C, Clark Unorganized and/or Duplicate Photographs

Series D, Miscellaneous

Series E, News Clippings Series F: Radio Publications

Series G, Patent Files of Darby and Darby, Attorneys, circa 1914-1935

Series H, Blank Telegram Forms from many Companies and Countries Throughout the World

Series I (eye), Miscellaneous Series

Series J, Research and Laboratory Notebooks

Series K, Index to Photographs of Radio Executives and Technical Types

Series L, Index to Bound Volumes of Photos in Various Series

Series M, Index to David Sarnoff Photographs

Series N, Federal Government Personnel Files

Series O, Addenda Materials

Biographical / Historical:

George Howard Clark, born February 15, 1881, at Alberton, Prince Edward Island, Canada, emigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen. He worked as a railroad telegraph operator for the Boston and Maine Railroad during high school and college. In his unpublished autobiography he wrote:

In 1888, when I was a lad of seven, I suddenly blossomed out as a scrapbook addict, and for years I gave up boyhood games for the pleasure of sitting in a lonely attic and 'pasting up' my books ... By 1897, in high school, I graduated to beautiful pictures, and made many large size scrapbooks ... Around that time, too, I became infatuated with things electrical, and spent many evenings copying in pen and ink the various electrical text books in the Everett, Mass., Public Library. Clark began collecting material pertaining to wireless or radio in 1902. In 1903 he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. During his last year of college he specialized in radio work under the instruction of Professor John Stone Stone and after graduation went to work for Stone's radio company, the Stone Telegraph and Telephone Company, of Boston.

In 1908 Clark took a competitive examination open to all wireless engineers in the United States and entered the civilian service of the Navy. He was stationed at the Washington Navy Yard, with special additional duty at the Navy's Bureau of Steam Engineering and at the National Bureau of Standards.

In 1915 Clark helped devise a classification system for Navy equipment, assigning a code number to each item. This system of classification for blueprints, photographs, reports, and general data, was prepared by Arthur Trogner, Guy Hill, and Clark, all civilian radio experts with the US Navy Department in Washington. In 1918 Clark adopted the 1915 Navy classification system for organizing the radio data he was accumulating. Clark created the term "Radioana" at this time. He began spending his evenings and weekends pasting up his collection and numbering pages. At this time he bound the accumulated material. It totaled 100 volumes.

In July 1919, after resigning from the Navy, Clark joined the engineering staff of the Marconi Telegraph Company of America, which became part of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) later the same year. His first work was at Belmar and Lakewood, New Jersey, assisting the chief engineer, Roy A. Weagant, in his development of circuits to reduce the interference caused by static (static reduction). Clark and his wife were assigned to the unheated Engineer's Cottage. His wife decided not to stay and left for Florida. Clark moved his trunks of wireless material to the heated RCA hotel at Belmar and spent most of the winter "pasting." As Clark mentions, "From that time on I was wedded to scraps."

After a year of work in New Jersey, Clark was assigned to the sales department in New York, where he devised the "type number system" used by RCA. This type number system, for example, gave the designation UV 201 to the company's first amplifier tube.

From 1922 to 1934 Clark was in charge of RCA's newly created Show Division, which held exhibits of new and old radio apparatus at state fairs, department stores, and radio shows. About 1928 Clark started an antique radio apparatus museum for RCA. RCA's board of directors announced:

Recognizing the importance of providing a Museum for the Radio Art to house the rapidly disappearing relics of earlier days, and the desirability of collecting for it without further delay examples of apparatus in use since the inception of radio, the Board of Directors of RCA has made an initial appropriation of $100,000, as the nucleus of a fund for the establishment of a National Radio Museum. A plan for ultimately placing the museum under the wing of the Smithsonian Institution was coupled with the goal of the Institution's gathering the largest possible library of wireless data.

Around 1933 the RCA traveling exhibition program ended and Clark started classifying his collected "radioana" material. The objects of the museum were eventually turned over for exhibit purposes to the Rosenwald Museum in Chicago and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, when space was not forthcoming at the Smithsonian. A list of objects sent to the two museums (with tag and case numbers) is in Series 1, Box A. The "radioana" collection remained under Clark's care during the 1930s, and became of increasing use to RCA. Clark continued to add to the material.

Between 1934 and 1942 Clark was in court many times regarding patent infringements. Clark's wireless data was useful and he testified frequently, for example, in RCA's suit against the United States in the Court of Claims over the Marconi tuning patents and in the Westinghouse Company's suit against the United States over the heterodyne. Patent specifications and material regarding these and other radio industry suits are found throughout this collection.

