Technology, Invention, and Innovation Collections

The Archives Center holds a wide variety of collections documenting technology, invention, and innovation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Both individuals and companies are documented in subject areas including railroads, pianos, television, radio, plastics, ivory, and sports equipment. The largest collection is the Western Union Telegraph Company Records, ca. 1840-1994. Other collections of significance include the Earl S. Tupper Papers, ca. 1914-1982, documenting the inventor Tupper and his invention Tupperware; the SmartLevel Collection, 1985-1996, which documents a Silicon Valley engineering story of inventing a high-tech electronic digital level; and the Darby Windsurfing Collection, 1946-1998, documenting the invention of the sailboard.

The Archives Center collaborates with the Museum's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation to acquire and make accessible collections documenting the history of invention. The finding aids below marked with a double asterisk (**) are located in electronic form on the Lemelson Center's web site. When you click on those titles you will open a window to the Lemelson Center site. To return to this page close that window.

Collection Finding Aids Currently Available On-Line

• Accessible Snowboard Collection, 1996-2000, #747
• Richard Adlard Collection,1936-1998, #692
• Charles Adler, Jr. Collection, ca. 1920-1980, #351
• Albany Billiard Ball Company Records, 1869-1973, #11
• Aladdin Industries Inc. Records, 1889-2003, #844
  Anglo-American Telegraph Company, Ltd. Records, 1866-1947, #73
• **Atomic Clock Collection, 1955-1968, #547
• **Emile Bachelet Collection, ca. 1880s-1973, #302
• **Ralph H. Baer Papers, 1943-1953, 1966-1972, 1991, 2000-2006, #854
• **Patricia Bath Innovative Lives Presentation and Interview, February 17, 2000 and March 1, 2000, #753
• **S. Joseph Begun Papers, 1888 (bulk 1927-1995); 2000, #535
• Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980, #683
• Binney & Smith Inc. Records, 1897-1998, #624
• **Henry Booth Collection, 1942-1974, #726
• Rubin Borasky Electron Microscopy Collection, 1930-1988, #452
• Orlan W. Boston Dynamometer Papers, 1927-1950, #811
• Boyd Family Papers, 1874-1945, #707
• Brannock Device Company Records, 1925-1998,  #672
• Herbert M. Bratter Collection, 1919-1971, #137
• **F. C. Brown Papers, 1902-1964, #693
• **John Bucheimer Papers, 1954-1977, #889
• Felix P. ("Phil") Caruthers Automatic Machine Control Papers, 1952-1991, #812
• Celluloid Corporation Records, 1892-1935, #9
• Robert G. Chamberlain Numerical Control Collection, 1954-1984, #527
• **George H. Clark "Radioana" Collection, ca. 1880-1950, #55
• **Computer Oral History Collection, 1969-1973, 1977, #196
• Robert Scofield Condon Engineering Papers, ca. 1924-1973, #428
• S. Newman Darby Windsurfing Collection, 1946-1998, #625
• Marion O'Brien Donovan Papers, 1949-1996, #721
• Draper Family Collection, ca. 1826-1936, #121
• J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics, ca. 1900-1975, #8
• DuPont Nylon Collection, 1939-1977, #7 
• Saul Dushman Papers, 1924-1954, #101
• Thomas Alva Edison Photoprints, 1890s-1933, #299
• **Arthur Ehrat Papers, 1865-2005 (bulk 1970s-1990s), #907
• ** Eisler Engineering Company Records, 1885-1988 (bulk 1920-1950s), #734
• **Electric Guitar Video Documentation, November 9, 1996 to November 16, 1996, #610
• The Eskimo Pie Corporation Records, 1921-1996, #553
• **Fellows Gear Shaper Company Records, 1896-1999 (bulk 1915-1970), #856
• Joseph B. Friedman Papers, 1915 - 2000, #769
• ** Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records, 1911-1998, #929
• Cass Gilbert Collection, ca. 1931-1935, #214
• **Gordon D. Goldstein Collection, 1948-1957, #554
• Herb Grosch Papers, 1945-1998,  #703
• William J. Hammer Collection ca. 1874-1935, 1955-1957, #69
• Howard Head Papers, 1926-1991,  #589
• Grace Murray Hopper Collection, 1944-1965, #324
• Grace Jeffers Collection of Formica Materials, 1913-2003, #565
• Leonard Karr Collection, 1930-1995, #762
• Max Kronenberg Collection, 1954-1971, #813
• **Harry Kroto Innovative Lives Presentation, 2001, #792
• **Kryptonite Lock Company Records, 1972-2003, #840
• Edmund A. Laport Collection, ca. 1920-1950, #16
• **Lifwynn Foundation Eye-Movement Camera Records, 1938-1954, #20
• **Harold Lyons Atomic Clocks Collection, 1935-1991, #701
• Louisan E. Mamer Rural Electrification Administration Papers, 1927-2002, #862
• Nicholas C. Mandragos Papers, 1927-1959, #484  
• Nathaniel Mathis Collection of Barbering and Beauty Culture, ca. 1970-1998, #641
• The Morton Family Collection, 1849-1911, #118
• **Marvin E. Mundel Industrial Engineering Collection,1937-1996, #676
• **Nobel Voices Video History Project, 2000-2001, # 771
• **Joseph Pedott Papers, circa 1976-2005, #898
• ** William Phillips Innovative Lives Presentation, 2001, #770
• **Van Phillips Video Oral History and Papers, 1991-2004, #859
• **Jose L. Hernandez-Rebollar Innovative Lives Presentation, August 3, 2005, 917
• Fred S. Rosenau Papers, 1944-1945, #478
• **Charlotte Cramer Sachs Papers,1905-2002, #878
• **Safko International, Inc. Records, 1984-1998 (bulk 1989-1995), #911
• **Serge A. Scherbatskoy Papers, circa 1925-2002 (bulk 1970s-1990s), #936
• **John Clifford Shaw Papers, 1933-1993, #580
• **Records of Small Beginnings, Inc., 1986-2006, #940
• Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Records, 1956-1998, #400
• Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891-1982, #47
• Charles Sumner Tainter Papers, 1878-1908, 1919, #124
• **Superconducting Super Collider Collection, 1985-1992, #538
• **"Tantalus" Synchrotron Radiation Source Collection, 1965-1987, #532
• Telescoping Shopping Cart Collection, 1946-1983 and 2000, #739
• Elihu Thomson Collection, 1890-1974, #103
• United States Fish Commission, 1871-1892, #256
• **Records of Wedge Innovations, 1985-1996, #534
• George Eli Whitney Papers, 1898-1957, #463
• **Western Union Telegraph Co. Records, ca. 1820-1995, #205
• **West Coast Computer Faire Collection, 1977, 1980, #1118
• Milton S. Wirtz, D.D.S., Artificial Eye Collection, 1941-1947 and 1973-1988, #501
• Henry Wurtz Papers, 1733; 1861-1885, #6

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