The Founder's Collection:
Delightfully Different Devices
March 12, 1999 - July 4, 1999
During the decades between 1870 and 1940 the Machine emerged from
America's factories and fields and claimed the home and office. Museum of
American Heritage Founder, Frank Livermore's collection of unusual machinery
reflects this expansion into daily life. Although the Machine Age spanned nearly
three-quarters of a century, we present this display as an historical "moment",
that critical time when machinery stepped beyond the realm of work into play.
The Collector
Born in Palo Alto in 1919, Frank Livermore has
lived for many years in Menlo Park (aptly named for the hometown of inventor
Thomas Alva Edison). After military service during World War II, Frank worked as
a bookkeeper, most notably for a local radio station.
Over the years Frank
bought stock in a broadcast company that owned stations all over the nation. The
company then offered to buy back stock at good prices which brought Frank some
additional profits. Now with a little extra cash, when Frank traveled to other
cities for his work he began to frequent junk shops and second hand stores. He
became fascinated by some of the functional cast-offs he found there.
Back at home he also discovered garage sales and flea markets, those wondrous places
where American alchemists hope to turn a family's rubbish into collector's gold. Frank
gathered what others considered worthless: manual typewriters and vacuum
cleaners, gramophone horns, office Dictaphones - the ingenious objects that new
technology had left behind. Many collectors are modest sorts who find it
difficult to express why an object appeals to them. Frank's most common
explanation for a purchase is, "It caught my eye," or "it was different." Many
collectors covet things they grew up with. Collectors of machinery are
often would-be engineers, fascinated by the workings of the objects
they gather.
As you can see by surveying this
exhibit, Frank Livermore's objects reflect his interest in mechanical and
electrical devices. Within that category his collection is eclectic, ranging
from adding machines to cameras, toasters to curling irons. But almost without
exception, each of these has something in common: they are delightfully
different devices.
The Museum Exhibit: Work and Play
These selections from Frank
Livermore's collection divide naturally into two categories: office equipment
and home entertainment devices. The differences are obvious, but the
similarities are more subtle and illuminate important parts of American culture.
Both of these types of machines followed a
similar path, whether that path ended in a home or an office. An individual
inventor, usually attempting to make his own job easier, links up with an
entrepreneur who licenses the product, then throws marketing ingenuity at it.
Consider as an example James M.
Spengler, a janitor who was allergic to dust. His personal solution to the
problem was a practical vacuum cleaner that could be operated by one person.
Spengler teamed up with an entrepreneurial sort, a Mr. Hoover, and the rest is
history.
Most inventions
followed a similar process: licensing, accompanied by demonstrations, training
programs, and the offer of service and support. Owners plowed profits back into
the company's research and development divisions. By 1920 this process resulted
in the emergence of a few extremely large companies that dominated each product
and helped to define and manage all subsequent improvements. One contemporary
example, Microsoft, shows the same pattern today in Silicon Valley's temple of
high tech innovation.
|
This page last updated October 1, 2000
|
|