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Radio Corporation of America

Existence: 1899 - 1969
 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1899 - 1969

Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:

Alfred Hermann Sommer papers

 Collection
Accession: 2500
Abstract:

Alfred Hermann Sommer (1909-2003) was a physical chemist who specialized in photoemission research and development. After fleeing from the German Nazi regime and working in London, he immigrated with his family to the United States in 1953. He took a job with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) at its David Sarnoff Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, where he worked until 1974. The collection consists of several of Sommer's articles, publications, and patents.

Dates: 1947-1993

Carl G. Dietsch papers

 Collection
Accession: 2759
Abstract:

Carl George Dietsch (1900-1978) was an electrical engineer who specialized in shortwave radio transmitters. He supervised the construction of radio stations for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) from the 1930s to the 1960s, including locations in Brazil, Argentina, the Philippines, Japan, and Morocco. This collection consists of materials relating to Dietsch’s projects for RCA and NBC, particularly concerning the construction of a radio station in Tangier, Morocco, as well as the World War II Voice of America project in Dixon, California. The bulk of the collection material spans from the 1920s to the 1960s, with some later material from Dietsch’s time as a private engineering consultant. The collection includes correspondence, patent material, trade catalogs and publications, manuscript material, photographs and negatives, blueprints, diazotypes, audiovisual material, and drafting tools. This collection would be useful to researchers interested in shortwave radio station construction.

Dates: 1908-1978

Charles B. Jennings photographs, scrapbook boards, and other materials

 Collection
Accession: 2464-21
Abstract:

Charles Jennings (1916-2006) served for more than forty years as RCA Global Communications’ primary liaison in Japan, figuring prominently in the development of post-World War II Japanese communications systems. The collection consists primarily of black and white and color photographs, albums, advertising posters, papers, and unbound scrapbook boards of photographs and ephemera. The images predominantly relate to Jennings’ business and personal life during his time in Japan, addressing the themes of Japanese and trans-Pacific telecommunications activities, particularly relating to RCA; postwar Japanese-American business and informal diplomatic relations; and life in postwar Tokyo.

Dates: 1863-2006; bulk 1946-1999

David Sarnoff papers

 Collection
Accession: 2464-55
Abstract:

David Sarnoff (1891-1971) was the iconic leader of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for most of the company's history. For many years the only Jewish executive in the communications field, Sarnoff was highly influential in the development of radio and television. The focus of the David Sarnoff papers is the original David Sarnoff Collection assembled by Sarnoff to celebrate his career. However, the papers also include the extensive photographic, publicity, and administrative files created by his staff at RCA and a substantial audiovisual component.

Dates: 1871-1983

Fred L. Bechly papers

 Collection
Accession: 2586
Abstract:

Fred L. Bechly (1924-2004) was an electrical engineer who worked for RCA's Camden, New Jersey, plant, where he aided in the invention of the Tricolor Kinescope Monitor, which became the standard for color television. His papers describe his work with RCA in television and video recording from 1944 to 1983.

Dates: 1944-2004

Frederick O. Barnum III collection of RCA Victor Company negatives

 Collection
Accession: 1995-220
Abstract:

For over fifty years the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the Victor Talking Machine Company merged in 1929 becoming the RCA Victor Company in 1930. This merger allowed RCA to consolidate the research, engineering, manufacturing and sales of RCA products. This collection consists of negatives, a majority of which feature sound and television equipment manufactured by RCA. These images include phonographs, radios, radio-phonograph combinations, records, speakers, amplifiers, microphones, facsimile machines, televisions, equipment involved in the transmission and reception of television and radio waves, radio equipment created for use by government agencies and motion picture equipment.

Dates: circa 1930-1977

H. Ray Warren papers and audiovisual materials

 Collection
Accession: 2022-225
Abstract:

H. Ray Warren (1921-2011) was a physicist, engineer, and inventor at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for thirty-one years, working primarily on magnetic tape recording innovations. Warren's papers and audiovisual materials form a small collection that documents developments in magnetic recording for audio and video tape, primarily related to magnetic heads and low crosstalk processing signals. This collection is arranged into eight series: Personal files; Patent files; Proposals; Reports and technical data/information; SelectaVision files; Publications and reprints; Work meeting notes and photographs; and Audio and video recordings. The documentation is fragmentary; none of the sets of papers is complete.

Dates: 1955-1994

Radio Corporation of America photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1995-292
Abstract:

Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was incorporated in 1919, entered the broadcasting field in July 1921 and shortly thereafter began to sell home broadcasting equipment manufactured by GE and Westinghouse. The collection consists of photographs and negatives relating to Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the Victor Talking Machine Company, which was purchased by RCA in 1929, and the RCA-Victor Division of Radio Corporation of America.

Dates: circa 1878-1960

RCA Victor Camden/Frederick O. Barnum III collection

 Collection
Accession: 2069
Abstract:

For over fifty years the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. The records of the RCA Corporation consist of three series: Secretary's files; B.L. Aldridge files; and the Camden Technical Library files. The collection is largely RCA technical reports, standards, engineering notebooks, manuals and miscellaneous publications. The Secretary's files document the formation of RCA. Aldridge's files deal almost entirely with the history of the Victor Talking Machine Company, RCA-Victor and the Camden Plant.

Dates: 1887-1983; Majority of material found within 1914-1968