In 1946 RCA retired George Clark and denied him space to house his "radioana" collection. Clark wished to remain in New York and house the collection somewhere in the city where it would be open at all times to the public and where it would be maintained. He hoped to continue cataloguing the collection and writing books from its information. He wanted to keep the collection under his control for as long as he was capable of using it.

George H. Clark died in 1956 and his collection was subsequently given to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1959 the collection was given to the Smithsonian's new Museum of History and Technology, where space was available to house it. The collection remained in the Division of Electricity until the spring of 1983 when it was transferred to the Archives Center.

Brief Company Histories From The Radio Industry, 1900-1930s:

Introduction

At the end of the nineteenth century, when Guglielmo Marconi began his first wireless company, Western Union, Postal Telegraph, and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) were the major enterprises in electrical communications. General Electric, Western Electric, and Westinghouse were the major producers of electrical equipment. All these earlier developments set the stage for the expansion of the radio industry.

General Electric, which dominated the lighting industry, was formed in 1892 as a merger of the Edison and Thomson-Houston companies. It was active in building central power station equipment; controlled nearly all the important early patents in electric railways; took a leading part in the introduction of trolley systems; and was the principal supplier of electric motors. Westinghouse promoted the alternating current system and installed the first AC central station in Buffalo, NY, during the winter of 1866-1867. After years of patent litigation, in 1896 GE and Westinghouse agreed to share their patents on electrical apparatus.

American Bell Telephone Company purchased Western Electric in 1881. Western Electric had a strong patent position in telephone equipment and in industrial power apparatus, such as arc lamps, generators, motors, and switchboard equipment.

Until RCA was formed in 1919, these established electrical companies played no active part in the early development of the American radio industry. They were in difficult financial positions, reorganizing, or concentrating their efforts and resources on improving their existing products.

The revolution in "wireless" technology, which began in earnest after 1900, centered in New York City, home of the Lee de Forest and American Marconi companies, and in Boston, headquarters of John Stone Stone and Reginald Fessenden.

Information in this section was compiled from the Clark Collection; the Invention and Innovation in the Radio Industry by W. Rupert Maclaurin, Macmillan Company, New York, 1949; and Radio Pioneers, Institute of Radio Engineers, Commemorating the Radio Pioneers Dinner, Hotel Commodore, New York, NY, November 8, 1945.

The De Forest Companies

Lee De Forest (1873-1961), inventor of the three-element vacuum tube or triode (1906) and the feedback circuit, was one of the first Americans to write a doctoral thesis on wireless telegraphy: "The Reflection of Short Hertzian Waves from the Ends of Parallel Wires," Yale University, 1899. The grid-controlled tube or audion of De Forest was first a radio detector, 1906-1907; in 1912 was adapted to an amplifier; and later to an oscillator. When it was perfected as a high vacuum tube, it became the great electronic instrument of electrical communications.

De Forest began work in the Dynamo Department at the Western Electric Company in 1899. Six months later he was promoted to the telephone laboratory. In 1900 De Forest went to work for the American Wireless Telegraph Company where he was able to carry out work on his "responder." However, after three months when De Forest refused to turn over the responder to the company, he was fired.

In the following year De Forest had a number of jobs, was active as an inventor, and created numerous firms to manufacture his inventions. In 1901 De Forest joined with Ed Smythe, a former Western Electric colleague and a collaborator in his research, to found the firm of De Forest, Smythe, and Freeman. Between 1902 and 1906 De Forest took out thirty-four patents on all phases of wireless telegraphy. The responder that he had been working on for so long never proved satisfactory.

The numerous De Forest companies, reflected his many interests and his inability to carry one project through to a conclusion. Unlike Marconi, but similar to Fessenden, De Forest had great inventive skill which resulted in a great number of companies; but none lasted long. The original partnership of 1901 led to the Wireless Telegraph Co. of America (1901), the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company (Maine) (1902), and the American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company (1903), to name a few.

The American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company was incorporated after De Forest met a stock promoter, Abraham White. While many stations were built by this company, many never sent a message due to static interference. In 1907 two speculators from Denver with large holdings of company stock put the company out of business. The assets were sold to a new company that these speculators organized, the United Wireless Telephone Company. De Forest was forced to resign. He took the triode patents with him.

De Forest joined with one of White's stock salesmen, James Dunlop Smith, and together with De Forest's patent attorney, Samuel E. Darby, they formed a new corporation, the De Forest Radio Telephone Company in 1907. This company set out to develop wireless communication by means of the radio telephone.

In January 1910 De Forest staged the first opera broadcast, with Enrico Caruso singing. The Radio Telephone Company went bankrupt in 1911 following an aborted merger with North American Wireless Corporation. In 1913 he reorganized the company as the Radio Telephone and Telegraph Company and began producing the triode.

