[NJARC] Happy endings for the David Sarnoff Library
pmalvasi at aol.com
pmalvasi at aol.com
Fri Jan 15 08:28:07 EST 2010
OK - the repro would explain the Smithsonian key which was marked as the authentic one. But this generates a new question - where did the repro come from and when? And does anyone (perhaps Alex) know what happened to the recent repro of that key whcih was on ebay?
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Whartenby <antqradio at sbcglobal.net>
To: njarc at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Thu, Jan 14, 2010 10:43 pm
Subject: Re: [NJARC] Happy endings for the David Sarnoff Library
Just remember
eply = Poster
eply All = Everyone
_________________________________________________________
hen I was at Sarnoff (DSRC, RCA Laboratories, take your pick) I remember a
ecture given by a researcher stating that the key that Sarnoff used to contact
he Titanic was just good PR. It never happened.
The researcher had tons of data backing this conclusion. I believe the most
amming evidence was that there are no newspaper articles from the period just
fter the sinking of the HMS Titanic that mention David Sarnoff. And the story
ppeared long after the disaster.
I haven't viewed the film but I remember a card next to the key that indicated
he key at the DS Library was a reproduction of the one at the Smithsonian.
im
--- On Thu, 1/14/10, pmalvasi at aol.com <pmalvasi at aol.com> wrote:
> From: pmalvasi at aol.com <pmalvasi at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [NJARC] Happy endings for the David Sarnoff Library
To: amagoun at davidsarnoff.org, njarc at mailman.qth.net
Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 8:45 PM
Just remember
Reply = Poster
Reply All = Everyone
_________________________________________________________
Thanks Alex for the excellent status report and that link
from 2007. I had not seen that before and was riveted
to the screen viewing all 30 minutes or so of it.
I have a question regarding the Morse telegraph key you
show the interviewer. That same model key, in fact,
what appears to be an identical model appeared in the
Smithsonian MAH for years before they "remodeled" the place
recently and turned it into a church school show and tell
exibit. I have a good photo of it
around here somewhere, but I am certain that key at MAH in
DC was marked as THE VERY KEY used by Sarnoff at his post at
Wanamakers in NY. A year or so ago someone
had a high quality reproduction of it on Ebay and I don't
know whatever happened it to it
however. But it was clearer a newly made,
fine repro. The one in this video at the Library
appears to be an original item.
Do you have any idea of why there may be two of those, or
perhaps, did Smithsonian borrow this key for a time and
returned it to the Library? The last time I saw it in
DC was about 10 years ago, maybe 15!
Also, is that item going to TCNJ?
Thanks again -- Pete W2PM
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Magoun <amagoun at davidsarnoff.org>
To: NJARC <njarc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thu, Jan 14, 2010 3:18 pm
Subject: [NJARC] Happy endings for the David Sarnoff
Library
Just remember
eply = Poster
eply All = Everyone
_________________________________________________________
ecause inquiring minds want to know, here's what happened:
American Interfile loaded, moved, and unloaded 1,950 boxes
of archival
ollections to the Hagley Library in Wilmington, Delaware.
Bohren's Movers helped pack, loaded, moved, and unloaded
144 boxes, plus the
lectron microscope, posters, and display cases, at The
College of New
ersey's old library, next to the room that is being
renovated for the
useum.
A hearty NJARC crew packed, loaded, moved, and unloaded
over 200 boxes of
CA Broadcast equipment manuals to InfoAge, along with
paintings of Marconi
nd Sarnoff, the duplicate set of Marconi Wireless Telegraph
Company of
merica schematics that complements InfoAge's holdings, and
some others
quipment.
The New Jersey State Museum received a Camden-made RCA
Victor 630TS for its
ollection.
The Camden County Historical Society is in the process of
receiving three
amden-made home instruments from the 1930s and 1940s, once
its crew picks
hem up from InfoAge, where the NJARC crew above moved
them.
None of this would have been possible without John
Tyminski, who came in
ast summer to copy some RCA Victor service notes and
realized that I needed
kick in the pants and a lot more help than I was willing
to admit. He not
nly scanned to PDF almost the entire RCA Victor Service
Data and Service
otes for 1923-1952, he helped organize the moves, recruited
family,
riends, and club members to make the moves happen, and
packed and labeled
nough lab notebooks, tubes, and gewgaws to last two or
three lifetimes. I
ave the impression that in his spare time he flushed and
rebuilt the sewer
nd electrical systems at InfoAge's H Block while restoring
his own
torm-damaged workshop. If John doesn't become the
mayor of Bordentown's
enaissance, that town is beyond saving. The man's a
keeper, and David
arnoff and all of RCA's staff should be smiling warmly
wherever they are
or his role in preserving their legacies.
Beyond John, Dave Sica began showing up in his unassuming
way, first to
hotograph as much material as he could wrest from my grasp
before it
isappeared into the Hagley's Hall of Records, and then to
keep John sane
hile doing his own enormous bit of packing, labeling, and
cataloging boxes.
Showing up" is a crude way of recognizing that Dave endured
many long hours
n the road to and from Princeton, and the Library owes a
huge debt to him
or his many digital, intellectual, and physical
contributions.
Among others Phil Vourtsis dropped by from Myrtle Beach,
Nick Domenico from
ay down South Jersey way, Steve Goulart from InfoAge, John
Ruccolo, Darren
offman, Bob Masterson, Vin Lobosco put in mass quantities
of time,
alories, and thought into this enormous process.
Beyond the NJARC, I want to thank Radwa Ali, Chris Evans,
Erica Pierson, and
aurice Schechter, for their help in cataloging and boxing
the corporate lab
otebooks and the artifacts, and for organizing the
Library's AV collections
nd digitizing much of them.
Researchers, history lovers, and students ready to be
inspired join me in
hanking all of you for your labors and devotion. In
the months to come
'll be working with TCNJ to re-stage the Library's exhibits
and lay the
roundwork for more educationally ambitious displays, and I
look forward to
eeing you all there as well as at coming meetings (except
February, when I
eturn to Shanghai for the lunar new yearJ)
Feeling nostalgic? One of my board members just sent
this link of a
0-minute tour for East Brunswick Public TV, way back in
ought-seven, before
he Flood: http://www.gardenstatelegacy.com/On_The_History_Trail.html.
Best,
Alex
Alexander B. Magoun, Ph.D.
Executive Director
David Sarnoff Library
39 Humbert Street
Princeton, NJ 08542-3312
h 609 497-2423
c 609 240-1320
amagoun at davidsarnoff.org
www.davidsarnoff.org
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