Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Johnson, Alba B. (Alba Boardman), 1858-1935
| title | The Alba B. Johnson collection of Oliver Evans manuscripts. | repository | Bentley Historical Library |
| description | The Alba B. Johnson collection represents the most important group of surviving Oliver Evans manuscripts. Evans destroyed most of his papers and drawings in 1809. The collection consists of two items. The first is a portfolio of 156 loose pages, including some 34 pen sketches and several large colored wash drawings. The period covered is 1786-1808. The pages are positive photostatic copies of the originals. the manuscript pages include mathematical calculations, notes on experiments and inventions and requests for patents. The majority of the work is concerned with steam engines and boilers, but there are also notes and sketches on water wheels, mills and millwork, pumping engines, the steam-powered marble saws set up at the Mars Works, Evans' ovens for baking bread, and a system of municipal lighting using a central beacon. The second item is a copy of THE ABORTION OF THE YOUNG STEAM ENGINEER'S GUIDE with about 240 blank pages interleaved. Evans used this notebook and commonplace book during the years 1805-1818, entering manuscript notes on his work with the steam engine and other inventions. The latter include an inclined plane for canals, a machine for hulling rice, a central heating system, and a means of cooling factories using the waste heat of a steam engine. There are notes on steelmaking and the manufacture of iron castings, the comparative values of wood and coal, the manufacture of plaster of Paris and cements, reducing water resistance in ship's hulls, and notes on one of Robert Fulton's Hudson River steamboats (1811). In addition to the specifics of Evans' inventions, the papers tell much about his engineering style" and his methods of approaching problems, particularly the relationship between theoretical and empirical methods. Biographical and Historical Note Oliver Evans (1755-1819) was perhaps the most talented of Philadelphia's early 19th century mechanicians. He produced two major innovations, the automated flour mill and the high-pressure, non-condensing steam engine, and experimented with or anticipated others, including four-cycle mechanical refrigeration, central heating, the steam wagon, the machine gun, and a perpetual baking oven. Evans was born in Newport, Del., on September 13, 1755. Little is known of his early life beyond the fact that he was apprenticed to a wheelwright and worked in several other mechanical trades. Between 1780 and 1787 he conceived and perfected his plan of a fully automated flour mill using bucket elevators, screw conveyors and the hopper boy to spread, cool and dry the meal between grinding and bolting. This was the first time that anyone had conceived and executed a system of continuous, fully automatic production. The system was first installed in a mill on Red Clay Creek operated by Oliver's brothers. In 1795 Evans published THE YOUNG MILL-WRIGHT AND MILLER'S GUIDE, explaining both his own system and general principles of mill construction. Fifteen editions were published between 1795 and 1860. In 1793 Evans moved to Philadelphia and established himself as a merchant, while he continued to pursue his inventions, particularly steam carriages. He soon became preoccupied with the engine itself. The need for a more compact and powerful power plant led him to develop the high-pressure, non-condensing steam engine, which he invented independently of and contemporaneously with Richard Trevithick in Britain. Evans' first model was in operation in 1803. In 1805 he built the ORUKTER AMPHIBOLOS, a steam-powered dredge that was at once a crude steam wagon and steamboat. Evans had a rather abrasive personality and little tolerance for those who did not see the originality and importance of his inventions. This made it difficult for him to obtain financial backing, forcing him to depend on patent royalties. In 1805, after failing to get a patent extension law through Congress and falling into a public dispute with another steam engineer, John Stevens, Evans ceased his experiments and published his still incomplete text on steam engineering as THE ABORTION OF THE YOUNG STEAM ENGINEER'S GUIDE. After 1806 Evans moved into manufacturing building the Mars Iron Works in Philadelphia (1806-1807). Here he built not only his steam engine and boilers but also iron gears and other industrial castings. Evans' engines were installed in the Fairmount pumping station of the Philadelphia Water Works in 1816, in flour mills in the Ohio Valley, and in steamboats operating on the Delaware and Ohio Rivers. Oliver's son, George Evans, organized the Pittsburgh Steam Engine Company in 1812 as a western offshoot of the Mars Works. Evans spent the years after 1809 in pressing his patent rights and involved in several patent controversies. He died in New York on April 15, 1819. |
| extent | Photoprints O.2 linear ft., Microfilm 1 reel. |
| formats | Drawings Notes Notebooks |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/ |
| finding aid | aOriginals at: University of Michigan. University Libraries, Engineering-Transportation,Room 312, Undergraduate Library, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48109-1185. |
| acquisition information | The materials were bequeathed by Oliver Evans to his son Cadwallader, from whose estate they were purchased by civil engineer and railroad executive Robert H. Sayre. After Sayre's death they were purchased by Alba B. Johnson, president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, who donated them to the University of Michigan in 1927. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:58 |
