Hagley Library and Archives

Two Pages Facing: The Curtis Publishing Company and Advertising Design

2011-06-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

By Molly Olney-Zide

Two Pages Facing (1916)

The Curtis Publishing Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1891 by Cyrus Curtis, is probably best known for its publication of magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Country Gentleman. The general public was very familiar with the finished product, but how the Curtis Publishing Company took blank pages and filled them with intricately designed advertisements may not have occurred to the magazines’ numerous subscribers. Although the companies who advertised in the pages of the various magazines can be given some credit for the design of their advertisements, the bulk of the credit may lie with the Curtis Publishing Company itself.

Two Pages Facing (1921)

Hagley Library owns two unique Curtis Publishing Company publications which give very detailed suggestions for how companies can best use the advertising space in a two-page magazine spread: Two Pages Facing : Some Suggestions for Advertising Display (1916) and Two Pages Facing in the Ladies’ Home Journal : Suggestions for the Effective Use of Double Pages in Color and Black and White (1921). The Company, in an effort to create appealing advertisements for their subscribers, essentially used publications such as these to advertise their own designs to potential advertisers. All suggestions in each book use generic products or services that could easily be modified to work for just about any company.

Two Pages Facing from 1916 focuses primarily on how to incorporate the “gutter” of a two-page layout (the white space between where the two pages meet in the spine) into the design of the advertisement. In many of the design suggestions, the unavoidable white space has been transformed into the trunk of a tree, a fence post, a road, and many other objects that cause the gutter to virtually disappear into the image. Other suggested techniques include shifting the optical center, strategically placing product images, and carrying motion across both pages.


Incorporating the "gutter" into the advertisement -- View full image

Due in part to the success of the 1916 publication, the Company came out with the next installment of Two Pages Facing in 1921. Although many of the techniques suggested in the first publication are reused, this one focuses attention on how to enhance advertisement space with color. Some simple and some more detailed, the designs show how companies can draw attention to their product by fading color into black and white across the pages, displaying their product in color and in use, and by using color in combination with the popular gutter-eliminating designs from the 1916 publication.

Using color with black and white -- View full image

By offering these 25+ suggestions per book to advertisers, the Curtis Publishing Company was able to produce a more consistent and more attractive publication, and the companies advertising in their magazines were able to advertise more effectively and ultimately benefit everyone involved.

Hagley Library is currently the only library in the OCLC community to own these two unique publications, which are available in physical format by visiting the library and in digital format by visiting the Hagley Digital Archives. For those looking for more information about the Curtis Publishing Company and its publications, the library has many other items available for research. Please contact the Imprints Reference Desk at 302-658-2400 x227 or send an email request using the online AskHagley form.

For more information about Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library/.

Delaware's Industrial Brandywine

2011-06-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Last month, Hagley launched Delaware’s Industrial Brandywine, an online project produced by the library with support from the Delaware Industrial History Initiative, the Delaware Humanities Forum, and the National Endowment of the Humanities.

The website at www.industrialbrandywine.org provides a comprehensive look at businesses along the Brandywine River in Delaware from the late 17th to the 20th centuries. The goal of the project to document the rich history of the region and provide historians, students, and life-long learners a resource for understanding the development of industry along the Brandywine River.

The site is a work in progress and Hagley is encouraging the public to contribute their knowledge of the area using the comment sections found throughout the site or by contacting us via email through our Ask Hagley form.

If you have any questions or comments about the site, please contact Kevin Martin, Curator of Digital Collection, at kmartin@hagley.org.

From "Home Sweet Home" to "Karn Evil 9" : Hagley Documents the Origins of the Synthesizer

2011-05-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

by Christopher T. Baer

Hagley has recently opened the files of RCA engineer Herbert Belar (1901-1997), part of the former David Sarnoff Library, to researchers. Relatively unknown today, Belar and his superior, Harry F. Olson (1901-1982), developed the first music synthesizers in the 1950s.

Olson and Belar were quick to grasp the importance of Claude E. Shannon’s groundbreaking 1948 paper, “A Mathematical Theory of Communications,” the foundation stone of modern information theory. On May 11, 1950, they issued their first internal research report, “Preliminary Investigation of Modern Communication Theories Applied to Records and Music,” in which they proposed to consider music mathematically as information, thus making it possible to generate any kind of music mathematically instead of from traditional instruments. On February 26, 1952, Olson and Belar demonstrated their first experimental model for David Sarnoff and other company officials, having it perform renditions of “Home Sweet Home” and “Blue Skies.”

Image 1: The original Mark I synthesizer, 1955

Another three years of research and experimentation were required to render more complex pieces and achieve something close to commercial sound quality. The Mark I Synthesizer (image to right, information below) was revealed to the world by Gen. David Sarnoff in a January 31, 1955 speech to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and a 12-inch demonstration LP was offered commercially. Like all computers of the period, the Mark I was a room-sized array of vacuum tubes based on a separate oscillator circuit for each of the twelve tones of the musical scale and was programmed using punched tape. It could not be “played” in the conventional sense. Rather, a composer had to work with the engineers, tweaking the program until the desired sound was achieved. Olson and Belar produced an improved Mark II in 1957, which later served as an experimental tool for modernist composers who could use it to create effects not possible with acoustic instruments.

Image 1 information: This is an image of the original Mark I synthesizer as it appeared in 1955. Pictured at the extreme left is the recording unit that generated the output in the form of a phonograph record. The second cabinet from left contains the paper record drive for input. The five cabinets to the right contain the synthesizer proper.

Image 2: Score for Brahms Waltz in A Flat

Olson and Belar had pushed their experiments by holding out the possibility of creating music electronically without full bands or orchestras, but RCA’s Victor recording division quickly realized the threat this would pose to its unionized musicians and contact recording artists. Mark I was eventually donated to the Smithsonian, and Mark II to the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, where it was used by a few modernist composers. It was one of the people working at the center, the electrical engineer Robert Moog (1934-2005), who developed an improved, compact synthesizer with a traditional keyboard interface, and eventually, a portable, affordable instrument that could be used in popular music. Moog also worked with composers and musicians, refining his synthesizers first for studio work and eventually live performance, making the synthesizer a staple of Seventies art rock, electronica and disco.

Image 2 information: This is an image of the score for the melody of Brahms Waltz in A Flat as arranged by Herbert Belar for playing on the synthesizer.

Belar’s papers include his research reports as well as notes and calculations, although much of the material requires that the user be well grounded in both electrical engineering and music. There are photographs and sheet music for the pieces used as test subjects, and a 45 RPM record of music produced on the synthesizer. Among the most interesting items is a 1955 letter to Belar from Moog (see below), then an undergraduate at Queens College, requesting Belar’s advice in getting access technical information for his own experiments.

Image 3: Letter from Robert Moog to Herbert Belar, February 1, 1955

Hagley is continuing to reprocess the huge collection of the former David Sarnoff Library and make descriptions and pieces available online. To learn more about this collection, please contact Hagley Library Manuscripts and Archives department by using the AskHagley form or by calling 302-658-2400 x330.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library/.

2011 Hagley Prize Winner

2011-05-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Hagley Prize has been awarded to Susan Ingalls Lewis for her book, Unexceptional Women: Female Proprietors in Mid-Nineteenth Century Albany, New York, 1830-1885. Dr. Lewis is an associate professor at SUNY, New Paltz. The award was presented at the Business History Conference annual meeting on Saturday, May 2, 2011 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Hagley Prize Committee members are Donald C. Jackson, (Chair) Lafayette College; Jocelyn Wills, Brooklyn College, CUNY; and Gerben Bakken, London School of Economics. The committee’s citation reads as follows:

In Unexceptional Women: Female Proprietors in Mid-Nineteenth Century Albany, New York, 1830-1885 (Ohio State University Press, 2009), Susan Lewis casts her scholarly eye at the place of women in the business and life of a major 19th Century commercial center. The role of women as factory workers in early industrialization is well appreciated by historians; and the primacy of women in the progressive reform movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries is also firmly established in the fields of social, cultural and political history. But the contributions of 19th Century women as entrepreneurs and business operators is something often dismissed as mere anomaly, something that exists solely at the margins of a political economy dominated by a notion of "separate spheres," where men were businessmen and women were not. Lewis takes on this orthodoxy and, through detailed examination of city directories, R.G. Dun credit reports and myriad other sources, brings to life some 2,000 women who directly participated in – and helped define – the business life of Albany, New York during the heart of the 19th century. What emerges is a path-breaking analysis that challenges a wide range of assumptions so often made regarding women and their place in the world of commerce.

But this book is not merely about women and their place within small business and the larger economy. It also charts the everyday realities that have long guided, but until recently remained hidden from, narratives of American life. In Lewis' work, we gain insight into the resilience of the family economy during a period of tumultuous change and the ways that the labor of unexceptional people fueled capitalist expansion. First and foremost Lewis reminds us that business is a social and cultural institution reaching into every aspect of daily life, and that creative archival work can recover the ways in which ordinary people have coped with the vagaries – and the promise -- of the market. In this, Lewis engages essential historiographical debates that resonate among women's, business, social, and cultural history.

A carefully and imaginatively researched text, one of the great strengths of Unexceptional Women is Lewis’s success in taking a mountain of seemingly dry, prosaic data and using it to bring life to people whose lives left only modest marks in more traditional sources. This type of historical writing is perhaps easy to conceive, but to succeed on the scale achieved by Unexceptional Women is truly exceptional. In recognition of this accomplishment the committee is proud to award Susan Ingalls Lewis the 2011 Hagley Prize.

Quantifying Color - The Munsell Color System and the ISCC Collection

2011-04-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

By Christopher Chenier, University of Delaware


Munsell Chart, View item in Hagley Digital Archives

I acquired my first Munsell Soil Chart during archaeology field school in upstate New York back in 2003. By matching soil samples from the layers of dirt we excavated to colors on the chart, our team could infer the composition of soils, the geological history of the site and what to reasonably expect to find lurking below our feet. Flipping through the Munsell chart, I couldn’t help reflecting on the Goethe color wheels I’d painted in grammar school art classes, with their watery hues bleeding from one tone to the next in a rainbow continuum of yellows, reds, purples and blues.


Elements of Munsell Chart

The description of a soil color or the painting of a color wheel relies on a hybrid of technical production and subjective vision. Goethe contributed to color theory an element of human experience, a corporeal subjectivity that Newtonian models had previously ignored. For Goethe, the perception of color was linked directly to the subjective perception and conditions of the human eye and mind. Wittgenstein is a better judge of this than I, but Goethe, I think, was most interested in expanding optical explanations of light into the subjective observations of human observers, thinking particularly about how these phenomena can be translated into the ways we experience and describe color and light through art and science. A. E. Munsell, in his work as an oil painter and later as a color theorist and researcher, was able to connect these seemingly disparate notions in color theory in the Munsell Color System. He was interested in sight, studying, particularly, color blindness and even creating a series of crayons.

Slides from Nickerson's lecture on Munsell

The fact that color is measurable at all is in large part due to the efforts of research organizations in the early 20th century which, in an effort to streamline business practices and manufacturing techniques, came together to agree upon common terms with which to measure and describe color. A key moment in this process occurred with the formation of the Inter-Society Color Council in 1931. From the outset, the ISCC played an important role in unifying the measurement and control of color in America. Today, using computers and a range of high-tech optical equipment, color standards agreed upon by ISCC member bodies help manufacturers determine a host of things from the color of your Levis to the calibration of computer screens. With such broad appeal, the ISCC has attracted members from all corners of science and industry including Dupont, Hallmark Cards Inc., Hewlett Packard, Konica Minolta and Xerox.

The papers of the Inter-Society Color Council came to Hagley a number of years ago and recently a series of print and photographic materials from the ISCC Collection has been processed and made available through the Hagley Library Pictorial Collections Department. Included in this collection are slides, prints, correspondence and films relating to all aspects of the Munsell Color system. Also included in the collection are pictorial and other paper items from Dorothy Nickerson, an early member of the ISCC board, who worked in the laboratory of the Munsell Color Company in the 1920’s and later developed color standards for the US Department of Agriculture as a color technologist.


Elements of the Munsell Color System, View items in Hagley Digital Archives

Below is an image from the collection depicting Munsell and family observing his patented Color Sphere in action. Originally an accomplished painter, Albert Munsell originated a system for describing color in 1899. The Munsell Color Sphere is a physical model he created which shows color values from black to white (the north and south poles), and is divided like an orange, each slice representing a different color, or hue. Eventually Munsell evolved his sphere to include additional factors depicting the intensity of the colors, represented on the horizontal axis, which is why in the above image there appears to be a malformation in the sphere. Hue, chroma, and value; three vectors determining how a color appears in daylight.

A. E. Munsell with children and Color Sphere, View full image

For more information about the Inter-Society Color Council and these images, please contact Jon Williams in the Hagley Library's Pictorial Department (302-658-2400 x276 or jwilliams@hagley.org).

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library/.

Philadelphia's PSFS Building in the Hagley Digital Archives

2011-04-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

By Will Drewen, University of Delaware

In 1816, the first savings bank in America, the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS), was founded. It began as a single office next to a tavern on Sixth Street in Philadelphia. Over the course of the next century, the Society would grow, relocating its offices several times and opening several branch offices around the Philadelphia area. By the 1920's, the bank was one of the largest in America, and it was decided that a new office building was necessary.

Image: PSFS Building. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Construction on the PSFS building began in 1931 under architects George Howe and William Lescaze with the design slogan, "Nothing More Modern." The building was designed in the modernist "International" style that had gained popularity in Europe. The norm for bank architecture had been to use a combination of historical styles and ornamentation. The PSFS building, however, would be the first modern skyscraper in America, foregoing ornate masonry for simplicity and function. Many contemporaries thought the 491-foot-tall building a prominent eyesore in Philadelphia's skyline.

Image: Nothing More Modern, ca. 1932. View full advertisement in Hagley Digital Archives

The building was designed to be as functional as possible. Windows made up 65% of the surface area of the outer walls to maximize natural light in the building. The ground floor had shops and an entrance to the subway concourse. Escalators led up to the second floor, the main banking floor. The third and fourth floors housed executive and building management offices and the safe deposit vault. The top floors of the building composed the executive level, with board rooms, dining rooms, and a solarium. The rest of the tower housed office space used by the Society or rented to other businesses.

The PSFS building represented many firsts in the United States. It was, as stated, the first modern skyscraper in America and the tallest building in Philadelphia. It was also the first building of its kind to have year-round "manufactured weather," with individual thermostats in every office. The building's new elevator system was touted as being 20% faster than in typical buildings elsewhere. Each office was also fully equipped with radio outlets.

In 1969 the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects named the PSFS building the most important building in Philadelphia for the past century, and it was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The skyscraper was renovated into a hotel in the 1990's and is currently known as the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The 27-foot-tall "PSFS" rooftop sign can still be seen lit up in the Philadelphia skyline every night.

Image: PSFS Building Illuminated at Night, 1956. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Photos of the building's design, construction, and interiors since the early 1930's, along with promotional materials for the building, are available at the Hagley Library and in the Hagley Digital Archives.

Please feel free to explore our collections and contact us with any comments or questions you may have.

Sources
"Building Facade Emphasizes Steel Frame." Engineering News-Record 109.19 (1932): 549-552. View article in Hagley Digital Archives

Fawcett, C. D. "Nothing More Modern." Electrical Engineering 22 September (1932). View article in Hagley Digital Archives

Reilly, C. H. "The First Great Modern Bank Building: The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society's New Offices." The Banker 37.121 (1936): 186-202. View article in Hagley Digital Archives

Tarleton, L. S. "Air Conditioning the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society Building." Heating and Ventilation July (1932): 28-30. View article in Hagley Digital Archives

Wilcox, James M. A History of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society: 1816-1916. Philadelphia: The Washington Square Press, 1916. View item in Google Books

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library.

