The papers of the painter, muralist, and illustrator John White Alexander measure 11.9 linear feet and date from 1775 to 1968, with the bulk of materials dating from 1870 to 1915. Papers document Alexander's artistic career and many connections to figures in the art world through biographical documentation, correspondence (some illustrated), writings, 14 sketchbooks, additonal artwork and loose sketches, scrapbooks, photographs, awards and medals, artifacts, and other records. Also found is a souvenir engraving of a Mark Twain self-portrait.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of the painter, muralist, and illustrator John White Alexander measure 11.9 linear feet and date from 1775 to 1968, with the bulk of materials dating from 1870 to 1915. Papers document Alexander's artistic career and many connections to figures in the art world through biographical documentation, correspondence (some illustrated), writings, 14 sketchbooks, additonal artwork and loose sketches, scrapbooks, photographs, awards and medals, artifacts, and other records. Also found is a souvenir engraving of a Mark Twain self-portrait.
Biographical Information includes multiple essays related to Alexander, his family, and others in his circle. Also found is an extensive oral history of Alexander's wife Elizabeth conducted in 1928. Correspondence includes letters written by Alexander to his family from New York and Europe at the start of his career, and later letters from fellow artists, art world leaders, and portrait sitters of Alexander's. Significant correspondents include Charles Dana Gibson, Florence Levy, Frederick Remington, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, John La Farge, Francis Davis Millet, and Andrew Carnegie. Correspondence includes some small sketches as enclosures and illustrated letters.
Certificates and records related to Alexander's career are found in Associations and Memberships, Legal and Financial Records, and Notes and Writings, which contain documentation of Alexander's paintings and exhibitions. Scattered documentation of Alexander's memberships in various arts association exists for the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, the National Academy of Design, the Onteora Club in New York, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany, the Ministère de L'Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts, the Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notes and Writings include speeches written by Alexander, short stories and essays written by his wife, and articles by various authors about Alexander. Extensive documentation of the planning and construction of the Alexander Memorial Studio by the MacDowell Club is found, along with other awards, medals, and memorial resolutions adopted by arts organizations after Alexander's death.
Artwork includes fourteen sketchbooks with sketches related to Alexander's commercial illustration and cartooning, murals, paintings, and travels. Dozens of loose drawings and sketches are also found, along with two volumes and several dozen loose reproductions of artwork, among which are found fine prints by named printmakers. Many sketches are also interspersed throughout the correspondence. Eight Scrapbooks contain mostly clippings, but also scattered letters, exhbition catalogs, announcements, invitations, and photographs related to Alexander's career between 1877 and 1915. Additional Exhibition Catalogs and later clippings, as well as clippings related to the career of his wife and other subjects, are found in Printed Materials.
Photographs include many portraits of Alexander taken by accomplished photographers such as Zaida Ben-Yusuf, Aimé Dupont, Curtis Bell, Elizabeth Buehrmann, and several signed Miss Huggins, who may have been Estelle Huntington Huggins, a New York painter and photographer. Portraits of others include Alexander's friends William Merritt Chase and Edward Austin Abbey. Also found are photographs of groups, juries, family, friends, and studios in New York, Paris, and New Jersey, and a handful of scenic photographs of Polling, Bavaria, where Alexander had an early studio. A large number of photographs of works of art are found, many with annotations. Among the photographs of murals are a small collection of snapshots of the Carnegie Institute murals in progress. Miscellaneous artifacts include a palette, several printing plates, and an inscribed souvenir engraving of a self-portrait caricature of Mark Twain.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 11 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Series 1: Biographical Information, circa 1887-1968 (Box 1, OV 23; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1870-1942 (Box 1; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 3: Associations and Memberships, circa 1897-1918 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 4: Legal and Financial Records, 1775, 1896-1923 (Box 1; 5 folders)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, circa 1875-1943 (Boxes 1-2; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 6: Awards and Memorials, circa 1870-1944 (Box 2, OV 24; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1875-1915 (Boxes 2-3, 6, 14-16, OV 23; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, circa 1877-1915 (Boxes 17-22; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 9: Printed Materials, circa 1891-1945 (Boxes 3-4, OV 23; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 10: Photographs, circa 1870-1915 (Boxes 4-8, MGP 1-2, OV 25-43, RD 44-45; 4.2 linear feet)
Series 11: Artifacts, circa 1899-1915 (Box 6, artifact cabinet; 0.4 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
John White Alexander was born in 1856 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. He was orphaned at age five and taken in by relatives of limited means. When Alexander left school and began working at a telegraph company, the company's vice-president, former civil war Colonel Edward Jay Allen, took an interest in his welfare. Allen became his legal guardian, brought him into the Allen household, and saw that he finished Pittsburgh High School. At eighteen, he moved to New York City and was hired by Harper and Brothers as an office boy in the art department. He was soon promoted to apprentice illustrator under staff artists such as Edwin A. Abbey and Charles Reinhart. During his time at Harpers, Alexander was sent out on assignment to illustrate events such as the Philadelphia Centennial celebration in 1876 and the Pittsburgh Railroad Strike in 1877, which erupted in violence.
