Computer collections include electronic computers and related electronic devices, software, records, and ephemera that document in material form the evolution of computers and their pervasive effects on modern American society.
- See the Computer History Collection page for further information on exhibitions, artifacts, reference materials, and interviews on this subject.
Electricity collections include electrostatics, lighting devices, motors, and generators; and communications technology such as telegraphy, magnetic recording, telephony, radio, and television; masers and lasers.
- The Science Service Historical Image Collection represents twentieth-century scientific research consisting of 600 black-and-white images and their original captions as they appeared in period publications. Use the powerful search tool, browse the subject index, or choose from hundreds of thumbnails.
- Powering a Generation of Change documents the history of the deregulation of electrical power in the United States.
- The Smithsonian Speech Synthesis History Project
Scientists and engineers spend much time and effort trying to replicate activities that most people can perform easily. Creating devices to artificially duplicate the act of speaking has proven to be quite difficult. Researchers for over a century sought ways to synthesize human speech using mechanical, analog and digital electronic techniques with varied results.
This website lists the Smithsonian's holdings documenting the twentieth century history of speech synthesis research. A guide to the collection rather than an on-line exhibition, this site is a research tool. The materials listed herein are housed in the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History (NMAH) and may be examined by making an appointment with the Archives Center.
The Speech Synthesis History Project was a collaborative effort between the Electricity Collections and the Archives Center here at NMAH. The dedication of H. David Maxey in working with Smithsonian staff to collect and preserve this fascinating history is gratefully acknowledged.
Graphic arts collections include 45,000 commercial and artistic prints, with emphasis on technical processes; printmaker's tools, plates, and blocks; type matrices, foundry and wood type; printing presses; typecasting and setting equipment; printing for the blind; and patent models for the printing trade.
- Patent Models in the Graphic Arts Collection, by Elizabeth Harris, (Washington, DC: National Museum of American History, 1997). Download the publication (.pdf).
- Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection, by Elizabeth Harris, (Washington, DC: National Museum of American History, 1996). Download Part 1 and Part 2 (.pdf).
- The Boy and His Press, by Elizabeth Harris, (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American History, 1992). Download the publication (.pdf).
Photography collections include still and motion-picture cameras and projectors, among them 300 Patent Office models (1840-1905); photographic lenses and shutters; an assortment of early darkroom processing materials used for daguerreotypes; wet plate and other silver-halide processes; and 150,000 photographs representative of the history of photography.
Mathematics collections include astrolabes and other navigation equipment, mathematical models used in teaching, cryptographic instruments, mechanical calculating machines, slide rules, and other objects pertaining to 19th- and 20th-century mathematics.
Numismatics collections encompass the spectrum of materials illustrating the historical development of money since early times. Particularly well represented are coins, medals, and currencies from ancient Greece, the Far East, and Russia. The collection includes a vast amount of material on United States coins, paper currencies, and script. The certified proofs of the U.S. notes (almost 300,000 items) are an excellent source of research for paper money experts.
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