The Marconi Company brought a patent suit, claiming the triode infringed on the Fleming valve to which it had rights. In 1916 the court decided that Marconi had infringed the three element De Forest patent and that De Forest had infringed the two element Fleming valve. The result was that neither company could manufacture the triode.

In 1920 RCA acquired the De Forest triode rights through cross-licensing agreements with AT&T which had recently purchased the rights to it. De Forest's company was no match for GE, Westinghouse, and RCA. The De Forest Radio Company (1923) went bankrupt in 1928, was reorganized in 1930, and went into receivership in 1933. RCA eventually purchased its assets.

Marconi Companies

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) came from a wealthy and well connected Italian family. He was able to spend his time developing his inventions and following his own course of action. Marconi spent his entire life developing wireless communication into a "practical" reality. In 1905 Marconi invented a directional antenna. In 1909 he shared with Karl Ferdinand Braun the Nobel prize in physics. And in 1912 he invented the time spark system for the generation of continuous waves. The principal patents in his name were improved types of vertical antennas; improved coherer; magnetic detector for the detection of wireless signals; and improvements on methods of selective tuning. Two other inventions of great importance to the Marconi companies' patent structure were the Oliver Lodge tuning patent and the Ambrose Fleming valve.

In 1895 Marconi made the first successful transmission of long wave signals. The following year he met William Preece, engineer-in-chief of the British Post Office, who was interested in inductive wireless telegraphy. This meeting led to the formation in 1897 of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd. In 1898 he transmitted signals across the English Channel. In 1899 an American subsidiary was formed. The various Marconi companies were the dominant enterprises in both British and American wireless until 1919 when RCA was formed.

From a business standpoint, wireless did not become profitable until long distance communications were accomplished. On December 12, 1901 in St. John's, Newfoundland, Marconi received a telegraph signal in the form of repetitions of the Morse telegraphic letter "S" transmitted from the Marconi station at Poldhu, Cornwall, England. This success, however, was met by opposition from vested interests, particularly the Anglo-American Telegraph Company whose cables terminated in Newfoundland.

So as not to restrict his company's future to one front alone, Marconi decided to exploit the field of communication with ships at sea. In order to control this field he decided in 1900 to lease his apparatus rather than sell it outright. This strategy did not work. Competition developed in Germany (Telefunken Corporation) and the United States (American De Forest and its successor, United Wireless) and Marconi was forced to sell rather than lease apparatus to the navies of various countries. He nevertheless retained numerous restrictions. This led to further friction. At the height of this debacle English stations worldwide refused to communicate with ships without Marconi equipment. This absurd and dangerous situation had to change and coastal stations opened up to all senders in 1908.

Marconi's system was based on spark technology. He saw no need for voice transmission. He felt the Morse code adequate for communication between ships and across oceans. He, along with most others, did not foresee the development of the radio and the broadcasting industry. He was a pragmatist and uninterested in scientific inquiry in a field where commercial viability was unknown.

For these reasons Marconi left the early experimentation with the radio telephone to others, particularly Lee De Forest and Reginald Fessenden.

National Electric Signaling Company

Canadian-born Reginald Fessenden (1866-1932), one of the principal early radio inventors and the first important inventor to experiment with wireless, left the University of Pittsburgh in 1900 to work for the U.S. Weather Bureau. There he invented the liquid barretter, an early radio receiver, and attempted to work out a means for wireless transmission of weather forecasts. After a squabble over patent rights, Fessenden resigned in 1902.

The National Electric Signaling Company (NESCO), primarily intended to support Fessenden's work on wireless, telegraphy, and telephony, was formed by Fessenden and two Pittsburgh capitalists, Hay Walker, Jr. and Thomas H. Given. It began as an inventor's laboratory and never proved successful as a business venture.

Fessenden recognized that a continuous wave transmission was required for speech and he continued the work of Nikola Tesla, John Stone Stone, and Elihu Thomson on this subject. Fessenden felt he could also transmit and receive Morse code better by the continuous wave method than with a spark-apparatus as Marconi was using.

In 1903 Fessenden's first high-frequency alternator needed for continuous wave transmission was built to his specifications by Charles Steinmetz of GE. In 1906 Fessenden obtained a second alternator of greater power from GE and on Christmas Eve broadcast a program of speech and music. The work on this alternator was given to Ernst F. W. Alexanderson. It took years for Alexanderson to develop an alternator capable of transmitting regular voice transmissions over the Atlantic. But by 1916 the Fessenden-Alexanderson alternator was more reliable for transatlantic communication than the spark apparatus.