From Explosives to the Digital Age : The DuPont Magazine

2011-03-08T05:48:00.000-08:00


January 1919, View full issue

By Molly Olney-Zide

The Hagley Museum and Library is delighted to finally offer the full run of the DuPont Magazine in a free, fully-searchable, online collection, which can be accessed by patrons around the world through the Hagley Digital Archives. The DuPont Magazine, which was published between 1913 and 2003, documented and publicized the progress of the DuPont Company for nearly a century. Historically known for gunpowder and other explosives, the DuPont Company gradually transformed into the chemical-based concern of the present day.

When the DuPont Magazine made its debut in July 1913, plastics had not yet become a main focal-point of the renowned explosives company. Instead, the early issues were filled with blasting powder advertisements and articles that focused on trapshooting and the benefits of using dynamite for all of one's road-building, flood prevention, and farming needs. It was an era of thinking that if a task needed to be done, dynamite would do the job faster, better, and, oddly, safer.

View full article

Despite the Magazine’s continued abundance of explosives-related articles and advertisements, change gradually began to creep in on the popular topic. The issues of the 1910s and the 1920s began highlighting new materials such as Fabrikoid, Pyralin, and Tontine. Fabrikoid, a synthetic leather, began making its appearance in the magazine as a popular new material for automobile seats and tops. Although Pyralin was most commonly used as an ivory substitute for a variety of popular household items including toys and toiletry items, it was also used for items such as The Swimming Collar in 1922 (v.16, no.3, p.11), an invention that did not so easily stand the test of time. Another synthetic fiber, Tontine helped bring easily-washable curtains, tablecloths, and wallpaper to the busy housewife.

The magazine issues continued through the years, and nylon, cellophane, and other popular synthetic materials continued widening the gap between the DuPont Company and explosives. As World War II came to a close, explosives had noticeably taken a back seat to a generation who craved new materials that promised a better, easier way of life. War-weary citizens were enamored by the luxury items they were finally able to purchase after years of sacrificing for the war effort.


April-May, 1944, View full article

The second half of the 20th century saw even more discovery and change within the DuPont Company, and the DuPont Magazine was there documenting every exciting (and sometimes horrifying) breakthrough. Previously only available by request to use in the Hagley Library reading room, the DuPont Magazine is finally accessible to researchers or anyone interested in learning more about the DuPont Company from any computer. Please follow the link to the DuPont Company Magazine website in the Hagley Digital Archives to expand your own knowledge of this fascinating company.

For those who would like additional information or help navigating this new digital collection, you can contact the Hagley Library Reference desk at 302-658-2400 x227 or send an email request through Ask Hagley. Although the DuPont Magazine is now available online, a physical copy is still available by request for use in the Hagley Library reading room for those who still prefer to hold history in their own hands.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library/.

Furniture in Motion

2011-02-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

by Lucas R. Clawson


Momentum Furniture Catalog, 1949 -- View Online

New York-based interior designer William Pahlmann (1900-1987) thought that post-World War II Americans faced some serious problems. First, he felt that most people, particularly urban dwellers, lived in spaces too small to meet their needs. Second, they had to figure out how to fit a dazzling array of newly available household technologies (such as stereos, dishwashers, and air conditioners) into their undersized homes. Finally, and most importantly for Pahlmann, Americans had no idea how to arrange their confined interiors for proper flow and function.

Momentum Furniture Room Setting, 1949

What were growing families to do? Pahlmann proposed easily movable, multi-purpose furniture as a solution to their dilemma. He designed a furniture line called “Momentum” which hit the market in 1949. Items in the “Momentum” catalog, such as chairs and coffee tables, were made of sturdy, lightweight materials and had large, semi-pneumatic rubber wheels so they could be rolled out of the way. Case goods included plenty of large drawers and fold-out sections that doubled as tables or shelves.

Momentum Rolling Coffee Table, 1949

The idea behind Pahlmann’s “Momentum” furniture was that anyone, particularly housewives, could effortlessly move or manipulate it. This made it possible to reconfigure rooms for multiple uses. For example, one might turn a home office into a dining room or rearrange the den for entertaining guests or watching television. This versatility enabled families to get the most out of their space, organize their homes according to their needs, and accommodate an increasing number of consumer goods.

William Pahlmann aggressively marketed the “Momentum” line to American homeowners. He placed photographs of the furniture in major magazines, issued press releases to newspapers and other media outlets, and created model rooms that incorporated “Momentum” pieces. Pahlmann enlisted other noted designers such as Dorothy Liebes to fashion custom fabrics and color schemes for the line. He also lectured and gave interviews to promote how “Momentum” furnishings streamlined modern living.


William Pahlmann with "Momentum" Furniture, 1949

The William Pahlmann Associates Records, available at the Hagley Museum and Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Department, include numerous photographs, product catalogs, and correspondence that document “Momentum” furniture and William Pahlmann’s efforts to get it into the hands of every space-conscious American family.

For more information about the William Pahlmann Associates Records and Momentum Furniture, please contact Lucas Clawson, Reference Archivist in the Manuscripts and Archives Department, at 302-658-2400 x319 or lclawson@hagley.org.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library.

Marge McNinch Departs Hagley

2011-02-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

After forty years of exemplary service, Marjorie McNinch, Hagley’s extraordinary Reference Archivist, is retiring. It is often said that Marge delivers “the gold standard” of public services, and time and time again, scholars have written to us, celebrating her contribution to their success.

Marge was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and was raised on a farm near Bear, Delaware, before moving to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1957. She earned a B.A. from the University of Vermont in 1969 and her M.A. from the University of Delaware in 1984. Before coming to Hagley in 1971, Marge worked at the Vermont Public Library. For the last forty years, Marge has provided the extraordinary reference services described above. She is the author of several articles, and her books include Bridges (1995), The Church of Saint Joseph on the Brandywine, 1841-1994 (1995), Festivals (1996), Silver Screen (1997), Wilmington in Vintage Postcards (2000), and Yesterday on Delaware Avenue (2006). She will research and write a book on the DuPont Theatre in her retirement.

To honor Marge and honor her many years of service, we have established “The McNinch Endowment Fund for Reference and Outreach” which will be used to promote Hagley Library’s world-class collections and advance researchers’ access to those collections.

Our goal is to raise $100,000 in order to generate annual resources of approximately $5,000 per year to fund a range of outreach projects from subject guides, to finding aids, to web-based products, to History Day support, to summer internships that teach graduate students the fine art of reference work. The possibilities are endless!

Checks may be made payable to Hagley Museum and Library with “McNinch Endowment Fund” noted in the memo line and sent to the attention of Jill MacKenzie. Or you may make a contribution through our website: www.hagley.org/library/mcninchfund.

Please help us honor Marge’s legacy as she begins a new chapter in her life. This endowment fund will honor her fine work, her commitment to scholarship, and her strong public service for years to come.

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

What's New in the Digital Archives

2011-01-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

The Digital Archives Department is pleased to announce new content added to our online archive at http://digital.hagley.org/ :

Avon Calling for 75 Years, 1961
View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Avon Company Collection
With the generous support of Avon, Inc., in conjunction with their 125th anniversary, the Library has commenced a large-scale scanning effort of the Avon collection housed at the Library. While the project will be ongoing throughout the year, digitized material completed during the first phase of the project is available to view at the Hagley Digital Archives.

Demirjian Collection of DuPont Co. Packaging and Advertising
A set of material donated by Charles H. DeMirjian, who worked for the Du Pont Company from 1954 until 1991, has been digitized by the Library. Demirjian was the Manager of Packaging Design in the Consumer Products Division and his collection consists of brochures, advertisements, photographs, and ephemera showing Du Pont Company consumer products from 1913 to 1984. Chief among these products are paint and car care products such as car wash, polish, and antifreeze.

DuPont Company Advertising
A section of the DuPont Company records frequently referred to as “tearsheets”, as they have literally been “torn” from the pages of magazines, covers nearly seventy years of the company’s product advertising. This collection is used often by Hagley researchers and will no doubt be used even more now that it is online.

William du Pont Collection
The Library recently completed an online exhibit about William du Pont Jr., as well as a digital archives that includes selections from the papers of both William du Pont, Jr. and Sr. The exhibit highlights the life and contributions of William du Pont, Jr. to the Delaware Valley landscape. You can visit the exhibit at www.hagley.org/library/exhibits/wmdupont.

To view these new collections and the other exciting collections in the Digital Archives, please visit the "What’s New" section at http://digital.hagley.org/.

Mining the Nation’s Business

2011-01-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

In March, 2004 the United States Chamber of Commerce sent an “addition” to their records already housed at the Hagley Museum and Library. It turned out to be over 25,000 photographs from the files of “Nation’s Business,” a Chamber publication from 1912 until 1999. It also turned out to be a photo curator’s dream collection. As Hagley staff worked through the images, they discovered photographs by some of the 20th century’s greatest photographers, such as Lewis Hine, Margaret Bourke-White, Art Rothstein, William Rittase, Robert Yarnell Richie, and many others.

Image: “Old Faithful skilled machinist”, by Lewis Wickes Hine, 1921. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Nation’s Business” collection, PC Accession 93.230)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce began in 1912, after President Taft pointed out the need for a “central organization in touch with associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country.” Almost immediately the Chamber began publication of a periodical to reach out to businesses everywhere. The first issue of “Nation’s Business” came out on September 22, 1912 in tabloid format. In 1921 it adopted a modern magazine design and became more heavily illustrated. The last issue was June, 1999, the Chamber having decided that the Internet was a more efficient way to reach its public.

Now, with the 100th anniversary of the Chamber looming, Jon Williams, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Prints and Photographs, is making a selection of 100 prints from the collection to include in an exhibit slated for 2012. He continues to make exciting finds practically every day. Coming across a photograph of a woman reaching for a jar on a kitchen shelf, he turned it over to find “André Kertész” stamped on the back. Kertész (1894-1985) was born in Hungary, moved to Paris in 1925, and came to the United States in 1936. He then did a lot of photography for magazines, and the black and white image in the Nation’s Business collection probably dates from this pre-war period. Kertész is now recognized as one of the giants of photography. John Szarkowski, former curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, stated that “perhaps more than any other photographer, André Kertész discovered and demonstrated the special aesthetic of the small camera.”

Andre Kertesz’s name stamped on the back of “Ever-busy mother.”

Image: “Ever-busy mother” by Andre Kertesz, ca. 1940. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Nation’s Business” collection, PC Accession 93.230)

The photographs in the Nation’s Business collection cover an incredibly wide variety of subjects. There is a picture of President Calvin Coolidge wearing a Sioux headdress as he meets with tribal elders (image to the right), many photographs from the WPA and FSA photo projects during the Great Depression, images of industry in World War II, and pictures of turmoil during the 1960s, as well as NASA photographs from the Apollo space program. While many of the mostly black and white photographic prints have white ink crop marks directly on the image, this does not diminish the interest and intensity of the pictures. It is, in fact, useful and intriguing to see how the photo editors worked in changing the image to suit the needs of the magazine.

Image: “President Coolidge initiated in the Sioux Tribe is given the head dress by Princess Rose Bud Yellow Robe, direct descendant of Sitting Bull…”, August 8, 1927, International Newsreel photograph. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Nation’s Business” collection, PC Accession 93.230)

Selection of only 100 pictures from these riches is proving to be difficult indeed. Keep an eye on this blog for news of more discoveries as this process goes on.

For more information about this collection and other pictorial collections, please contact Jon Williams at 302-658-2400, x276 or jwilliams@hagley.org.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library.

The Romance of Commercial Vehicles

2010-12-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Since the beginning of the automotive age, there has been almost no end to the specialization found among commercial vehicles. The business community quickly sought to utilize and profit from the new horseless carriage, yet it took a while for them to truly find their wheels and begin to realize the potential benefits to be derived from the combustion engine. Each subsequent advance in the automotive industry was explored for commercial applications as well. The library stacks at Hagley are filled with examples reminding readers that innovations in commercial vehicles, such as those demonstrated below, have never really gone out of style...

Competing against the horse was the easy part. A mailer from the International Harvester Company from 1917 summarily points out the advantages of motor-power: Horses have to eat. Horses have to sleep. Horses die and must be replaced. The International Motor truck, on the other hand, is cheaper to maintain and can run faster and longer (no mention is made of planned obsolescence). Profits will go up and expenses will go down. A business can thus expand with the savings acquired from abandoning horse-drawn vehicles and purchasing the International Motor truck.

Image: "Horse-power versus Motor-power," Trade Literature, 1917, p.7, International Harvester Company of America, 1917. View full item in Hagley Digital Archives

Convincing automotive converts that your commercial vehicle is superior to others on the market turned out to be a bigger challenge -- and a bigger opportunity. The International Motor Company touted the extraordinary strength and versatility of its Mack and Saurer trucks in a pamphlet entitled Proving Truck Quality..., ca.1920. Among many examples offered are a 5-ton Saurer truck shown carrying a 50-foot steel girder and a 5-ton Mack truck hauling a 16,000-lb. locomotive (shown on right). This type of promotion was already a common method of drawing attention to one’s product.

Image: Proving Truck Quality..., p.2, International Motor Company, ca.1920. View full item in Hagley Digital Archives

Alternatively, the Commercial Truck Company of America produced an undated pamphlet (circa 1920s), with a priceless title: If You Are a Big Man with a Receptive Mind, Look This Over ; If Not Give It to a Subordinate Who is After Your Job. In this publication, the company touted the innovative design of its Lamp Trimmer’s Wagon, an electric vehicle custom designed and built to meet the needs of the Philadelphia Electric Company. This early utility truck allowed one man to perform work normally accomplished by two people using a horse or motorcycle and wagon. The trick was that the Lamp Trimmer’s Wagon could be operated from the driver’s seat or the upper platform. Although specialized for a niche market, this pamphlet serves the purpose of advertising both the vehicle in question, and the ability of the company in general, to customize vehicles, design solutions, and collaborate with other potential clients.

Image: If you are a big man with a receptive mind, look this over. If not give it to a subordinate who is after your job, p.3, Commercial Truck Company of America, c.192-, Pam 2003.603. View item in Hagley Digital Archives

Yet another innovation was the mobile home, a uniquely American invention that began to gain traction in the late 1920s. Based upon early camping trailers, the mobile home had all the benefits one’s immobile home did not. People lived in them, vacationed in them, and businesses sought to adapt them as commercial vehicles. In an advertisement entitled "Ride Through Sales Resistance," the Curtiss Aerocar Company promoted the many virtues of the new Curtiss Aerocar. Unlike earlier commercial vehicles designed simply to haul or lift, the Aerocar was promoted as a mobile showroom, where finished products were driven directly to consumer markets. The Fostoria Glass Company, Norge, and Victor Radio are just some of the businesses that employed Curtiss Aerocars as part of their sales strategies. This was a novel approach that aimed to move businesses beyond the inherent limitations of franchise locations and mail-order catalogs.

Image: "Ride Through Sales Resistance," p. 171, in Fortune, March 1934.

It is easy to think of the past as an idyllic and simpler time; however, innovations in every field of business were constantly sought after in the relentless pursuit of profits. Even today the evolution of commercial vehicles continues to play a part in this ongoing history.

For additional information about the items mentioned here or to set up an appointment at the Hagley Library, please contact Max Moeller, Head of Imprints, at 302-658-2400 x226 or send email inquiries to Ask Hagley.

Sources:
Commercial Truck Company of America. If you are a big man with a receptive mind, look this over ; if not give it to a subordinate who is after your job. 192-? Hagley Trade Catalogs and Pamphlet Collection, Pam 2003.603. View item in Hagley Digital Archives

Curtiss Aerocar Company, Inc. “Ride Through Sales Resistance” in Fortune, March 1934. Hagley Imprints, HF5001 F75

International Harvester Company of America. Horse-power versus motor-power. 1917. Pam (I). View item in Hagley Digital Archives

International Motor Company. Proving truck quality... ca. 1920. Trade Cat. View item in Hagley Digital Archives

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library

Henry du Pont and the Civil War

2010-11-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

By Andrew Engel

Henry du Pont, ca.1860

Those familiar with Civil War history are well aware of the DuPont Company’s crucial role in many Union successes throughout the conflict, primarily through its manufacture of gunpowder. However, the lesser-told narratives come from within the rank and file of the company and family. Among these stories is that of DuPont Company President Henry du Pont (1812-1889), son of company founder E.I. du Pont, and his roles as Major-General and commander of the Delaware Home Guard.

