Communications

WANN Microphone

Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.

The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.

More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.

Place: New York

Hoe large cylinder press No. 82

This large cylinder single-revolution flatbed press, No. 82, was made by R. Hoe & Company of New York in about 1879; it bed dimensions are 19 inches by 25 inches.The first flatbed cylinder presses seen in the United States were English Napiers, imported in the 1820s.
Description (Brief)
This large cylinder single-revolution flatbed press, No. 82, was made by R. Hoe & Company of New York in about 1879; it bed dimensions are 19 inches by 25 inches.
The first flatbed cylinder presses seen in the United States were English Napiers, imported in the 1820s. Robert Hoe copied a Napier in 1829 and produced a large cylinder press of his own design in 1830. Originally his press was to be manpowered, but a few years later it was converted to steam. The Single Large Cylinder proved to be the Hoe Company’s longest-lasting press.
The drum cylinder press was advertised for fine book and newspaper work. But cylinder presses had a reputation for breaking the brittle stereotype plates used in the publishing trade. So, until electrotyping was introduced in the mid-century, publishers preferred to protect their valuable stereotypes with the slower, safer, Adams bed-and-platen machine, and the cylinder press was left with job and newspaper work.
This model would print better than 1,000 impressions an hour. It cost about $1,500 in 1879, when it was purchased new by the Washington printers Judd & Detweiler.
Donated by Judd & Detweiler, 1968.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
maker
R. Hoe & Company
ID Number
GA.22944
accession number
281773
catalog number
GA*22944

Daisy press

This rail press with its original wooden box and printing outfit, by an unknown maker, dates to about 1885.
Description (Brief)
This rail press with its original wooden box and printing outfit, by an unknown maker, dates to about 1885. The press has a height of 4 inches a width of 3.5 inches and a length of 9 inches; its chase measures 1.5 inches by 2.75 inches.
The Daisy press, the Bonanza, and the Favorite were probably made by the Ives, Blakeslee company of New York (later Ives Blakeslee Williams). The company dealt in novelties and was the principal distributing—and perhaps manufacturing—company for rail presses at the end of the nineteenth century. Their line included the Boss, the Favorite, the Daisy, the Leader, and other very similar rail presses.
Donated by Penny Speckter, 1988.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
date made
ca 1885
maker
Ives, Blakeslee & Co.
ID Number
1988.0823.02
catalog number
1988.0823.02
accession number
1988.0823

Rodgers telegraph relay

Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash.
Description
Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
This telegraph relay appears similar to early units from the 1850s and '60s. The frame is marked "J. Rodgers New York" about whom we have no current information.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
J. Rodgers
ID Number
EM.181420
catalog number
181420
accession number
31652

Washington press, R. Hoe & Co.

This Washington press, No. 5465, was made by R. Hoe & Co. of New York in about 1865. The frisket is missing. The press has a height of 63 inches and a length of 50 inches.
Description (Brief)
This Washington press, No. 5465, was made by R. Hoe & Co. of New York in about 1865. The frisket is missing. The press has a height of 63 inches and a length of 50 inches. Its platen is 21 by 16 inches.
The Washington press became, by far, the most popular iron hand press in America, a position it held from the 1820s until the end of the hand press era, in the middle of the century. The press was invented by Samuel Rust, a New York printer, during the 1820s. Rust’s patent of 1821 (now lost) probably covered the toggle mechanism, a figure-4 arrangement which provided greater leverage than the simple elbow toggle of the Wells or the Smith presses. Rust’s second patent of 1829 covered a new frame, which included cast iron hollow columns enclosing wrought-iron rods—the true tension members.
The earliest Washington presses, which had acorn frames, were
manufactured by Rust and his partner Turney. Later, presses with the patent vertical frames were made by Rust alone. In about 1834 Rust’s rival, R. Hoe & Co., succeeded by a ruse in getting Rust to sell out to John Colby, a Hoe employee. Colby passed the business—with patent rights—back to the Hoe Company, who thereafter manufactured the press alongside their own Smith press. At the expiration of the patents, other American companies began producing their own versions of the Washington. This press was used in the Government Printing Office in Washington until its transfer in 1938.
Transferred from the Government Printing Office, 1938.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
about 1865
maker
R. Hoe & Company
ID Number
GA.20007
catalog number
20007
accession number
148539