Fessenden also worked on continuous-wave reception. This work arose out of his desire for a more effective type of receiver than the coherer, a delicate device that was limited by its sensitivity on a rolling ship at sea. In 1903 he developed a new receiving mechanism - the electrolytic detector.

As his work progressed Fessenden evolved the heterodyne system. However, due to faulty construction and the fact that it was ahead of its time, heterodyne reception was not fully appreciated until the oscillating triode was devised, thus allowing a practical means of generating the local frequency.

Between 1905 and 1913 Fessenden developed a completely self-sustaining wireless system. However, constant quarrels between Fessenden, Walker, and Given culminated in Fessenden's forming the Fessenden Wireless Company of Canada. He felt a Canadian company could better compete with British Marconi. As a result, his backers dismissed Fessenden from NESCO in January of 1911. Fessenden brought suit, won, and was awarded damages. To conserve assets pending appeal, NESCO went into receivership in 1912, and Samuel Kintner was appointed general manager of the company.

In 1917 Given and Walker formed International Signal Company (ISC) and transferred NESCO's patent assets to the new company. Westinghouse obtained majority control of ISC through the purchase of $2,500,000 worth of stock. The company was then reincorporated as The International Radio Telegraph Company. The Westinghouse-RCA agreements were signed in 1921 and International's assets were transferred to RCA.

RCA

The development of the radio industry accelerated after 1912. This was due to several factors, the most important of which was the passage of legislation by the US government requiring ships at sea to carry wireless. This created a market incentive and spurred the growth of the industry. Also, with the outbreak of World War I, the larger electrical companies turned their manufacturing output to radio apparatus, supporting the war effort. Three firms were prominent in this industrial endeavor: AT&T, GE, and Westinghouse.

AT&T's early contributions to this effort centered on their improvements of De Forest's triode, particularly in the evolution of circuits, the redesign of the mechanical structure, and an increase in the plate design. The importation of the Gaede molecular pump from Germany created a very high vacuum. The resulting high-vacuum tube brought the practical aspects of the wireless telephone closer to reality. By August 1915 speech had been sent by land wire to Arlington, Va., automatically picked up there via a newly developed vacuum-tube transmitter, and subsequently received at Darien, Canal Zone. By 1920 AT&T had purchased the rights to the De Forest triode and feedback circuit, and had placed itself in a strong position in the evolution of radio technology.

GE centered its efforts on the alternator, assigning Ernst F. W. Alexanderson to its design, and on further development of vacuum tube equipment for continuous wave telegraph transmission. By 1915 Alexanderson, Irving Langmuir, William D. Coolidge, and others had developed a complete system of continuous wave transmission and reception for GE.

As can be seen, both AT&T and GE were diverting major time and expenditures on vacuum tube research. This inevitably led to patent interferences and consequently, to cross-licensing arrangements.

Westinghouse was not in the strategic position of GE and AT&T. Nevertheless, during the war it did manufacture large quantities of radio apparatus, motors, generators, and rectifiers for the European and American governments. Postwar moves led Westinghouse into full partnership with the other two companies.

By the end of the war, all three companies had committed significant resources to wireless. They were hampered internationally, however, by the Marconi Company's dominant status, and in the United States they were blocked by opposing interests with control of key patents.

The US government also was concerned with this lack of solidarity in the wireless industry and over the British domination of the field worldwide. This impasse set a fascinating and complicated stage for the formation of the RCA.

Owen D. Young, legal counselor for GE, was instrumental in breaking the impasse. Through an innovative and far-reaching organizational consolidation, Young was able to persuade British Marconi that persistence in monopoly was a fruitless exercise, because of the strong US government feelings. Marconi, realizing the harm of a potential American boycott, finally agreed to terms. GE purchased the controlling interest in American Marconi, and RCA was formed. Young was made chairman of the board of RCA, while Edwin J. Nally and David Sarnoff of the old American Marconi were appointed president and commercial manager respectively.

On July 1, 1920, RCA signed a cross-licensing agreement with AT&T. The telephone company purchased one half million shares of RCA common and preferred stock for several considerations -- the most important being that all current and future radio patents of the two companies were available to each other royalty-free for ten years. Many provisions of these agreements were ambiguous and led to later squabbles between the RCA partners.

In May 1920 Westinghouse, which had an efficient radio manufacturing organization, formed an alliance with the International Radio and Telegraph Company (NESCO's successor). Westinghouse's part ownership gave them control of Fessenden's patents, particularly continuous-wave transmission and heterodyne transmission. Westinghouse also wisely purchased in October of 1920 Armstrong's patents on the regenerative and superheterodyne circuits -- which also included some of Columbia University professor Michael Pupin's patents. This placed Westinghouse in a strong bargaining position vis-à-vis RCA and in their new consolidated corporation. Westinghouse joined the growing group of radio companies on June 30, 1921. With these mergers, RCA agreed to purchase forty percent of its radio apparatus from Westinghouse and sixty percent from GE.