Image: Henry du Pont (1812-1889), ca.1860, Hagley Portrait File, View item in the Hagley Digital Archives

Henry du Pont’s devotion to national service began with his enrollment in the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1829. Following graduation in 1833, du Pont was commissioned as a second-lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Fourth Artillery Regiment. He served for a year before returning to the banks of the Brandywine to join the family powder business as a managing partner. After becoming President of the DuPont Company in 1850, Henry du Pont pushed to expand the firm outside of Delaware in response to demand for blasting powder used in mining and construction. This increased production capacity helped the company meet both government and domestic orders for gunpowder during the Civil War.

Henry du Pont's Commission, 1861 (Winterthur Manuscripts, Group 7)

Henry du Pont's role in Delaware and national politics was very important to his work with the company. In May of 1861, he was commissioned Major-General of the State of Delaware and commander of the Delaware Home Guards. As leader of Delaware’s military forces, he helped organize those who volunteered for military service into units that would later serve in the U.S. Army. Du Pont also used his position to try and sway Delaware politics towards Republican policies and thwart his Democratic Party foes. Correspondence with Delaware Governor William Burton, including the document presented to du Pont upon his commissioning (pictured above), is housed at the Hagley Museum and Library. Henry du Pont's commission, signed by Delaware Governor William H. Burton, and Delaware Secretary of State, Edward Ridgley helped place him at the forefront of Delaware politics through the conclusion of the Civil War.

For additional information about Henry du Pont and the Manuscripts and Archives Collection, please contact Lynn Catanese at 302 658-2400 x317 or lcatanese@hagley.org.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library.

Collecting Iron Furnaces

2010-10-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Since its earliest days, the Hagley Museum and Library has collected records on the iron and steel industry in America. One of the marks of the depth of that effort is that we have collections from not one person, but three people whose hobby was documenting early American iron furnaces. All three of these gentlemen lived in the first half of the twentieth century and compiled remarkable collections of photographs, field notes, clippings, and correspondence about colonial and early national blast furnaces in their spare time in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

Image: Iron Dale Furnace, Wytheville, Wythe County, Virginia, June 21, 1937, AISI/Albert T. Keller Collection. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Clement Starr Brinton (1875-1963) was a U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientist. When he retired in 1944, he pursued an interest in the early iron and steel industries of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He photographed abandon furnaces and related sites and gave lectures illustrated with lantern slides to community groups and schools. His collection came to the Longwood Library, precursor of the Hagley Museum and Library, as a gift in 1958. The photographs were transferred to the Pictorial Collections Department in 1970 (PC Accession 1970.199).

Image: Hopewell Furnace water wheel and blower in center, Berks County, Pennsylvania, Spring 1930, Clement S. Brinton Collection. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Albert T. Keller (1869–1940) was the chief of construction for U.S. Steel and then went to work for the Bethlehem Steel Company in 1930. He retired a few years later but went back to work as World War II approached, passing away soon thereafter. In his few years of retirement, he would take weekend and vacation trips to document ruins of early American iron furnaces. He also collected photographs from friends and business acquaintances from around the country of old (and not so old) iron and steel plants. His collection was purchased by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and then came to Hagley with the AISI’s archive in 1986 (PC Accession 86.268, Part II). A rich selection of images from the Keller collection is available in the Hagley Digital Archives.

Image: Joanna Furnace, Joanna Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1932, AISI / Albert T. Keller Collection. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Walter C. Woodman (1903-1979) was a consulting mechanical engineer who lived in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was very interested in the iron industry of New England and was instrumental in working with AISI to restore the Saugus Iron Works and having it designated a national historic mechanical engineering landmark in 1975. His collection of three photo albums, two loose-leaf binders of clippings and notes, and a file on the Saugus dedication also came to Hagley with the AISI archive (PC Accession 86.268, Part IV.)

Image: Iron furnace, Copake Falls, New York, built 1845, photograph ca. 1950, Walter C. Woodman Collection. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

All three of the collections contain similar materials but cover different geographical areas. There are photographs of iron furnace ruins, auxiliary structures, including ironmaster homes, illustrations from early works on the iron industry and trade catalogs, sketch maps, and miscellaneous correspondence. Together they provide rich documentation of the beginnings of one of America’s greatest heavy industries, as well as providing a glimpse of the minds of collectors and history enthusiasts.

For more information about these collections, contact Jon Williams at 302 658-2400, x276 or jwilliams@hagley.org.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library

Collection Highlights : The Sperry Gyroscope Company

2010-09-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

Sperry Director School Classroom, ca. 1941

The Hagley Library recently acquired two manuals, a technical drawing, a certificate, and souvenir photographs of New York City from Gary Wittie that, when combined with our existing holdings, tell a rather interesting story. Gary’s father, James Wittie, served as a sergeant in the army during World War II. Like many war veterans, James refused to speak of his combat experiences with his family. He did, however, speak fondly and repeatedly of the month he spent in New York, circa 1941, at the Sperry School.

Image: Sperry Director School, Anti-aircraft Training Program, p. 5 (Pam 91.262) View item in Hagley Digital Archives

Since its founding in 1910, the Sperry Gyroscope Company had long supplied the U.S. army and navy with sophisticated navigation and electronics equipment. Due to ongoing technological and scientific advances during the early to mid twentieth century, the military could not provide sufficient training for its enlisted men to make optimum use of the latest weapons and communication systems. As a result, manufacturers worked in tandem with the armed forces in order to produce both cutting-edge equipment and highly-trained soldiers to operate it. The Sperry Gyroscope Company began an informal system of Sperry Schools around 1934 and instituted a formal system of instruction to train military personnel in the use of its equipment in 1939. James Wittie was one of the beneficiaries, attending a four-week course at the Fire Control School located at the Sperry Gyroscope Company’s Brooklyn plant, where he learned to operate and maintain M-4 and M-7 Directors.

Certificate of Graduation for James A. Wittie, January 31, 1942

While anything but a vacation, a visit to the "Big Apple" must have been an exciting experience for a young man from Gatesville, Texas. Since his enlistment on March 9, 1939, it is known that James spent some time in the infantry in Oklahoma before serving with the 69th Coast Artillery in Camp Wallace, Texas. Not just any soldiers were selected for training at the Sperry Gyroscope Company’s Fire Control School in Brooklyn, however. Most attendees were graduates of the prestigious Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia, although wartime considerations did allow some other qualified soldiers to attend. For whatever reasons he was selected, James’ presence at Sperry’s Fire Control School indicates merit. And, according to his son, James was clearly proud of this achievement. Although the training was demanding, James must have found some time to take in the sights of the big city. At the very least, his miniature souvenir photos of prominent New York city sights and attractions indicate fond memories on his part:

Sample images, New York City souvenir photographs, ca. 1940s

So what are the M-4 and M-7 Directors? Wittie’s Fire Control Instrument Theory and Director M4 manuals provide some clues, but they were written for a restricted and technically-proficient audience. Page one of the Director M4 manual reads: “Every precaution will be taken to see that this publication does not fall into unauthorized hands. No material appearing herein will be given out for publication, or will be used as a basis for any publicity, without the approval of the Secretary of War.” These were clearly sensitive materials that described the workings of state-of-the-art fire control systems for anti-aircraft weaponry in actual use by the US Army during World War II.

Further research indicates that Directors were essentially the mechanical brains of anti-aircraft weapons systems, using trigonometry based on observed data to calculate firing solutions for weapons looking to shoot down fast-moving targets in three-dimensional space (airplanes). This was a complicated mechanism to develop, manufacture, and use.

The M-4 Director was standardized by Sperry in 1939 and was in use until superseded by the M-7 Director in 1941. A bound volume from Hagley’s Sperry Gyroscope photograph collection provides insight into the work involved with developing and manufacturing what would be designated as the new M-7 Director.

Soldiers operating M-7 Director, ca. 1941

Additional photos from the collection document the use of the M-7 in training and combat situations. The M-7 Director required a squad of six operators, each responsible for specific tasks such as tracking the elevation and azimuth of aircraft using hand wheels and elbow telescopes; observing the range and altitude of enemy aircraft; timing the fuses for artillery detonation; and relaying calculations to artillery units. James could have served in any of these capacities during his active duty service with Battery C of the 325th Field Artillery Battalion, 84th Division. This unit eventually arrived in France via Omaha Beach following the D-Day invasion and served for the duration of hostilities in Europe.

James ultimately received the Bronze Star for carrying six wounded comrades out of a mine field during the Battle of the Bulge, a feat that is not taught in manuals. He survived the war and returned to West Texas to work in the oil fields and raise his family as a civilian, but since it now requires research to comprehend the technical nature of his war service, the Hagley Museum and Library is honored to accept these materials and to make Sergeant Wittie’s contribution known.

For additional information about these items and to set up an appointment to view them at the Hagley Library, please contact Max Moeller, Head of Imprints, at 302-658-2400 x226 or send email inquiries to Ask Hagley.

Sources
1. www.antiaircraft.org
2. Mindell, David A. “Anti-aircraft fire control and the development of integrated systems at Sperry, 1925-1940” in IEEE Control Systems, April 1995. View full-text pdf

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

Spotlight on Collections: The Krups Four Seasons Compact 1500 Watt Fan Heater

2010-09-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

By Robert Kyle Cantarera, University of Delaware

Marc Harrison, an industrial designer, entered his design for a new electric fan heater in the Krups Design Award Competition in 1986. This innovative design, which used a newly patented foil heating element, received the first place award. The Marc Harrison Collection at the Hagley Museum and Library documents the development of the Krups Four Seasons Compact 1500 Watt Fan Heater. This design project shows the efforts of an industrial designer as he strove to create an electric fan heater that satisfied both the consumer and manufacturer (fig. 1).

Image (fig. 1): The Krups Four Seasons Compact 1500 Watt Fan Heater.

Harrison began to design the compact fan heater in 1983 and made revisions for the next several years. For instance, some of his drawings from 1984 show that the control knobs were mounted flush against the sides of the heater instead of protruding out as they did in the finished product (fig. 2). The stand for the heater also evolved over time. Originally, the stand had a solid base instead of the metal, cylindrical form it took later (fig. 3). Harrison continued to revise the design even after receiving the Krups Design Award. Documents in the Marc Harrison Collection show that the 1986 design was revised again in 1989 and that the heater was not produced until 1991-1992.

Images (fig. 2): Early drawing of the heater sketched by Harrison depicting a different type of control knob; (fig. 3): Early drawings of the heater sketched by Harrison depicting a different type of stand.

Harrison implemented a universal design philosophy throughout his career, and he was a pioneer in that field. The Krups fan heater exemplified Harrison’s work. The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University defines universal design as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design.” Harrison’s fan heater was simple and intuitive to use. The two control knobs employed lines and colors instead of words and numbers to differentiate between heat settings. In addition, the “Power On” indicator light provided perceptible information for people with hearing difficulties. The heater was also lighter than the majority of heaters that came before it. Weighing only three pounds, the Krups fan heater could be moved easily.

The user-friendly nature of the heater appealed to consumers, and it was affordable for a manufacturer to produce. Harrison ensured that the materials used in the fan heater were inexpensive and that it could be assembled quickly. In describing the heater, Harrison noted that “reduced manufacturing costs were goals” and that “low cost components [were] used.” The heating element (the material that produced the heat inside the heater), was also designed to limit manufacturing costs. The inventor of the heating element, Dov Glucksman, explained on his patent application that his new design “would provide a resistance heater of a rigid construction and of simple design, which should lend itself to manufacturing at low cost" (fig. 4).

Image (fig. 4): Diagram of Harrison's fan heater, n.d

Harrison’s Krups Four Seasons Compact 1500 Watt Fan Heater is one of many projects documented in the design collections at Hagley. For additional information about this collection, please see the collection guide or contact Ask Hagley.

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit http://www.hagley.org/library/.

Image Note:

All images are from Accession 2193, The Marc Harrison Collection, Hagley Museum and Library. All photos are by Robert Kyle Cantarera.

Sources:

The Principles of Universal Design. Raleigh: NC State University, Center for Universal Design, College of Design, 1997.

Dov Z. Glucksman. 1984. Electric Air Heater. US Patent 4,694,142, filed Nov. 29, 1984, and issued Sep. 15, 1987.

W.C. Spruance Collection of Wilmington Garden Slides

2010-07-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

William Corbit Spruance, 1873-1935, was an electrical engineer, an executive on the board of the DuPont Company, a civic leader in Wilmington, and the photographer behind Hagley's most extraordinary collection of early twentieth century color images of the finest private gardens in Wilmington.

Spruance, an avid amateur photographer and advisory member of the Garden Club of Wilmington, used his 3A Kodak camera to photograph the gardens of other club members, many of whom were among Wilmington's wealthiest residents. His photographs, primarily lantern slides, were frequently presented at club meetings, and Spruance's accompanying lecture notes and captions still exist alongside the slides in Hagley's collections.

Earlier lantern slides were done in black and white, which Spruance then colored by hand. The images produced were sharp and clear, but matching the hand coloring to real life hues proved a challenge - applying too much coloring made the blooms appear more vibrant than they actually were, and, as Spruance notes, if the gelatin film was too hard, it was impossible to "secure the best color effects either as to intensity or variety of the tints." In 1923, Spruance began using Lumiere Autochrome color plates. These plates created true color images by passing light through a film of fine starch granules dyed separately in primary colors before hitting the sensitized photographic film. Exposure time for autochromes was long (often as much as twenty seconds), and Spruance writes in his lecture notes that "only a slight breeze will blur the flowers and foliage."

However, neither the difficulties of hand coloring nor of photographing with autochromes proved a barrier to Spruance. Between 1922 and 1925, he created nearly two hundred color lantern slides, capturing images of more than thirty local gardens. From sweeping views of the landscape at Mr. H. Rodney Sharp's Gibraltar and Mrs. H.F. du Pont's Winterthur, to intimate peeks into the informal gardens of Mr. C.M. Barton and Mrs. W.K. du Pont, Spruance documented some of the most important and impressive gardens in the country, at a time when horticulture as a hobby flourished in popularity and competition between gardeners was fierce. Many of these gardens no longer exist today - Hoopes Reservoir now sits on the site of Mrs. T.C. du Pont's gardens at The Old Mill, and Mrs. A.L. Foster's grounds at Virieaux have been replaced by residential housing - so, for some, Spruance's work exists as the only visual record of their splendor.

Until now, anyone wishing to catch a glimpse of these extraordinary images of Wilmington's horticultural past would have had to visit Hagley in person, but thanks to the great work of our dedicated volunteers, Spruance's lantern slide collection has been scanned, and is available to view online.

Hand colored lantern slide – Longwood, home of
Mrs. P.S. du Pont – Hybrid perpetual rose garden, 1922

Hand colored lantern slide – Gibraltar, home of Mr. H. Rodney Sharp
Wisteria and boxwood at side of house, ca. 1922

Autochrome – Home of Mr. C.M. Barton
Violas, phlox, and retroflex tulips, 1923

Autochrome – Copeland House, Home of Mrs. Charles Copeland
House and formal gardens, ca. 1923

Autochrome – The Old Mill, home of Mrs. T.C. du Pont
Hillside planting of daffodils in spring, ca. 1923

Click here to view the entire W.C. Spruance Collection of Wilmington Garden Slides in Hagley's Digital Archive

Please contact the Hagley Pictorial Collections Department for more information: research@hagley.org or 302-658-2400 ext 276.

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

Sources
Lidz, Maggie. The Du Ponts, Houses and Gardens in the Brandywine, 1900-1951. New York: Acanthus Press, 2009.

Spruance, W.C., "Hand Colored Lantern Slide lecture notes." W.C. Spruance lantern slide collection, acc. 84.217, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE

Spruance, W.C., "Lumiere Autochrome Lantern Slide lecture notes." W.C. Spruance lantern slide collection, acc. 84.217, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE

The 1941 DuPont Color Selector

2010-06-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

By Alessandra Wood, University of Delaware

In his book Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America, Steven Gelber points out that prior to 1950 less than one-third of American homeowners painted their own houses. During the 1950s, however, that figure rose to eighty percent. How can this shift be explained?

