Schoenner Set of Drawing Instruments Sold by E. L. Washburn & Co.
date: label: date made
content: ca 1915
name: label: distributor
content: E. L. Washburn & Co.
label: maker
content: Schoenner, Georg
notes: label: Description
content: This wooden case is covered with black leather and lined with blue satin and velvet. The case has a steel locking pin. The bottom of the case has a red and white sticker marked: PRE-1960 (/) PROPERTY OF (/) Edward A. Chapin. (/) SMITHSONIAN (/) ENTOMOLOGY. The inside of the lid is marked: E. L. Washburn & Co (/) New Haven, Conn. The set includes:
label: Description
content: 1) 6" German silver compass with bendable legs and removable pencil point, pen point, and lengthening bar. On one side, the joint is marked: D.R.P. On the other side, the joint has the Schoenner logo: an S, a G, and two intersecting arrows with two heads superimposed on each other. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER GERMANY.
label: Description
content: 2) 5-3/4" German silver fixed-leg dividers. On one side, the joint is marked: D.R.P. On the other side, the joint has the Schoenner logo: an S, G, and two intersecting arrows with two heads superimposed on each other. Inside one leg is marked: SCHOENNER GERMANY.
label: Description
content: 3) 3-3/8" German silver bow dividers, bow pen, and bow pencil.
label: Description
content: 4) 4" and 5-1/8" ebony, German silver, and steel drawing pens.
label: Description
content: 5) 1-1/4" cylindrical metal case with four pencil leads. Two additional leads and a 1/2" round brass weight are loose in the case.
label: Description
content: 6) 1" metal joint tightener.
label: Description
content: Besides the extra leads and weight, the set appears to be intact. For other sets manufactured in part or whole by Schoenner, a German firm that operated between 1851 and World War II, see 1977.0279.01, 1977.1101.0097, 1979.0868.01, 1989.0305.05, 1990.0350.01, and 317925.04. E. L. Washburn, a medical doctor, began to make and sell surgical instruments and supplies in New Haven, Conn., in 1866. He had partners until 1876, when he became sole proprietor and named the business after himself. By 1899, he also sold mathematical instruments. The firm was still operating in 1938.
label: Description
content: Edward Albert Chapin (1894–1969), curator of entomology at the National Museum of Natural History, owned these instruments. He completed undergraduate work at Yale in 1916 and then moved away from Connecticut, so it is likely he purchased the instruments during his studies. He worked for the Smithsonian from 1934 to 1954 and left the set behind when he retired. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist Richard White may then have used the instruments.
label: Description
content: References: <i>Leading Business Men of New Haven County</i> (Boston: Mercantile Publishing Company, 1887), 134; <i>New Haven Directory</i> (New Haven: Price & Lee Co., 1899), 734; Smithsonian Institution Archives Acc. 11-085, "Chapin, Edward Albert 1894–, Edward Albert Chapin Field Notebooks, 1937–1947," http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_298428; accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany
label: place distributed
content: United States: Connecticut, New Haven
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Drawing Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Elaine R. S. Hodges
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0295.01
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0295.01
label: accession number
content: 1996.0295
objectType: label: Object Name
content: drawing instruments, set of
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: german silver (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.8 cm x 22 cm x 10.8 cm; 23/32 in x 8 21/32 in x 4 1/4 in