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| title | Elihu Thomson Papers, 1853-1955. | repository | American Philosophical Society |
| description | Series I (ca. 60,000 items) is currently being processed (1996). Series II (size unknown) is currently being processed (1996). Series III (3.5 linear ft.) contains legal documents, reports, specifications on inventions and patents, blueprints, programs for scientific meetings and events, and materials relating to Thomson's industrial research and personal interests. Series IV (1.5 linear ft.) contains autograph and typescript drafts, notes, comments, and page proofs on the subjects of electrical systems, welding, astronomy, and optics, among others. Series V (1 linear ft.) contains school papers, autobiographical essays, poetry, short papers on ideas and inventions, and any works that were not identified as published. Series VI (1 linear ft.) contains manuscript and typescript drafts of speeches, lectures, papers, and addresses given by Thomson at meetings of various professional scientific organizations and societies. Series VII (2 linear ft.) contains the manuscript and typescript drafts and transcripts of works by Thomson's colleagues and others, including papers, reports, journal articles, speeches, and radio addresses. A large portion of the series is biographical, produced by Thomson's friends and colleagues after his death and originally stored in two boxes labeled "Biographical Material." The complete, original manuscript of David O. Woodbury's "Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist" (1944) is preserved in this series as well. There are several manuscript and typescript translations of historical works in the field of optics. Produced for Thomson's friend and fellow amateur telescope maker, George Wattson Hewitt, by Florence C. and Emil P. Albrecht, these translations date ca. 1901 and focus on the works of S. Czapski, J.J. Littow, and L. Schuppmann. Series VIII (2 linear ft.) contains Thomson's high school notebooks from classes taken as a student, some industrial research notebooks, genealogy notebooks, and trip journals. Series IX (1 linear ft.) contains pencil sketches of inventions and mechanical apparatus on individual sheets of assorted shapes, sizes, and types of papers. Several files of sketches by E.W. Rice, Jr., fellow inventor and business associate of Thomson, exist in a general chronological arrangement. Series X (2 linear ft.) contains Thomson's manuscript comments and notes on his patents. Thomson describes and evaluates each invention, often detailing the slight variations and improvements in newer versions. Series XI (1.5 linear ft.) contains black and white photographs in various sizes of Thomson, family members, professional associates, events, places, and Thomson's inventions and mechanical apparatus. Series XII (.5 linear ft.) contains certificates that recognize Thomson's membership or election to many professional scientific organizations. Also in this series are three patent certificates issued to Thomson by the U.SPatent Office. Series XIII (.5 linear ft.) contains individual clippings arranged alphabetically by subject and scrapbooks of collected clippings. The clippings include obituaries (of Thomson and colleagues), wedding announcements for Thomson's second marriage, and biographical information on Thomson and his career. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings and a small amount of memorabilia and photographs. Series XIV (.5 linear ft.) contains a variety of miscellaneous items collected by Thomson, his wife, and the original organizers of this collection at the APS. Several items in this series date from Thomson's youth, including his birth certificate (1853) and his Philadelphia Central High School commencement program (1870). Series XV (ca. 1937-1943) is comprised of two subseries. Subseries A contains correspondence generated during the APS Library's attempt to collect Thomson letters from his colleagues after his death. Subseries B holds inventories of manuscripts that were produced as the papers were donated. Biographical and Historical Notes: Elihu Thomson was an electrical engineer, inventor, business man, andentrepreneur who figured prominently in the development of early electric light and power systems in the United States. Thomson formed the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1882, which merged in 1892 with the Edison Electric Company to form the General Electric Company. |
| extent | 18.5 linear ft. |
| formats | Business Papers Legal Papers Drawings Notes Transcript |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.amphilsoc.org/library |
| finding aid | Finding aid (108 p.) available in the repository. |
| acquisition information | Gift of Clarissa Hovey Thomson, 1937; and General Electric Company, 1939-1985. |
| updated | 08/25/2017 14:24:39 |
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| title | Edwin Atlee Barber Records, 1901-1916 | repository | Philadelphia Museum of Art |
| description | Barber's correspondence is arranged in two alphabets, 1901 to 1911 and 1912 to 1916. Some Barber correspondence with Museum people was kept separately. Extensive correspondence with John T. Morris, Board of Trustees Vice President and a collector; John Story Jenks, also a collector and a Vice President of the Board; Leslie W. Miller, Principal of the School; and James L. Allan, Assistant Treasurer make up a series. |
| extent | 19 linear feet |
| formats | Correspondence |
| access | The collection is open for research |
| record link | http://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=BAR&p=cs |
| record source | http://www.philamuseum.org/archives/findingaids.html |
| finding aid | Available online |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:15 |
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