In part, the answer lies with how the paint industry dealt with consumers. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, for instance, DuPont actively sought to steer homeowners toward its authorized paint dealers and contractors. An innovative trade catalog that worked toward this end is located in the Imprints Collection at the Hagley Museum and Library. The 1941 DuPont Color Selector: Dedicated to Home Owners, Who Will Find It Helpful in Choosing Colors that Keep a Home Looking Its Best by Their Painting and Decorating Contractor is a hardcover trade catalog for showroom use that contains an instructional booklet, almost 150 full-page paint color samples, and an innovative feature that distinguishes the Du Pont Color Selector from traditional paint sample books: overlays.

Image: The Du Pont Color Selector, c1940. Hagley Imprints Department, TP937.D92

In a novel effort to assist consumers in choosing paint colors and to explain the wide range of available finish options, the DuPont Color Selector contains seventeen images of representative interior and exterior house photographs printed on cellophane with the areas intended for house paint left translucent. Called overlays, the exclusive tool integrated into the DuPont Color Selector allows users to simulate interior and exterior color change effortlessly by placing the overlays atop color samples; according to the DuPont Color Selector introduction, the overlays show “how almost any room in the house will look when painted.” Mixing and matching overlays with the available color options allows users to create up to 1,200 different interior paint schemes and up to 1,360 different exterior paint schemes.

Image: The DuPont Color Selector, Cape Cod Style Exterior Overlay shown atop blue exterior paint and orange shutter paint. Hagley Imprints Department, TP937.D92

The DuPont Color Selector was a new tool for dealers to cultivate consumption habits. It also highlighted technological innovation in the materials from which the book was constructed, since cellophane was still a relatively new DuPont product. And as an interactive showroom tool that relied upon staff assistance, the DuPont Color Selector was intended to keep homeowners engaged with authorized dealers and contractors while in the process of planning to paint their homes. After all, the DuPont Color Selector encouraged consumers to only simulate painting by using its overlays; the real, messy work was best left to the professionals.

A promotional leaflet published by DuPont and distributed to paint dealers and contractors in 1941 reveals the company’s sentiment regarding the consumer experience. The leaflet touts both the DuPont Color Selector and a trade film produced by the company called “Are We Painters,” which cautions the general public against using anyone other than a professional paint contractor to paint their house. Prior to the 1950s, the general public received mixed signals; while popular magazines and books instructed homeowners on the ease of painting their own houses, DuPont and other paint companies and professional trade organizations discouraged homeowners from completing home painting projects.

Image: Meet the Stars of "Are We Painters." Front page of the DuPont promotional leaflet, 1941. Hagley Manuscripts and Archives, Acc. 1803, DuPont Company Advertising Department Records, oversize box 68.

But the tide was irreversible. According to Steven Gelber, the anthropologist Margaret Mead observed in 1957 that “The do-it-yourself movement is not just a hobby. It is often a pleasant and meaningful contribution to family life.” Gelber goes on to associate the do-it-yourself movement with post World War II family bonding and the idea of the house as a hobby. He cites painting as one of the most popular do-it-yourself projects, due to easy access to materials and a relatively simple concept. Industry resistance toward the do-it-yourself painter vanished as the majority of homeowners claimed painting as their own task. The explosion of the 1950s do-it-yourself movement left the authorized paint contractor as an employee for the wealthy, while middle-class Americans grabbed brushes and rollers, determined to paint their own walls.

Image: At This Painter Meeting... Back page of the DuPont promotional leaflet, 1941. Hagley Manuscripts and Archives, Acc. 1803, DuPont Company Advertising Department Records, oversize box 68.

Sources:

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The DuPont Color Selector: Dedicated to Home Owners, Who Will Find it Helpful in Choosing Colors That Keep a Home Looking its Best by Their Painting and Decorating Contractor. Wilmington, Del.: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, 1940.

Gelber, Steven M. Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. View item on Google Books

Please contact the Hagley Imprints Department for more information: research@hagley.org or 302-658-2400 ext 227.

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

The Changing Workplace: The Brownlee Papers/Dewees Department Store Collection

2010-05-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

By Alex Billings, public history intern from the University of Delaware

Experts in generational studies have a wide range of hypotheses about what separates the millennial generation of today from their parents and grandparents, but one theme that commonly emerges concerns manners. Some have argued that young people today lack the polite respect that their predecessors, drilled to instinctively use the monikers "sir" and "ma'am," held as crucially important, especially in the workplace. Institutional psychologists have drawn up a great body of new work that helps older managers cater to a generation that has no compunctions about listening to iPods at the desk and get the most production out of it. In short, it is hard to find "good help" these days.

Image: Cover for Proceedings of the Clinic on Salesmanship Training, March 1946. Contained in Booklets file.

Perhaps one drop in the ocean of this change has to do with the disappearance of simple employee "checks." One such self-evaluation for the B. F. Dewees Department Store in Philadelphia from 1957 included such questions as the following:

• Am I what is commonly called a well-groomed person?

• Am I always ready to work at the starting time?

• Do I take a genuinely friendly interest in my customers?

• Do I truly know the merchandise I am selling?

• Can I accept criticism…without resentment?

• Is my memory good?

• Can I...do necessary detail work without being told?

• Do I have a pleasing approach?

• Do I…give my full attention and effort to my job?

This self evaluation comes from the business and personal memoirs of Kay Brownlee, contained in the Brownlee Papers/Dewees Department Store collection at Hagley Library. Brownlee, as illustrated in her collection, can perhaps be viewed as an ideal employee of the post-war period. Though she did not complete college with a degree in one specialty or another, she was a friendly, sharp, and active worker that modeled good salesmanship and expected it of the younger workers she oversaw as personnel director.

Image: Kay Brownlee (second from left) at Dewees event, June 7, 1960. Contained in "Miscellaneous Items" with Photographs file.

This collection contains many types of memos and reminders that consistently remind employees of their role and of their expectations in that role. The collection hints at the evolving definition of the term "professional." While today "professional" can be interpreted to mean specially-trained in technical skills in one area or another -- i.e., a professional engineer is such because he or she has a bachelor’s/master’s/doctoral degree in engineering -- it can still credibly refer to an appropriate, respectful manner in the workplace. The difference today is that the younger generation does not always realize the relevance of this latter definition until they actually enter the workplace.

The managers of Dewees Department Store expected that their employees would show up on time, regard everyone with respect, not make a nuisance of themselves, and perform good work. Brownlee was an example of a worker who entered an unfamiliar industry and, with hard work, earned a management position that saw her to retirement.

The postwar era workplace was highly regimented. At the Dewees Department Store, elevator hostesses could not leave their elevators except at rigidly set times, and could not sit down, and personal calls were certainly not allowed on store phones (unlike today, there were no exceptions!). However, there were scheduled opportunities for fun as well. Dozens of pages of paperwork and several memorable items in the collection pertain to Christmas and summer leisure events for all employees. Both of these things, arguably, are fading from the modern workplace, as individual workers are becoming more specialized and as communities -- even those of colleagues -- become more dispersed and impersonal.

The Brownlee Papers/Dewees Department Store collection offers other dimensions for research on the postwar American department store workplace. The role of women in the workplace is a frequent theme in many items. Brochures and booklets attest to the state of consumerism and the many "wants" of contemporary American buyers. A detailed finding aid is available online.

Please contact the Hagley Manuscripts and Archives department for more information: research@hagley.org or 302-658-2400 ext 330.

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

2010 Hagley Prize Winner

2010-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Hagley Prize for the best book in business history has been awarded to David Suisman, University of Delaware, for Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music (Harvard University Press, 2009). The award was presented by Hagley Museum and Library at the Business History Conference annual meeting – this year held at the University of Georgia in Athens in March 24-27. The prize committee included Donald C. Jackson (Lafayette College), chair; Jocelyn Wills, (Brooklyn College, CUNY) and Eric Rau (University of Delaware). The following is the citation in its entirety written by the Hagley Prize committee:

In his book, David Suisman examines how music – and the music industry – was transformed by the invention and commercialization of “mechanical reproduction” of sound from the 1880s through the onset of the Great Depression. Today it is almost impossible to imagine a world in which sound and music are not available in huge quantity at the touch of an MP3 player or through streams of "muzak" that extend into the deepest reaches of public and private space. But the place and power of recorded sound in our lives is something that did not spring forth as an act of nature, but instead was socially and culturally constructed by humans operating within the world of private enterprise and government regulated property rights.

In this deeply researched book, Suisman examines the commercialization of sound from early music publishing houses through the proliferation of both "player pianos" made by the Aeolian Company and "talking machines" manufactured by key companies such as Edison’s National Phonograph Company, and the Victor Talking Machine Company as they innovated in merchandising phonograph players and the sound made available on what evolved into the modern disc record. At the heart of his analysis is the way that music and sound reproduction prompted a dramatic rethinking of traditional notions of property rights, eventually fostering a concept of "intellectual property" that undergirds almost every aspect of the modern Information/Media industry. Suisman brings to the forefront the importance of the 1909 Copyright Act in expanding the place of intellectual property in American commerce and especially the way that the new law was driven by lobbying from major music publishing companies. In this, the book makes clear that an appreciation of the music industry is vital if we are to understand how ideas of property and copyright have become essential components of the modern business landscape.

Written with great clarity and making imaginative use of illustrations, Selling Sounds explicates the business of commercial music but never loses sight of the cultural status of music in the lives of people. This is a history that understands both the power of large enterprise, as well as the importance of individuals -- from composer John Philip Sousa, to opera star Enrico Caruso, to the African-American entrepreneurs who founded Black Swan Records in the early 1920s, to local dry goods merchants seeking new sales opportunities, to consumers who found cultural meaning in the collecting and playing of records. Selling Sounds is an important book that intertwines the history of business and culture in remarkable ways and the committee is proud to award David Suisman the 2010 Hagley Prize.

The Hagley Museum and Library recommends Suisman’s book to you and extends its hearty congratulations to the author -- Congratulations, David!

Cellophane in America

2010-04-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

By Stephanie Lampkin

The production, use, and success of cellophane in America, beginning in the early part of the twentieth century, represents the innovation and creativity of scientists, a revolution in the food packaging industry, the success of DuPont advertising and marketing strategies, and signifies the social and cultural values of Americans in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Image: The Saturday Evening Post advertisement, 1934.

The Barteldes Seed Co. cellophane popcorn bag represents this shift. The design on the bag emulates an explosion. The thin red streaks represent the source of the explosion, the white banner represents the mushroom cloud of smoke, and the thick blue beam represents the energy of the blast. While cellophane merely stumbled onto the scene in 1907-1908 with its accidental discovery by Swiss chemist Dr. Jacques Edwin Brandenberger, it exploded in 1923 and again in 1929 with the ingenious improvements of the material by the DuPont Company. DuPont quickly became the largest domestic manufacturer of cellophane in the United States. Soon, over 125 varieties of cellophane were available ranging in thickness, weight, color, and grade.

Image: TNT Popcorn bag, Barteldes Seed Co., Lawrence, Kansas (Museum Collection).

Moisture-proof, transparent, odorless, and non-toxic, cellophane made an ideal material for wrapping and packaging. By 1950, 71% of cellophane was being distributed to the food industry, but it was not limited to produce. Due to its versatility, cellophane was also used for clothing, umbrellas, curtains, belts, and hats, which were all displayed by DuPont at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair and the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The DuPont Company’s marketing campaign motto, "Better Things for Better Living…Through Chemistry," speaks to the desire to improve the quality of life for individuals with the use of natural materials to create chemically man-made products.

Due to its characteristics, cellophane dominated the food packaging industry beginning in the late 1920s. The primary markets in which it was utilized included bakery products, candy, and tobacco. With increasing popularity, cellophane expanded further into the food industry for prepackaged vegetables, fruits, and meat. It was also a popular packaging for cookies, potato chips, and popcorn. Cellophane’s success as the leading transparent flexible food packaging material from the 1920s until the late 1950s is largely due to effective advertising. The advertising campaign by the DuPont Company Advertising Department capitalized on the social and economic concerns of the time, namely, self-service, sanitation, and thrift.

Image: The Saturday Evening Post advertisement, 1935.

Advertisements were placed in three of the most popular magazines among housewives: the Ladies’ Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and the Saturday Evening Post. However, magazines were not the only mediums. The Cellophane Radio Program, hosted by Emily Post, broadcast every Monday and Thursday morning in most major cities and addressed topics of interest pertaining to the home and daily social life.

For the consumer, cellophane’s transparency connoted freshness, cleanliness and honesty, had perceived health benefits, and allowed the consumer to inspect products before making a purchase.

Image: Cellophane Radio Program brochure, Cellophane Scrapbook. Hagley Museum and Library.

With rising competition by 1960, the sale of cellophane had declined. In 1986, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company sold its domestic cellophane business.

The Hagley Museum and Library holds a significant collection of DuPont cellophane packaging, advertisements and related archival materials. Please visit the Hagley Library's website to search the collection or contact us for more information.

Sources:

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Advertising Department. "Advertisements and Promotional Materials, Tearsheets, 1901-1971." Hagley Museum and Library.

Sacharow, Stanley. A Packaging Primer. New York: Books for Industry Division for Industry, Inc., 1978.

C.H. Ward. The "Cellophane" Story: Origin of a British Industrial Group. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons Ltd., 1977.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Inc.) Film Department. Cellophane: A Protective Packaging Film Essential to Today’s National Economy. Wilmington Del., n.d.

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

Hagley's Oldest Photographs

2010-04-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

We are often asked, "What’s the oldest photograph at Hagley?" Since the first practical photographic technique, the daguerreotype, was not introduced until 1839, we can hardly compete with some of the venerable items in other departments of the library. The oldest document in the library is a parchment from 1438 with a record of payment by Bertran de Montault to his agent, Bernard Fouquier, for "military purposes." The oldest book is from around 1500. It is a small printed version of Pietro de Crescenzi, “La maniere de enter et planter en jardins,” printed by G. Nyverd in Paris.

There are approximately 60 daguerreotypes in the Pictorial Collections Department of the Hagley Library. Most of them are undated. One of the most charming, however, has a very specific date. It is a portrait of Edward C. R. Walker and Harriette Kingsbury. A note housed in the daguerreotype’s case states that it was "taken the day before they were married, August 9, 1854." The image was made by John A.Whipple of Boston, a very well-known early photographer. It is superseded, however, by another daguerreotype in our holdings to which we can give an earlier date due to the circumstances in which it was shot.

Image: Edward C.R. Walker and Harriette Kingsbury, 1854. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

Alfred Victor Philadelphe
du Pont (1798-1856) was the oldest son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, founder of the powder yards. Alfred married Margaretta E. Lammot in 1824, and they had seven children, including four boys and three girls. The oldest son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont II, known simply as Irénée, was born in 1829. He was followed by Lammot (1831), Alfred Victor (1833), and Antoine Bidermann (1837). Irénée entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1845; Lammot enrolled there in 1846 and graduated in 1849. At some point in the late 1840s, their brother, Alfred Victor, joined them at the school, and they had a group portrait taken. This detailed picture, taken in the studio of brothers W. and F. Langenheim in Philadelphia, shows (left to right) Lammot, Alfred Victor (seated), and Irénée. Assuming that the picture was taken before Lammot graduated and returned to work in the Wilmington powder yards in 1849, this becomes the earliest datable original photographic image in Hagley’s collections.

Image: Lammot du Pont, Alfred V. du Pont, and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont II, ca. 1849. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

As a footnote, it was only a few years ago that an ambrotype portrait of Alfred Victor and Margaretta Lammot du Pont, (parents to Lammot, Alfred, and Irénée pictured above) was found in another collection donated to Hagley. The ambrotype, by an unknown artist, was a photographic technique that came after the daguerreotype and was widely used in the 1850s. Alfred died in 1856, so this picture, the only known photograph of him, dates to around 1854-55.

