Guide to the Pictorial History of NBC Engineering Department : Photograph album

Scope and Contents note

Collection consists of one pictorial album of 180 pages of black and white photographs and text documenting the National Broadcasting Company's (NBC) Engineering Department. The album was created by William A. Howard, a retired senior staff engineer at NBC. Mr. Howard collected original photographs from the NBC files in New York and Hollywood and assembled them into an album to document the development of radio and television. The album was disassembled and put in folders.

Arrangement

1 series.

Biographical/Historical note

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was formed in 1926 and was owned by General Electric, Radio Corporation of America, and Westinghouse. The NBC Engineering Department was formed shortly after the company was formed in 1926. William A. Howard (b. 1913) was born in Gouldbusk, Texas. He graduated from Howard Payne University in 1939 with major in mathematics and science. He did graduate work at Baylor University, the University of St. Louis, the Moore School of Engineering, and Western Reserve University. During the Second World War, Howard served as a civilian radar instructor for the Air Force in Florida. In 1943, he joined the Engineering Department at Philco Corporation developing an airborne television system, and "The Block 10 Project" for the Air Force and Navy. In April 1946, Howard joined NBC as a development engineer. He worked as part of an engineering team that developed studio and film cameras for studios in New York and Washington. He later served as Director of technical Operations for NBC radio and television stations throughout the United States from 1949-1960. Howard retired from NBC on January 1, 1979.