Frank A. Taylor (1903-2007) was a Curator of Engineering and Industries and an administrator at the Smithsonian. He was born in 1903 in Washington, D.C., where he grew up. Taylor began his career at the Smithsonian in 1922 as a Laboratory Apprentice in the Division of Mechanical Technology of the United States National Museum (USNM). After ...

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

Archival materials documenting five of Mount's numerous inventions: the solar still, a jet power burner, turnbuckles and swivel connectors for boats, the "wadnut" (a self-tightening fastener), and a method of joining industrial piping. The papers include notes on concepts, and on testing and prototypes; correspondence with patent attorneys and potential industrial users of the devices; photographs; biographical information on Mount; and a general subject file on his inventions.

The Lisa Chickering and Jeanne Porterfield collection documents their work as travel filmmakers, photographers, and writers from 1954-2015. Their films are an example of the travel lecture film, a genre which combined silent travelogue films with live narration. Chickering and Porterfield presented their films throughout the United States and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s before turning to freelance still photography and travel writing in the early 1980s. The audiovisual and photography collection begins with their first joint travels in the 1950s and covers a range of their professional activities through the early 2000s, mainly encompassing original travel footage, edited travelogues, and travel still photography. Supporting documentation includes film scripts, lecture recordings, personal and professional manuscripts, financial and professional records, and a substantial amount of newspaper and magazine articles which serve as a record of the press generated by and about Chickering and Porterfield.

This collection consists primarily of brochures, booklets, and books cataloging single exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, the National Collection of Fine Arts, the National Museum of American Art, and the Renwick Gallery. Also included are a few catalogs from exhibitions of SITES. There are catalogs from exhibitions staged by the ...

The papers of Chaim and Dorothy Koppelman measure 4.0 linear feet and date from circa 1930s-2006, bulk 1942-2005. The collection documents the activities of Chaim Koppelman and his wife, Dorothy Koppelman, as artists and educators, and their affiliation with the Terrain Gallery and the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. Materials include biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, subject files, teaching files, exhibition files, personal business records, scrapbooks, printed material, sketches, sketchbooks, and photographs.

The Charlene Hodges Byrd collection measures 43 linear feet, and dates from circa 1750-2009, with the bulk of the material dating from 1880-1960. The collection documents the personal life and professional career of Charlene Hodges Byrd, an African American teacher from Washington, D.C., along with material for several related families from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Family members prominently represented include Sarah A. Shimm, teacher and essayist under the name Faith Lichen; her daughters Erminie F. Shimm and Grace E. Shimm Cummings, both teachers; and Byrd's mother, Joyce Ethel Cummings Hodges, also a teacher. Correspondence and writings chiefly discuss family life, religion, race, education, and the relationship with Frederick Douglass and his family. The collection is arranged in 10 series: Biographical Material, Correspondence, Writings, Subject Files, Financial and Legal Records, Printed Material, Volumes, Memorabilia, Textiles, and Photographs.

Arthur Ehrat invented and patented a breakaway basketball rim, fashioning his prototypes from bolts, metal braces and one key part: a piece of the heavy-duty coil spring on a John Deere cultivator. His invention helped to revolutionize the way basketball is played because players could slam dunk the ball with fewer injuries and without bending the rims or breaking backboards. This collection includes correspondence, legal documents --such as patent papers, litigation files and licensing agreements --photographs and sketches that relate to the basketball invention, as well as materials regarding his two field spreader patents and other invention ideas.

The Ninety-Nines, Inc. History Books Collection consists of scrapbooks (yearbooks) complied by the officers of the Ninety-Nines to document the organization. Included in the yearbooks are the following: photographs of the members and officers; news clippings of the organization, individual chapters and sections, and about individual members; programs from air races, including Air Race Classic, Angel Derby, and the Powder Puff Derby; minutes from the annual meetings; and newsletters of the organization, The 99news, Ninety-Nine News, and Ninety-niner.

The papers of art historian and educator E.C. (Eugene) Goossen measure 10.8 linear feet and date from circa 1935 to 2004. The collection documents Goossen's career through biographical material, correspondence, artist files, writing project files and notes, exhibition files, other professional files and subject files, teaching files, and printed material.