Floyd Levin was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. The collection consists of research materials including biographical files. In addition, there are numerous photographs that were taken and collected by Levin.
Scope and Contents:
Research materials on jazz, jazz artists, jazz festivals and jazz organizations compiled by Levin over several decades. The richest portion is the series of biographical files on jazz artists, with emphasis on lesser known but influential artists, and includes such things as obituaries, memorial programs, press releases, concert programs, and newsletters. Photographs are also widely found in this series, many of them inscribed to, or taken with Levin and his wife Lucille, as well as posters, recordings, letters and other correspondence, awards and plaques, Levin's writings, business cards, newspaper articles, advertisements, and miscellaneous ephemeral items. Artists who are strongly represented include one-time Ellington Orchestra clarinetist "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard, who was a close personal friend of the Levins and whose personal papers are in the collection; Louis Armstrong; "Jelly Roll" (Ferdinand Lemott) Morton; "Wild" Bill Davison; "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington; Joe Darensbourg; Edward Bertram "Montudie" Garland; "Kid" (Edward) Ory; "Eubie" (James Herbert) Blake; and "Rosy" (James) McHargue.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into ten series.
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1920-2010, undated
Series 2, Correspondence, 1948-2006, undated
Series 3, Research Materials, 1914-2006, undated
Series 4, Writings, 1949-2006, undated
Series 5, Artists Files, 1880-2010, undated
Subseries 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated
Subseries 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004
Subseries 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001
Series 6, Subject Files, 1916-2004, undated
Series 7, General Materials, 1908-2006, undated
Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications, 1943-2010, undated
Series 9, Photographs, 1939-2001, undated
Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1964-1997, undated
Floyd Levin (1922 - 2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second, contemporaneous, career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians (University of California Press, 2000), which –like his articles – chronicled his first-hand encounters with countless jazz musicians. In 1949, he co-founded the Southern California Hot Jazz Society, the second-oldest jazz appreciation club in the country. Levin led the drive to create the Louis Armstrong Park and statue in New Orleans in the 1970s. During his career, he conducted scores of oral history interviews with jazz musicians, which he donated to NMAH and to Tulane University's jazz archive. He received several awards for his work, including the Leonard Feather Communicator Award, given annually by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Levin died in 2007.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Floyd Levin's widow, Lucille Levin.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Rights:
Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
A collection of photograpic negatives from the Haskell and Barker Car Company, manufacturers of railroad cars, of Michigan City, Indiana.
Scope and Contents:
An extensive and detailed guide to this collection was produced by John N. Stine of the Division of Transportation, National Museum of American History in 1991 and typed by Mary E. Braunagel, published by the Smithsonian Institution. The guide gives the negative number and a brief description or caption to each negative. The negatives are film and not glass plate. The collection was also scanned to video disc. The following quotes are from the Division of Transportation guide.
"A collection of photographs documenting the Haskell and Barker Car Company's activities from 1926 to 1957. The gaps between negative numbers assigned by Haskell and Barker indicate that a portion were either discarded by the photographer or removed from the file and not replaced. Although the car building operation at Michigan City, Indiana began in 1852, the photos listed in this catalogue represent the complete holdings of the Division of Transportation", and these represent the complete holdings transferred to the Archives Center.
"A great deal of attention has been directed at the operation of the plant. Shop scenes recording special tooling, testing of car components and the construction or upgrading of the car building plant are plentiful. In some instances a car is photographed during each step of construction, others only after completion. Occasionally a car was returned to the plant for a rebuild either due to its becoming obsolete or due to major damage. In any case, these repairs are well documented."
"Scenes showing shop personnnel operating car building equipment or engaged in the assembly of rolling stock are abundant."
"This is a very fine collection in that it deviates from the standard practice of recording finished cars and concentrates on the daily operation of the building plant. Except for some World War II troop sleeper views, all of the pictures are of railroad freight stock: box, hopper, refrigerator, tank, flat, and cabooses."
"The photos themselves range in quality from fair to excellent." From the Division of Transportation guide to the Haskell and Barker Car Company, Michigan City, Indiana, Photographic Collection, 1991. Copies of this guide are available in the Archives Center reading room and at the National Museum of American History library.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in one series. The photographic negatives are arranged by negative number assigned by Smithsonian Photographic Services within broad chronological order.