Alexander carefully saved money from his illustration work and traveled to Europe in 1877 for further art training. He first enrolled in the Royal Art Academy of Munich, Germany, but soon moved to the village of Polling, where a colony of American artists was at its peak in the late 1870s. Alexander established a painting studio there and stayed for about a year. Despite his absence from the Munich Academy, he won the medal of the drawing class for 1878, the first of many honors. While in Polling, he became acquainted with J. Frank Currier, Frank Duveneck, William Merritt Chase, and other regular visitors to the colony. He later shared a studio and taught a painting class in Florence with Duveneck and traveled to Venice, where he met James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Alexander returned to New York in 1881 and resumed his commercial artwork for Harpers and Century. Harpers sent him down the Mississippi river to complete a series of sketches. He also began to receive commissions for portraits, and in the 1880s painted Charles Dewitt Bridgman, a daughter of one of the Harper brothers, Parke Godwin, Thurlow Weed, Walt Whitman, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Alexander met his wife Elizabeth, whose maiden name was also Alexander, through her father, James W. Alexander, who was sometimes mistaken for the artist. Elizabeth and John White Alexander married in 1887 and had a son, James, in 1888.
Alexander and his family sailed for France in 1890, where they became a part of the lively literary and artistic scene in Paris at the time. Among their many contacts there were Puvis de Chavannes, Auguste Rodin, and Whistler, who arrived in Paris shortly thereafter. Alexander absorbed the new aesthetic ideas around him such as those of the symbolists and the decorative style of art nouveau. Critics often note how such ideas are reflected in his boldly composed paintings of women from this period, who titles drew attention to the sensual and natural elements of the paintings. His first exhibition in Paris was three paintings at the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts in 1893, and by 1895 he has become a full member of the Société.
Independent and secession artist societies emerged throughout Europe during this period, and Alexander exhibited with several of them, including the Société Nouvelle in Paris, the Munich Secession, and the Vienna Secession. He was also elected an honorary member of the Royal Society of Belgian Artists and the Royal Society of British Painters in London. His exhibited works sold well, and his influence began to be felt back in the United States. Andrew Carnegie and John Beatty of the Carnegie Institute consulted closely with Alexander in the planning and execution of the first Carnegie International Exhibitions. Alexander also became active in supporting younger American artists who wanted to exhibit in Europe, a stance which resulted in his resignation from the Society of American Artists in Paris, which he felt had become a barrier to younger artists. His promotion of American art became an central aspect of his career for the remainder of his life, most visibly through his presidency of the National Academy of Design from 1909 until shortly before his death in 1915. He also served frequently on juries for high-profile exhibitions, and was a trustee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, and the national Institute of Arts and Letters. Around 1912, he helped to form the School Art League in New York, which provided art instruction to high school students.
Alexander returned to the United States nearly every summer while based in Paris, and among his commissioned paintings were murals for the newly-constructed Library of Congress, completed around 1896. In 1901, the Alexanders returned to New York permanently. The demand for portraits continued, and he had his first solo exhibition at the Durand-Ruel Galleries in 1902. Around 1905 he received a commission for murals at the new Carnegie Institute building in Pittsburgh for the astounding sum of $175,000. He created 48 panels there through 1908. During this period, the Alexanders spent summers in Onteora, New York, where Alexander painted his well-known "Sunlight" paintings. There they became friends and collaborators with the actress Maude Adams, with Alexander designing lighting and stage sets, and Elizabeth Alexander designing costumes for Adams' productions such as Peter Pan, the Maid of Orleans, and Chanticleer. The couple became known for their "theatricals" or tableaux, staged at the MacDowell Club and elsewhere, and Elizabeth Alexander continued her design career when her husband died in 1915.
Alexander left several commissions unfinished upon his death at age 59, including murals in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Alexander held a memorial exhibition at Arden Galleries a few months after his death, and a larger memorial exhibition was held by the Carnegie Institute in 1916. Alexander won dozens of awards for artwork in his lifetime, including the Lippincott Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1899, the Gold Medal of Honor at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, the Gold Medal at the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1901, and the Medal of the First Class at the Carnegie Institute International Exhibition in 1911. In 1923, the Alexander Memorial Studio was built at the MacDowell colony in New Hampshire to honor his memory.
Provenance:
Papers were donated in 1978 and 1981 by Irina Reed, Alexander's granddaughter and in 2017 by Elizabeth Reed, Alexander's great grandaughter.
Restrictions:
Use of the original papers requires an appointment. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and closed to researchers.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Topic:
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Portrait painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
John White Alexander papers, 1775-1968, bulk 1870-1915. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Collection consists of miscellaneous late nineteenth/early twentieth century scrapbooks containing postcards, trade cards, greeting cards, decals, and other ephemera.
Scope and Contents note:
Miscellaneous late nineteenth/early twentieth century scrapbooks containing postcards, trade cards, greeting cards, decals, and other ephemera. Included are: (1) trade cards for thread, tobacco, barbers, sewing machines, toiletries and shaving products, tobacco, undertakers and patent medicine; (2) images of women, children, pets, and flowers; (3) greeting cards celebrating Christmas, birthdays, Halloween, and St. Patrick's Day; and (4) postcards from the United States and around the world. Some of the items in the scrapbooks are comical or picturesque. Most of the scrapbooks were created by women. Also included are several twentieth century diaries, including two travel diaries written by women.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Provenance:
Scarpbook donated by Mike Blakeslee on September 19, 1997. The collection continues to add accruals.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
A wide variety of newspaper clippings including short arrticles, a few poems and great many small advertisements. These are too varied for classification and seem to be from the early 19th century. Some of the pages bear handwritten lists of newspapers. These are dated as early as 1704 and as late as 1894.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Archives Center Scrapbook Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
The collection relates to the Slover Family of puppeteers, and documents their lives and activities as they traveled the country with their show.