Image: Alfred V. du Pont and Margaretta Lammot du Pont, ca. 1855. View image in Hagley Digital Archives

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

Nunn Bush Catalog : Walking in a Century of Progress

2010-03-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

The Century of Progress International Exposition opened in Chicago on June 1, 1933, in celebration of the city's centennial. Much had changed in Chicago and the nation over the preceding 100 years, and the technological innovations achieved to date were celebrated as the theme of the exposition.

Image: The Nunn Bush Stock Styles, Spring/Summer 1933 catalog, front cover. View catalog in Hagley Digital Archives.

At the Exposition, visitors could tour the many fascinating buildings and exhibits. In the Travel and Transport Building, displays included a new Boeing 247 passenger plane, two Pullman coaches, and America's first automobile, the Duryea. Visitors could then watch an actual assembly line constructing automobiles at the General Motors building. The massive Graf Zeppelin airship visited from Germany, and the famous Burlington Zephyr streamlined train also arrived at the fair to great acclaim. The Sky Ride, an aerial tramway that allowed visitors to move from one side of the Fair to the other, was the signature attraction of the exposition. Yet, in spite of the many technological marvels on display that emphasized how distance had been conquered by a rapidly advancing civilization, there is no doubt that more than a few of the 48 million visitors to this 424-acre complex realized they were in dire orthopedic straights while engaging in that most pedestrian mode of locomotion: walking.

The Hagley Library is one of only two known repositories that hold the beautiful Nunn Bush Stock Styles, Spring/Summer 1933 catalog, which shrewdly evokes all the aspirations and the realities of the Century of Progress exposition while promoting the company's line of footwear for men. Wrapped in paper that is made to look and feel like leather, this catalog sports colorful images of the ankle-fashioned Oxfords sold by the company. The shoes are often superimposed over images of the prominent buildings and interiors of the fair.

The message is clear: to see all of the sights, comfort in footwear is essential. However, according to Nunn Bush, style is perhaps even more so. For those shoppers at retail locations across the country who only dreamed of going to the fair, why not purchase shoes that evoke that same sense of progress and confidence?

Image: The Savoy and Brogue model shoes, accompanying an image of the Travel and Transport Building. View image in Hagley Digital Archives.

Nunn Bush priced most of the shoes in this catalog between $5 and $9, which the company claims led to a doubling of sales the previous year. Nunn Bush positioned itself as a manufacturer of affordable dress shoes ever since the company's founding in 1912. The brand exists to this day, as the Nunn Bush Shoe Company is a subsidiary of Weyco Group, Incorporated. They sell the brand for moderate prices and operate 47 Nunn Bush retail stores across the country.

Image: The Cadet and Brogue model shoes, along with reference to the buses made available for visitors to the fair. View image in Hagley Digital Archives.

The Hagley Library holds a significant collection of guidebooks and catalogs documenting the great international exhibitions in North America and Europe dating back to 1851. Please visit or contact us to explore our collection!

Sources
Rydell, Robert W. World of Fairs : The Century-Of-Progress Expositions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

www.nunnbush.com

For more information about the Hagley Library, visit www.hagley.org/library

Spotlight on Collections: The Allen D. Cardwell Manufacturing Corporation

2010-01-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

By Jennifer Matthews

In November of 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter made a striking discovery. Buried beneath the ruins of a worker's village, deep in The Valley of the Kings, lay the long-forgotten tomb of King Tutankhamen. The discovery of King Tut’s tomb sparked a craze for all things related to ancient Egypt. By 1923, American culture had been swept by "Egyptomania."

Image: Spanish version of ad for Cardwell condensers, October 1923

The rapidly-growing field of advertising was quick to pick up on the trend, and Egyptian imagery soon graced the packaging and print advertisements of a wide range of products. Although the exotic imagery was most often used to sell luxury goods, such as perfume and tobacco products, advertising agencies paired Egyptian themes with products as basic as soap and milk. Advertisers hoped that the Egyptian imagery would evoke connotations of luxury, excitement, wisdom, and longevity.

Furthermore, Egyptian imagery was also used to advertise technological products, linking the advanced methods used to build the pyramids with the sophistication and beauty of modern technology. The Allen D. Cardwell Manufacturing Corporation was one of the companies that used this tactic to advertise their products during the 1920s. Cardwell, a New York firm that made telecommunications equipment such as telegraph transmitters and capacitors, was founded at the turn of the 20th century. By the early 1920s, Cardwell had begun to sell radio parts, capitalizing on the rapidly growing demand for radio equipment spurred by the electrification of homes and the establishment of the first radio stations.

Image: "The Masterbuilders of History," ad for Cardwell condensers, October 1923

In the fall of 1923, Cardwell ran an Egyptian-themed ad campaign designed by advertising mogul Frank Kiernan. The first ad, titled "The Masterbuilders of History," drew a parallel between the sophisticated technology of an ornate obelisk and Cardwell’s condensers:

"In Egypt great obelisks stand as monuments of achievement to the masterbuilders of the ancient world. Symbolizing accuracy, durability, and beauty, each obelisk stands firmly on its foundation despite the passage of centuries. The same ideals of efficiency, ruggedness and craftsmanship are expressed in Cardwell rotor-ground condensers."

There were two versions of this advertisement; the first was directed at consumers, and ran in the October 1923 issue of Radio magazine, as well as in an issue of Popular Radio. The second version was targeted towards distributors of radio equipment, and ran in the trade publication Radio Merchandising.

Image: "The Romance of Science," November 1923

In the second ad of the Kiernan campaign, "The Romance of Science,” the great Sphinx towered over distant pyramids. The text of the ad claimed that “conquests of science were the real achievements of Egypt’s rulers," inviting consumers to “drink in the romance of radio art” and to begin "understanding the scientific basis of radio phenomena." This ad was featured in the November 1923 issue of Radio, as well as in Citizen’s Radio Call Back and Radio Broadcast Advertiser.

This particular advertising campaign was unique in two ways: first, it was printed in color, which was still quite expensive in the 1920s (though it was becoming more popular for full-page advertisements). Second, the ads ran in multiple languages. A three-color Spanish language version of the first ad, titled "Los Arquitectos del Pasado," was featured in the October 1923 issue of Radio Record.

The Allen D. Cardwell Manufacturing Company records are processed and open for research at the Hagley Library. The collection includes a variety of promotional and technical materials, including patents, design drawings, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, and promotional and sales material. The majority of the documents are from the years 1914 through 1955. A detailed finding aid is available online.

Contact the Hagley Archives and Manuscripts department for more information: research@hagley.org or 302-658-2400 ext 330.

Sources:

McDonald, Sally. Consuming Ancient Egypt. London: UCL Press, 2003.

Ernest Dichter Papers Opened at Hagley Library

2009-12-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

Hagley is pleased to announce the official opening of the Ernest Dichter Papers. Dichter (1907-1991) was a Vienna-trained psychologist who came to New York in 1938 to escape the Nazis. He became a pioneer in the development of motivational research, a marketing tool that used psychological techniques to probe consumers’ desires and responses to market products. Dichter specialized in the "depth interview" in which samples of target consumers were subjected to a battery of psychological tests and something approximating psychoanalytic sessions. Dichter provided these services for a wide range of clients, including large U.S. and European corporations. He is perhaps best known for helping coin the "put a tiger in your tank" slogan for Exxon Corporation.

Image: "A Conversation with Dr. Ernest Dichter," by Pamela Rothon, ca. 1970. View full document

Hedy Dichter (Dr. Dichter’s widow) began donating the Ernest Dichter Papers to Hagley in 2007; the gift will be complete by the end of 2010. Archivists arranged, described, and cataloged this significant collection which measures 215 linear feet. The papers include research reports, publications, speeches, and writings which document his long and influential career. As each series of the papers was processed, it was made available for research and it has already been used to study a wide range of subjects. The finding aid provides a thorough description of the Ernest Dichter Papers.

Image: The Human Factor, no. 224, The Economics Press, Inc., 1981. View full document

Links to Dichter Articles and Documents in the Hagley Digital Archives:

Abstract page that includes links to Finding Aid and Inventory

"A Conversation with Dr. Ernest Dichter," by Pamela Rothon, ca. 1970.

"Do You Really Want to Create More Effective T.V. Commercials?," undated.

The Human Factor, published between 1976 and 1987 by the Economic Press, Inc., is a pocket-sized folder that contains a single, focused homily or recommendation to managers on the subject of self-motivations or employee motivation.

"Motivational Research Study in the Field of Toys for Mattel Toys, Inc.," June 1959.

"To Buy or Not to Buy,” 1968. This study was sponsored by Geo. J. Ball, Inc., Pan-American Seed Co., and Jiffy-Pot Company of America about the reasons people buy or do not buy bedding plants.

“Why Patients Don't Love You Anymore,” reprint from Dental Management, July 1962.

Please contact manuscripts@hagley.org for additional information.

Spotlight on Collections: Early Amateur Filmmaking Booklets and Catalogs

2009-11-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

By Matthew Small

During the summer of 1927, the Rochester Community Players branched out from their traditional acting schedule to embrace a new medium: amateur film. Even before Hollywood made the leap from silent to sound, amateur filmmakers utilized hand-held cameras to create their own movies. The Rochester Community Players, for instance, produced the comedy-drama "Fly Low Jack and the Game," which detailed the antics of returning World War I aviators and their search for wealth and love. The movie's climactic scene portrayed a daring airplane flight which ended in a terrible crash, with the hero's love interest trapped aboard! Yet, luckily, Fly Low Jack was there to save the day. To bring this story to the screen, the players used their hand-held Ciné-Kodak cameras, produced by Eastman Kodak, specifically for burgeoning amateur filmmakers. In fact, Eastman Kodak helped publish the booklet describing the production of the movie, a booklet now available in Hagley's collections. View full document of Amateur Photoplay in the Making in Hagley Digital Archives, which details the making of "Fly Low Jack and the Game."

Early in 1923, Eastman Kodak had developed their new Ciné-Kodaks, small and easy-to-use handheld cameras perfectly suited for the amateur market. Eastman Kodak immediately targeted this small, but quickly growing, demographic, producing newsletters, catalogs, and books to appeal to would-be directors. The company offered cameras, film (8mm or 16mm), and all the accompanying tools necessary to make quality amateur movies. In addition to selling products, Eastman Kodak also marketed its editing and titling services, along with the sale of Hollywood pictures to these avid movie fans. Eastman Kodak appealed to this group's love of movies by explaining how they could get in on the action by making their own. "Now, you can make movies" an early Eastman Kodak advertising catalog begins. And the public clamored for these items, buying Ciné-Kodaks and their accouterments in high volume.

Image: A late 1920s Eastman Kodak advertising catalog specifically targeting amateur filmmakers. View full document in Hagley Digital Archives

Even the children and young adults of the du Pont family got in on the amateur filmmaking craze. Dubbing their repertoire group "PADLE-A-MIOW" (using the first letters of the principal contributors' names), the du Ponts produced six full-length movies and fifteen shorter films between 1927 and 1932. Mirroring the Rochester Players, one of the PADLE-A-MIOW movies, "Foreign Entanglements," features an airplane crash that ends well for the protagonists. The du Ponts screened these films for themselves and family guests, offering their own spin on Hollywood films by taking a satirical view of mainstream movies. Apparently, the movies of 1927, with their fake effects, ridiculous antics, and unrealistic deus ex machina spurred the production of these amateur films. Written in 1980, the PADLE-A-MIOW Kickshaw in Hagley's collection offers plot summaries, cast lists, and images of these homemade movies. The PADLE-A-MIOW players favored Bell and Howell cameras, Eastman Kodak's main rival in the amateur market. View full document of PADLE-A-MIOW Kickshaw in Hagley Digital Archives

While the cameras were different, the story is similar. Bell and Howell utilized similar marketing strategies to sell their moviemaking tools and accessories to the new-found amateur market. Bell and Howell mainly targeted the upper middle class and they emphasized three main factors in their production: simplification, durability, and precision. Both Eastman Kodak and Bell and Howell did well in the late 1920s, but at least one recent work has cited Bell and Howell as the strongest competitor on the market.

Image: A Bell & Howell trade catalog from 1936, advertising film accessories for its amateur line of cameras. View full document in Hagley Digital Archives

Now Hagley is pleased to offer the trade and marketing catalogs of both Eastman Kodak and Bell and Howell, detailing their efforts to capture the amateur film market in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Also, the stories of the Rochester Community Players and the du Pont's PADLE-A-MIOW group are available for consultation. Amateur films and home movies continue to captivate the imagination, but the medium's roots in the 1920s offer a window into the origins of this widespread phenomenon. Explore those origins at Hagley!

Resources:
Patricia R. Zimmerman, Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995).

Glenn E. Matthews and Raife G. Tarkington, "Early History of Amateur Motion-Picture Film," in A Technological History of Motion Pictures and Television (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967).
ty of California Press, 1967).

Hagley and Show Biz

2009-10-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Hagley Library has had many contacts with the media in recent weeks. An episode of the History Detectives on PBS on August 31 featured our Sun Ship and Irenee du Pont collections.

PBS History Detectives' Tukufu Zuberi (right) with Hagley's Jon Williams (center)

In this History Detectives episode, a man in Rochester, NY, wanted to know if his grandfather had worked on the "Seadrome" project. Seadrome was an invention of engineer Edward Armstrong that would have provided floating airports across the Atlantic Ocean in the era before long-range aircraft. Armstrong had worked for the DuPont Company and had an office in Wilmington. Several DuPont executives initially backed his project, and he approached the Sun Ship Company to construct the Seadrome. First, though, a model was made, and that's where the PBS show comes in. Hagley has documents that show that the model was made by a firm in Chester, Pennsylvania, the H. H. Ward Company. The man in Rochester had a letter of recommendation from that company for his grandfather from the same period. This information was enough evidence to clinch the case for the History Detectives. View entire episode on the PBS website

In further show biz news, the Ken Burns documentary film company, Florentine Films, has asked us for illustrations for their new documentary, Prohibition. Hagley houses a large collection of documents and some pictures from the anti-prohibition movement, and the show's producers have selected some of these to use in their project. This documentary project is scheduled to be aired in 2011. View more information on the Florentine Films projects

In other news...

The Wilmington News Journal published an article on preserving personal collections on September 10, 2009. The article, "Memories Made to Last," featured Laura Wahl, head conservator at the Hagley Library, and volunteer Angela Cloud in several pictures taken in our conservation lab. Laura's advice for saving family historical materials included keeping it in a cool environment of 70 degrees or less with a consistent relative humidity in the 35-50% range.

Finally, closer to home, an article in the Greenville/Hockessin Community News on October 12, 2009, featured a behind-the-scenes view of the Hagley library. View full article

Spotlight on Collections : 1953 Garton Toy Company Catalog

2009-09-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

Before the Apollo moon missions, and even before Sputnik...there was the Garton Space Cruiser. A sleek vision in white with red and yellow accents, the Space Cruiser was like no other three-wheeled, pedal-powered vehicle on the sidewalk. It even boasted a "flying saucer gun that really shoots." Naturally, only the coolest children in the atomic age could drive them.

Image: Cover from Garton Toy Company Catalog, 1953.
See the full catalog in the Hagley Digital Archives

As a new product line in 1953, the Space Cruiser (image right) was the flagship vehicle of the Garton fleet. It created an "unprecedented demand" that outstripped production at the Garton factory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. But there were plenty of other vehicles available for sale, as highlighted in the 1953 Garton Toy Company catalog. That year's model of the Kidillac, which sported a rear-view mirror, an aerial, and a removable spare wheel and tire, was offered in a "new, eye-appealing chartreuse" finish. Befitting its name, the Kidillac was the most expensive vehicle offered by Garton at $20.36. Police Chief and Fire Chief specialty versions of the Kidillac were also available.

Image: Garton Toy Company, Kidillac

The Garton Toy Company had already been in business for 74 years in 1953, creating a wide range of toys but specializing in wheeled-vehicles for children: sidewalk bikes, automobiles, velocipedes, pedal bikes, scooters, wagons, you name it. Four generations of the Garton family would ultimately own and operate the business that had been founded by Eusebius Bassingdale Garton in 1879. The family finally felt it had to sell the company in 1973, however. Since then, the main Garton toy factory in Sheboygan has traded hands several times. Gorman & Company, Inc., finally purchased the factory in 1999, renovating and converting the factory into the Garton Toy Factory Apartment Homes. So the factory namesake lives on at the apartments, and now the 1953 catalog lives on in our physical and digital collections here at Hagley for all to enjoy.