Series 1: Photographic Negatives, 1926-1957, undated
Biographical / Historical:
In 1852, the wagon and freight car firm of Sherman, Haskell, Aldridge & Company was founded in Michigan City, Indiana on the shores of Lake Michigan. The founders of the company were Dr. Mason C. Sherman, Frederick Haskell (1810-1890), and Hiram Aldridge, Haskell's brother-in-law. The three reportedly had moved to Michigan City from Ogdensburg, New York. Sherman left the firm in 1855 and sold his interest to John Barker (1818-1878). Barker, a merchant and grain broker, had originally come from Andover, Massachusetts to Michigan City in 1835. The firm's name was changed to Haskell, Barker & Aldridge. In addition to rail cars the firm produced Woodbury corn shelling threshing machines and J.J. Mann reapers. Upon Aldrige's retirment in 1858 the firm became known simply as Haskell & Barker. In 1871 the firm was incorporated as the Haskell & Barker Car Company. Haskell became president, Barker treasurer, and Nathaniel P. Rogers secretary. Rogers had joined the firm in 1864 as an accountant. John Barker retired in 1869, and his son John H. Barker joined the firm. Haskell retired in 1883, and John H. Barker became president with Rogers as secretary and treasurer. John H. Barker and Rogers ran the company until Rogers' death in 1906.
Haskell & Barker initially manufactured passenger and wood-structure freight rail cars. By the late 1850s they had ceased manufacture of passenger cars and devoted themselves strictly to freight cars. The American Civil War brought a surge in business because of government contracts. This increase in business not only grew the company but made it one of the largest employers in Indiana and one of the wealthiest.
The company at one time produced 15,000 cars a year and in 1907 was the largest factory complex in Indiana, covering fifty-one acres along Eighth and Wabash Streets. In 1907 there were 990,000 feet of factory space. The south yards consisted of 1,308,344 square feet on 109 acres. In 1913, Haskell & Barker suffered a massive fire at the south yards. In 1916 it became know as Haskell & Barker, Inc. After 1922 it was a subsidiary of the Pullman Car Company and in 1934 became known as the Haskell & Barker Shops of Pullman-Standard. It returned to manufacturing passenger cars briefly during World War II.
The factory is said to have been the birthplace of the modern assembly line, an innovation often credited to Henry Ford. The factory also produced the PS-1, the first standardized box car on American railroads. As the company entered the late 20th century, production shifted to other locations and the company announced the closing of the facility in December of 1970. At that time the workforce numbered seventy with over 1,000 workers having been laid off. The physical plant suffered a massive fire in July 1973 which totally destroyed the entire complex. Only two buildings survived, the original Haskell & Barker office built in 1914 and the machine shop next door. A warehouse on the north side of the complex also escaped the fire but was later razed.
The site of the Haskell & Barker factory site was made into an outlet shopping mall named Lighthouse Place, with the Pullman Cafe in the surviving Pullman buildings. The shopping center, renamed Prime Outlets by 2007, was at the time Michigan City's biggest attraction with over 3 million visitors.
Frederick Haskell was born in East Windsor, Connecticut in 1810, the son of Eli B. Haskell (1778-1861) and Sophia Bissell (1785-1816). He married Caroline E. Aldridge (1822-1900) on November 11, 1852 in Chazy, Clinton County, New York. Haskell was a dry goods merchant, as well as a miller and textile manufacturer before moving to Michigan City and becoming involved with Haskell & Barker. He and Caroline adopted a son, Frederick Tudor Haskell (1854-1935). Haskell retired in 1883 and sold his interests in the company. He died on May 6, 1890 in Chicago, Illinois and was buried in Odgensburg Cemetery, Ogdensburg, New York. His estate was valued at $1,635,000 and was left to his wife, various relations, and his adopted son.
John Barker married Cordelia Collamer (1818-1894) and the couple had at least two children, Anna and a son, John Henry Barker (1844-1910). John H. joined the company in 1869 upon the retirement of his father. John H. had been successfully engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Chicago and later in Springfield, Illinois prior to his return to Michigan City. John H. became the General Manger of the company, and in 1883 he became President. By 1910 he was worth an estimated fifty to sixty million dollars. The company became prosperous enough that John H. built a substantial mansion on Washington Street in Michigan City in 1905. This mansion was later listed on the National Register of Historic Places. John Barker was also president of the Harbor Company and played an instrumental role in many improvements in Michigan City, including erecting a bandstand in Washington Park. John H. was married twice. His first marriage was to Jennie M. Brooks (1843-1891). They had three children, who all died before the age of five. He married his second wife, Katherine Fitzgerald (circa 1858-1910) in 1893. They had one daughter, Catherine (1896-1970) who later married Charles V. Hickox. Both John H. and his wife died in 1910, and they were buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Michigan City.
Sources
Egelhof, Joseph, "Chicago Leads Nation As Rail Supply Source", Chicago Daily Tribune, January 13, 1952.