Content Description:
The collection relates to the Slover Family of puppeteers, and documents their lives and activities as they traveled the country with their show. The collection includes photographs, including photographs from their earliest days when they were traveling in wagons; guest books; a manuscript for a memoir from the matriarch of the family; a ledger, 1916-1932, listing what the box office take was in each location the show was performed; a notebook containing content of the shows, jokes, etc.; a scrapbook containing photographs and other things; letters; clippings and articles; and printed music.
Provenance:
Donated by Mary E. Larson to the Division of Culture and the Arts, National Museum of American History, in 2004.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
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.
Post Office Building (Washington, D.C.) Search this
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.) Search this
Extent:
12.5 Cubic feet (27 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Albums
Clippings
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Place:
Georgia
West Point (N.Y.)
Washington (D.C.)
Date:
1870 - 1890
Summary:
The collection documents Mongomery C. Meigs, an Army officer, engineer, architect, and scientist. Meigs's papers include scrapbooks and photographs relating primarily to his work on the Pension Building and the Washington Aqueduct in Washington, D.C. but also his interest in politics, military affairs, construction, Native Americans, inventions, real estate, and financial matters.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents, Mongomery C. Meigs, an Army officer, engineer, architect, and scientist. Meigs's papers include scrapbooks and photographs relating primarily to his work on the Pension Building in Washington, D.C., an extension to the Post Office Building, the Washington Aqueduct, Cabin John Bridge, and the dome of the United States Capitol. The scrapbooks reflect Meigs's interests in politics, military affairs, construction, Native Americans, inventions and technology, real estate, and financial matters.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1, Scrapbooks, 1870-1890
Series 2, Photographs, 1850-1885
Biographical / Historical:
1816, May 3, Born, Augusta, Georgia
1832, Entered United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
1837, Second lieutenant, Corps of Engineers. Surveyed Upper Mississippi River
1838, Survey engineering work, Delaware River
1839, Duty at army headquarters, Washington, D.C.
1841, Married Louisa Rodgers (died 1879)
1843-1852, Stationed in Detroit, Michigan, until return to permanent duty in Washington, D.C.
1852, Supervised construction of the Washington aqueduct for Great Falls, Virginia and various United States
Capitol improvements, including a new and larger dome
1861, June Appointed Quartermaster General, United States Army
1865, April 15, Present at the death of Abraham Lincoln
1867, Postwar illness and trip to Europe
1882, Retired from the United States Army. Began engineering work on the Pension Office Building, Washington, D.C.
1892, January 2, Died, Washington, D.C.
*Biographical Chronology courtesy the Library of Congress, Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, 1799-1892 (bulk 1849-1892)
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
William R. Hutton Papers (AC0987)
Materials at the National Museum of American History
Several curatorial divisions hold material culture related to Montgomery C. Meigs.
Division of Culture and the Arts
Armed Forces History
Division of Home and Community Life
Division of Medicine and Science
Division of Work and Industry
Materials at Other Organizations
Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
Montgomery C. Meigs Papers, 1799-1892 (bulk 1849-1892)
Army officer, engineer, architect, and scientist. Correspondence, diaries and journals, notebooks, family papers,
military papers, drawings and plans, scrapbooks, and other papers relating primarily to Meigs's work in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, his service as Quartermaster General during the Civil War, and family matters.
Provenance:
Parts of the collection were donated by Dr. Paul L. Smith on January 8, 1971 and Mr. and Mrs. Mayo S. Stuntz on March 8, 1974. Other sources are unknown.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Information, Technology and Society, Div. of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Extent:
5 Cubic feet (22 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Travel diaries
Advertisements
Diaries
Blotters (writing equipment)
Business records
Manuals
Lantern slides
Stock certificates
Stereographs
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Date:
circa 1890s-1969
Summary:
The collection documents the technology of lighting and various business aspects of the General Electric Lighting Division throughout the 20th century and consists of correspondence, bulletins, price lists, business record books, stock certificates, sales and advertising materials, scrapbooks, photographs, and lantern slides.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of approximately five cubic feet of correspondence, bulletins, price lists, business record books, stock certificates, sales and advertising materials, scrapbooks, photographs, and lantern slides. The collection documents the technology of lighting and various business aspects of the GE Lighting Division throughout the twentieth century.
Series 1, Historical Background Materials, 1910-1969, contains documentation on the history of the National Electric Lamp Company and the development of the incandescent lamp. The European Diary of 1928 is a narrative written by three General Electric employees—Samuel Doane, Chief Engineer, Joseph Kewley, Sales Manager, and George Osborn, Sales Manager. This narrative describes their business trip to Europe in the spring of 1928. It contains black-and-white photographs, menus, brochures, maps, postcards, and drawings detailing their travels in Paris, Nice, Milan, Venice, Berlin, Amsterdam, and England. The Record of Accomplishment, 1969, is a chronological listing (time line) of various events and/or accomplishments within General Electric.
Series 2, Executive Records, 1903-1955, consists of correspondence, annual reports, and technical standardization notices. The technical standardization notices were created by the Standardization Committee. This committee made decisions on how to facilitate and increase sales, improve quality, cheapen cost, and further the interests of the members of the Lamp Association. The reports cover a variety of subjects such as packing boxes, felt washers, high candle power lamps, and tabulating machines. Many of the reports contain black-and-white photographs. The Lamp Committee Reports seek to detail the demand for incandescent lamps and their improvements.