Through these and other legal arrangements, RCA obtained the rights to over 2,000 patents. These amounted to practically all the patents of importance in the radio science of that day. As a result, other firms in the radio industry, for example, the United Fruit Company and the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company, entered into cross-licensing arrangements with RCA.

RCA also made arrangements internationally with the three dominant companies in radio communication in their respective countries. British Marconi, Compagnie Generale de Telegraphie sans fil, and Telefunken. Each corporation was given exclusive rights to use the other companies' patents within their own territories.

The rise of amateur radio in the 1920s and, to a greater extent, the demand for new products by the general public contributed to the rise of the broadcasting industry. This put a strain on the earlier agreements between the major radio corporations and between 1921 and 1928 there was a struggle over patents for control of the evolving medium.

An initial attempt by AT&T to control the broadcasting industry -- using its earlier cross-licensing agreements to manufacture radio telephone transmitting equipment -- began with AT&T's disposal of RCA stock holdings in 1922-1923. It ended in 1926 with a new cross-licensing agreement which gave AT&T exclusive patent rights in the field of public service telephony and gave GE, RCA, and Westinghouse exclusive patent rights in the areas covered by wireless telegraphy, entertainment broadcasting, and the manufacture of radio sets and receiving tubes for public sale.

In 1926 after the agreements were finalized, RCA, GE, and Westinghouse joined forces and established the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Fifty percent of the stock went to RCA, thirty percent to GE, and twenty percent to Westinghouse. The new company was divided into three divisions: the Red, Blue, and Pacific Networks. Independent, competing networks soon emerged. William S. Paley and his family formed the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1927. The Mutual Broadcasting System was formed in 1934.

By 1928 RCA had strong patent positions in all major areas of the radio industry, including the research, development and manufacture of vacuum tubes and speakers. Most small companies entering the industry in the 1920s produced their products based on prior research by others and on expired patents. An RCA license, therefore, was essential for the manufacture of any modern radio set or vacuum tube.

In the late 1920s new developments in the reproduction of sound, produced significant changes in the phonograph industry. Among those new developments were the introduction of the electronic record, and the marketing of the Radiola 104 Loudspeaker in 1926. In 1929 RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company. This changed not only the quality but the sales of the phonograph and the phonograph record. A new entertainment industry was born and an ever-expanding market for consumer products was created with cultural implications that continue today.

Telefunken

German industrialists were eager to break the Marconi Company's monopoly. Although Marconi had patents on his inventions in Germany, the Germans developed a rival system through the Telefunken Corporation, incorporated in 1903, based on the inventions of Professor Ferdinand Braun, Dr. Rudolf Slaby, and Count George von Arco.

Before 1903 the Braun-Siemens and Halske system had been developed by Gesellschaft fur Drahtlose Telegraphie (GFDT). The Slaby-Arco system had been developed by Allgemeine Electrizitats-Gesellschaft. After litigation over patents, the German court handed down a decision in favor of the GFDT. The Kaiser, with national interests in mind, ordered that the rivalry cease. The two systems were amalgamated under GFDT, and became known as the Telefunken.

Chronology of Some Significant Events In The History of The Radio Industry

1895 -- Marconi experiments with Hertz's oscillator and Branley's coherer.

1897 -- In March Marconi demonstrates his wireless system on Salisbury Plain, near London, and files a complete patent specification. In May trials of Marconi's system are made over water between Lavernock and Flatholm, a distance of three miles. On May 13, communication is established between Lavernock Point and Brean Down, a distance of eight miles. German scientist Professor Slaby is present. The first Marconi station is erected at the Needles, Isle of Wight. A distance of fourteen and one-half miles is bridged by wireless. In December the Marconi station at the Needles communicates with a ship eighteen miles at sea.

1898 -- In England Oliver Lodge files a complete specification covering inventions in wireless telegraphy.

1899 -- The New York Herald uses Marconi's wireless telegraphy to report the progress of the International Yacht races between the Columbia and the Shamrock off New York harbor in September. US. Navy vessels make trials of Marconi's wireless telegraph system. The cruiser New York and the battleship Massachusetts are equipped with apparatus. Fessenden develops improvements in methods of wireless telegraph signaling.

1900 -- The Marconi International Marine Communication Company is organized on April 25th in London. Reginald Aubrey Fessenden begins work at the United States Weather Bureau. Over the next two years he invents the liquid barretter, an improved radio receiver.