See the full catalog in the Hagley Digital Archives

Resources:
History of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, Past and Present, Google Books.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Eusebius Bassingdale Garton biographical entry

Garton Toy Factory Apartment Homes

Digitized version of wheel goods and sleds for 60 years, 1938 by the Garton Toy Company

For more information, please contact research@hagley.org
Thanks for reading!

Houskeeping publications donated by Marshall Johnson

2009-09-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hagley Library recently received a collection of fascinating 20th century housekeeping manuals and cookbooks. This gift from Marshall Johnson is an addition to his previous donations to Hagley. Many of these items include catalogs, office files, design drawings, and books that were acquired during his career as an industrial designer.

The recent gift to Hagley includes housekeeping publications which date from 1916-1952 and describe the ideals ascribed to housework during that period. Labor saving appliances and the creation of a housework schedule were touted as ways to reduce time and effort. Manuals for the Sechrist pressure cooker, the Mary Proctor iron, and the Ironrite automatic ironer illustrate proper operation of the product and promoted ease of use.

Domestic labor was highly gendered and women were the sole audience for housekeeping manuals. Housekeeping Made Simple (published in 1952) stated, "The part of housework which women like best is probably the cleaning of their prettiest things--silver, crystal, bric a brac, andirons."

These manuals and cookbooks complement and strengthen Hagley's collection of publications pertaining to household appliances and housekeeping which are housed in the Imprints Department. We thank Marshall Johnson for his most recent gift. Some examples of materials from the donation are below:

How to use your Ironrite Automatic Ironer, 1948

Asking the question, "Why do we Iron?," this publication answered, "everyone likes to wear nice clean clothing and well pressed garments. Every lady also enjoys using clean and fresh linens."

Round the World Cook Book

By Ida Baily Allen and published in 1934 by The Best Foods, Inc., maker of the New Nucoa, "the double-purpose food" (margarine)

Mary Proctor's Ironing Book, 1949.

This manual provides advice about laundry space, supplies,

detergents, and methods as well as ironing instructions.

Twenty Lessons in Domestic Science

By Marian Cole Fisher and published in 1916.

The book describes the function of food, provides kitchen advice, and contains recipes.

Housekeeping Made Simple

Part of The Homemaker's Encyclopedia series published in 1952.

The introduction states, "Homemaking today offers as much of a
challenge to the modern woman as it did to her great grandmother!"

The Sechrist Pressure Cooker Cook Book

Published by the Albert Sechrist Mfg. Co. in 1922.

The company maintained that their cooker "will save you
one or two hours of cooking time every day, so you can well
afford to devote some time to a thorough study of these directions."

Manual of Smart Housekeeping, 1946

This manual claimed it was "as helpful as a maid and twice as
efficient; designed to give you more free time in a home you can enjoy."

The contents of previous collections donated by Marshall Johnson can be reviewed in the following finding aids:
Marshall Johnson Collection of Trade Literature and Ephemera
Wear-Ever, Kensington Ware Collection

If you have questions about research at Hagley, contact us at research@hagley.org or call 302-658-2400 ext 330.

Hagley's Roger Horowitz on Fox News

2009-08-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hagley's Dr. Roger Horowitz -- Associate Director at the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society -- appeared on Philadelphia's local Fox affiliate in a segment entitled "Recession Lessons." Check it out:

For more information about the Hagley Library, check out our website.

Library Exhibit: "Beer and Brewing History at Hagley"

2009-07-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Beer and Brewing History at Hagley" is a new exhibit opening on August 6th in the Library Building at Hagley Museum and Library in Delaware. The exhibit will showcase library materials related to the history of beer-brewing in Delaware and Pennsylvania and beyond. Featured items include beer brewing manuals and recipe books from the 1820s, brewers' and maltsters' trade cards from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, ephemera from the Pabst Brewing Company and D.G. Yuengling and Sons Brewing Company, late 19th century illustrated souvenir albums from Philadelphia breweries, and early 20th century photographs of brewery buildings and beer delivery trucks in Philadelphia and Wilmington.

Bergner & Engel Brewing Company, located in the Brewerytown section
of Philadelphia, was the third largest beer producer in the country in 1877.
32nd & Master Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1900
(Warren-Ehret Company collection)

Beer and brewing have long held an important place in American history, particularly in the Delaware and Pennsylvania region. Seventeenth-century English colonists brought with them a thirst for ales, porters and stouts, and colonial brewers were quick to establish brew houses for the production of these traditional English beers. As early as 1696, there were at least four large brew houses in Philadelphia, plus numerous small brew houses attached to private residences. Even William Penn constructed a brew house at his estate at Pennsbury in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Beer was such an important staple in the early American diet that it was common for colonists to brew low-alcohol beer at home for everyday consumption at the table, while commercially-brewed strong beer was served in taverns and ale houses.

Americans continued to prefer English-style ales until the 1840s when German immigrants introduced lager beer. Fermented using a different type of yeast, lager beer is light and effervescent, a marked contrast to heavy, malty ales. Lager beer was swiftly embraced by American beer drinkers, and by 1875, there were nearly 3,000 American breweries producing over 8.7 million barrels of beer annually. Philadelphia had been a major brewing center since before the Revolutionary War, and the number of breweries in the city continued to increase; in 1890, Philadelphia was home to 91 breweries, many of which were located in the Brewerytown section of the city.

The Joseph Stoeckle Brewing Company operated Wilmington, Delaware's
Diamond State Brewery from 1872 to 1955. The brewery, which was once the city's
largest, was demolished in 1962 to make way for Interstate 95 through Wilmington.
(View item in the Hagley Digital Archives)

American breweries enjoyed continued success year after year, until the Temperance movement began to take hold in the late nineteenth century, pushing the county closer and closer to outlawing all forms of alcoholic beverages. The movement for a "dry" America culminated in the passage of the Prohibition Amendment in 1920, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating beverages, including beer. While some breweries survived this period by switching to the manufacture of soft drinks or non-alcoholic beer, most brewing businesses failed and never re-opened after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.

Following Prohibition, thirsty Americans demanded greater and greater quantities of beer, and brewing once again became big business, with the biggest breweries experiencing the greatest success. Large national companies, such as Anheuser Busch and Pabst Brewing Company, bought out smaller breweries, until by 1979, only 45 breweries were operating in the entire country. Lager was the predominate beer produced through much of the mid-twentieth century; other styles such as porter and stout were largely unavailable in America at that time.

Image: The F.A. Poth Brewing Company was another large brewery operating in Philadelphia's Brewerytown neighborhood during the late nineteenth century. F.A. Poth Brewing Company souvenir album, 1890 (Trade Catalog Collection)

Beginning in the early 1980s, in response to the lack of variety on the beer market, some Americans began to brew small batches of specialty beers at home, sparking a trend toward small-scale production of high-quality beers that has developed into today's craft brewing industry. In 2008, there were over 1500 craft breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs operating in the United States producing over 8.6 million barrels of craft beer. Today's beer drinkers can choose from any number of different styles of beer, from the traditional American light lager to English-style porters and stouts, to more exotic varieties such as wheat beers, barley wines, pale ales, lambics, and saisons.

Resources:
Baron, Stanley. Brewed in America: A history of beer and ale in the United States. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1962.

Brewers Association. "Craft brewing statistics."

Downard, William L. Dictionary of the History of the American Brewing and Distilling Industries. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980.

Medkeff, John. "Diamond State Brewery, Inc."

For more information, please contact research@hagley.org

Thanks for reading!

2009 Hagley Prize Winner

2009-06-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Hagley Prize for the best book in business history has been awarded to Ann Smart Martin for Buying into the World of Goods: Early Consumers in Backcountry Virginia (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). The award is presented annually by the Hagley Library and the Business History Conference; the 2009 prize committee included Donald C. Jackson (Lafayette College, chair), Margaret Walsh (University of Nottingham), and Janice Traflet (Bucknell University).

In this book Ann Smart Martin brings the global economy of the late 18th and early 19th centuries to life by connecting the lives of merchants, farmers, and artisans in the hinterlands of western Virginia to the larger world of European commerce and fashion.

With a fine-grained focus on the Scottish-born merchant Robert Hook and his shops in the crossroad communities of New London and Hales Ford, Martin’s analysis extends both out towards the Atlantic trade and into the lives of rural settlers. It is these common patrons, so often seemingly invisible to modern historians, who saw in Hook a means of experiencing the “world of goods” that in essential ways defined their culture and their lives.

The human dimension of business history lies at the core of the book. Beginning with the credit crisis of 1772 Martin makes extraordinary use of Hook’s surviving account books to explicate the nature of backcountry commerce. She highlights the myriad ways that adornment and fashion created a market in rural Virginia for wares ranging from colorful ribbons to ornate grandfather clocks.

Martin offers a sophisticated material culture analysis of remarkable scope and insight; this involves not simply goods sold but also the stores themselves and the way that they physically defined the shopping experience. And finally, the book includes an expansive exploration into the ways that enslaved African-Americans participated in market relations at a time when they too could be bought and sold as commodities. In this latter chapter, her exploration of the cultural meanings of mirrors (“looking glass”) to people of African heritage is particularly noteworthy and brings to the forefront the wealth of research and insight that undergirds the book as a whole.

Written with a deft eye for telling detail and inculcated with a desire to make the complex character of 18th century commerce engaging to a wide audience, Buying into the World of Goods represents business history at its finest.

Visit John Hopkins University Press for more information

Visit our library site for more information on the Hagley Prize

William Pahlmann's "A Matter of Taste"

2009-05-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

Prominent New York interior designer William Pahlmann (1900-1987) felt that communicating his ideas to general audiences was an important way to educate the masses about good taste and design as well as advance his chosen profession. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Pahlmann reached out to Americans at large with lecture tours, television and radio appearances, product endorsements, and his writings. One of Pahlmann's most enduring and far-reaching efforts was his syndicated column "A Matter of Taste," which ran from 1962-73.

Image: Cover from press kit promoting "A Matter of Taste," August 1962

"A Matter of Taste" provided readers with general information on taste and style, introduced them to the basic principles of interior decoration, and provided advice on subjects such as purchasing furniture, choosing an interior designer, and picking décor to suit individual needs. Pahlmann also discussed people, events, and interiors that he thought exhibited the attributes of good taste. He intended for readers to use the column as an entry point to interior design rather than a 'how-to' guide for home decoration. Pahlmann hoped that audiences would use the information as a spur for their own investigations into good taste.

Image: Illustration from "A Matter of Taste" column #605, "Coramandel." Released week of 17 July 1966.

The column quickly became a popular outlet for Pahlmann's ideas, which generated interest in his work and the interior design profession. At its height, newspapers across the United States and in several Latin American countries carried "A Matter of Taste." The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Interior Designers (AID) gave Pahlmann their Award of Merit in April 1966 in recognition of the positive reader and professional response "A Matter of Taste."

The William Pahlmann Papers, housed with the Manuscripts and Archives Department at the Hagley Library, includes 567 of the original illustrations which accompanied the "A Matter of Taste" columns. Pahlmann thought that illustrations were an integral part of the column because they could visually represent some of the ideas he discussed. He felt that audiences could not adequately comprehend good taste and design without seeing examples and used a 'learning by looking' approach in all of his public outreach activities.

Image: Illustration from "A Matter of Taste" column#10, "Furniture With a Plan." Released week of 8 October 1962.

Pahlmann hired several artists, including noted New York illustration artist Frank Dost, to complete black and white illustrations of rooms, furnishings and other decorative objects, and architectural elements in homes. The illustrations range in size from 8"x10" to 22"x30" and are done in graphite pencil, ink, or watercolor and other paints. The "A Matter of Taste" illustrations display not only the superb talents of the artists who created them, but also William Pahlmann's dedication to helping teach his readers what good taste was all about.

To find out more about the William Pahlmann Collection at the Hagley Library, contact our Manuscripts and Archives Department at 302-658-2400 ext 232 or Ask Hagley.

Spotlight on Collections : The Direct Acting Solar Engine

2009-04-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Many people believe that our experiments with solar energy in America date to the energy crisis of the 1970s. Yet from 1906 until his death in 1918, a Philadelphia inventor named Frank Shuman came close to making viable solar energy a reality.

Shuman was best known as the inventor of wire-reinforced glass, which proved to be of immense value for Victorian-era building projects. But Shuman had many interests, and he promoted his latest and most visionary experiment in a pamphlet from 1907 entitled The Direct Acting Solar Engine : The Prime Mover of the Immediate Future. He writes:

"All of the coal we are burning is merely the stored-up power of the sun delivered on the earth some millions of years ago. We dig far into the ground to get this out, whereas the sun is delivering an equal power every day, right at our doors, free of all charge. It is only necessary for us to devise the proper means for receiving this infinite power and using it to advantage."

Devising the means to take advantage of solar energy was the hard part, and Frank Shuman was by no means the first person to make such an attempt. Augustin Mouchot had built the first large-scale solar engines in Europe in the 1870s, and John Ericsson also experimented with solar engines in the United States during the 1870s and 1880s. Yet their engines ultimately could not compete economically with coal as a source of energy.

Unlike his predecessors, however, Shuman found the means to cheaply and efficiently harness the sun's energy and to minimize its inherent drawbacks by employing a "hot box" instead of mirrors that concentrated the sun's rays. He would go on to modify and improve what is now recognized as the first commercially viable solar engine, and his Sun Power Company commenced operations on a large scale in Maadi, Egypt, beginning in 1913. Unfortunately, World War I would ultimately derail this undertaking.

Frank Shuman showed the world that solar power was practicable, and it all started with the invention of his first engine in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia, publicized in this document from 1907.

Read a digital version of The Direct Acting Solar Engine

Shuman's Solar Engine

Sources:

Ackermann, A. S. E. 1916. "The Utilization of Solar Energy". Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1915. 24: 141-166.

Kryza, Frank T. The Power of Light : The Epic Story of Man's Quest to Harness the Sun. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003.

Shuman, Frank. The Direct Acting Solar Engine : the Prime Mover of the Immediate Future. Philadelphia: Review Pub. & Printing Co., [1907]

"American Inventor Uses Egypt's Sun for Power," New York Times, July 2, 1916

“No1 Sun Engine,” The world’s first industrial-size solar power plant

What happened to the No1 Sun Engine?

Contact Hagley using our Ask Hagley online form

Hagley's World's Fair exhibit in Oklahoma

2009-04-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hagley's Centuries of Progress: American World’s Fairs is now on display at the Price Tower Arts Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The exhibit is part of Hagley's traveling exhibits made possible through a partnership with ExhibitsUSA.

Here is a portion of the Price Tower Arts Center press release about Centuries of Progress:

"Drawing from the Hagley’s vast collections, Centuries of Progress, showcases thousands of featured products, curiosities, and inventions that made their debut at one of 17 international festivals on American soil. Many familiar consumer goods that are now part of the fabric of American life—from Wonder Bread to Juicy Fruit chewing gum—were either introduced or popularized at world’s fairs. Fairgoers also experienced art, architecture, design, music, popular culture, and entertainment. These fairs were marketplaces of ideas and technological innovation that celebrated progress, trade, and goodwill."

"There will be nearly 125 objects on display, ranging from photographs to models, archival materials to ephemera. The history of the fairs is depicted through six thematic categories: Progress as a Way of Life introduces the rationale for the creation of world’s fairs. Marketplace of Ideas demonstrates the immense opportunity manufacturers had to market new inventions, while Consumerism depicts fair-goers as an eager audience for innovative goods, from Juicy Fruit to Wonder Bread and Dr. Pepper. Art, Architecture and Music and Popular Amusements illustrate the vast entertainment options, from colossal buildings and sculptures to carnival rides and exhibitions of 'exotic' lands and cultures. Finally, Remembering the Fair includes souvenirs and commemorative items. After all, who could go home empty-handed after experiencing the wonders of a World’s Fair?"

