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1991 Newsletter Archive
WINDOWLESS SCHOOLS AND THE LIBBEY--OWENS-FORD GLOSS CO.
by April S. Dougal
Exhibitions of business archives often depict company history in a narrative or
chronological way. Utilizing an Interdisciplinary approach, a recent exhibit at
the Ward M. Canady Center for Special Collections at the University of Toledo
uses themes as an organizing principle. One of these themes is the role of
glassmaking in education which on the surface seem to be two very disparate
topics.
The Libbey-Owens-Ford Company (LOF) moved from New England to Toledo, Ohio In
1888, developed the mechanical process for production of glass bottles end flat
glass, and produced the glass for the Empire State building in the l930s. By the
1950s, the companyÂs primary product was automotive glass but the company still
had a vested interest In opposing the movement around the country the toward
windowless schools.
Proponents of such schools were concerned with problems associated with large
expenses of glass, stressing the threat posed by tornadoes and the expense of
heating end cooling schools with an abundance of glass. Windowless schools
appealed to some teachers who preferred the high degree of environmental control
this afforded and the elimination of external distractions.
LOF sales executives emphasized the positive aspects of windows, providing
emergency exits and ventilation in case of fire end alternate sources of light
in cases of power outage. LOF issued a press release and photo depicting charred
remains of a school building where broken windows had been the only means of
escape for 40 students. They also noted windows have aesthetic values, provide
higher levels of illumination, and give students an awareness of the outside
world.
Newspaper articles in the LOF collection document this debate. Two centered on
an Ithaca, New York, high school constructed with LOF glass. Educators also
debated the Issue in the National Education Association
An Interdisciplinary reexamination of the LOF collection, getting away from the
usual chronological narrative has thus opened up new avenues for research and
promotion of the LOF Company Records.
(Dougal Is manuscript processor at the Canady Center with an M.A. in Public
History from Bowling Green State University.)
to top of 1991
UNISYS DONATES BURROUGHS HISTORICAL RECORDS
Unisys Corporation has donated a large collection of records, relating to the
Burroughs Corporation, to the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of
Minnesota (Minneapolis). It includes over 500 cubic feet of historically
valuable records, correspondence, photographs, films, video tapes, speeches,
sound recordings, technical material, and product literature covering over 100
years of the companyÂs history from 1883 to its merger with the Sperry
Corporation. The donation will give historians of business and computing access
to one of the most important sources on the accounting machine and electronic
computer industries.
Unisys Staff Vice President David R. Curiy said, "Unisys is very pleased to have
a setting such as that provided by the Charles Babbage Institute and the
University of Minnesota for the century of business history represented by the
Burroughs
Corporation collection. We are proud to continue our productive association with
the Institute with this important donation, and are pleased that scholars and
researchers will enjoy excellent access to these materials in the future." The
collection was developed over the last decade under the primary direction of I(
Anne Frantilla, Unisys Corporate
The Burroughs Corporation began in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company,
founded in St. Louis around a machine invented by William S. Burroughs, an
accountant who desired to develop practical adding and listing machines. By 1905
the firm had relocated to Detroit and changed its name to the Burroughs Adding
Machine Company. It established itself as a major manufacturer of calculators,
bookkeeping machines, and transit listing machines for banks. By the 1950s the
corporation moved quickly into the electronic computer industry with the
acquisition of the ElectroData Corporation. It became a major supplier of
mainframe equipment and systems, and by the 1980s had acquired the System
Development Corporation and Memorex.
The records will be maintained and housed at the Charles Babbage Institute
(CBI), a research center for the history of information processing located at
the University of Minnesota. CBI was founded in 1978 to conduct research and
preserve records related to the history of computing. Its archival collection
contains extensive holdings of the computer industry and includes records,
computer manuals, photographs, programming language materials, and market
reports. CBIÂs oral history collection has developed into the worldÂs largest
group of historical interviews on the development and application of electronic
computers. Most of the records and all of the Burroughs collection are open to
the public at CBIÂs facilities.
While the bulk of the collection reflects Burroughs history during the past
fifty years, it also includes early financial data, correspondence, and
technical literature. A few letters originate from William S. Burroughs, one in
which Burroughs notes three years before his death that if he could leave the
company unattended for just three months, he would buy a small cottage and turn
his attention to inventing more machines. Of interest to artifact collectors is
the vast array of reports and pamphlets detailing the components of different
calculators and listing machines. Also, the collection holds extant records of
some early acquisitions of adding machine companies, such as Moon-Hopkins, Pike,
and Universal.