Harper, Charlton E. Railway Car Builders of the United States and Canada. New York, NY: Interurban Press, 1957.
"Our Heritage", The Michigan City News Dispatch, 1976. http://www.mclib.org/ourheri1.htm
"A Look Back", The Michigan City News Dispatch, 2007.
Sederberg, Deborah, "Book takes a look back at Washington Park history", thenewsdispatch.com, May 13, 2011.
findagrave.com (last accessed April 25, 2013 and May 1, 2013.)
Provenance:
Originally collected for the Division of Transportation (now the Division of Work & Industry) reference files. Date and source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection consists of photographs of Native American material culture, including textiles and textile-making, drums, masks, statues and carvings, weapons, ceramics and vessels, and jewelry. The photographs may have been plates in a book.
This archive includes interesting documents related to Trude Guermonprez's life and work as a weaver. The archives are especially related to the designer's work for her major clients, like Holland America Line and Owens Corning Fiberglass; other pieces in this archive are related to Guermonprez's work for custom curtains made for major synagogues and her designs, interior fabrics, screens and rugs realized in conjunction with J.P. Oud, Architects Associated, New York; Eric Mendelsohn, Warren Callister, etc. The correspondence and the photographs in this collection provide insight into the designer's private life. Included in this collection are press articles, brochures, correspondence, postcards, photographs, color slides, notebooks, textiles, and textile wood patterns.
Arrangement note:
Unprocessed; Included in this collection are press articles, brochures, correspondence, postcards, photographs, color slides, notebooks, textiles, and textile wood patterns.
Biographical/Historical note:
Trude Guermonprez is an experienced weaver as well as a designer, artist, craftsman and teacher. She has executed architectural commissions and has done interior design for industry. Her work is of great variety in character and form. Guermonprez started weaving in Halle, Germany at the Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. Six years of weaving in a Dutch rug shop preceded her coming to America, at the invitation of Anni Albers, to teach at Black Mountain College, and later to northern California to join her friend Marguerite Wildenhain, at Pond Farm Workshops in a producing-teaching cooperative. She served as Chairman of the Craft Department at The California College of Arts and Crafts. Though she designed fabrics for New York textile manufacturers, her works were mainly custom produced for architects and individuals. In 1970 she was honored the Craftsmanship Medal from the American Institute of Architects.
Guermonprez published works in Art and Architecture, 1949; Shuttlecraft Weaving Magazine, 1957; and Research in Crafts, 1961.
She also participated in the following exhibitions: de Young Museum; American Wallhangings, London; Oakland Art Museum; Pasadena Art Museum; U.S. Information Agency State Department Show, traveling Europe exhibition; "Craftsmen of the West", "Fabrics International" and "10 American Weavers" at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 2000 at Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg Halle Landeskunstmuseum, Halle (Salle), Germany: "From Bauhaus to the Pacific: The Impact of Emigration on Marguerite Wildenhain and Trude Guermonprez".
Location of Other Archival Materials Note:
The North Carolina State Archives web site has material in its collection related to Guermonprez as a teacher and artist-in-residence at Black Mountain College.
The Archives of American Art hasoral history interviews of Merry Renk conducted 2001 Jan. 18-19 by Arline M. Fisch for Nanette L. Laitman's, Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. Guermonprez is only mentioned.
Provenance:
All materials were donated to the museum by Mr. Eric and Mrs. Sylvia Elsesser in 1993.
Restrictions:
Unprocessed; access is limited. Permission of Library Director required. Policy.
History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI. Search this
Extent:
270 Cubic feet (233 boxes, 850 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Linen tracings
Paper flimsies
Business records
Design drawings
Blueprints
Patents
Specifications
Reports
Photograph albums
Photographs
Trade literature
Date:
1784-2004, undated
bulk 1915-1930
Summary:
The engineering firm that became Lockwood Greene was founded by David Whitman, a mill engineer, in 1832. Amos D. Lockwood, a consultant, succeeded Whitman and entered a partnership with Stephen Greene in 1882. The firm specialized in industrial engineering and construction; they designed and built a wide variety of structures and work environments worldwide over the next century. Lockwood Greene was acquired by CH2M HILL in December, 2003. Before its acquisition by CH2MHILL it was reportedly the oldest industrial engineering, construction, and professional services firm in the United States.