The Price Tower Arts Center has put together a wonderful schedule of public programming related to the exhibit. Visit their website for more information

Unintended Consequences: A Conference at the Hagley Library

2009-03-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday April 4, 2009, the Hagley Library will host "Unintended Consequences," a conference sponsored by the Hagley Fellows of the University of Delaware.

Conference organizers describe the event this way: "Seemingly rational actors make decisions, create institutions, shape environments, or develop technologies expecting certain outcomes, but things do not always go as planned. 'Unintended Consequences' seeks to explore the enormous influence of these inevitable yet unexpected occurrences."

A schedule of presenters and additional details is available at the Hagley Library website.

The conference is free but you must register before March 27th.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

If you have questions please contact Carol Lockman in Hagley's Center for Business, Technology, and Society at 302-658-2400 or clockman@hagley.org

Images from the Delaware State Fair, 1919-1921

2009-03-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hagley's Pictorial Collections Department recently cataloged two albums of photographs of the 1919, 1920, and 1921 Delaware State Fairs in Elsmere, Delaware. About 50 images from the albums have been scanned and are now available online in the Hagley Digital Archive.

Image: Crowds gather for an auto race at the Elsmere fairgrounds' racetrack in 1919. View in Hagley Digital Archives

Originally held in the city of Wilmington, the Delaware State Fair moved to the nearby suburb of Elsmere in 1917. The Delaware State Fair Association chose Elsmere because it offered plenty of open space for the construction of large fairgrounds, as well as convenient access to trolley lines into Wilmington and proximity to recently built highways and artery roads. The new Elsmere fairgrounds included racetracks for horses, motorcycles and automobiles; a grandstand; exhibition buildings; and a large parking area.

Image: Two sturdy contestants from the 1919 Dog Show. View in Hagley Digital Archives

Opening day for the Elsmere fair was held annually on Labor Day; the fair lasted for five days, ending with fireworks on Friday night. Fairgoers enjoyed events such as agricultural, automobile, and mercantile exhibits; contests, competitions, and races; horse and dog shows; and sideshow and vaudeville acts. Wilmington newspapers reported that the 1919 Delaware State Fair was "larger and more elaborate…over all other years" featuring the "greatest auto show ever witnessed in Delaware," the "best dog show in [the] Fair's history," and "the largest [crowd] ever assembled at any time for any meeting or function in the State."

Image: Exhibit from the Sussex County Farm Bureau, 1920. View item in Hagley Digital Archives

That same year, in 1919, a second fair was organized 60 miles south of Elsmere in Harrington, Delaware. A group of locals founded the Kent and Sussex County Fair for the benefit of the rural communities in the central and southern portions of the state. As the Kent and Sussex County Fair grew, more and more events from the Elsmere Fair moved down to Harrington, until by 1928, only the racetrack and grandstand at the Elsmere fairgrounds continued to be used. In 1962, the Kent and Sussex Fair Association purchased the name "Delaware State Fair" from the defunct Elsmere organization. The Delaware State Fair continues to be held annually in Harrington.

Sources:
History of the Delaware State Fair at Harrington
History of the town of Elsmere, Delaware
Marti, Donald B. Historical Directory of American Agricultural Fairs. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
Every Evening. Wilmington, Delaware, 25 Aug. 1919 to 6 Sep. 1919.

Article was researched and written by Judy Stevenson, Hagley's Pictorial Collections Archivist

Hagley's Raymond Loewy Exhibit in Houston

2009-02-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

Raymond Loewy : Designs for Consumer Culture exhibit is currently on display at the University of Houston. The exhibit was developed by the Hagley Museum and Library and debuted there in 2002. The traveling exhibit is being coordinated by ExhibitsUSA and has been on display in many locations throughout the United States since 2006. Follow this link for more information about its current installation in Houston.

Image: Raymond Loewy beside Pennsylvania Railroad S1 locomotive of his design, New York World's Fair, 1939.

View additional items from the Raymond Loewy Archive at the Hagley Library

Ernest Dichter Papers at the Hagley Library

2009-02-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

In 2008, Hagley received the Ernest Dichter Papers through a generous donation by his widow, Hedy Dichter. Dichter (pictured, right), a psychologist and marketing expert, has been called "the father of motivational research." His papers include a significant collection of proposals and reports documenting his work studying the psychology of consumers for major industries in the United States, Western Europe, and to a lesser extent, Canada, Mexico, and Israel.

Born in Vienna, Austria on August 14, 1907, Ernest Dichter was the eldest of three children. During the post-WWI years his father had great difficulty keeping steady employment and worked as a traveling salesman. It became important for son to help father in supplementing the family's income, and from 1924 until 1927 Ernest worked in his uncle's department store as a sales clerk and then window decorator. During this time, Dichter's interest in consumer needs and buying began. He received scholarships to study at the University of Vienna and Paris' Sorbonne. By 1930 the Depression had taken its toll, making it necessary for him to return to Vienna where he worked as a tutor and window dresser, while pursuing his studies in psychology.

In 1934, Dichter received his Ph.D. from Vienna, and the following year married Hedy Langfelder, a concert pianist. Dichter spent much of his professional life studying the wants and needs of consumers. Among his admirers were Dr. Wilhelm Stekel, a Viennese psychoanalyst and former assistant to Sigmund Freud, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and the Democratic National Committee, Christian Broadcast Network, and Campbell Soup Company.

A pioneer in motivational research, surveys in the Dichter collection at Hagley dissect the purchasing objectives of consumers, and document the transformation of products like Hires Root Beer, Lifebuoy Soap, and Mattel's Barbie.

The collection is still being processed by Hagley staff. For more information, please contact the Manuscripts and Archives Department at 302-658-2400 ext. 330.

SOURCES
The description of Dichter's life comes from an unpublished article by Daniel Horowitz, "The Birth of a Salesman: Ernest Dichter and the Objects of Desire." Read the full article online (A special thanks to Professor Horowitz for giving us permission to post his valuable work on Hagley's website)

Daniel Horowitz has also written about Dichter in the following publications:

"The Émigré as Celebrant of American Consumer Culture: George Katona and Ernest Dichter," in Getting and Spending: European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth Century, ed. Susan Strasser, Charles McGovern, and Matthias Judt (Cambridge University Press, 1998), 149-66.

The Anxieties of Affluence: Critiques of American Consumer Culture, 1939-1979, University of Massachusetts Press, 2004

Hagley Acquires Important Piece of Automat History

2009-01-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Hagley Imprints Department recently acquired Automat-Restaurants, a trade catalog from the Sielaff Company of Berlin, Germany published circa 1902.

Image: Exterior of Automat Restaurant in Berlin, Germany (from Automat-Restaurants, Hagley Museum and Library)

The Sielaff Company began producing coin-operated vending machines in the 1880s, and they shrewdly promoted the concept of an Automat-restaurant at various international exhibitions in Europe beginning in 1896. This novel food service experience quickly caught on, with restaurants opening across Germany and in Belgium, France, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland. The Horn and Hardart Company opened their first famous Automat-restaurant in Philadelphia in 1902, and they purchased the equipment to do so from Sielaff.

Image: Interior of Horn & Hardart, an Automat in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (from Automat-Restaurants, Hagley Museum and Library)

To find out more about Hagley's extensive historical research collection, visit our website at www.hagley.org/library.

Related resources online:

Image of a New York Automat at the Online Archive of California

Images of Automats in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery

Read an article about Automat proprietor Horn & Hardart from Nation's Restaurant News

Website for The Automat: The History, Recipes and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece by Lorraine B. Diehl and Marianne Hardart

New Online Exhibit : Building the Lydonia II

2009-01-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

The Hagley Library is pleased to announce the opening of Building the Lydonia II an online exhibit of nineteen images from the Pusey and Jones Company that traces the construction of the steam yacht Lydonia II from the laying of its keel to its first sea trial.

Click here to enter the exhibit

The Pusey and Jones Company maintained a photographic record for many of its shipbuilding and machine contracts from 1870 to 1955. This collection of photographs was acquired by the the Hagley Library in 1970. While the content varies, the shipbuilding images typically document important points in the construction process, e.g., laying of the keel; on the shipway; christening; launching; fitting out; and the sea trial. The Lydonia II series is the only set scanned in its entirety, but it is representative of other sequences in the Pusey and Jones Photograph Collection.

Approximately 800 of the over 6,700 images in the Pusey and Jones collection are available online in the Hagley Digital Archives.

If you have questions about the library collections, please contact us at Ask Hagley.

Collection Spotlight: Leonard W. Walton Collection

2008-12-22T10:53:00.001-08:00

This article first appeared in the winter edition of the Hagley Magazine

Hagley received an important addition to its packaging collections in July when Leonard R. Walton of Lancaster donated material amassed by his father Leonard W. Walton (1911-2005). The elder Walton began working at the Milwaukee Printing Company, later Milprint, Inc., in 1936 and retired in 1976 as the manager of its Downingtown plant.

The Milwaukee Printing Company was founded by Max T. Heller (1877-1949) and William Heller (1885-1962) as a small family operation in 1899. The brothers developed a method of printing on glassine paper in 1908, which led the company to specialize in printing packaging materials. They were first to develop printing on cellophane in 1919, on foil in the 1920s, and on polyethylene in 1947. The Heller brothers were able to get in at the beginnings of the mass marketing of consumer goods, when individually sealed wrappings implied safety and purity. Milprint, Inc., now a subsidiary of the Bemis Company, remains a major producer of printed packaging.

Fully two-thirds of the Milprint records collected by Leonard W. Walton are printing samples on a full range of media. They include candy and bread wrappers, cigarette boxes, and potato chip bags. Some are for such well-known goods as Marlboro, Memorex, Arnold’s bread, and Southern Comfort, while many are for now-vanished local brands. Of particular note are glassine wrappers for military rations in World War II.

The remainder of the collection consists of an assortment of company correspondence, photographs, advertising, and folksy homilies sent by William (Billy) Heller to inspire his sales force. There are runs of several employee newsletters and magazines, including the Milprint Communiqué (1942-1945), which carried news of employees serving in the armed forces.

The Leonard W. Walton Collection is an important addition to Hagley’s documentation of package design and production, complementing such earlier acquisitions as the Irv Koons collection, the Avon records, and DuPont records relating to cellophane. It preserves a number of rare and fragile images, most of which were intentionally made to be torn, crumpled, and thrown away at the first opportunity.

For more information about this collection, contact us at Ask Hagley or call 302-658-2400 ext 227.

Author Jim Schmidt donates letter to Hagley Library

2008-12-03T06:17:00.000-08:00

Author Jim Schmidt at his blog Civil War Medicine (and Writing) has posted an article about his research at the Hagley Library for his new book Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War. Mr. Schmidt recently donated a letter to the library related to an explosion that occurred at the DuPont powder yards in 1890. We greatly appreciate his kindness in giving us the letter and wish him the best of luck with his book. Read about his donation and research here.

New Hagley Library E-Circular, Fall 2008

2008-11-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

The fall 2008 edition of the Hagley Library E-circular is now available. Click here to view online.

Automobility Digital Collections Guide

2008-10-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Hagley Library is please to announce the launch of our new Automobility Digital Collections Guide. The guide was prepared in conjunction with Hagley's conference "Automobility: A Conference on the 100th Anniversary of the Model T" to be held in the library's Copeland Room on November 6 and 7.

Follow this link to the new guide: http://digital.hagley.org/custom/guideauto.php

We appreciate any and all feedback. Please send your questions, comments, and suggestions to Ask Hagley or call Hagley's Digital Archives Department at 302-658-2400 ext 232.

New collections added to Hagley Digital Archives

2008-10-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Hagley Library is pleased to announce additions to the Hagley Digital Archives:

Matheson Automobile Company Photographs, 1903-1912

Collection includes 135 images from the Matheson Automobile Company, a small automaker headquartered out of Holyoke, Massachusetts and later Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Matheson automobiles were particularly popular for the power they provided, winning trophies in numerous hill climb competitions in the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1912, the company's hand-built and custom-made cars were pushed out of the market by smaller, cheaper, more mass-produced vehicles.

Postcards of Motels and Roadside Attractions, 1930-1960

This collection contains nearly 130 postcards of various roadside attractions covering a period from 1930 to 1960. Although the "Golden Age" of the American postcard craze was in the early twentieth century, the era of 1930s through the 1950s, with its brightly colored "linen" cards, is a rich one for images of roadside America. These postcards of motels, restaurants, tourist cabins, and diners reveal the services, architecture, and general landscape that widespread adoption of the automobile helped to create.

If you have questions or comments about these collections or have any questions about Hagley's digital initiatives, please contact Kevin Martin at kmartin[at]hagley.org or 302-658-2400 ext 232.

Researcher Spotlight: Howell Harris

2008-09-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Howell Harris, Professor of History at Durham University

In May 2008 I made what must have been my fourth research visit to the Hagley during which a major (or, in 2007 and 2008, the exclusive) focus of my work has been the history of the cast-iron stove and its industry in 19th and early 20th century America. Hagley's resources for this topic are second to none, ranging from the trade catalogs collection, which has a large number of excellent examples from the 1830s through the early 20th century, with a focus on firms from the Mid-Atlantic region; to the 19th century trade journals, where Hagley has both of the major titles, one of them only a short run, but Winterthur has the rest (memo to visiting researchers: always think of both collections together); to the book collection, especially useful for understanding the technology behind the appliances themselves, and the means of manufacture.

Image: Howell Harris (left) speaking with Hagley's Curator of Manuscripts and Archives Lynn Catanese and Hagley Director Geoff Halfpenny during the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society's May 16 symposium, "Commonplace Yet Extraordinary: Design Histories of Everyday Objects."

In all of these categories, Hagley's holdings are larger than those of other research libraries, and then of course there are the manuscript holdings, which are uniquely valuable. Hagley contains the records of three mid-Atlantic firms engaged in stove manufacture during very different eras -- the 1820s-1840s, when charcoal-fueled rural blast furnaces dominated the industry, and the 1890s-1900s, by which time integrated, city-based stove foundries were in control. The rich correspondence files of Samuel G. Wright and David C. Wood from the early period, immaculately organized as Soda House users have come to expect (but you only have to spend an equivalent amount of time working with the badly-processed records many other archives present, in order to fully appreciate the good fortune of researchers at the Hagley), and the revealing Board of Directors Minutes of the Reading Stove Works from half a century later, provide the historian of this important 19th century industry with a resource of unmatched quality and range for the early period, and one of just two holdings of stove company records for the late 19th century to be found anywhere in the United States.

It is no exaggeration for me to say that, without the resources available to me at the Hagley -- including, of course, the financial support; the friendly personal advice and assistance of librarians, archivists, resident research staff, seminar and conference participants, and other wandering scholars; and the manuscript and printed holdings -- my project to write a comprehensive history of the first universal consumer durable in the United States could not have been conceived of, would not have been started, and could never be satisfactorily finished. Nor would it have been remotely so pleasant: nowhere else offers the attractions of pedestrian commuting along the beautiful Brandywine, from those homes away from home, the Belin House and Blacksmith's Shop, to the uniquely agreeable work environments of the Library and Soda House.

For information on research fellowships at the Hagley Library visit the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and History

New Collections added to Hagley Digital Archives

2008-09-05T12:29:00.001-07:00

The Hagley Library is please to announce the addition of two collections to our Digital Archives:

Pierre Gentieu Collection of Brandywine River Valley Images, 1880 to 1920

This collection is comprised of 326 images taken by DuPont Company employee Pierre Gentieu from approximately 1880 to 1920. Gentieu's images document the DuPont Company Powder Yards along the banks of the Brandywine River in Wilmington Delaware. The collection documents the surrounding community along the Brandywine including worker's families, du Pont family homes, churches in the area, DuPont Company exposition displays, and other facets of social and work life in the area. Visit the collection homepage or browse all images in the collection

Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, circa 1930

This collection consists of 86 photographs that detail the steps of mining and processing anthracite coal. Images include mine interiors, miners and mine equipment. The Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company was the country's largest producer of anthracite coal from 1871 through the 1920s. At one time it controlled over 40 per cent of the country's anthracite reserves. Most of the images in this collection show the company's operation in Locust Summit near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. Visit the collection homepage or browse all images in the collection

If you have questions or comments about these collections or have any questions about Hagley's digital initiatives, please contact Kevin Martin at kmartin[at]hagley.org or 302-658-2400 ext 232.

