Radio Receiver
date: label: date made
content: ca 1937
name: label: maker
content: Emerson Radio Corporation
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Broadcast radio grew into a major industry in the decade following the First World War as inventors refined the technology and entrepreneurs established supporting companies. By the 1930s, so many people wanted radio that the Great Depression slowed but could not stop the industry’s growth. Radio engineering became an attractive field for people interested in advanced technology and research laboratories like that operated by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) pushed advances in components and circuit designs.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Materials research also affected radio, as seen in the plastic casing of this Emerson radio receiver from about 1937. The so-called tombstone design was popular in the 1920s but the receivers typically were made of wood. Aside from being flammable, wood cases could warp and split, and the finishes scratched and stained easily. This radio’s case, made with a plastic called catalin developed by the American Catalin Corporation in the late 1920s, resisted heat and incidental damage like water stains. Available in a variety of colors and designs, catalin radios remain popular with collectors.
topic: label: web subject
content: Radio
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Communications
label: Exhibition
content: Object Project
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0304.01
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0304.01
label: accession number
content: 1988.0304
objectType: label: Object Name
content: radio receiver
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 25.5 cm x 7.6 cm x 15.5 cm; 10 1/16 in x 3 in x 6 1/8 in