Object Details
- Collection Creator
- Hammer, William J. (William Joseph), 1858-1934 (electrical engineer)
- See more items in
- William J. Hammer Collection
- Date
- 1851-1957
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0069, Series 1
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- William J. Hammer Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Arrangement note
- The correspondence is arranged in two chronological subseries: Boxes 1-9, Incoming and outgoing, 1879-1935; and Boxes 9-9A, outgoing, 1902-1928. The reason for this arrangement is not known. Each document is numbered and a calendar listing of each letter showing names of correspondents and date has been prepared. (See "List of Correspondence" in control file)
- Collection Rights
- Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
- Scope and Contents note
- This series consists of correspondence, mostly incoming, from 1879-1935, but also includes diaries, notebooks, biographical information, patent material, pamphlets, writings by Hammer, and a badge, 1925. The correspondence consists mostly of letters to and from Hammer regarding his project of thirty-four years, his Historical Collection of Incandescent Electric Lamps for which he built a permanent home in New York City. There are also many letters from companies and businesses, universities and individuals, for whom Hammer served as a consultant. Some of Hammer's correspondents were well known scientists of the day: Alexander Graham Bell, Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Madam Curie, Lord Kelvin, and Secretary S.P. Langley of the Smithsonian Institution, to mention a few. There is extensive correspondence related to Hammer's research, including his work on selenium and radium. Also included is correspondence between Hammer and professional societies in which he held membership. The correspondence between 1925 and 1935 is devoted to the cataloguing of his collection and to the establishment of a museum at Dearborn, Michigan, in honor of Thomas A. Edison, a project Henry Ford agreed to fund.
- Collection Restrictions
- Collection is open for research.
- Record ID
- ebl-1503512957957-1503512957989-0