Scope and Contents:
The Lockwood Greene records are a comprehensive range of documents related to the appraisal, building, construction, design, evaluation, and engineering of facilities for a variety of clients. The material covers the entire period of industrialization of the United States, and, provides a thorough record of the textile industry, both in New England and the South. Some of the textile mills are documented with unusual completeness, showing water and steam power layouts, factory village plans, and landscaping schedules. A broad range of other building typologies is also covered, including projects with public or retail functions, such as early automobile showrooms, hospitals, apartments and private dwellings, churches, and schools.
In-depth study of the company's earliest history is hampered by a scarcity of records, many of which were lost in the great fire that destroyed Boston's city center in 1872. Nevertheless, graphic and textual evidence does exist within the collection that illuminates these early projects, in addition to the fabric of surviving buildings. The Lockwood Greene records document several commissions that the firm would return to again and again over the course of many decades as clients requested plant additions, upgrades to mechanical and operating systems, and other substantive changes. Researchers are encouraged to examine the blueprints, elevations, and plans for these later additions in order to find illustrations of the firm's earlier interventions at the site. In addition to drawings, other visual evidence for nineteenth-century projects can be found in the company's extensive photo files, which often document structures for which drawings do not exist.
The Lockwood Greene records contain an abundance of graphic and textual evidence for structures designed after 1910 until the 1930s. After this period, visual documentation becomes much more limited. This is partially due to the evolution of drafting tools and information management technologies within the architecture and engineering profession. Lockwood Greene was an early adopter of technological innovations in rendering and data capture, beginning with the introduction of aperture cards and microfilm and extending to the adoption of computer-aided design (CAD) programs. These more modern formats were not part of the acquisition, and, at the time of writing, still reside with the company.
The Lockwood-Greene collection will be of interest to historians of architecture and engineering, as well as those that study the history of business and labor relations. It provides extensive textual and documentary evidence on the evolution and growth of American engineering and the increasing professionalization of the discipline through specialization during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rich holdings of architectural drawings, photographs, and specifications provide unparalleled resources that trace the evolution of industrial buildings and their typologies; experimentation with building materials and systems, particularly with regards to fireproofing; and the history of textile manufacture in the United States. In addition, there is also rich visual and documentary evidence of the changing relationships between corporations and their employees through photographs, plans, and designs for company towns and mill villages, as well as through corporate records that illustrate the work culture of Lockwood Greene itself. The Lockwood-Greene collection will be of special interest to historic preservationists as the awareness of the significance of industrial and vernacular buildings continues to grow, and detailed design drawings and other visual material will be of especial value for restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive-reuse projects.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1, Project Drawings, Renderings, and Plans, 1784-1969, undated
Series 2, Photographs and Slides, 1881-2001, undated
Series 5, Non-Lockwood Greene Publications, 1910-1984, undated
Series 6, Audio-Visual, 1964
Biographical / Historical:
Lockwood Greene, one of the nation's oldest engineering firms, traces it roots to 1832, when Rhode Island native David Whitman began a machinery repair service. Riding the wave of the early industrial revolution in textile manufacturing, Whitman added mill design services to his repertoire, which formed the backbone of a flourishing consulting business for the rest of the century. Whitman was one of the first itinerant mill engineers or "doctors" that traveled throughout New England advising various industrialists on the placement, design, and construction of their factories and the layout of the complicated system of machinery and shafting that they contained. His largest commission was the design of the Bates Manufacturing Company complex in Lewiston, Maine, which was incorporated in 1850 and soon became one of the largest textile producers in New England.
Upon Whitman's death in 1858, his unfinished work was assumed by Amos D. Lockwood, a prominent mill agent and astute businessman who had built a name for himself in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The successful completion of the projects at Lewiston brought enough additional demand for Lockwood's services to prompt him to relocate to Boston, where he formally opened an independent consulting office with partner John W. Danielson in 1871. For the next ten years, A.D. Lockwood & Company was involved in a least eight major mill design projects, half of which were for new construction. One of these projects, the design and construction of the Piedmont Manufacturing Company in Greenville (now Piedmont), South Carolina was especially significant and is considered to be a prototype for the Southern textile industry.
In 1882, Lockwood established a new business, Lockwood, Greene and Company, with Stephen Greene, a professionally-trained civil engineer who had joined the firm in 1879. As the firm grew, it expanded its scope as consultants supplying all of the necessary architectural and engineering services a prospective owner needed to initiate, equip, and run a complete plant. Acting as the owners' representative, the company supervised construction and installation but did not directly act as builders or contractors. Lockwood
Greene's objective expertise was legendary and made it a leader in this emergent field. As Samuel B. Lincoln explains in his history of the company:
"The new firm's knowledge and experience in the textile industry enabled it to analyze samples of cloth and, from such samples, to provide everything necessary for a completed plant to make such goods in any desired quantity. It did not at any time act as selling agents for machinery or equipment, neither did it accept commissions or rebates from suppliers: by this policy it maintained a position as impartial and independent engineer." (pages 105-107)
Greene became president of the company upon Lockwood's death in 1884. Under his leadership, the company expanded into additional industries and designed an array of other industrial building types that would prefigure the diversity of later work. In 1893, the company revolutionized American industry by designing and constructing the first factory whose operating power was provided entirely over electric wires from a remote power plant, rather than relying upon a water source or a stockpiled fuel supply. The Columbia Mills project created a great deal of publicity for the firm and was a signal to other manufacturers that there were viable alternatives to the use of steam power.