Series 3, House Organs, 1919-1959, contains documentation on in-house publications for General Electric. The Stimulator, 1919-1920, promoted "lighting profits and cemented friendliness, cooperation, progress, and quality." The Lamp Letter, 1947-1950, was published by the Lamp Department and dealt specifically with lamp-related issues. The Lamp Department Bulletin, 1947-1950, was produced for GE personnel and dealt with a variety of issues from sales to lamp types to licensing issues. The See Better—Work Better Bulletin, 1959, was published by the Lamp Division as a service to industrial and commercial lamp users.
Series 4, Sales and Advertising Materials, 1910-1955, includes price lists for lamps from both General Electric and other companies, manufacturers' schedules, data books, sales notebooks for sales representatives, and Edison Mazda Lamp advertising cards. The advertising cards are approximately 3" x 6" and are in color. They contain ad slogans such as "His Only Rival," "Satisfied Customer," Edison's Dream Comes True," "Have You Electricity?" and "I like Lots of Light."
Series 5, NELA School of Lighting Records, 1920-1930, documents the school, now known as the GE Lighting Institute, for training sales people and customers in the proper application of various lighting products. The records contain quarterly reports and general and lighting course descriptions.
Series 6, Business and Stock Records, 1890-1912, contains record and minute books and stock certificates from other lamp companies. The record books contain correspondence, resolutions, stockholder information, and committee reports.
Series 7, Scrapbooks and Photographs, 1890s-circa 1950, contains one scrapbook from 1923 with black and white photographs, clippings, correspondence, charts, telegrams, and booklets documenting General Electric's Nela Park location. The photo albums contain black and white photographs of staff, lamps, bulbs, tubing, tabulating, filaments, lead wires, stems, mounts, and lighting installations. The scrapbook and photo albums have indices.
Series 8, Lantern Slides, 1880-1950, consists of glass plates of Edison, images of people in the work place, and lighting equipment.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eight series.
Series 1, Historical Background Materials, 1910-1969
Series 4, Sales and Advertising Materials, 1914-1953
Subseries 4.1, Miniature Mazda Lamps, 1914-1935
Subseries 4.2, Large Mazda Lamps, 1914-1934
Subseries 4.3, Carbon Lamps, 1915-1922
Subseries 4.4, Miscellaneous, 1914-1953
Series 5, NELA School of Lighting, 1920-1930
Series 6, Business and Stock Records, 1890-1912
Subseries 1, Business Records, 1890-1912
Subseries 2, Stock Records & Certificates, 1890-1912
Series 7, Scrapbooks and Photographs, 1890s-circa 1950
Series 8, Lantern Slides, 1880-1950
Biographical / Historical:
Established in 1911, Nela Park (named for the National Electric Lamp Association) in Cleveland, Ohio, has through the present day served as both administrative headquarters and research laboratory for the development and sale of General Electric's (GE) lighting products. In the years following Thomas Edison's electric lamp invention (1879) many companies began to make and sell lighting devices. A merger of Edison Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric in 1892 created GE, which quickly grew to dominate the market. Westinghouse and several much smaller companies struggled to compete. These smaller lamp companies could not afford engineering and research facilities on a scale comparable with those of General Electric.
The National Electric Lamp Company was organized on May 3, 1901, by Franklin S. Terry (Sunbeam Incandescent Lamp Company), and Burton G. Tremaine, H. A. Tremaine and J. Robert Crouse (all from Fostoria Bulb and Bottle Company and Fostoria Incandescent Lamp Company). Terry suggested that the small companies band together to operate an engineering department, conduct lamp research and development, improve manufacturing methods, and build better lamp-making machinery. He further proposed to raise capital from and share patents with GE. This built upon an earlier organization, the Incandescent Lamp Manufacturers Association, organized by GE in 1896. The new National Electric Lamp Company was a holding company in which—unknown even to many of the smaller companies' executives—GE held a controlling (75%) interest. In 1911, GE's involvement with National became public during anti-trust proceedings. GE then purchased the outstanding stock and absorbed the smaller companies by converting them into divisional units.
Thomas Edison had, in 1882, moved his company's lamp manufacturing operation from the Menlo Park laboratory to a new facility in East Newark (Harrison), New Jersey. Named the Edison Lamp Works, this plant became the main administrative and sales facility for Edison Electric's and later GE's, lamp business. Research moved to Edison's new West Orange laboratory. In 1900, after the merger, GE established a research lab in Schenectady, New York. After forming National, Terry and B. G. Tremaine consolidated the administrative functions of that company in Cleveland and by 1910 were actively seeking space for a new office and laboratory campus. They selected a site along Euclid Avenue that was then on the outskirts of town. This became Nela Park (the "Company" had changed to "Association" in 1906). In addition to the National buildings, GE began moving its directly-owned lamp operations to Cleveland after the 1911 settlement. From 1925 through 1930 the various departments at Harrison moved to Nela Park, with the sales department being one of the last to move. GE's lighting research was carried out at both Nela Park and Schenectady.
A focal-point at Nela Park is the GE Lighting Institute, formerly known as the Nela School of Lighting. Organized by the Illuminating Engineering Section of the Engineering Department in 1921, the Lighting Institute continues to train sales people and customers in the use and proper application of various lighting products.
For additional information about Nela Park, General Electric and the National Electric Lamp Company see:
Arthur A. Bright, Jr., The Electric Lamp Industry, MacMillan, 1949.