Most of the collection is of more recent vintage, including computer product
literature, records from various departments and individuals, advertising, press
releases, documents from annual meetings, patent files, publications, and
audio-visual materials. Of particular interest are the photographs and films;
there are prints and negatives of a wide range of computer products and company
events, as well as films produced as early as the l940s. A sample of subjects
include: a Burroughs launch computer from the 1960s, a prototype mail sorting
machine, electronic computers, a Sensimatic accounting machine demonstration,
the B 5000 computer, and Burroughs military products from the late 1950s.
The Burroughs Corporation records will provide researchers with an excellent
primary source from which to study the accounting machine industry, banking
automation, the main frame computer industry, technological development in the
United States, and computing machine applications. While few American firms have
taken any measures to preserve their history, Unisys has been a leader in this
area. Its commitment to history, even during difficult times for the company,
has ensured the availability and preservation of one of the most important
historical resources relating to the history of computing.
to top of 1991
NEW APPROACHES TO BUSINESS RECORDS
The session by this name chaired by Patrick Nolan, of the Hagley Museum and
Library, at Philadelphia was one which evoked many comments from the floor and
afterward.
On one hand there was Steven L. Wright, new business archivist at the Cincinnati
Historical Society (CBS), speaking on how that society has designed a program to
appeal to local business to transfer historical records these.
On the other hand there was Bruce Weindruch, founder and CEO of the History
Factory in Washington DC, who subtitled his talk "Archival Consultants Coming
Out of the Closet."
First the Cincinnati story. The historical society there is very aware that the
story of Big Business will be told, as most corporate archivists work for big
businesses. The focus of their new program is smaller businesses which might be
ignored by historians of the future because their records are not being saved
now. Since 85% of American workers are employed in small and medium-sized
businesses, neglect of this collecting area would lead to the loss of a
significant portion of labor history in this country.
CHS has prepared a brochure describing its program. On the records survey level,
Wright assesses a businessÂs historical records for $35 an hour. The processing
service costs $l75 per cubic foot for labor and material. Storage is free when
access to the records is unrestricted; a $l6 foot/year fee is charged for
storage of closed records. Corporate membership in the society, which includes
Business History lectures, exhibits in the business lobbies and other
activities, is a prerequisite for the program.
The historical society is not competing with for-profit records storage centers
in this new business archives program. There are internships available through
local colleges and volunteers are used. Wright finds that his best local
contacts are the Cincinnati Society on World Affairs and the Japanese Society of
Cincinnati, with its strong sense of history. He estimates that by the year
2000, over 200 businesses in Cincinnati will be l00years old; this is the market
CHS is cultivating now.
According to Wright, this program will lead to what all archivists want
-"Meaningful and non-accidental historical records." He called for an SAA task
force to educate businessmen and women on the value of archives.
Weindruch, whose eleven-year-old firm did over $2 million in business last year
and received full-page coverage in Forbes Magazine, says his opening line when
he first began the business in a recessionary year was, ¯We donÂt do books." He
was trying to distinguish his market-oriented history service from the academic
style, which is to come into a corporation to write a book.
Banks were his first customers, as they were deregulated in 1980 and found
off-site storage essential to save on costs. Then the banks began asking for a
more active use of their archives as mergers and acquisitions began to heat up
in the industry. As a result of this, Weindruch developed a line of products
including Answering queries from businesses in one hour turnaround on "real
time."
He now has fifteen employees in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. His business
has created thirty archives from scratch, maintains fourteen different business
archival collections in Washington D.C., and started thirteen archives off-site
for major businesses.
One compelling argument for good business archives, according to Weindruch, is
that news directors are barraged with information and if a corporation gives
them good information, including video news releases with history in it, they
will use it This gives the corporation good public relations÷an edge on
competitors. As an example, the History Factory produced information on the
banks in the San Francisco earthquake at the turn of the century at the time of
the most recent earthquake and the media was so hungry for news that The History
Factory was surrounded by TV camera trucks when no one could get in touch with
people in San Francisco.
The History Factory follows archival procedures but accessibility,
simplification, and cost effectiveness are key to its operation too.
Historian Philip B. Scranton, of Rutgers University in Camden, was asked to
comment on business records. He said less history was needed on the Fortune 500
and more on ethnic, immigrant, women and minority businesses. Also more is
needed on banks, especially in the 19th century, on wholesalers, and on hi-tech
since the Second World War.
When asked about ways in which the SAA could increase interaction between
businesses and the association, Scranton suggested exhibits at trade association
meetings---go to the source.
to top of 1991
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