As changing economic conditions led Lockwood Greene to move away from its traditional reliance upon the textile manufacturing industry, it was very successful at soliciting projects for a wide variety of structures, from newspaper plants and automotive factories to convention halls and schools. After 1900, Lockwood Greene expanded its operations and opened branch offices in other cities, including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, and Charlotte. In 1915, Edwin F. Greene, president and son of Stephen Greene, reorganized the firm as Lockwood, Greene & Company, Incorporated This new entity served as the parent company and controlled three subsidiaries: one to own and operate cotton mills that Greene had acquired; one to manage other companies' textile mills; and one to provide engineering services.
Lockwood Greene expanded its operations tremendously as the textile industry boomed under wartime demand and in the years following. The severe textile depression from 1923 to 1928 caused the collapse of this structure, however, as Lockwood Greene continued to suffer deep losses in the textile mills that it owned. The parent company was dissolved in 1928 and the engineering subsidiary, which had remained profitable, was salvaged as Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated.
After a rocky start with the onset of the Depression, the company began to prosper during the Second World War and its growth continued steadily throughout the next several decades. In the late 1960s, as a result of declining business, the company's headquarters was transferred from Boston to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1981, Phillipp Holtzman USA, a subsidiary of Phillipp Holtzman AG of Frankfurt, Germany, acquired a majority interest in Lockwood Greene. In 2003, CH2M Hill, a global provider of engineering, construction, and operations services based in Denver, Colorado, acquired the company.
From its beginnings under David Whitman, Lockwood Greene has become one of the most diversified engineering firms in the United States. The firm is best known as a designer of industrial and institutional buildings, but the company has become a leader in many additional areas in recent years. Lockwood Greene dominates the market in the design and production of the germ- and dust-free "clean room" facilities required by the pharmaceutical industry and micro-electronics manufacturers. The company has also developed expertise in designing integrated security and networking systems for industrial plants, international port facilities, and military installations worldwide.
Banham, Raynor. A Concrete Atlantis: U.S. Industrial Building and European Modern Architecture, 1900-1925. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986.
Biggs, Lindy. The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology, and Work in America's Age of Mass Production. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Bradley, Betsy Hunter. The Works: The Industrial Architecture of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Greene, Benjamin Allen. Stephen Greene: Memories of His Life, with Addresses, Resolutions and Other Tributes of Affection. Chicago, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, 1903.
Heiser, William J. Lockwood Greene, 1958-1968, Another Period in the History of an Engineering Business. Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated, 1970.
Lincoln, Samuel B. Lockwood Greene: The History of an Engineering Business, 1832-1958. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Greene Press, 1960.
Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated The Lockwood Greene Story: One-Hundred-Fifty Years of Engineering Progress. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Lockwood Greene Engineers, Incorporated; undated.
Related Materials:
"[Trade catalogs from Lockwood, Greene & Co.]", Trade Literature at the American History Museum
Books, Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Lockwood Greene, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1997 (original drawings). An addendum to the collection was donated by CH2M HILL in 2007.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Technical Access: Viewing film portion of collection requires special appointment, please inquire. Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use. All duplication requests must be reviewed and approved by Archives Center staff.
This subseries is organized into two groupings; the main photographic files followed by loose photographs. Both are arranged alphabetically by project title. Prints depict interior and exterior views of structures designed by the firm, laborers at work, architectural models, and photographic reproductions of architectural renderings. The items carefully document Lockwood Greene's involvement with the industrial growth of the Piedmont region, especially as it relates to textile manufacture and pharmaceutical research, in addition to the firm's numerous municipal, civic, and educational commissions for the county of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Of particular note are photographs of the corporate headquarters designed by architect Paul Rudolph for Burroughs Wellcome & Company, Incorporated (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina). Researchers should not overlook Lockwood Greene's various designs for port facilities along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the photographic prints have corresponding negatives in Series 2, Subseries 2.5.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Technical Access: Viewing film portion of collection requires special appointment, please inquire. Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: fees for commercial use. All duplication requests must be reviewed and approved by Archives Center staff.
