Week Five

     Every time I walk towards the Loyola University Archives, located in the Cudahy Library, I find myself more excited. I worked diligently for the first four weeks to survey all of the information in the collection, now comes the fun part. It is time to begin sorting all of the information into their proper places. I will separate all of the sources into files based upon commonalities, such as plane races, balloons, dirigibles, Lindbergh, and many more topics. This process will be done twice, with twenty-seven boxes and ten years of information to go through, it will need to be refined.
     So far, I have been able to create the appropriate files for the information to be separated by, and have finished with the first two boxes. I am looking forward to my next week - I love organizing! I am a firm believer that everything has a place and as long as you know where that is your life will remain organized. At the Loyola University Archives there is an added benefit of organizing history for researchers and future generations to learn about. Since the Archivists maintain an organized history, people are able to learn more in a chaotic free environment, enabling a greater understanding and perception of the various topics.
     With every week I am here, I find myself appreciating the efforts and skills of Archivists more. This job is not just a science, but an art. Individuals working in Archives need a certain finesse, as well as, creativity and knowledge. I am constantly encountering new skills that are required in the field and adding them to my mental files along with the life skills I have already gained.

Week Four

     This has been another great week at the Loyola University Archives. I finished my survey on the materials in Dorr Felt Air Board of Chicago Collection boxes. I found so many interesting things while sorting through the documents, I took pictures of a few.
     Some of the most fascinating aspects are the rapid growth of the aeronautics field - and how it affected the business world, international politics (who can have the biggest, fastest planes with the most world records), research, and the distinctions among class and sex in society. There is also an enormous amount of information about preparing for the next war!

 

This is a winner from a sea plane race

 

 

 

The importance of Chicago during the building of plane routes, including personal, commercial, and air mail.

Air Mail was a new concept and a big deal. Throughout the years there are articles on the flyers - including Lindbergh - the planes, routes, taxes, contracts, and so much more.... Ironically, today we are looking at getting rid of mail altogether!

It's only 1928 and already the various parts of the military are practicing for the next war...

 

 

 

     I even found a poem by Rudyard Kipling in box 24 - dates 7/15/29 - 11/1/29. I also discovered that Amelia Earhart was just one woman among many - there was multiple women that came before, during, and after her time of racing and trying for records. In addition to all of this, there were multiple advertisement for airlines and manufacturing companies, including (but not limited to) Ford, Boeing, and  Gray Goose Airlines.
     Since Dorr Felt traveled around Europe there are also French newspapers, German postcards, and correspondence with European companies about the aeronautical technologies. Every minute I spend at the Loyola University Archives still fascinates me!

Who is Dorr Felt

This week I'm posting information on who Dorr Felt was - word for word - from the Loyola Archives and Special Collections information sheet. I for one, am grateful to this man!

 

Dorr Felt Biographical Sketch:

     Dorr Eugene Felt was born in Rock County, WI on March 18, 1862. At 14 he began  a machine shop in Beloit, WI. He moved to Chicago in 1882 and obtained work as a mechanic. A perceptive and skilled worker an entrepreneurial spirit, in his free time Felt devised and constructed a computation device out of such crude materials as a macaroni box, rubber bands, and metal skewers.

 Felt called the machine a Comptometer. A mechanical calculator, the Comptometer was the first mechanical calculator to greatly improve upon the first mechanical computing device created, the arithmometer, which was first commercially distributed in 1851.

Felt opened Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Company with Chicago businessman Robert Tarrant in 1889; a large manufacturing facility in Chicago, out of which he built and sold Comptometers. The Comptometer computing device became a great commercial success and was sold and used world-wide. Felt went on to invent more devices and acquired 46 domestic patents and 25 foreign patents.

As a result of Felt's experience as president of a large industrial company, he was asked by the U.S. Dept. of Labor to participate in a study of labor relations in Europe. Joining a team of other individuals from the U.S., Felt toured England and France in order to examine manufacturing facilities and to speak with owners, managers, and laborers about the successes and frustrations of labor conditions in the two countries. The results of the commission's inquiries were reported and published, but more importantly this trip marked the beginning of Felt's close involvement with national and international trade and labor interests. Felt attended and spoke at labor conferences and wrote about labor conditions, unions, communism, Bolshevism, and other labor related subjects.
     In addition to writing and speaking on broad topics, Felt held posts as president and director of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, president of the Illinois Society Sons of the American Revolution, and director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1920. Felt was a regional advisor on the War Industries Board in 1918, a board member of the Chicago Association of Commerce, and a member of Chicago's Union League Club.

 

    This is a picture out of a book in the Loyola University Archives about the Felt family genealogy that I found fascinating. Underneath is a close up.

 

 

 

      I am working on the part of the collection which consists of the Air Board of Chicago and information regarding flying: all sorts of designs and technology within the aeronautics fields, the many pilots, the investing companies, and so much more...

     Until I began working with this collection I did not understand how rapidly the technologies, discoveries, and world competitions for the best programs developed. In the 1920's people were excited over Air Mail and the ability to communicate with others faster - today we communicate with the world in seconds and are in jeopardy of losing the Postal Service altogether - it is amazing what can happen in less than a century!

Week Two

     This week I have continued to survey the Dorr Felt collection. Last week I was able to get through boxes one through eight, while this week only boxes nine through fifteen. My consolation is that the boxes have steadily increased with the amount of materials inside. Its now getting hard to fit the sources back into the box and close it! I am actually increasing in speed, even though I finished one less box.... I wonder if I will find the rest of the boxes continue grow in size?
     Every box I open has something that makes me smile. I have found advertisements for shoes that I wish they would sell again! There was a headline about gentlemen preferring blondes...  I continue to find articles on plane racing, records, regulations, airports, Chicago's growing importance, and stories about the many men and women involved in flying.
     One of my absolute favorite finds this week is on Lindbergh, the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. There was an article in the newspaper explaining his personality through the use of physiognomy. We all hear about these things in classes, but I never expected to see it first hand.