Energy & Power
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.
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Page 1 of 117
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Animal Locomotion. Plate 276.
- Date made
- 1887
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.002675
- catalog number
- 2675
- accession number
- 65115
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Electrical Timing Device
- Date made
- ca 1884
- user
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.002099
- accession number
- 65115
- catalog number
- 2099
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Civil War Soldier
- Description
- Photographs can be powerful connections to the past. Soldiers, for example often had their portraits made before going off to war so that loved ones would have a rememberance of them in the event they did not return. This decorative mat is unusual and suggests the pride the owner may have felt about his status as a fighting soldier.
- Ambrotypes were most popular in the mid-1850s, and, therefore, are less common than other formats for portraits of Civil War soldiers. Ambrotypes are cased collodian negatives backed by dark cloth, paper, or varnish. In this example, pink coloring has been applied to the subjects's cheeks to make the portrait feel more warm and human.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1861-1865
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- PG.75.17.927
- accession number
- 322775
- catalog number
- 75.17.927
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Original Kodak Camera, Serial No. 540
- Description
- This Original Kodak camera, introduced by George Eastman, placed the power of photography in the hands of anyone who could press a button. Unlike earlier cameras that used a glass-plate negative for each exposure, the Kodak came preloaded with a 100-exposure roll of flexible film. After finishing the roll, the consumer mailed the camera back to the factory to have the prints made. In capturing everyday moments and memories, the Kodak's distinctive circular snapshots defined a new style of photography--informal, personal, and fun.
- George Eastman invented flexible roll film and in 1888 introduced the Kodak camera shown to use this film. It took 100-exposure rolls of film that gave circular images 2 5/8" in diameter. In 1888 the original Kodak sold for $25 loaded with a roll of film and included a leather carrying case.
- The Original Kodak was fitted with a rotating barrel shutter unique to this model. The shutter was set by pulling up a string on top of the camera and operated by pushing a button on the side of the camera. After taking a photograph, a key on top of the camera was used to wind the film onto the next frame. There is no viewfinder on the camera; instead two V shaped lines on the top of the camera leather are intended to aid aiming the camera at the subject. The barrel shutter proved to be expensive to manufacture and unreliable in operation. The following year the shutter was replaced by a simpler sector shutter in the No 1 Kodak.
- After 100 pictures had been taken on the film strip, the camera could be returned to the Kodak factory for developing and printing at a cost of $10. The camera, loaded with a fresh roll of film was returned with the negatives and mounted prints. Kodak advertisements from 1888 also state that any amateur could "finish his own pictures" and spare rolls of film were sold for $2.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1888
- maker
- Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company
- ID Number
- PG.000169
- catalog number
- 169
- accession number
- 23598
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Original Kodak Camera, Serial No. 2443
- Description
- George Eastman invented flexible roll film and in 1888 introduced the Kodak cameras shown to use this film. This camera is now known as the Original Kodak and it took 100 exposure rolls of film that gave circular images 2 5/8" in diameter. In 1888 the original Kodak sold for $25 loaded with a roll of film and included a leather carrying case.
- The Original Kodak was fitted with a rotating barrel shutter unique to this model. The shutter was set by pulling up a string on top of the camera and operated by pushing a button on the side of the camera. After taking a photograph a key on top of the camera was used to wind the film onto the next frame. There is no viewfinder on the camera; instead two V shaped lines on the top of the camera leather are intended to aid aiming the camera at the subject. The barrel shutter proved to be expensive to manufacture and unreliable in operation. The following year the shutter was replaced by a simpler sector shutter in the No 1 Kodak.
- After 100 pictures had been taken on the film strip the camera could be returned to the Kodak factory for developing and printing at a cost of $10. The camera, loaded with a fresh roll of film was returned with the negatives and mounted prints. Kodak advertisements from 1888 also state that any amateur could ‘finish his own pictures’ and spare rolls of film were sold for $2.
- From its invention in 1839, the camera has evolved to fit many needs, from aerial to underwater photography and everything in between. Cameras allow both amateur and professional photographers to capture the world around us. The Smithsonian’s historic camera collection includes rare and unique examples of equipment, and popular models, related to the history of the science, technology, and art of photography.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1888
- maker
- Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company
- ID Number
- PG.006519
- catalog number
- 6519
- accession number
- 242983
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Daguerreotype of Professor Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian
- Description
- Professor Joseph Henry was the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. In the earliest days the Smithsonian consisted of a single building, the Castle, which housed a museum, library, Henry's family, and other facilities. At the onset of the Civil War, Henry faced questions about his loyalty to the Union. He had close friends that favored succession and as a "scientific racist," Henry believed that people of African descent were biologically inferior. He opposed the abolition of slavery and was criticized for halting a lecture series on that subject and refusing to allow Frederick Douglas to speak. However, Henry did contribute to the Union war effort. He backed Thaddeus Lowe, an aeronaut who conducted military reconnaissance in balloons. Henry also served on a scientific commission that evaluated proposed inventions and designs for the U.S. Navy.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted (sitter)
- Henry, Joseph
- ID Number
- PG.001711
- accession number
- 55663
- catalog number
- 1711
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Tintype Portrait of a Union Soldier
- Description
- This tintype depicts a portrait of a Union artilleryman. The insignia on his coat and had have been painted gold and his cheeks have been tinted pink. An order issued by the U.S. War Department in 1858 called for enlisted men to receive each year one dress hat such as the Hardee hat this man is wearing and a fatigue or forage cap.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1860s
- ID Number
- PG.75.17.187
- catalog number
- 75.17.187
- accession number
- 322775
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Portrait of a Union Army Sergeant
- Description
- Soldiers like this Union sergeant often posed for studio portraits with handguns. Some were their own weapons, but most were provided as props by photographers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1860s
- ID Number
- PG.75.17.309
- catalog number
- 75.17.309
- accession number
- 322775
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Somersault
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0570
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0570
- maker number
- 138
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
American Eagle, flying
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0653
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0653
- maker number
- 1109
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mule Denver Butted by a Man
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0612
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0612
- maker number
- 663
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
"Hornet" attempting to jump three horses
- Location
- Currently on loan
- date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0603
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0603
- maker number
- 641
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War. Volume 2
- Description
- Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War was published in 1866. Each of the two albums contains fifty photographs of different scenes of the Civil War and is accompanied by text written by Gardner. These are rare books, each produced by hand. Just a few sets were sold as they were very costly to produce and, after the Civil War, many Americans were looking forward, trying to move on from the death and destruction of the war.
- Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1821. Before coming to America in 1856, he was trained as a jeweler and a chemist, but was more interested in the fairly new invention of photography. After immigrating to New York, he worked for Mathew Brady in his photographic studios in New York and Washington, DC. In 1862, after disagreeing with Brady over photographers' rights to receive credit for their pictures, he left his studio and started his own business in Washington, DC, where his most famous subject was Abraham Lincoln. Gardner took not only the last posed photograph of Lincoln in February 1865, but also photographs of his funeral and the hanging of the conspirators in his assassination. He also took pictures of other government figures such as Supreme Court Justices and visiting delegates.
- During the Civil War, Gardner became a photographer for the Army of the Potomac, taking pictures of not only non-battle scenes, such as military camps, but also the aftermath of battles that had just taken place. He later combined his photographs of the war with those of his staff photographers and published the two-volume book Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, for which he became most famous. Gardner died in 1882 in Washington, DC.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1866
- maker
- Gardner, Alexander
- ID Number
- 1986.0711.0283
- accession number
- 1986.0711
- catalog number
- 1986.0711.0283
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Field Camera Lens
- Description
- The wet collodion process produced glass negatives that were used to print positive images on albumen paper (coated with a light-sensitive mixture including egg whites) or were placed against a dark background to produce ambrotypes, which appeared positive. Collodion could also be poured onto iron plates, used to produce tintypes-- positive images that required no printing. Itinerant photographers who turned out quick, inexpensive portraits for soldiers and civilians favored tintypes. Other photographers who visited camps and battlefields produced glass negatives, which they sent to studios for printing.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1995.20.07.01
- catalog number
- 1995.20.07.01
- accession number
- 1995.0020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of War, Volume 1
- Description
- Volume I and Volume II of Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War were published in 1866. Each album contains fifty photographs of different scenes of the Civil War and is accompanied by text written by Gardner. These are rare books, each produced by hand. Just a few sets were sold as they were very costly to produce and, after the Civil War, many Americans were looking forward, trying to move on from the death and destruction of the war.
- Alexander Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1821. Before coming to America in 1856, he was trained as a jeweler and a chemist, but was more interested in the fairly new invention of photography. After immigrating to New York, he worked for Mathew Brady in his photographic studios in New York and Washington, D.C. After disagreeing with Brady over the photographer's rights to receive credit for their pictures, he left that studio in and started his own business in 1862 in Washington, DC, where his most famous subject was Abraham Lincoln. Gardner not only took the last posed photograph of Lincoln in February of 1865, but also photographs of his funeral and the hanging of the conspirators in his assassination. Besides Lincoln, Gardener also took pictures of Supreme Court Justices, visiting delegates, and other government figures.
- During the Civil War, Gardner became a photographer for the Army of the Potomac. He took pictures of not only non-battle scenes, such as military camps, but also the immediate aftermath of battles. He later combined his photographs of the war with those of his staff photographers, and wrote the two-volume book, Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, for which he became most famous. Gardner died in 1882 in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1866
- maker
- Gardner, Alexander
- ID Number
- 1986.0711.0334
- accession number
- 1986.0711
- catalog number
- 1986.0711.0334
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Animal Locomotion. Plate 760.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1887
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003077
- accession number
- 65115
- catalog number
- 3077
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Rowing
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0747
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0747
- maker number
- 1511
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fencing
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0741
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0741
- maker number
- 1497
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Cockatoo flying
- Location
- Currently on loan
- date made
- 1884-1886
- maker
- Muybridge, Eadweard
- ID Number
- PG.003856.0554
- accession number
- 98473
- catalog number
- 3856.0554
- maker number
- 1181
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Eastman 5x7 View Camera with Tripod
- Description
- This portable-style wooden bellows plate camera was popular with both professional and amateur photographers in the 1880s and well into the early twentieth century. Photographers attached plate holders with sensitized glass plates to the back of the camera, making fragile negatives. Wet-plate collodion photography popular from the 1850s to the late 1880s necessitated immediate developing and printing of these negatives. Landscape photographers and those on expeditions to the American West used small portable traveling darkrooms to complete quick developing and printing.
- From its invention in 1839, the camera has evolved to fit many needs, from aerial to underwater photography and everything in between. Cameras allow both amateur and professional photographers to capture the world around us. The Smithsonian’s historic camera collection includes rare and unique examples of equipment, and popular models, related to the history of the science, technology, and art of photography.
- date made
- ca 1880s
- maker
- Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company
- ID Number
- PG.74.19A.25
- catalog number
- 74.019A.25
- accession number
- 314637
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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