Philadelphia Typewriter Company Records
name: label: Author
content: Philadelphia Typewriter Company
label: Author
content: Watkins, J. Elfreth (John Elfreth), 1852-1903
label: Names
content: Moto-Cycle Manufacturing Company
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanisms
label: Names
content: Alder, Cyrus
label: Names
content: Brooks, Byron A.
label: Names
content: Edwards, John C.
label: Names
content: Smith, Edward F.
label: Names
content: Travis, William H.
place: label: Place
content: Philadelphia (Pa.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Typewriters -- 1880-1910
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
creator: label: Author
content: Philadelphia Typewriter Company
label: Author
content: Watkins, J. Elfreth (John Elfreth), 1852-1903
setName: label: See more items in
content: Philadelphia Typewriter Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Chiefly correspondence of John E. Watkins, a key organizer and officer of the Philadelphia Typewriter Company.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The Philadelphia Typewriter Company was organized July 25, 1886, to manufacture typewriters designed by Byron A. Brooks. A year later, he sold his shares to the Philadelphia Typewriter Company (then under the management of John Elfreth Watkins, president, and John C. Edwards, both of Washington, D.C.; William H. Travis, secretary; and Edward F. Smith, treasurer, both of Philadelphia, Pa., and Cyrus Adler of Baltimore, Md.). They organized and operated the Philadelphia Typewriter Manufacturing Company, which was briefly called the "Moto-Cycle Manufacturing Company."

Sources

According to C.P. Keane and J. Emmerick, eds., "Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct or Obsolete Companies" (Vol. I, p. 968), the Philadelphia Typewriter Company went out of existence in 1900 when its stock lost its value.

Watkins was later a curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution; he "accepted a salaried position...building up the technological collections pertaining to the transportation industry." (Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. XIX, 1936, p. 539.)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.3 Cubic feet (1 box )
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1886-1902
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Mechanisms (now the Division of Work and Industry), October 15, 1984.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0123
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Correspondence
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by NMAH Staff, undated
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 1880-1910
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 1880-1910
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The records contain correspondence chiefly of John Elfreth Watkins, a key organizer and officer of the company. Watkins was also a curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and later "accepted a salaried position…building up the technological collections pertaining to the transportation industry."  The correspondence also concerns the organization and operation of the Philadelphia Typewriter Company.