A Guide to Manuscripts in Electrical History

Abstract

Readers of Technology and Culture may be interested in learning of the availability of Manuscripts in U.S. Depositories Relating to the History of Electrical Science and Technology. A free copy of this 116-page inventory may be obtained by writing the Division of Electricity and Nuclear Energy, National Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. This publication is one of the first fruits of an ongoing joint effort of the Division of Electricity and the History Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). The original impetus, however, was provided by the Jovians, a group of members of SHOT who share an interest in electrical history. At their first meeting in December 1971, the Jovians proposed that the Smithsonian, already a major repository for electrical artifacts and manuscripts, be asked to serve as a coordinating center. Subsequently, the Archive for the History of Electrical Science and Technology was established under the direction of Bernard S. Finn, curator of the Smithsonian's Division of Electricity. The objectives of the archive were to encourage the preservation of manuscripts and artifacts and to maintain a national inventory of known collections. Through the cooperation of the IEEE History Committee, financial assistance was provided from the IEEE Life Member Fund and was used for the compilation of this inventory. The basic list of collections and entry format were provided by the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) with the active cooperation of the NUCMC editorial staff. However, extensive supplementary data on many of the collections were obtained from archivists of the repositories included. The NUCMC coding method was used but was expanded to include some collections not listed in the NUCMC. Seventy-five depositories are represented in the inventory, which also includes a twenty-eight-page combined name and subject