Collection Citation:
Lockwood Greene Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Preservation of this collection was made possible in part by a generous gift from CH2M HILL.
Holograph letter from Lincoln Drake to P. Whitin and Sons, June 22, 1861. Stationery contains color image of U.S. flag and a short patriotic poem. Drake is making machine parts for textile manufacturing machinery for two competing companies, and writes that he can produce only three castings per day. The content of the letter does not relate directly to the war.
Partial transcription: Lincoln Drake to P. Whiten and Sons / Your favor of the 20th instant has come to hand and contents [where] you say you have not [received] [last] 21 of the 36 [?] of the April order. I sent 31 on May 27th and 21 on June 6. I hardly know how to send the castings. J. L. Whiten wishes his immediately {] {] {] from them also. I make 3 [pieces] per day. Have not [] [] If I had another [] I could make 6 per day but three is as many as can be made from one pattern. I wish to accommodate both parties and will do my best to do it if you see how I am. / I made 3 pieces
Local Numbers:
AC0060-0001195a (AC Scan No.: front and back of folded letter)
AC0060-0001195b (AC Scan No.: inside pages of folded letter)
General:
In Civil War series, Box 1, Folder 14.
Civil War Selections from the Archives Center
Related Materials:
Civil War series, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, 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).
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Collection Creator:
Baekeland, L. H. (Leo Hendrik), 1863-1944 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (6.0" x 3.5")
Container:
Box 20, Folder 4
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Date:
1920 October 17-1921 July 19
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.
12.77 Cubic feet (consisting of 26.5 boxes, 1 folder, 7 oversize folders, 2 map case folders, 1 flat box (partial), plus digital images of some collection material.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Print advertising
Periodicals
Publications
Advertising cards
Advertising mail
Printed ephemera
Patterns
Catalogues
Designs (textile)
Sales catalogs
Business cards
Legal records
Contracts
Textiles
Trade catalogs
Exhibition catalogs
Advertising
Advertisements
Mail order catalogs
Business records
Designs
Printed material
Labels
Instructional materials
Trademarks
Legal documents
Trade cards
Legislation (legal concepts)
Ephemera
Samples
Manuals
Sample books
Design patents
Advertising fliers
Illustrations
Catalogs
Sales letters
Business letters
Correspondence
Manufacturers' catalogs
Commercial correspondence
Letterheads
Invoices
Photographs
Sales records
Printed materials
Fabrics
Trade literature
Business ephemera
Receipts
Commercial catalogs
Date:
1784-1970
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:
This material is concentrated on the 19th century United States textile manufacture and trade, and the sale of textiles in the form of bale, bolt, roll, and fabric to commercial vendors or consumers as source material to make other goods. The first series contains day-to-day records of dealers and vendors, plus advertising and marketing material. Artisan and home production of goods are virtually not covered but are a couple of incidental publications related to arts, crafts (rugs, weaving, looms), and more refined work such as tapestry. The import/export of textiles is well represented with a large volume of records, which may also provide some insight into the shipping industry.
There is not much on the infrastructure of the industry in the way of directories, trade journals, trade associations, along with manufacturing and plants, though there are a few examples of each. There are virtually no catalogues, except for a few thin ones that were filed by company name. While not extensive, the sample books and swatches offer a glimpse into product lines. Material types offers limited, specific information on certain varieties such as cotton, wool, linen, rayon, etc. Thread might be incidentally present but is not specifically included since there is already a dedicated subject category for it.
There is a healthy sampling of product labels. A handful of intellectual property related documents cover protections of designs, plus patents and trademarks. There is a small bulk of publications related to tariffs and the wool industry.
Clothing patterns, home economics, sewing and seamstresses, household use of textiles (furniture covering, as a cleaning tool, bedding/pillows, etc.) are not covered within this category. Researchers should also look at any of a number of other Warshaw categories, particularly those related to clothing, hosiery, dry goods, furniture, curtains, etc. for period popularity of certain materials and patterns.
Arrangement:
Textiles is arranged in three subseries.
Business Records and Marketing Material
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:
Textiles is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Textiles, 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).
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series 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.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Whips, 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).
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series 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.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Furniture and Furnishings, 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).
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Department of Anthropology Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Department of Anthropology Search this
Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Department of Anthropology Search this
Extent:
(1 of 22)
Container:
Box 9
Type:
Archival materials
Scope and Contents:
Includes "Agricultural Technology—Chinese—Keng Chih t'u, vol. 1. Ch'ing Dynasty (K'ang Hsi reign, 1662-1722)" and "Textile Manufacture—Chinese—Keng Chih t'u vol.2. Ch'ing Dynasty—1644-1912 (K'ang Hsi reign—end of 17th century 1662-1722)." Both volumes consist largely of printed drawings.
