Descriptive Entry
This accession consists of records that document planning, development and production activities for the exhibitions A Material World, Loose the Mighty Power: Impressions of the Steam Engine in America, Abandoned Mine Scenes, On Time, Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There, as well as the halls of Nuclear Energy, Mining, Agriculture, Petroleum, Iron and Steel, Farming Machinery, and Forest Products at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), which, prior to 1980, was known as the National Museum of History and Technology and the Museum of History and Technology, respectively. A few records also predate the creation of NMAH, when the museum was part of the United States National Museum. The original working title for the exhibition Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There, which opened at the National Air and Space Museum and was produced in partnership with NMAH, was Finding Time and Place: From Chronometers to GPS. Earlier records date back to when the Division of Work and Industry was known as the Division of the History of Technology, the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Division of Extractive Industries, the Division of Manufacturing, the Division of Agriculture and Mining, the Division of Agriculture and Forest Products, the Division of Industrial Cooperation, and there are some records from the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and the Division of Transportation.
Staff represented in these records include curators Robert C. Post, William L. Withuhn, Philip W. Bishop, John T. Schlebecker, Robert M. Vogel, and John H. White; associate curator John Nathan Hoffman; and exhibit coordinator Claudine Klose.
Materials include correspondence, memoranda, and notes; proposals; budget summaries; design information; production schedules; scripts; press releases; floor plans; drawings; object lists; loan information; catalogs, pamphlets, brochures, and clippings; photographs and negatives; and reports. Some materials are in electronic format.