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.

Abstract:

Elmer A. Sperry (1860-1930) was an electrical engineer who established the Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company in 1883 and then founded the Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company in 1886. After selling his patents to General Electric, he went to work for the company as a consultant. This collection includes original materials, as well as copy work from other sources and images which show Sperry's inventions; there is some ephemera, family photos, employees, and views of the Sperry Company's Brooklyn drafting rooms.

Abstract:

Frank Elwin Ebersole (1871-1933) was a contract electrical engineer who installed automatic telephone systems throughout the United States during the early twentieth century. Ebersole was the proprietor of the Ebersole Construction Company; president of the Independent Telephone Company; and the general manager of the Northeastern Telephone Company, Lincoln Telephone Company, Evansville Telephone Company, Houston Home Telephone Company, and other related businesses. He engaged in the construction and installation of telephone services and support structures of each system, including their power plants. This small collection documents the business interests of an early telephone engineer and construction manager. The documents include telegrams and letters that provide detailed information on business relations, corporate financing, and equipment processing for installing early telephone service, as well as the challenges faced by suppliers of equipment used in said process.

Abstract:

Garrett, Miller & Co. was a Wilmington, Delaware-based electrical company that served the public in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Frank S. Garrett (1869-1950), grandson of abolitionist Thomas Garrett (1789-1871), and Henry K. Miller (1861-1925) purchased the electrical department of Delaware Electric & Supply, to form their own company, Garrett, Miller, and Company. The company sold electrical supplies for construction and, into the 1900s, began selling smaller electrical appliances, including toasters, lamps, and vacuum cleaners. This collection includes eleven letters between Garrett, Miller & Co., and other Delaware area businesses and institutions. These include Alfred A. Curtis and Lewis C. Vandegrift, of Bradford, Vandegrift & Byrne, and the Town Council of Newark, Delaware. The items are dated between May 1896 through February 1897.

Abstract:

James Gordon Ferguson (1900-1985) was an electrical engineer who worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories for forty-two years. He was the author of numerous technical papers and was one of the leads during the 1940s in developing the Number Five Crossbar Switching System (5XB switch), which brought telephone service to rural areas. This item is an unpublished memoir entitled "Me and My Bell System (As I Remember Us)," circa 1965. It details Ferguson's career and professional life.

Abstract:

From 1906 to the 1970s, the Honeywell corporation grew from specializing in thermostats and home heating into military engineering, cameras and computing. James Warren Scarlett (1937-2016) was a team leader and electrical engineer at Honeywell through the crucial 1970s period where they led the world in developing process control technology for industrial plants. His records illustrate the development of Honeywell's Industrial Process Control Division's TDC 2000 and TDC 3000 systems. The collection has particular strengths in materials documenting the design of the user interface, sometimes referred to as the man-machine-interface (MMI). Materials include reports, papers, presentation slides, books, correspondence, and business cards.

Abstract:

The Kaehni brothers, William "Bill" L. Kaehni (1895-1950) and Francis "Frank" J. Kaehni (1897-1986) were electronics engineers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. The brothers invented radio transmitters, navigational devices for airplanes and ships, transistorized car ignitions, and heat control systems. They also built and installed public address systems. This small collection primarily consists of the Kaehni brothers' class notes from courses taken at the Case School of Applied Science (now folded into Case Western Reserve University). The notes are most likely Bill Kaehni's, but could also be Frank Kaehni's, as they are mostly undated. Of significance is a bound biography written in 1998 by David C. Barnett using documents from the Kaehni family and firsthand accounts from their sister, Marie Kaehni, who provides her own memories in the afterword.

Scope and Content: The Kerns H. Powers papers consist of Powers’ correspondence during his time as Director of the Communications Research Laboratory from 1966 to 1976. Additionally, they include nominations and meeting notes from his tenure as Chairman of the Awards Committee for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). IEEE records also include nominations and meeting notes from Powers’ predecessors.The IEEE and IRE nomination forms provide substantial biographical detail on RCA scientists that supplements files in the Public Affairs Department vertical files.The Kerns H. Powers papers consist mostly of Powers’ correspondence during his time as Director of the Communications Research Laboratory from 1966 to 1976. Also included are RCA Laboratories' business plans from 1971 to 1977 that provide a snapshot of RCA's attempts to handle the daunting challenges of the 1970s.Additionally, the papers include nominations and meeting notes from his tenure as Chairman of the Awards Committee for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). IEEE records also include nominations and meeting notes from Powers’ predecessors.The IEEE and IRE nomination forms provide substantial biographical detail on RCA scientists that supplements files in the Public Affairs Department vertical files.Seven of his lab notebooks (1951-1981) can be found in Record group 26. Amarel, Saul 1968, 1969, 1971 Barton, Loy E. 1955 Belohoubek, Erwin F. 1974 Briggs, George R. 1972 Brown, George H. 1964 Burns, Leslie L. 1964, 1965, 1966 Cohen, Robert M. 1962 Cooke, Harry L. 1970, 1971 Crooks, H. Nelson 1970, 1971 DeVore, Henry B. 1955 Engstrom, Elmer W. 1958, 1962, 1963 Epstein, Jess 1956 Flory, Leslie E. 1956, 1964 Forgue, Stanley V. 1964 Gibson, J. James 1978 Goldberg, Edwin A. 1971, 1972 Good, Lowell H. 1961 Gubin, Samuel 1968, 1969 Hammer, Jacob M. 1976 Handelsman, Morris 1960, 1961, 1963 ...

Abstract:

Levi C. Stang (1890-1962) was an electrical engineer and general manager of several electric companies throughout the Midwest. His scrapbook chronicles his career and employment as an electrical engineer through selected letters and correspondence, newspaper and other clippings, blueprints, and photographs.

Abstract:

This collection contains papers from Louis F. Moose from his early days as a student at the University of California, Berkeley, to his retirement from Bell Laboratories, Allentown, Pennsylvania, as an electrical engineer and department head. They date from 1928 with the bulk of the documents from 1942 to 1982 covering his work and activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bell Laboratories.

Throughout his career, Mr. Moose was involved with the early research and development of magnetrons/microwave tubes used in radar for military use and for Bell Systems applications.