1901 -- In February on board the SS Philadelphia, Marconi receives wireless signals over a distance of 1,551 miles. In March Marconi wireless telegraph service begins between islands of the Hawaiian group. On December 12, Marconi receives transatlantic signal at St. John's, Newfoundland from Poldhu, Cornwall, England. The Canadian government orders two Marconi telegraph sets for use at coastal points along the Strait of Belle Isle.

1901 -- Fessenden procures US patent no. 706737 for a system of radio signaling employing long waves (low frequency). De Forest develops a system of wireless telegraphy in Chicago. 1903-06 10,000 to 50,000 cycle machines, 1 kW, are developed by Steinmetz and by Alexanderson of GE for Fessenden. 1905 Marconi procures patent number 14788 in England, covering the invention of the horizontal directional antenna.

1906 -- At Brant Rock, Massachusetts, Fessenden employs a generator of one-half kW capacity, operating at 75,000 cycles, for radio purposes. He succeeds in telephoning a distance of eleven miles by means of wireless telephone apparatus.

1907 -- De Forest procures a U. S. patent for an audion amplifier of pulsating or alternating current.

1908 -- Marconi stations in Canada and England are opened for radio telegraph service across the Atlantic. Fessenden constructs a 70,000-cycle alternator with an output of 2.5 kW. at 225 volts, for radio signaling purposes. He reports successful radio telephone tests between Brant Rock and Washington, DC, a distance of 600 miles.

1909 -- US House of Representatives passes the Burke Bill for the compulsory use of radio telegraphy on certain classes of vessels. The United Wireless Telegraph Company and the Radio Telephone Company of New York (De Forest and Stone systems) begin the erection of radio stations in the Central and Western states. Marconi shares with Ferdinand Braun of Germany the Nobel prize in recognition of contributions in wireless telegraphy.

1910 -- An act of the US government requires radio equipment and operators on certain types of passenger ships. The Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Marconi station is opened in September. This station communicates with Clifden, Ireland. The transatlantic tariff is seventeen cents a word.

1911 -- A radio section is organized by the US Department of Commerce to enforce the provisions of national radio legislation. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company acquires the Lodge-Muirhead patents.

1912 -- Rotary gap is used with Fessenden 100 kW 500 cycle spark set at NAA, the Navy's first high-power station at Arlington, Virginia. Marconi Wireless of America acquires property of the United Wireless Telegraph Company. British Marconi secures the important radio patents of Bellini and Tosi, Italian inventors. Wreck of the SS Titanic on April 15th. The act of 1910 is extended on July 23 to cover cargo vessels. requires an auxiliary source of power on ships and two or more skilled radio apparatus operators on certain types of passenger ships. On August 13, an act provides for licensing radio operators and transmitting stations.

1912-1913 -- High vacuum amplifying tubes (an improvement on De Forest's), using the findings of pure science, are produced almost simultaneously in two great industrial laboratories, by Dr. H. D. Arnold of AT&T and Irving Langmuir of GE.

1915 -- De Forest Ultra-audion three-step (cascade) audio amplifier is announced and introduced into practice.

1916 -- GE and the Western Electric Company develop the first experimental vacuum tube radiotelephone systems for the Navy.

1917-1918 -- First production of vacuum tubes in quantity, both coated filament and tungsten filament types, by Western Electric Company and GE.

1918 -- Lloyd Espenschied procures US patent number 1,256,889 for the invention of a duplex radio telegraph system. (See Lloyd Espenschied Papers, Archives Center, NMAH, Collection #13.) The House of Representatives passes a resolution on July 5, authorizing the President to take over management of telegraph and telephone systems due to war conditions.

1919 -- Bills are introduced in Congress for permanent government control of radio stations. The widespread resentment of amateurs has more to do with the defeat of these bills than the objections of commercial companies. Roy Alexander Weagant, New York, reports having developed means of reducing disturbances to radio reception caused by atmospherics or static. This is the first successful static-reducing system. GE purchases the holdings of the British Marconi Company in the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, the name of the latter company being changed to Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in October. Edward J. Nally is elected president of the new company.

1920 -- E. F. W. Alexanderson is appointed Chief Engineer of RCA. RCA begins the installation of 200-kW Alexanderson alternators at Bolinas, California, and Marion, Massachusetts. The Tropical Radio Telegraph Company, a subsidiary of the United Fruit Company, New York, operates ten long-distance radio stations at points in Central and South Americirca RCA purchases 6,000 acres at Rocky Point, Long Island, New York, and begins erection of a Radio Central station, comprising a number of operating units for communication with European stations and stations in South Americirca On May 15, RCA inaugurates radio telegraph services between installations at Chatham and Marion, Massachusetts, and stations at Stavanger and Jaerobe, Norway. Westinghouse Company's radio station KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, broadcasts returns of the national elections, November 2. Development, design, and manufacture by GE of the early receiving and transmitting tubes made available to the public by RCA (UV-200,201,202). Radio telegraph stations and properties taken over by the government under war time powers are returned to their owners at midnight, February 29. The government calls for bids for the sale of large quantities of surplus radio and telegraph and telephone apparatus purchased for war needs and not used.