Harold C. Passer, The Electrical Manufacturers, 1875-1900, Harvard University Press, 1953.
Leonard S. Reich, "Lighting the Path to Profit: GE's Control of the Electric Lamp Industry, 1892-1941," in Business History Review Vol. 66, pages 305-34.
Hollis L. Townsend, A History of Nela Park: 1911-1957, published by General Electric.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
William J. Hammer Collection (AC0069)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry (Electricity-related collections) hold several artifacts. See accession numbers: 33,407; 43,120; 68,492; 232,822; 1997.0388 and 1998.0231.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society (now the Division of Work and Industry) by Mary Beth Gotti, Manager of the General Electric Lighting Institute on March 22, 2001.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
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.
Cultural History, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Cultural History, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Extent:
2 Cubic feet (6 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Letters (correspondence)
Advertisements
Design drawings
Clippings
Stereographs
Scrapbooks
Photographs
Date:
1879-1956
Scope and Contents:
Miscellaneous documents, catalogs, scrapbooks, photographs and printed material relating to the carousels and other amusement park rides of the Allan Herschell Company (which earlier in its existence was called the Herschell-Spillman Company and the Spillman Engineerng Corporation).
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Employee of the Allan Herschell Company, which manufactured amusement park rides.
Provenance:
Donated by Francis Misklea in 1974.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents Hall's Arctic exploration.
Scope and Contents:
Diaries, journals, notebooks, scrapbooks, business cards, correspondence, ships' logs, navigation charts and documents on Hall's Arctic exploration. The correspondence includes letters to and from Henry Grimmell, William Grimmell, J. Carson Brevoont, John Barrow, Cyrus Field, Edward Everett, Clement Markham, Joseph Henry, and the Royal Geographic Society.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
The Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall was born about 1821, either Vermont or New Hampshire; there are very few details about his early life. He is most notable for spending over ten years in the Arctic among the Inuit, initially focused on locating evidence of the lost British Expedition under Sir John Franklin, and then, in two later expeditions, searching for the Northwest Passage and the North Pole.
Before becoming a polar explorer, Hall began as a blacksmith's apprentice at a young age in Rochester, NH. Sometime in the 1840's he married and moved westward eventually coming to Cincinnati, where Charles opened a business making engraving plates and seals, in 1849. Later he published a small newspaper in Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Occasional.
While publishing news stories of arctic expeditions related to the Franklin expedition, Hall became enamored with the idea of polar exploration. In 1857 he began collecting any material he could gather on the landscape and survival in the Arctic, previous expeditions, and John Franklin's expedition itself, while at the same time seeking financial support for his expedition.
After detailed preparation and a small amount of financial backing, Hall boarded a ship for Greenland, and then on to the "Terra Incognita" of the Arctic. Despite being an amateur explorer with very little support for his first expedition, Hall believed that by living amongst the indigenous Inuit people, a non-native could survive long periods living in the arctic. In May 1860, Hall arrived in Frobisher Bay, Canada and with not much more than a small boat and basic supplies, Hall met befriended local Inuit who took him in for the next two years.
Over those two years, Hall found little evidence of the Franklin expedition, but what he did find proved to be more valuable. While an avid and writer, Hall lived, learned and daily documented in his journals more about the Inuit people that any visitor before him. His journals describe Inuit society, traditions, oral histories, language and culture, as well as the skills necessary to survive in such an unforgiving climate. He also travelled and mapped much of the unknown Frobisher Bay area, correcting many previously incorrect maps that depicted area as an open strait, rather than a closed bay.
Once Hall returned to the United States, he began working on publishing his writings and preparing for a second expedition to Frobisher Bay. In 1864, he left for his second trip spending almost five years living amongst the Inuit, searching for the Franklin expedition and mapping unknown portions of the Arctic.
As soon as he arrived home in 1869, Hall began again planning his next and bigger expedition, but times had changed in the U.S. The Civil War was over and the United States government was now interested in polar exploration and the race to the North Pole. Gaining the attention of President Grant, Hall was appointed as joint commander of the Polaris Expedition.
Departing in 1871, the expedition began with critical problems. The "joint-command" of the expedition put Hall in direct conflict with the other two expedition commanders, each one believing they should have been appointed as sole commander. This eventually led to incredible disasters throughout the expedition, resulting in the total failure of the mission, loss of the ship, as well as the death of Charles Francis Hall. Hall died on the expedition in November 1871, possibly from poisoning by one of his co-commanders. His body was exhumed in 1969 and tested, revealing the presence of arsenic. While Hall claimed on his deathbed he had been poisoned by a crew member, many 19th century medicines contained arsenic.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Scrapbook of Newspaper clippings on polar exploration.
Local Numbers:
AC0702-0000020
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Scrapbook of comics depicting practical jokes, accidents, and a number of amusing and sometimes violent real- life situations. Inscription inside the front cover: "To Darling Effie from Does"(?). These comics probably satirize events of the time. The cartoons were produced in publications such as "Fliegende Blatter," "Puck," "Judge," "Life," "Pictorial Weeklies," and the "Sydney Bulletin." Several of the comics refer to Surrey and the "London Express" and appear to be English in origin. A few others have, perhaps, German and French origins.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This Prescription Scrapbook form New York City contains drug prescription receipts, Sept. 27, 1878-Feb. 18, 1879. The receipts are chronologically organized, starting with 46,089 to 48,850. The William B. Parkin & Co. is particularly well represented, along with many other companies and individual physicians.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland Collection
Collector:
Medical Sciences, Division of, NMAH, SI (National Museum of American History) Search this
Medical Sciences, Division of, NMAH, SI (National Museum of American History) Search this
Author:
Maryland. Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State Search this
Extent:
0.33 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Maps
Clippings
Patents
Pamphlets
Prescriptions
Paintings
Photographs
Scrapbooks
Notebooks
Correspondence
Certificates
Papers
Diplomas
Place:
Maryland
Date:
ca. 1740-1965.