Erinnerung an de Tag der Confirmatim/Confirmation Certificate (translated title)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884
publisher
Kaufmann, Ernst
ID Number
2012.0093.28
accession number
2012.0093
catalog number
2012.0093.28

Egyptian Street Scene

James David Smillie etched Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s painting of a Middle Eastern street scene Lady of Cairo Visiting for the American Art Review issue of June 1881.
Description
James David Smillie etched Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s painting of a Middle Eastern street scene Lady of Cairo Visiting for the American Art Review issue of June 1881. Commenting on the issue, the New York Times noted that Smillie had been “particularly happy in his drawing” of the donkey, which appears prominently in the print.
A catalogue raisonné of Smillie’s prints has estimated that about 10,000 impressions of this scene were made, primarily for use as art magazine illustrations. To produce such a large number of prints from a copper plate, a soft metal that deteriorates with use, the publishers would have had to face the copper by electroplating. In this process (known as “steel facing”), a thin layer of iron is deposited on the copper plate.
Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847–1928) trained with Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris and later was known as “the American Gérôme.” He made a number of trips from his Paris base to North Africa and Egypt to sketch and collect artifacts for his paintings of Egyptian and Algerian subjects.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1881
original artist
Bridgman, Frederick Arthur
graphic artist
Smillie, James David
ID Number
GA.14802
catalog number
14802
accession number
94830

Washington jobber

This clamshell jobber was built by John M. Jones of Palmyra, New York in about 1885. The feedboards, rod between the treadle and crank, throw-off handle, and flywheel are replacements. One gripper is missing. There are old repairs to the frame, platen base, and gripper bar.
Description (Brief)
This clamshell jobber was built by John M. Jones of Palmyra, New York in about 1885. The feedboards, rod between the treadle and crank, throw-off handle, and flywheel are replacements. One gripper is missing. There are old repairs to the frame, platen base, and gripper bar. The press has a height of 48 inches a length of 45 inches and a width of 33 inches; its chase measures 8 inches by 12 inches; its platen measures 8.5 inches by 14 inches.
John Jones of Palmyra was a successful and well-respected manufacturer of a dozen different platen jobbing presses, several of them based on George P. Gordon’s ideas. Jones's Washington press, produced from about 1880 to 1889, contained a simpler clamshell action, but included Jones’s patent impression-adjustment device, and—after 1884—his patent friction clutch as a throw-off mechanism. This press is unmarked except for the word PATENT on the handle of the platen clip, and “S.W.” etched into the rim of the flywheel. The platen is adjusted by two bolts (the handles protrude under the feed table), working on the rod that acts as a fulcrum for the platen; there are no adjustment screws behind the platen itself. The platen is thin for its size, but backed by the deep webbing that is characteristic of Jones’s presses.
Donated by Patricia E. Schneider, 1995.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1880-1889
date made
ca 1885
maker
Jones, John
Jones, John
Jones, John
ID Number
1995.0142.01
catalog number
1995.0142.01
accession number
1995.0142

Engraved woodblock of the "View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)"

This engraved woodblock of a “View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 63 (p.180) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries.
Description
This engraved woodblock of a “View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 63 (p.180) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). The image depicts the “Colorado River [and] the Eastern Kaibab Displacements, appearing as folds [and] faults.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1875
1875
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Powell, John Wesley
graphic artist
Nichols, H. H.
block maker
V. W. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.1355
catalog number
1980.0219.1355
accession number
1980.0219

