Finding Aids

Alexander Magoun was the curator for the David Sarnoff Library from 1998 until 2000. After earning his Ph.D. in American History from the University of Maryland in 2000, he led the David Sarnoff Library as the Executive Director from 2000 until 2009. This collection includes advertisements from RCA and other companies for radios, televisions, phonographs, and other consumer electronics.

Nicholas F. Pensiero (1918-2003) worked in the Marketing Division of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), a leading American electronics company. The papers comprise a portion of Pensiero’s files retained by him after retirement in 1984. They include a variety of pieces relating to the history of RCA and its predecessor, the Victor Talking Machine Company. There are memoirs (copies) of two RCA engineers, an advertising scrapbook dating from 1938 to 1942, and a set of dust jackets for 78rpm records dating from 1912 to 1938.

The Radio Corporation of America (renamed RCA Corporation in 1969) was best known for its pioneering radio and television development and manufacturing. In addition to consumer electronics, RCA was a major player in the development of electronics for industrial and military applications. The collection contains extensive documentation of RCA’s consumer and industrial products and components. Files include manuals, technical data, advertisements, technical bulletins, catalogs, and training materials.

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American phonograph record company. In 1901, Eldridge Johnson (1867-1945) combined his patents with those of Emile Berliner (1851-1929), incorporating the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey and adopting the "His Master's Voice" trademark from Berliner. It increased in success by signing Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) and John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932) among others to recording contracts, by introducing the Victrola with its enclosed horn in 1906, and by improving recording technology. This item is an advertising brochure for Victor Talking Machine Company records.