Scope and Contents:
18th, 19th, and 20th century material deposited with the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, chiefly relating to the practice of medicine in the state. Includes correspondence, papers, certificates, diplomas, patents, maps, notebooks, clippings, prescriptions, pamphlets, photocopies of documents, scrapbooks, photographs, and paintings.
Arrangement:
Divided into four series: (1) Correspondence, (2) Biographical, (3) Photographs, (4) Certificates.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Kenneth Sparnon, entertainer, musician and arranger was also an orchestra leader and musical director of radio station WSYR in Syracuse and WHEC in Rochester, New York.
This collection includes scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, photographs of himself and other performers, advertising, programs, some correspondence, and broadcast transcriptions (acetate).
Scope and Contents:
The Sparnon collection consists of four scrapbooks, some loose news clippings, a music cue sheet for a movie, a script for the orchestra to follow in a "strike" comedy routine used in September 1931, a folder of programs for events at which Sparnon played, and articles written by Sparnon concerning his work.
The scrapbooks contain advertisements of movies at which Sparnon played, radio schedules and announcements, and newspaper write-ups of Sparnon. The movie and play reviews, while he was in both Dover, N.J. and in Syracuse, cover both silent films and the early talkies. The vaudeville announcements include personalities such as Kate Smith, Burns and Allen, and Edgar Bergen and his friend, Charlie.
The four scrapbooks within themselves are not in chronological order. However the first one, 1912-1930 is arranged in four sections: news clippings, announcements, school recitals and programs, and letters of reference and appreciation.
The Sparnon Collection is of value to those interested in: the early film years, the synchronization of music with film, musical programs on radio, and the biography of Kenneth H. Sparnon.
Arrangement:
Arranged topically.
Biographical / Historical:
Kenneth H. Sparnon was born December 8, 1895 in Chatham, New Jersey. He was the son of the Reverend Robert 0. Sparnon, pastor of the West Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York from 1913 to 1916.
Sparnon grew up in Rochester. He studied harmony and theory at the New York Conservatory of Music and he studied piano and organ under James W. Bleecker, founder of the New York Settlement School of Music.
At the age of 14 Sparnon gave a piano recital in Carnegie Hall. In 1912 he was a piano instructor in Bayonne, New Jersey and continued to teach piano when he worked in Dover, New Jersey. He also was the organist at the Rochester Emanuel Church in this year. His first professional engagement was as church organist in Orange, N.J. About 1913-1914, he directed the West High School Orchestra in Rochester and was leader of the boy's glee club.
At seventeen, Sparnon was the youngest orchestra leader on the Loew's vaudeville circuit, conducting the pit band in Loew's Palace in Brooklyn. In 1918 he started work at the Baker Theater in Dover, N.J. and remained in Dover until late in 1929. The Baker Theater showed movies, vaudeville, and legitimate stage plays. After December 1924 Sparnon conducted the New Baker Theater Orchestra. Sparnon played at all performances of vaudeville and movies calling his performances "Picture Play Concerts" or "Orchestral Photo Play Concerts." He played between the acts when legitimate plays were performed.
Before the "talkies" Sparnon specialized in synchronizing music to the silent pictures, newsreels, novelties, and features. Sparnon played overtures when talking pictures appeared in 1928.
During the summer of 1924 Sparnon was pianist on the Keith vaudeville circuit. He also directed the Metropolitan Concert Trio at the Estonia-Minot House, a resort hotel in Asbury Park where he played programs in the mornings for the guests.
In 1924 Sparnon helped to form and was director of a 45 piece band in Dover, New Jersey. The band played at charity concerts, parades and other occasions. It played on Sunday afternoons in the park, at Memorial Day parades, New Year's Eve, and for the hospital fund-raising. It played as Sparnon's Concert Band into 1929. While in Dover, Sparnon also directed music for the Elks' Memorial Services for several years and played for other events including the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, and at the 1929 local rally celebrating a Republican victory. In 1929, Sparnon played at the Saturday night dances held in the Bergen Building.
In 1926, Sparnon joined Radio Station WJZ in New York where he conducted the "Master Musician's Hour" for several years.
In 1930, Sparnon went to RKO Keith's in Syracuse where he led a group of 12 men for three years. They were known as "Ken Sparnon and his merry gang of RKOlians". As of that year, he had a library of 5,000 pieces of music which he had gathered because of his synchronization of motion pictures. Also, as of May 11,1930, Sparnon was an associate member of the National Academy of Music.
In Syracuse, Sparnon had a reputation for playing overtures with humor and novelty which were appropriate to the movie or the season. He did the unusual and the unexpected. One article described Sparnon's work as follows:
When Griffith made "Birth of a Nation", more than a tinkly, second-rate piano was needed to accompany it. So the theater orchestra was started. After that time, musical backgrounds (cueing) became essential for each film. Then came talkies which doomed the lavish orchestras. Some of the musicians went to work at the studios. Sparnon changed and when he went to Syracuse he gave the public what was almost an extra vaudeville act. His experience in synchronization was valuable for the vaudeville acts. His music also helped in the transition to the movie setting pace and mood.