D-Cylinder etching press

This copperplate press was made by M. M. Kelton’s Son in about 1900. The press has a bed of 34 inches long by 12 inches wide; its cylinder diameter is 6 inches.The short cutaway bed on this press is wired for heating.
Description (Brief)
This copperplate press was made by M. M. Kelton’s Son in about 1900. The press has a bed of 34 inches long by 12 inches wide; its cylinder diameter is 6 inches.
The short cutaway bed on this press is wired for heating. The press bears the Bureau of Printing and Engraving property tag number 538. The Kelton name is cast in the frame.
Transferred from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, 1963.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1900
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
1995.0214.003
accession number
1995.0214
catalog number
1995.0214.003

Kelton press

This copperplate press with pulleys and frame to lift its blankets was manufactured from about 1900. It is marked in the casting “Kelton Machine Co. 76 South 8th St.
Description (Brief)
This copperplate press with pulleys and frame to lift its blankets was manufactured from about 1900. It is marked in the casting “Kelton Machine Co. 76 South 8th St. Brooklyn N.Y.” The press bed measures 20 inches by 48 inches; its cylinder diameter measures 6 inches; its length measures 20 inches.
Donated by Jacob Kainen, 1969.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Kelton Machine Company
ID Number
GA.22684
accession number
290263
catalog number
22684

Gordon Franklin jobber

This old-style platen jobber was made by George P. Gordon of New York in about 1865; its chase measures 7 inches by 11 inches.Donated by Bruce Saunders, 1973.Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This old-style platen jobber was made by George P. Gordon of New York in about 1865; its chase measures 7 inches by 11 inches.
Donated by Bruce Saunders, 1973.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1865
date made
ca 1865
maker
Gordon, George P.
ID Number
GA.23751
accession number
305069
catalog number
23751

Bunnell type 2-A repeating relay bank

Telegraph relays amplify an electrical signal in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver.
Description
Telegraph relays amplify an electrical signal in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. The pulses fade in strength as they travel through the wire, limiting the distance a message can be sent. Relays remedy that problem by detecting a weak signal and automatically re-transmitting that signal down the line using a local power source.
Location
Currently not on view
Maker
Western Union Corporation
maker
J. H. Bunnell & Co.
ID Number
EM.332223
model number
2-A
collector/donor number
100-137
serial number
42
accession number
294351
catalog number
332223

Gordon Franklin jobber

This old-style platen jobber was made by George P. Gordon, of New York, in about 1863. It was painted green.
Description (Brief)
This old-style platen jobber was made by George P. Gordon, of New York, in about 1863. It was painted green. Its chase measures 6 inches by 10 inches.
The Gordon Franklin was the single most famous and influential jobbing press of the nineteenth century.
George Phineas Gordon (1810-1878) was a printer who started building and patenting presses for job printers beginning in 1850. The most celebrated of his many presses was the Franklin, so called because Gordon, a spiritualist, said that Ben Franklin had described it to him in a dream. By 1858 this press was essentially in its final form, but over the next decades Gordon continued to modify and re-patent it. Upon the expiration of his patents, other manufacturers moved in with their own versions of the press.
This early example of a Gordon Franklin has neither impression throw-off mechanism nor a gate to lock the platen into position at the point of impression, two features used in Gordon’s later presses.
The press was lent to the Museum in 1968 under the catalog number 22318.
Donated by Neal Bezoenik, 1994.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1858
date made
ca 1863
circa 1863
maker
Gordon, George P.
ID Number
1994.0380.01
catalog number
1994.0380.01
accession number
1994.0380

Tiffany's Transatlantic Cable Souvenir

The completion of the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858 was a cause for much celebration on both sides of the Atlantic.
Description
The completion of the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858 was a cause for much celebration on both sides of the Atlantic. Tiffany & Company of New York purchased the cable remaining on board the USS Niagara after the successful completion of the cable and sold 4-inch sections as souvenirs. Each section of cable was banded at the ends with brass ferrules and had a brass plaque that read “ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE/GUARANTEED BY/TIFFANY & CO./ BROADWAY • NEW YORK • 1858.” The cable souvenirs originally sold for 50 cents and came with a reproduced letter of authenticity from Cyrus W. Field, the pioneer of the transatlantic cable system. The jubilation turned to jeers when the cable failed a few weeks later, and Tiffany never sold its supply of cable. In 1974 Lanello Reserves began reselling the transatlantic cable, and donated this object to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1858
maker
Glass, Elliot, & Co.
Tiffany & Co.
ID Number
EM.334736.01
accession number
312154
catalog number
334736

