Greville I. Bathe Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Bathe, Greville
label: Names
content: Evans, Oliver, 1766-1819
label: Names
content: Perkins, Jacob, 1766-1849
topic: label: Topic
content: Windmills
label: Topic
content: Engineering -- History
label: Topic
content: Steam-engines
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Originally a bequest to the National Museum of American History from Greville I. Bathe.
creator: label: Creator
content: Bathe, Greville
setName: label: See more items in
content: Greville I. Bathe Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Research materials of Greville I. Bathe, about Oliver Evans, an American engineer involved in the development of steam engines.
bioghist: label: Biographical
content: Greville I. Bathe (1883-1964) was born in Cambridge, England. He attended the London Polytechnic Institute, earning a degree in mechanical engineering. Bathe worked in England as a model maker and in 1919 came to the United States to establish a model making business in Philadelphia which he ran until 1936.  Bathe retired to Florida in 1948. 

Bathe built and collected working scale models of steam engines, a hobby that dates to his childhood in England. During his lifetime he amassed a significant library of books (1,500) on the history of technology before and after the Industrial Revolution. Bathe wrote  extensively about steam engines and was the author of many articles and books which included Jacob Perkins: His Inventions, His Times, and His Contemporaries (1943), Horizontal windmills, draft mills and similar air-flow engines (1948), The rise and decline of the paddle-wheel (1962), The St. John's Railroad, 1858 to 1895: a contemporary history of a pioneer railroad (1958), and his definitive biography of Oliver Evans (1935).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Cubic feet (12 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: bulk 1933-1944
label: Date
content: 1893-1985
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: The collection was transferred from Division of Work and Industry to the Archives Center in 2007.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0970
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Patents
label: Type
content: Wills
label: Type
content: Notebooks
label: Type
content: Genealogies
label: Type
content: Letters
label: Type
content: Pamphlets
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Writings
label: Type
content: Design drawings
label: Type
content: Catalogs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Correspdondence, 1893-1960

Series 2: Photographs, 1897-1954

Series 3: Writings, 1933-1960

Series 4: Catalogs/Trade Literature, 1905-1985

Series 5: Research about Oliver Evans (1955-1819), 1933-1962

Series 6: Research about Jacob Perkins (1766-1849), 1937-1944

Series 7: Miscellaneous, 1919-1980
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, 2018.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums
label: Genre/Form
content: Patents
label: Genre/Form
content: Wills
label: Genre/Form
content: Notebooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Genealogies
label: Genre/Form
content: Letters
label: Genre/Form
content: Pamphlets -- 19th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Articles
label: Genre/Form
content: Writings
label: Genre/Form
content: Design drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Catalogs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Papers contain archival materials comprising Bathe's research on Oliver Evans (1755-1819), an American engineer engaged in the development of steam engines. The collection includes copies of letters, design drawings, pamphlets and a book written by Evans, patents, a scrapbook, articles, genealogical information, Evans's will, and writings by Bathe on Evans, including his book about him. Correspondence with libraries and other scholars is included, as are papers relating to the book such as reviews, notebooks, and papers relating to the printing and publishing. There is also research material on American engineer Jacob Perkins, for Bathe's books Citizen Genet (1946), Horizontal Windmills (1948), and Ship of Destiny...Merrimac (1951), and assorted trade catalogs and materials pertaining to Bathe's manufacturing companies in London and Philadelphia. A photograph album compiled by Bathe containing photographs and sketches of models built by Bathe is also included.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Swarthmore College Libraries

Bathe Collection in the History of Technology

The Bathe Collection is comprised of some 1,500 volumes on the history of technology before and after the Industrial Revolution. The collection was willed to Swarthmore by Greville Bathe, author of several books on the history of technology, and contains primary source material from the 16th through 18th centuries as well as contemporary bibliographies, biographies, histories, and secondary materials. The collection's range of subject matter extends from steam engines and their inventors to post-Newtonian mechanics, early aeronautics, and the Atlantic cable. In addition, it includes Greville Bathe's books, galley proofs, and manuscripts.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: The Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History holds artifacts related to Greville I. Bathe, specifically scale models built by Bathe.