Collection Restrictions:
Some materials are restricted.
Access to the Department of Anthropology records requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Department of Anthropology Records, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The collection consists of 17 color photographic prints and (23) 35mm negatives which were taken in Sierra Leone in 2003, which focus on textile manufacture, specifically needlepointed carpet slippers worn by the Krio women of Freetown.
Arrangement:
Organized by negative number. Not all prints have negatives and not all negatives have prints.
Biographical / Historical:
Lucille Chaveas and her husband, Peter R. Chaveas, lived in Sierra Leone during his appointment as American Ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone (2001-2004). While there, Lucille Chaveas researched and collected textiles, ultimately donating several pieces to the National Museum of African Art and publishing two articles in Piecework Magazine, "Carpet Slippers of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa" (July/August 2007) and "Kappies: The Quilted Sunbonnets of Nineteenth-Century South Africa" (Summer 2007).
General:
Title provided by EEPA staff.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Treasure Hunt! Searching for scrap metal to recycle. Manufacturing steel. B. D. Eisendrath Tanning Co. of Racine; Manufacturing Association of Racine, Racine, WI.
Underground City! Mining rock salt under the streets of Detroit. Salt used in chemical processing, meat packing, and snow removal. International Salt Co., Detroit, MI.
Manchester Medicine Man! Industrialist reopens textile mills after receiving bank loan; installation of new textile manufacturing equipment. Amoskeag Cotton & Woolen Mills, Manchester, NH.
Signs of the Times! Making and maintaining signs with flashing lights called "spectaculars" on Broadway's Great White Way. Molding neon glass tubes. RKO Palace sign showing Judy Garland's stage show. Artkraft-Strauss Sign Co., New York, NY.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Reference copies must be used. Special arrangements must be made directly with the Archives Center staff to view episodes for which no reference copy exists.
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 will be charged for reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Industry on Parade Film Collection, 1950-1959, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Living with Our Climate Industry eliminating discomforts and inconveniences caused by climate. Air conditioning in houses, schools, offices, and factories. Textile manufacturers increase warmth of winter clothes and coolness of summer clothes. Removing odors using a vaporized counteraction agents rather than masking. Sewage disposal plants use neutralizers. Tractors have air-conditioning and radios. Researching ways to produce snow and rain by seeding clouds. Filmed at: The Kroger Co., Cincinnati, OH; The Trane Co., LaCrosse, WI; Airkem, Inc., New York, NY; Cockshutt Farm Equipment, Inc., Brantford, Ontario, Canada; and Jen-Cel-Lite Corp., Seattle, WA.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Reference copies must be used. Special arrangements must be made directly with the Archives Center staff to view episodes for which no reference copy exists.
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 will be charged for reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Industry on Parade Film Collection, 1950-1959, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
National Museum of American History. Division of Textiles Search this
Extent:
1.5 cu. ft. (1 record storage box) (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1947-1982
Descriptive Entry:
For the most part, this record unit documents curatorial and staff activities of the Division of Textiles after the creation of the Museum of History and Technology
in 1957; however, some records also date from the time the Division was a Section of the Division of Crafts and Industries in the United States National Museum.
These records consist of inquiries from private collectors, textile corporations, universities, and historical societies pertaining to collections of the Division; copies
of curatorial responses to public inquiries; budgetary information; accession lists; correspondence referring to identification of textile specimens, their preservation needs,
and tours of the Textile Hall; and curatorial reports.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution established a Section of Foods and Textiles as a part of the United States National Museum (USNM) in 1883. Romyn Hitchcock, an experienced
microscopist and chemist, was selected as Curator of Textiles and also acted as Assistant Curator along with Honorary Curator W. O. Atwater in the analysis of food products.
Many of the textile specimens assigned to Hitchcock were acquired at the close of the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The Section was renamed the Section of Textiles
shortly before its demise in 1890. In 1912, the Division of Textiles was re-established, reporting to the Assistant Secretary in charge of USNM. Frederick L. Lewton became
Curator of the Division. From 1916, Lewton was also responsible for medical collections, and between 1931 and 1938 the collections were administered jointly by a single Division
of Textiles and Medicine. In the latter year textiles became a Section within the newly established Division of Crafts and Industries, of which Lewton served as Curator through
1946. Textiles was reestablished as a division in 1957 and was moved among many different departments until its affiliation with the Department of Social and Cultural History in
1981. For an account of these administrative changes, see the introduction to the Department of the History of Science and Technology, whose antecedent departments oversaw
the Division prior to 1980.