Lithograph of "Cascades of the Columbia"

This tinted lithograph of “Cascades of the Columbia" was produced by Sarony, Major & Knapp (fl. 1857-1867) after an original sketch by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872). It was printed as Plate XLV in Volume XII, Book I, following page 155, in the "General Report" by Isaac I.
Description (Brief)
This tinted lithograph of “Cascades of the Columbia" was produced by Sarony, Major & Knapp (fl. 1857-1867) after an original sketch by John Mix Stanley (1814-1872). It was printed as Plate XLV in Volume XII, Book I, following page 155, in the "General Report" by Isaac I. Stevens (1818-1862) in the "Report of Explorations for a Route for the Pacific Railroad near the 47th and 49th Parallels of North Latitude, from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Puget Sound," 1855.
The volume was published as part of the "Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a Railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean," published as a twelve volume set in the mid-1850s to 1860. Volume 12 was printed in 1860 by Thomas H. Ford (1814-1868).
Location
Currently not on view
date of book publication
1860
graphic artist
Sarony, Major, & Knapp
original artist
Stanley, John Mix
graphic artist
Sarony, Major, & Knapp
original artist
Stanley, John Mix
author
Stevens, Isaac Ingalls
printer
Ford, Thomas H.
graphic artist
Sarony, Major, & Knapp
publisher
U.S. War Department
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
ID Number
GA.24834
catalog number
24834
accession number
1978.0612

Letterhead of Edward Bierstadt

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1896
maker
Bierstadt, Edward
ID Number
1987.0420.01
catalog number
1987.0420.01
accession number
1987.0420

Kodak Baby Brownie Camera

This Eastman Kodak "Baby Brownie" camera commemorates the New York World’s Fair (1939-1940). The camera’s faceplate features the Fair’s dominant architectural features, the Trylon and the Perisphere.Currently not on view
Description
This Eastman Kodak "Baby Brownie" camera commemorates the New York World’s Fair (1939-1940). The camera’s faceplate features the Fair’s dominant architectural features, the Trylon and the Perisphere.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1939
Associated Date
1939
1940
ID Number
1989.0438.1741B
accession number
1989.0438
catalog number
1989.0438.1741B

Sawyer's View-Master

The view master was first introduced at the New York World's Fair (1939-1940.) Made by Sawyer's Photo Services, the device showed stereoscopic three-dimensional pictures.
Description (Brief)
The view master was first introduced at the New York World's Fair (1939-1940.) Made by Sawyer's Photo Services, the device showed stereoscopic three-dimensional pictures. Originally intended as an educational device for adults, the view master soon become a popular children's toy. This example is a commemorative item from the Fair.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1939
Associated Date
1939
1940
ID Number
1989.0438.1742
catalog number
1989.0438.1742
accession number
1989.0438

Scrubbing the Side

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1939
graphic artist
Chong, Fay
ID Number
GA.17547
catalog number
17547
accession number
159,237

Map of the Western States

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1865
ca 1872
ID Number
GA.04537
catalog number
04537
accession number
23155

Dionysion

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Sloan, John
ID Number
GA.22275.01
catalog number
22275.01
accession number
272554

Hapisgoh (The Summit)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1852-1853
1890
ID Number
GA.285049.02.01
accession number
285049
catalog number
285049.02.01

Purim Gazette Metropolitan Opera House

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1887
ID Number
GA.02538
catalog number
02538
accession number
21937

Sunrise on Lake Saranac

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860
lithographer
Currier & Ives
publisher
Currier & Ives
ID Number
GA.21325
catalog number
21325
accession number
245107

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