1921 -- RCA develops Vacuum tubes UV-200(detector) and UV-201(amplifier) -- both triodes with brass shells known as the UV base, and incorporating a filament that required 1 ampere at 5 volts for operation -- for storage battery operation; and at the same time also released to the public the WD-11 for dry cell operation, which employed an oxide-coated tungsten filament. RCA station at Rocky Point, Long Island, opens on November 5. WJZ station established by the Westinghouse Company in Newark, NJ. RCA broadcast station at Roselle Park, NJ (WDY) opens on December 15. It continues operation until February 15, 1922, when its operation is transferred to WJZ, Newark, previously owned by Westinghouse. RCA installs 200-kW alternator at Tuckerton, NJ.

1922 -- First use of tube transmitters by RCA for service from the United States to England and Germany. RCA begins substitution of tube transmitters on ships to replace spark sets. RCA begins replacement of crystal receivers by tube receivers on ships.

1923 -- Broadcast stations WJZ and WJY opened in New York in May by RCA. WRC opens in Washington on August 1. The UV-201A, receiving tubes developed by GE and consuming only 1/4 of an ampere are introduced by RCA. Tungsten filaments coated and impregnated with thorium were employed.

1924 -- Edwin H. Armstrong, demonstrates the superheterodyne receiver on March 6th. In November RCA experiments with radio photographs across the Atlantic. RCA markets the superheterodyne receivers for broadcast reception.

1925-26 -- Dynamic loudspeakers introduced. Magnetic pick-up phonograph recording and reproduction developed. RCA opens radio circuit to Dutch East Indies. Direction-finders introduced on ships.

1927 -- Fully self-contained AC radio receivers introduced.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the Smithsonian in 1959.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs, negatives, and slides.

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:

Radio engineers -- 1880-1950  Search this

Electric engineers -- 1880-1950  Search this

Radio -- History  Search this

Electricity -- 1880-1950  Search this

Communication -- 1880-1950  Search this

Genre/Form:

Technical manuals -- Electrical equipment

Clippings

Patents

Correspondence -- 1930-1950

Blueprints

Letters patent

Photographs -- 1850-1900

Sale catalogs -- Electrical equipment -- 1880-1950

Technical drawings

Photographs -- 1900-1950

Citation:

George H. Clark Radioana Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0055

See more items in:

George H. Clark Radioana Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0055

Creator:

O'Brien Galleries (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this

Names:

House of O'Brien  Search this

M. O'Brien & Son  Search this

O'Brien Art Galleries  Search this

O'Brien's Art Emporium  Search this

Betts, Louis, 1873-1961  Search this

Homer, Winslow, 1836-1910  Search this

O'Brien, Martin, 1834-1917  Search this

O'Brien, William Vincent, 1859-1952  Search this

O'Brien, William Vincent, 1902-1972  Search this

Extent:

3 Microfilm reels

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Date:

1811-1970

Scope and Contents:

Correspondence, business records, notes and writings, printed material, and photographs chart the gallery's history.

REELS 4180-4181: Correspondence from artists, patrons, and others (1811-1952) includes 8 letters from Winslow Homer (1898-1902). Business records include financial and legal documents (1857-1941), name lists and lists of paintings sold, painting and print registers (1898-1954), and minutes from corporation meetings (1901-1941). Howard O'Brien's writings include poems (1909-1944), some illustrated with photographs; a script "Cherchez La Femme"; and a typescript "The Long Trail". Printed material includes advertisements, clippings (1900-1970), exhibition catalogs (1921-1924), a sale catalog, and a booklet (1927) on landscape painters of America. An album contains photographs of portraits painted by Louis Betts, an artist promoted by O'Brien. Other photographs (1885-1936) show O'Brien family members, Winslow Homer, and one of Irene Dunne (an autographed publicity shot).

REEL 4193: A scrapbook contains exhibition announcements, clippings, and brochures from Chicago (1873-1941) and Arizona (1953-1958).

