This portable cassette recorder was designed by the noted industrial designer John Vassos (1898-1985). Born in Romania to Greek parents, Vassos came to the US in 1919 and began studying design. Famous for his modernist designs, he contributed to establishing the look of radios and televisions after going to work for RCA in 1933.
This recorder is one of his later projects but shows the clean lines and relative simplicity of the controls Vassos was known for. The recorder also shows how styles had changed since the streamlined designs of the 1930s.
This postcard view of San Diego Mission was printed using photomechanical processes by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Van Ornum Colorprint Company (1908-1921) was one of many picture postcard publishing companies producing historic landmark, and landscape scenes in California.
Mission San Diego de Alcalá, located in what is now called Mission Valley, was the first mission founded by Fr. Junípero Serra in 1769. It was the first of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823, and was built to convert American Indians of the Kumeyaay tribe to Catholicism.
Today the mission buildings include a parish church.
This postcard view of the Patio and Missionary Fathers' Residence at Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, Old Mission Plaza Church, was printed in 1913 by George Rice & Sons (1879-1993) of Los Angeles, Calif., using photomechanical processes.
Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Ángeles Asistencia, also known as La Placencia, and Plaza Church, was founded in 1784 as an ancillary mission to Mission San Gabriel Arcángel which was the fourth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823. Mission Nuestra Señora was founded to convert American Indians of the Tongva tribe to Catholicism.
The Japanese emphasized electronic technology when rebuilding their manufacturing capability after World War II. The need to replace factories and equipment destroyed during the war gave them the opportunity to take advantage of the latest innovations and enter new markets. The invention of the transistor at Bell Labs in 1947 proved to be a significant opportunity for Japanese electronics companies like Minatronics.
This model TE-155 answering machine does not electrically connect to the telephone, A desk telephone was placed on the deck of the unit and the lever is slipped under the handset. When the phone rang, the lever lifted the hand-set and the recording began. This indirect method of recording was required due to AT&T’s disapproval of telephone answering machines. Since the device did not connect to the company’s lines, the user avoided sanction.
This postcard view of Mission San Antonio was printed by the Detroit Publishing Company in about 1910, using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint."
The company, previously known as the Detroit Photographic Company, was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888. Its manager, William A. Livingstone, invited famous landscape photographer William Henry Jackson to join the company as a partner in 1897. Jackson brought with him his own photographic images, which would be used by the company.
Mission San Antonio de Padua, founded in 1771, is located south of King City. It was the third of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823, and was built to convert American Indians of the Salinan tribe to Catholicism.
This postcard view of Mission Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles was printed by the Chicago-based Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes. Published about 1915 by Eno & Matteson in San Diego, the postcard was produced in association with the Panama-California Exposition.
The Curt Teich firm printed postcards between 1898 and 1978 in association with many publishers. It used the term "Photochrom," later "Colortone," to describe its color printing processes.
Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Ángeles was founded in 1784 as an ancillary mission to Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which was the fourth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions built in California between 1769 and 1823. Nuestra Señora was established to convert American Indians of the Tongva tribe to Catholicism.
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.
This postcard view of the chimes at San Gabriel Mission was printed by the Detroit Photographic Company in about 1899, using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint."
The Detroit Photographic Company was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888. Its manager William A. Livingstone, invited famous landscape photographer William Henry Jackson to join the company as a partner in 1897. Jackson brought with him his own photographic images, which would be used by the company.
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel was founded in 1771 near the city of Montebello, Calif., the fourth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions founded in California between 1769 and 1823. The mission, founded to convert American Indians of the Tongva tribe to Catholicism, was moved in 1775 to its present location in Los Angeles County.