In Syracuse, Sparnon played on Radio Station WSYR with the RKOlians from Keith's. On May 25, 1930, he also became Master of Ceremonies on Monday nights and Wednesday nights for the "Little Theater of the Air". Sparnon continued in radio for many years. When he started he went on radio to get wider exposure so that the people would then come to see him in person. Perhaps because of his experience with the movies, he was famous for timing out every show in the plotted period.
In Sept. 20, 1931, Sparnon said that "...there will always be music in the theater... the public will always want to see artists in the flesh." This remark alluded to movie theaters with vaudeville shows.
Sparnon married his harpist, Arabella Simiele, in July 1935. He was one of the first radio orchestra directors to feature the harp with all types of music from classical to jazz.
In September 1932 Sparnon became director of the RKO Palace Theater Orchestra in Rochester. In June 1933, he accompanied Arthur Tracy, "the Street Singer," on tour. On June 8, 1933 Sparnon was made musical director of Radio Station WSYR in Syracuse.
He also conducted the "Ken Sparnon String Orchestra" which was carried on the NBC Blue Network coast-to-coast. He had the string ensemble in Syracuse from 1934-1937. He also played dinner music from Schraff's Restaurant in Syracuse three times a week which was carried over the NBC network.
Sparnon became program director of Rochester Radio Station, WSAY in 1937. Sparnon was made the musical director of Radio Station WHEC in Rochester on February 23. Between 1937 and 1941 Sparnon played the "Twin Keyboards" with Matt Pierce over WHEC. Between 1937 and at least 1944 Ken Sparnon and his string orchestra played over WHEC. From 1938 to Oct. 3, 1946 Sparnon was with Radio Station WHEC. Among his programs, he conducted the Gold and Silver Orchestra on Sunday nights at 6:45 p.m. for people celebrating their anniversary. On July 7, 1939, while he was still at WHEC (which was a CBS affiliate), Sparnon opened at the Hotel Seneca Grill in Rochester. In August 1940, Sparnon directed and produced "This is My Land", a new series from Rochester on CBS. During World War II, Sparnon produced shows for service personnel.
While he was in Rochester, Sparnon was a member and on the board of directors of the Rochester Musician's Association, Local 66, American Federation of Musicians.
On October 3, 1946 Sparnon joined the station relations staff of Broadcast Music, Inc. to provide special service to musical directors and managers of BMI-licensed stations. BMI set up a model radio station library. Sparnon was placed in charge of the course on the organization and maintenance of such libraries at the participants' radio stations.
In 1959, Mr. and Mrs. Sparnon moved to Roanoke, Virginia where he was Eastern Regional Director of Station Relations for BMI.
In May 1965 Sparnon retired from BMI and he and his wife moved to Sarasota, Florida. He died on June 16, 1972 after a 10 month illness.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Arabella S. Sparnon, Febuary 18, 1981.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Extent:
0.66 Cubic feet (2 boxes
)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Clippings
Place:
Rhode Island -- Mauran Family
Date:
1800s.
Scope and Contents:
Seven scrapbooks with decorated hard covers, either red or green, filled with newspaper clippings of the 1880s, a few earlier and a few 18th-century items, as well as marginal notes and quotations and index. Imprint in one volume: "Newspaper Cuttings. / Ready Reference Receptacle for Scraps of Print, from our chief sources of knowledge, the Newspapers; with Patent Alphabetical Index, and spaces for Marginal Notes, London: Marcus Ward & Co., and Royal Ulster Works, Belfast. Titles vary between "News Cuttings" and "Newspaper Cuttings." The subject matter of the clippings includes anthropology, archaeology, and general science.
The scrapbooks, 9-1/2 x 6 in. in size, supposedly were compiled by a Harvard University professor in the 1880s. The volumes bear the bookplates of the Mauran family of Rhode Island, subsequent owners of the books.
They have indexes at the front, compiled by the user. Some volumes do not have publication dates, others do, but usually the dates of the clippings are annotated in the margins. Dated volumes are: 1883, 1885, and 1888.
The original catalog card claims that some clippings are earlier than 1880s, includes 18th century. The books were used by a Harvard professor in the 1880s.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Anonymous, 1961, September 18.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Four scrapbooks containing items relating to the Baldwin Locomotive Works, including: blueprints, photographs, examples of company letterhead and blank company forms, clippings and articles, business records such as contracts and specifications, trade literature, and miscellany.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was started as a sole proprietorship by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. The company was the largest railroad engineering plant of its kind in the world. It is now out of business.
Provenance:
Collection donated by James C. Macinnes.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
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.
