Energy & Power - Overview
The Museum's collections on energy and power illuminate the role of fire, steam, wind, water, electricity, and the atom in the nation's history. The artifacts include wood-burning stoves, water turbines, and windmills, as well as steam, gas, and diesel engines. Oil-exploration and coal-mining equipment form part of these collections, along with a computer that controlled a power plant and even bubble chambers—a tool of physicists to study protons, electrons, and other charged particles.
A special strength of the collections lies in objects related to the history of electrical power, including generators, batteries, cables, transformers, and early photovoltaic cells. A group of Thomas Edison's earliest light bulbs are a precious treasure. Hundreds of other objects represent the innumerable uses of electricity, from streetlights and railway signals to microwave ovens and satellite equipment.
"Energy & Power - Overview" showing 12 items.
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Environmental Button
- Description
- While many of the buttons in our collections were produced by environmental organizations, the causes they espouse are often advocated by government agencies. This button is a good example. It was made in Canada by the Alberta Energy and Natural Resources.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0362
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0362
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button produced by the California Department of Water and Power advocates prudent energy usage.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0367
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0367
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- Several types of renewable energy sources are available as alternatives to non-renewable carbon based energy sources. The button featured here advocates the use of wind power to generate electricity.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0369
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0369
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- Several types of renewable energy sources are available as alternatives to non-renewable carbon based energy sources. This button advocates the use of solar energy to generate electricity.
- Date made
- 1978
- maker
- Edward Horn Co.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0400
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0400
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- This popular button protests the use of nuclear power as an energy source.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0452
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0452
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gasoline Pump
- Description
- Made in Fort Wayne Indiana, this gasoline pump sold "Red Crown" gasoline, a brand produced by Standard Oil of Indiana. Consumers could see how much gas was pumped as the arrow moved around the face dial.
- As Americans began to drive gasoline-fueled cars in large numbers, oil companies and gasoline stations created technologies and systems to fulfill the demands of consumers. By the 1930s, pumps were the recognizable ancestors of the ones we use today.
- Date made
- 1930
- distributor
- Amoco
- maker
- Wayne Oil Tank & Pump Company
- ID Number
- TR*326809
- accession number
- 265699
- catalog number
- 326809
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button was used to encourage students at Kent State University in Ohio to ride the campus bus in order to minimize auto pollution.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0036
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0036
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- The group "Bike for a Better City" encouraged New York commuters and lawmakers to view bicycling as a means for everyday transportation. The organization, founded in 1970 by Barry Fishman and Harriet Green, called for the establishment of special bike lanes to make city biking safer.
- maker
- Fishman, Barry
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0051
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0051
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- This button urges people to find alternatives to driving, such as using public transportation, riding bicycles, or walking.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0060
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0060
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Niagara Falls Original Turbines
- Description
- Using this extremely fine wood model as part of its technical proposal, the Swiss firm Faesch & Piccard won the contract to design the original turbines for the Niagara Falls power station. The actual turbines were built by the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia and were installed in 1895, the year the Adams Station went on line. The hydroelectric power generation facility at Niagara Falls gained international acclaim for its ability to efficiently convert a portion of the Falls' awe-inspiring natural energy into electricity. This was the world's first large-scale central electric power station, demonstrating how falling water (or other power sources) could be used successfully to supply electricity over an extended geographical area.
- For additional information
- date made
- 1895
- ID Number
- 315850
- accession number
- 221414
- catalog number
- 315850
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center