Hagley Library Research Seminar Series

2008-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society's Research Seminars are held on the second Thursday night of the month during the academic year. The audience is drawn widely from Hagley's membership, scholars and researchers, students in the Mid-Atlantic area, and the general public. Papers are circulated in advance. An informal reception at 6 p.m. precedes the commentary and discussion at 6:30 p.m. The seminar is held in the Copeland Room, Hagley Library.

View the poster the Research Seminar Series

2008-2009 Research Seminar Schedule

September 18
Janice Traflet (Bucknell University), “Courting Women Stockholders: Brokers' Marketing Practices in the 1950s and 1960s and the Democratization of the Stock Market." Commentator: Melissa Fisher, Georgetown University

October 23
Mansel Blackford (Ohio State University), "Fishing and Over Fishing, 1976-2006: American Experiences in Global Perspective"

February 12
Shane Hamilton (University of Georgia), "Supermarkets, Monopsony Power, and the American Century"

March 12
Elizabeth and Ken Fones-Wolf (West Virginia University), "Shirtsleeve Religion: Business and the Post-War Industrial Chaplain Movement

April 16
Ross Thomson (University of Vermont), "The Continuity of Wartime Innovation: The Civil War Experience"

To be placed on the mailing list to receive the papers (or paper), contact Carol Ressler Lockman, clockman@hagley.org

Collection Spotlight : The John F. Tucker Collection on Public Transit

2008-09-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hagley recently received a large gift of books, records, and ephemera from the estate of John F. Tucker III of Philadelphia, a former vice president of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and an expert on rail transit operations. Mr. Tucker had made a previous gift to Hagley in 1992 when he moved temporarily to Dayton to head that city’s transit authority. The materials collected and preserved by Mr. Tucker, when combined with a similar gift from the estate of former SEPTA executive Ronald DeGraw and a donation of official records from SEPTA itself, give Hagley reasonably good historical coverage of the growth and development of rapid transit in the Greater Philadelphia area. Also, the collection offers comparative data on subway and streetcar systems in other North American cities, including Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

Images: The Twin Electroliners were deluxe streamlined electric trains that operated between Chicago and Milwaukee between 1941 and 1963. (Below) Visitors' guide published by the Toronto Transit Commission in 1946.

John F. Tucker was born in Philadelphia in 1950 and joined SEPTA in SEPTA in 1972 after graduating from Drexel University. He left SEPTA as head of the Regional Rail Division in 1988 and worked as a consultant for four years before moving to Dayton. In 1997, he became vice president of operations planning at the New York Transit Authority and later joined his former SEPTA supervisor, David L. Gunn, at Amtrak.

Among the important components of the Tucker Collection are reports and publications of SEPTA’s predecessors, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company and the Philadelphia Transportation Company, especially those from the administration of Thomas E. Mitten (1912-1929). Mitten began his career as a Progressive reformer, but falling ridership starting in the mid-1920s rendered it impossible for him to support his cooperative employee welfare system and retain public trust, leading to a bitter decade-long reorganization of the property. Mitten’s publications remain as evidence of his public relations campaigns and his ability to “spin” the news.

Image: Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway travel guide from the mid-1920s featured a $1 "ride-all-day" ticket.

In addition, the Tucker Collection contains a large selection of timetables, transit maps, travel guides, and other advertising ephemera produced by a number of companies and agencies. They show the final replacement of streetcar systems by buses (including the famous Pacific Electric “Red Cars” in Los Angeles) and of private companies by public agencies, as well as the recent revival of light-rail transit. Many of these advertisements feature striking Art Deco graphics. Mr. Tucker’s gift makes important additions to Hagley’s collection of books on transportation history, streamlined design, Philadelphia local history, posters, and advertising art.

For more information about this collection, please contact the Hagley Library Manuscripts and Archives Department at 302-658-2400 ext. 330 or email research@hagley.org.

This article appeared in the Hagley Library and Archives E-Circular, June 15, 2008

Hagley Library Funds Four Researchers

2008-08-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

The Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Library endorsed four research grant proposals in its midsummer cycle. The funded scholars are:

Jenna Alden, Columbia University
"Behind the Executive Mask: The Rise of Postwar Corporate Sensitivity Training"

Sarah Hammond, Yale University
"God's Business Men: Entrepreneurial Evangelicals in the Depression and World War II"

Ken Lipartito, Florida International University
"Technologies of Surveillance: Information and Self in the Modern Economy"

Gina Raimond, Corcoran College of Art & Design
"Delivering Good Design: The Genius of Interior Designer William C. Pahlmann in Post-war America"

The next grant deadline is October 31. For more information about research grants at Hagley

Researcher Spotlight: Eric Hintz

2008-08-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

Eric Hintz
University of Pennsylvania
2008 Du Pont Dissertation Fellow

My dissertation considers the changing fortunes of American independent inventors from 1900-1950, and era of expanding corporate R&D. Hagley's collections proved to be invaluable to my research, as I could investigate both sides of this dynamic. As a 2008 Hagley research fellow, I consulted the collections of several independent inventors including Elmer Sperry, Hudson Maxim, and E.G. Bailey. I also examined the records of the Du Pont Company and the SS White Dental Manufacturing Company to understand how firms of different sizes utilized both outside inventors and their own corporate labs to pursue new innovations. Finally, I consulted the records of the National Association of Manufacturers and the Directors of Industrial Research to understand how various pro-business associations helped establish team-based corporate R&D as the dominant form of innovation in the twentieth century. Beyond its fine collections, Hagley also proved to be the perfect setting for a writer's retreat. With the beautiful Brandywine River as a backdrop, I drafted the first chapter of my dissertation.

Hagley proved to be a crucial research site for my dissertation, and I am grateful for all the support I received during my stay!

For information on research fellowships at the Hagley Library visit the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and History

New Hagley Library E-Circular

2008-07-17T05:10:00.001-07:00

The summer 2008 edition of the Hagley Library E-Circular is now available online.

Researcher Spotlight: Aaron Major

2008-06-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Aaron is from the Sociology Department, State University of New York at Albany

I have been to the Hagley Museum several times to conduct research for my dissertation in sociology on the subject of American policy making in the 1960s. The collections related to business and the state have been incredibly useful, both providing the kind of primary source evidence needed to support my argument but also for always providing me with new avenues to explore, new ideas to pursue for future projects.

Most recently I have found the papers in the Philip Reed collection to be very useful. His papers from his years serving with the Committee for Economic Development complement nicely the main records of the organization held by the museum. I have also been very interested in the papers from his time as a board member for a company called The Eurofund, which was one of the first transnational portfolio investment companies, as well as the papers from his time as a board member at Bank of America. These records have provided key insight for my work on the activities of American financial corporations in the postwar period.

Automobility: A Conference on the 100th anniversary of the Model T

2008-06-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

November 6 and 7, 2008

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington Delaware

The appearance of Ford’s Model T automobile in 1908 ushered in a century in which motorized vehicles spread across the American landscape, reshaping business and commerce, creating new industries, and generating endless technological innovations. For a conference marking the Model T’s 100^th anniversary, the Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society has assembled thirteen papers that reflect broadly on the impact of motor vehicles since the Model T’s introduction

The conference commences Thursday evening November 6 with a keynote address by Steven Meyer from the University of Wisconsin. A path breaking historian of the automobile industry, Meyer’s talk will reflect on the many connections between Ford and our modern era. On Friday November 7 four panels will offer insights into the impact of passenger vehicles on our society, ranging from the challenges of keeping cars working to figuring out how to deliver the mail. Other papers address how buses came to look the way they do, and why they lost women riders to cars; the politics of Boston’s “Big Dig”; creating the rules of the road for drivers; the prosaic yet enduring challenge of snow removal; and the new steel technologies stimulated by automobile manufacturing. A final panel will consider the international impact of the Model T with presentations by American, French and Dutch scholars.

Program | Registration form | Conference poster

2009 Business History Conference

2008-06-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Fashions: Business Practices in Historical Perspective

11-13 June 2009, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

Joint Meeting of the Business History Conference and the European Business History Association

HOMEPAGE FOR THE BUSINESS HISTORY CONFERENCE

THEMES

Fashion, as a concept, refers to much more than the way we dress. For this joint meeting of the Business History Conference (BHC) and the European Business History Association (EBHA), we define fashion in two ways. First, we see fashion as a set of ideas and activities associated with business firms and institutions that persisted over time. A fashion was a durable but often time-bound business practice or conceptual horizon in production, management, marketing, strategy, taste, style, politics, trade, or finance. Fashion as a concept describing business firms and institutions directs our attention to trends, habits, and rules that delineated what was done and what was not to be done. We particularly encourage participants to look at the role of firms, associations, government, consultants, media, and other agents in spreading “fashionable” business styles. As well, we seek presenters who explore fashions in entrepreneurial action, corporate organization and governance, in economics and business studies, and even in the writing of business history. For example, we would welcome papers that trace the flow of business history scholarship into cognate fields such as political science and sociology. Equally valuable would be presentations describing popular ideas about what took place in earlier periods of business. We approach fashion in each of these arenas not as a passing fancy, but instead as a fundamental influence, a horizon of the possible in business that was (and perhaps remains) embedded in concrete practices delineated by discrete turning points that made the previous practice or set of ideas “un-fashionable.”

In keeping with the conference’s location in Milan─one of Europe’s great industrial and design centers─we encourage papers on the business of fashion itself. In this second way of understanding fashion, we refer to the creation of consumer goods whose appeals rested on values such as utility, practicality, design, aesthetics, style, and cultural symbolism. Whether in Renaissance Florence, nineteenth century Europe, or post World War II America, those commodities and their meanings were part of a complex interplay between the parties who created, purchased, and used them. Furthermore, while fashion-industry entrepreneurs and companies have recently emerged as icons of globalization, those actors were also deeply rooted in local contexts and enmeshed in constellations of relationships that included designers, manufacturers, distributors, advertisers, retailers, and consumers. Among many factors, we seek to understand how the local related to the global. Consistent with BHC and EBHA policy and long-time practice, the program committee also will be pleased to entertain submissions not directly related to the conference themes.

Potential presenters may submit proposals either for individual papers or for entire panels. Individual paper or poster proposals should include a one-page abstract and a one-page curriculum vitae (CV). The abstract should summarize the argument of the presentation, the sources on which it is based, and its relationship to existing scholarship. Each panel proposal should include a cover letter stating the rationale for the session, the name of the panel’s contact person, a one-page abstract and author’s CV for each proposed paper (up to four), and a list of preferred chairs and commentators with contact information.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is 15 September 2008. Please send all proposals to Dr. Roger Horowitz, Secretary-Treasurer, Business History Conference, P.O Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807, USA. Phone: (302) 658-2400; fax: (302) 655-3188; email: rh@udel.edu. Presenters will be expected to submit paper abstracts for posting directly to the conference website. In addition, presenters are encouraged to post electronic versions of their papers prior to the meeting, and to submit their papers for inclusion in the BHC’s on-line proceedings publication, Business and Economic History On-Line.

BHC and EBHA colloquia for Graduate students

The BHC’s Fifth Dissertation Colloquium will be held in conjunction with the 2009 annual meeting. This intensive workshop, sponsored by the BHC and funded by its Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. Fund, will take place at the conference venue Tuesday, 9 June, and Wednesday, 10 June. Participants will work closely with a small, distinguished group of BHC-affiliated scholars, including at least two of its officers. The assembled scholars and students will review dissertation proposals, consider relevant literatures and research strategies, and discuss the business history profession. Limited to ten students, it is intended for doctoral candidates in the early stages of their dissertation projects. Those interested in participating should submit to Roger Horowitz, BHC Secretary-Treasurer (rh@udel.edu), a statement of interest, a preliminary or final dissertation prospectus, and a CV. Please make clear that you are interested in the Dissertation Colloquium. One recommendation from the dissertation supervisor (or prospective supervisor) should also be faxed (302-655-3188) or emailed to Roger Horowitz by 15 December 2008. The review committee will notify all applicants of its decisions after 15 February. Each student participant will receive an honorarium to assist with travel expenses.

The EBHA’s Fifth Biannual Summer School in Business History will be held in Italy in September 2009. Those interested in participating in this residential, one-week course should write to the school’s organizer, Francesca Polese (francesca.polese@unibocconi.it). The official call for applications will be issued at the end of 2008, and the application deadline is 15 May 2009. Summer school organizers will pay all local costs (accommodation and food), but participants will be expected to pay their travel expenses.

BHC and EBHA Prizes

Proposals are invited for the BHC’s Herman E. Krooss Prize, which is awarded for the best dissertation in business history in the English language. The Krooss Prize Committee welcomes submissions from recent Ph.D.s (2006-2008) in history, economics, business administration, history of science and technology, law, and related fields. To participate in this competition, please indicate so in a cover letter, and include a one-page CV and one-page dissertation abstract. Semi-finalists will be asked to submit copies of their dissertation. Finalists will present summaries of their dissertations at the Milan meeting. The BHC also awards the K. Austin Kerr Prize for the best first paper by a Ph.D. candidate or recent Ph.D. (2006-08). If you wish to participate in this competition at the Milan meeting, please indicate so in your cover letter. Proposals accepted for the Krooss Prize panel are not eligible for the Kerr Prize. Members and non-members are eligible for these prizes.

The EBHA Dissertation Competition takes place every second year. The next are scheduled for the EBHA’s annual meeting in Bergen, 2008, and then for Glasgow in 2010. For additional information on this competition, see the EBHA website on the Bergen conference. Beginning at the Milan meeting, the EBHA will offer a prize for the Best Paper on European business history.

Grants for travel to the Milan meeting

In addition to travel grants to participate in the graduate student colloquium, the BHC also offers grants to graduate students who are presenting papers to offset some of the costs of attending the conference. Applicants for a BHC travel grant should so indicate in their cover letter. The EBHA offers travel grants for scholars residing in Eastern Europe who are presenting papers at the conference. Applicants seeking these grants should so indicate in their cover letter.

Poster session

We encourage presentations at our poster session. Poster sessions are especially appropriate and engaging for scholars at work on a new project, for graduate students developing a thesis, for scholars at every level whose work emphasizes audio/visual materials, and for persons who simply wish to talk with colleagues at greater length than provided in the usual format of a 90 minute session. Applicants for the poster session should so indicate in a cover letter.

Program committee

Francesca Polese (Chair), Bocconi University: Regina Lee Blaszczyk (Co-chair), University of Pennsylvania & Hagley Museum and Library; Franco Amatori, Bocconi University; Per Boje (EBHA President, 2008-2009), University of Southern Denmark; Albert Carreras, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Jeff Fear, University of Redlands; Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor, University of California, Davis; Elisabetta Merlo, Bocconi University; Mark Rose (BHC President, 2008-2009), Florida Atlantic University.

Collection Spotlight: Records of the National Foreign Trade Council

2008-06-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

The National Foreign Trade Council is the country’s leading trade association concerned with issues affecting all aspects of international trade. Their records at the Hagley Library measure 183 linear feet and span the years from 1918 to 1982; the bulk of the material dates from the post-World War II era.

The National Foreign Trade Council was formed at the first National Foreign Trade Convention, in Washington, D.C., in May 1914. In its early years, the Council concentrated on running the annual convention and serving as an intermediary in commercial negotiations between U.S. interests and their trading partners in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Council was incorporated in New York State in 1936 and hired a permanent staff, allowing it to enlarge the scope of its activities.

The Council is composed of representatives of major U.S. corporations engaged in international trade. In addition to its permanent staff, it conducts business through a number of topically and regionally-focused committees. The Council has consistently espoused free-trade principles and works through the annual National Foreign Trade Convention, informal meetings, publications, and testimony before national and international governing bodies.

A finding aid for the collection is available online. For more information, contact the Hagley Library.

(Images: Pages from NFTC publication of the 1930s)