St. Lawrence River Power Development Commission. Search this
Former owner:
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI. Search this
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Extent:
1 Cubic foot (3 boxes, 3 map-folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Reports
Photograph albums
Maps
Place:
Great Lakes (North America)
St. Lawrence River
Date:
1899-1932
Scope and Contents note:
The papers of Silas H. Woodard include the Isthmian Canal Commission Report containing text, maps, profiles, and plates, 1899-1901; photograph albums on the East River Tunnel, 1904-1908; reports on the regulation of the levels of the Great Lakes, 1910-1914; and reports dealing with the development of hydroelectric power on the St. Lawrence River, 1930-1932.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical/Historical note:
Silas H. Woodard, civil engineer specializing in power development, dams, tunnels, and foundation work, served as an engineer for the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1899-1902; the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1902-1909; and the Engineering Board of the St. Lawrence River Power Development Commission, 1930s. Woodard also worked as a consulting engineer.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center
Panama Canal Commission Photonegatives (AC1116)
Joe Britton Panama Canal Zone Photographs (AC1234)
W.P. Stine Panama Canal Papers (AC1039)
Katherine Kingsford Panama Canal Photograph Album (AC1040)
W.A. Fishbaugh Panama Canal Photograph Album (AC1021)
John Frances Little Panama Canal Scrapbook (AC0708)
Charles Wood Panama Canal Photograph Album (AC1114)
Robert Dearborn Panama Canal Glass Negatives (AC1111)
William Currie Photograph Album (AC1043)
Roland A. McCrady Photograph Collection (AC0710)
George S. Morison Collection (AC0978)
George W. Sims Papers (AC0127)
William R. Hutton Papers (AC0987)
Division of Cultural History Lantern Slides and Stereographs (AC0945)
Robert F. Olds Collection (AC0231)
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI. Search this
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Extent:
20.4 Cubic feet (3 boxes, 82 folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Notebooks
Scrapbooks
Drawings
Letterpress books
Diaries
Blueprints
Account books
Place:
Upper Peninsula (Mich.)
Date:
1871-1917
Summary:
Tracings on linen of steam engines of all types, pumping, histing, air compressing, mining, material handling, power transmission, mine structures, mining machinery, and buildings by Erasmus D. Leavitt, Jr. for Calumet Heclas, Inc. of Calumet, Michigan.
Scope and Contents note:
These papers contain engineering drawings by Leavitt from the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company including tracings and blueprints of 2000 to 8000 horsepower compound hoisting engines, 1889-1917; hoisting plants, 1891-1901; shaft hoisting gear, 1887-1902; Calumet & Hecla compressor houses, 1877-1882; waterworks; and electric plants. Also included are notebooks containing engine drawings and calculations; account books, 1885; a diary; a letterpress volume of sketches and office memoranda, 1884-1890; scrapbooks.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series by drawing number. Descriptions contain a category designation beginning with a letter. For example, drawings associated with Torch Lake in Michigan are desginated as Category K. In some instances, the drawings are categorized as XY with no further description or are un-numbered.
Series 1: Drawings
A Pumping Engine No. 2
B Boiler House and Gear House
C Gearing for Pump and Man Engine
D Hoisting Engine No. 1, Hecla Mine
E Calumet Mine General
F Calumet Pond Water Works
G Hecla Mine General
H No. 4 Stamp for Calumet Mill
I Calumet & Helca Mine General
J Calumet Hoisting Gear
K Torch Lake
L Hoisting Engine "Superior"
M Miscellaneous Engine Parts
N Pumping Engine "Arcadian"
O Engine "Wabeek"
P Pumping Engine "Ontario"
Q Hoisting Engine "Frontenac"
R Engine "Erie"
S Engine "Hecla"
T Pumping Engine No. 1
U Black Hills Hoisting Gear
V Hoisting Engines "Gratiot", "Houghton" & "Seneca"
W Pumping Engines "Michigan" & "Winnipeg"
X Hoisting Engines "Minong" & "Siscowitt"
Y Hoisting Engines "Mesnard & Pontiac"
Z Hoisting Engines "Hancock" & "Pewabic"
AA Sinking Engines "Delaware" & "Iroquois"
BB Compressor Engine "Mackinac"
CC Compressor Engine "Baraga"
DD Lake Superior Water Works
EE Hoisting Engines "Marquette" & Chippewa"
FF Hoisting Engines "Minnesota" & "Escanaba" and "Illinois" & "Wisconsin"
GG Misc. City of Boston Improved Sewerage Pumping Engine
The Calumet & Hecla Company, which was formed in about 1866, was one of the largest mining operations in the Lake Superior region of upper Michigan. Over 3 billion pounds of copper were removed from its extensive mines by the time operations ceased in 1939. To facilitate the work in both the mines and smelting plants, the company installed some the largest steam engines ever built. The aggregate amounted to over 55,000 horsepower.
Noted 19th century steam engineer Erasmus Darwin Leavitt was hired to design the series of huge multi-cylinder engines. Each had sufficient power to support several operations at one time. While an engine drove one of the hoists, it might also power pumping, conveying, and air compressing machinery. At the peak of operations there were at least 50 steam engines of all sizes providing power to Calumet & Hecla. Falling copper prices during the 1920s and the economic depression of the 1930s ultimately forced the mines to close. The engines were of no further use and their countless tons of cast iron and steel ended up in the scrap drives of World War II.
The collection came to the Smithsonian in 1960 from Calumet & Hecla, Inc. In the course of a reorganization in 1952 mining had been dropped from the company name as the emphasis was on chemicals, foundry work, and forest products. Its remaining mining activites in other areas of Michigan were phased out during the 1960s and in 1968 C&H merged with Universal Oil Prodcuts, Inc. Late in 1970 UOP scrapped what was left of the C&H physical plant and its remaining assests were auctioned off.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper COuntry Hihstorical Collections
Calumet and Hecla Mining Company Collection
Provenance:
Collection materials donated by Calumet and Hecla, Inc. in 1960 and by Thomas E. P. Rice, 1977.
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.