The principal function of the Division of Textiles is to document the historical, cultural, and economic development of American textile fabrics, implements, and machinery
since the seventeenth century. In addition to American technical progress in the production of textiles, work of the Division focused on the earliest methods of textile making
throughout the world. Research interests of the Division and its predecessors included tapestry, weaving, household and costume textiles, woolen goods, silks, sewing threads,
hand spinning-wheels, sewing machines, patent models, textile techniques from fiber to fabric, fiber identification, dyes, quilts, and other needlework. The Division staff
also has developed exhibitions, presented lectures on the history of textile manufacturing, published catalogs, and collected and conserved objects.
Staff of the Division included Rita J. Adrosko, Associate Curator, 1963-1970, and Curator, 1971- ; Grace Rogers Cooper, Assistant Curator, 1949-1956, Associate Curator,
1957, and Curator, 1958-1976; Gary B. Kulik, Assistant Curator, 1979-1981, and Associate Curator, 1982; William N. Watkins, Curator, 1947-1957; Milton Eisler, Conservator,
1960-1963; Maureen Collins McHugh, Conservator, 1963-1970; Katherine Dirks, museum technician, 1971-1980, and Conservator, 1981- ; Doris M. Bowman, needlework and lace specialist,
1960- ; Lois Vann, museum specialist, 1961- ; and Barbara Suit Janssen, museum specialist, 1975- .
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
The Doris Holmes Blake papers consist of correspondence, diaries, photographs and related materials documenting in great detail Blake's personal life and, to a lesser
degree, her professional career.
The heavy correspondence she maintained with her mother and daughter, her essays and children's books, and the 70 years' worth of daily journals all attest to her infatuation
with the written word and preoccupation with her inner life. Blake's diaries and family papers stunningly illuminate the contrasts in the daily lives of herself, her mother,
and her daughter.
The papers relating to her professional life are less complete. Although she spent almost 60 years (1919-1978) in association with the entomological staffs of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution, published numerous professional papers, produced all of her own illustrations, and illustrated many of her husband's
botanical works as well, this collection contains only a very limited amount of material documenting those activities. The papers do, however, include her extensive correspondence
with fellow entomologists, both in the United States and abroad.
In the course of transferring her husband's papers to the University of Texas, some of Blake's own papers were included as well. They are presently in the collection of
the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin and include letters to her parents, 1906-1950; school and college notebooks, papers, essays and drawings;
and clippings, genealogical notes, and miscellaneous family letters and papers.
Historical Note:
Doris Holmes (1892-1978) was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, to a middle-class grocer and his wife. Essentially an only child (two siblings died in early childhood
and infancy), her natural intelligence, stubbornness, and extremely competitive nature were well fostered by her parents, who steadily encouraged and supported her determination
to excel.
Holmes left Stoughton for Boston University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1909, where she pursued studies in business and the classics, earning her A.B. in
1913. Her business skills led to her association with the Boston Psychopathic Hospital in 1913, initially as a clerk, and later as aide to Dr. Herman Adler. Her interests
in science and psychology led her to an A.M. from Radcliffe College in zoology and psychology in 1917.
After a short time as a researcher at Bedford Hills Reformatory for Women, Holmes married her childhood sweetheart, botanist Sidney Fay Blake. Early in 1919, Doris Blake
found work as a clerk for the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Entomology under Frank H. Chittenden, and began the entomological studies that would continue for the rest
of her life.
Blake worked her way up to junior entomologist and, when Chittenden retired, continued her work under Eugene A. Schwarz at the United States National Museum. The birth
in 1928 of daughter Doris Sidney (an infant son had died shortly after birth in 1927) was not a sign for her to slow down -- Blake hired a nurse to watch the baby while she
continued to watch beetles. In 1933 her official employment came to an end with the institution of regulations prohibiting more than one member of a family from holding a
government position (Sidney Blake was then working for the Department of Agriculture).
Although no longer on the payroll, Blake continued her taxonomic work on the family Chrysomelides for almost 45 more years, first as a collaborator and then as a research
associate of the Smithsonian Institution. Shortly after her husband's death, Blake traveled to Europe in 1960 on a National Science Foundation grant to revise the genus Neobrotica
Jacoby. She ultimately published 97 papers in various journals (see "Doris Holmes Blake," Froeschner, Froeschner and Cartwright, Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash., 83(3), 1981, for
a complete bibliography) and continued her active research until shortly before her death on December 3, 1978.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