Biographical / Historical:

Art gallery; Chicago, Ill. and Scottsdale, Az. Chicago's first art gallery and one of the oldest family owned and operated gallery in the United States. It opened in 1855 as a frame shop, offering a variety of services to both artists and collectors. It was called by several names, including O'Brien's Art Emporium, O'Brien Art Galleries, O'Brien Galleries, House of O'Brien, and M. O'Brien & Sons. The gallery remained in Chicago until 1941, closed during the war, and resumed operation in Scottsdale, Arizona in the 1950s.

Three generations of O'Briens (Martin, William, and William Jr.) ran the gallery before it moved to Arizona; all were committed to bringing culture and the visual arts to Chicago. O'Brien's Art Emporium was a vital factor in shaping art collections and attitudes in the city; it supported and sold work by conservative, academic painters, developing and reflecting the taste of the majority of Chicagoans.

Other Title:

O'Brien's Art Emporium (microfilm title)

Provenance:

Lent for microfilming 1986 by the current owners of the gallery, Stephanie Roberts and her husband, Bill Dickerson.

Restrictions:

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

Occupation:

Art dealers -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- Illinois -- Chicago

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Identifier:

AAA.obrigall

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-obrigall

Creator:

Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Search this

Orr, Craig  Search this

Extent:

18 Cubic feet (37 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Business records

Date:

1900-1985

bulk 1920-1950

Summary:

The Norwich Eaton Pharmaceutical, Inc., Collection includes advertisements, company histories, equipment purchasing proposals, batch orders, finishing production orders, packaging orders and records documenting the creation and advertising of several products, including Furacin, Asogen, Paracin, Unguentine, Necta Sweet, and Chloraseptic Pepto Bismo, a popular liquid still used to relieve various digestive ailments. Founded in 1885, Norwich Eaton was acquired in 1982 by Proctor and Gamble.

Scope and Contents:

The Norwich Eaton Pharmaceutical, Inc., Collection includes advertisements, company histories, equipment purchasing proposals, batch orders, finishing production orders, packaging orders and records documenting the creation and advertising of several products. The bulk of the material consists of company advertising records such as Unguentine and Pepto Bismol; but there are also several posters and advertisements devoted to other products such as Norforms and Zemacol. The advertisement records range in period from the mid 1920s to 1966, with the majority from the 1940s. Thus, it is possible to examine the marketing of these products over a 40 year period and view the changes in style, format, and content of the advertisements. There are several advertising campaign items (brochures and packets) referring to strategies or motifs for which examples exist within this collection. Some of the posters in the collection, such as the early ones with a surface textured to simulate paint, or several of the later silk screens, can be regarded as works of art. Some were signed by the artist. Batch orders, finishing orders, and package orders relate to quality control.

The Division of Medical Sciences still retains manufacturing records (1921 1950), photographs (1920 1970s), and twelve catalogues and price lists (1906 1932).

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into seven series.

Series 1, Company History, 1940; 1980

Series 2, Company Publications, 1939-1982

Series 3, Advertising Records, 1923-1982

Series 4, Trade Literature, 1900-1980, undated

Series 5, Batch Records, 1920s-1940s

Series 6, Finishing Production Orders, 1920s-1940s

Series 7, Package Orders, 1920s to 1940s

Biographical / Historical:

Norwich Eaton was founded in 1885 by a Baptist minister, the Reverend Lafayette F. Moore, who, with some rudimentary pill making machinery and a few proprietary formulas, set up shop as "L.F. Moore, Pill Manufacturer." Financial problems from the start forced Reverend Moore into a partnership with Oscar G. Bell, an employee of T.D. Miller's drugstore, to which Moore was heavily indebted. The company adopted a new name, "Moore and Bell."

In 1887, without warning or explanation, Moore left Norwich and eventually returned to the ministry. Bell quickly found two new associates and continued to manufacture medicines under the name of the Norwich Pharmacal Company. They became the world's largest producers of aloin from aloes, and resin of podophyllum from mandrake root, as well as a leader in the development of vitamin products. They brought to the market such well known products as Unguentine and Pepto Bismol. By the 1920's, Norwich listed approximately 4,000 elixirs, tinctures, syrups, pills, tablets, extracts, suppositories, dressings, and even surgical instruments in its sales catalog.

In 1982 the company was acquired by Proctor and Gamble and continues to be a research-based manufacturer and marketer of prescription drugs and special dietary foods.

Provenance:

In February, 1986 Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. donated pharmaceutical products, manufacturing records, and advertising materials to the Division Medical Sciences, now known as the Division of Science and Medicine. On April 7, 1989 publications and advertising material were transferred to Archives Center.

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

Topic:

Pharmaceutical industry -- 1920-1990  Search this

Genre/Form:

Business records -- 20th century

Citation:

Norwich Eaton Pharmaceutical, Inc. Collection, 1920-1985, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0329

See more items in:

Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Records

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0329