Archive for August 2013 (15 posts)

Imagination and Invention

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“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” – Thomas Edison

John Fitch’s sketch and description of piston for steamboat propulsion, ca. 1795. Manuscript Division.

In August 1795, John Fitch not only demonstrated the first successful steamboat but was also granted a United States patent for his invention. A century later, on Aug. 12, 1877, Thomas Alva Edison is believed to have completed the model for the first phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders. Twenty years later, on Aug. 31, the inventor, often referred to as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” received a patent for the kinetoscope, the forerunner of the motion picture film projector. With the month proving to be a notable one in our nation’s invention history, it is quite appropriate that August is National Inventor’s Month.

Thomas Edison listening to a new record. 1906. Prints and Photographs Division.

Created in 1995 by the United Inventors Association of the USA (UIA-USA), the Academy of Applied Science and Inventors’ Digest, this annual commemoration aims to guide up-and-coming inventors, young and old, on the processes of product development, inspire creativity and innovation, and promote the positive image of inventors and their contributions. The Library of Congress could be considered an avid supporter, with its American Memory Edison collection titled “Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies.” The presentation contains surviving products of Edison’s entertainment inventions and industries, including motion pictures, disc sound recordings, and other related materials, such as photographs and original magazine articles. In addition, histories are given of Edison’s involvement with motion pictures and sound recordings, as well as a special feature focusing on the life of the great inventor.

An interesting side note, according to “Washington D.C. Museums: 2013 Video and Social Media Rankings” – a report on 42 District-area cultural institutions put together by arts and culture blog ItsNewsToYou.me – the top-viewed D.C. museum video (329,000 views) is “Edison’s Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze.” “The Sneeze” was one of the inventor’s first motion pictures and captures Edison employee Fred Ott, who was known to his fellow workers for his comic sneezing and other gags. The Library received it as a copyright deposit on Jan. 9, 1894. “Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze” is also the earliest extant copyrighted motion picture in the Library of Congress collections.

 

Inside the March on Washington: Speaking Truth to Power

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(The following is a guest post by Guha Shankar, folklife specialist in the American Folklife Center and the Library’s Project Director of the Civil Rights History Project, a Congressionally mandated documentation initiative that is being carried out in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.) Dr. Martin Luther King’s […]

Inside the March on Washington: “Our Support Really Ran Deep”

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(The following is a guest post by Guha Shankar, folklife specialist in the American Folklife Center and the Library’s Project Director of the Civil Rights History Project, a Congressionally mandated documentation initiative that is being carried out in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.) Fifty years later, the […]

March on Washington Riches at the Library of Congress

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Celebrants observing the 50thanniversary of the March on Washington should not miss special displays of artifacts, treasures and a talk by Congressman John Lewis on Wednesday, Aug. 28, all at the Library of Congress and all free and open to the public. Opening that day is the Library’s photo exhibition, “A Day Like No Other, […]

Inside the March on Washington: Bayard Rustin’s “Army”

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(The following is a guest post by Kate Stewart, processing archivist in the American Folklife Center, who is principally responsible for organizing and making available collections with Civil Rights content in the division to researchers and the public.) The planning and execution of the March on Washington in 1963 stands as an extraordinary testament to the […]

“West Side Story” Redux

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On August 19, 1957, “West Side Story” began its pre-Broadway tour at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. About a month later, it opened on Broadway, changing the nature of the American musical and challenging the country’s view of itself. The show dealt seriously with violence, adolescent gangs and racial prejudice—themes rarely included in musicals—and […]

Inquiring Minds: Alan Lomax Goes North

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(The following is a guest post by Guha Shankar, folklife specialist with the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.) A fall landscape of orange and red foliage rushes by a car winding down a long road…a stern-faced singer draws his bow across a single-stringed lute and sings a ballad in Serbian about the 1389 Battle […]

Inside the March on Washington: A Time for Change

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(The following is a guest post by Kate Stewart, processing archivist in the American Folklife Center, who is principally responsible for organizing and making available collections with Civil Rights content in the division to researchers and the public.) For many Americans, the calls for racial equality and a more just society emanating from the steps of […]