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Guglielmo Marconi Correspondence

Finding aid prepared by Rebecca A. Hirsch/Brooke M. Black Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Fax: (626) 449-3477 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2015 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.

Guglielmo Marconi mssMarconi correspondence 1 Correspondence Descriptive Summary Title: Guglielmo Marconi Correspondence Dates: 1899-1902 Collection Number: mssMarconi correspondence Creator: Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937 Extent: 125 pieces + newspaper clippings in 2 boxes Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Fax: (626) 449-3477 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: The collection chiefly contains the correspondence of Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), primarily to his American fiancée, Josephine Bowen Holman. There are two manuscripts: Morse Code Legend written by Marconi and Holman's diary for January to April 1902. Language of Material: The records are in English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. Guglielmo Marconi Correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance Gift of Hon. Peter Smith, August 5, 2005. Biographical Note Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was an Italian physicist who spent much of his professional life in Great Britain. In the late 1890s he began experimenting with wireless telegraphy, which culminated on December 14, 1901, with the first trans-Atlantic transmission of a wireless telegraph. Marconi would later go on to experiment with short-wave radio and microwaves. For a brief period that overlaps with his experiments with wireless telegraphy, he was engaged to an American he met on the steamer St. Paul from New York to England, Josephine Bowen Holman. The engagement was broken off by Marconi in early 1902, and both later married other people. Scope and Content This collection consists of letters and telegrams from Guglielmo Marconi to his fiancée, Josephine Bowen Holman. There are also letters to Holman from Marconi’s mother, Annie Jameson Marconi, one of his engineers, R. Norman Vyvyan, and various other correspondents (mainly family members). Portions of some of the letters to Holman from Marconi are written in Morse code, and there are pictures of his telegraph towers in Cornwall and two of his family home in Bologna. There are two manuscripts: Morse Code Legend written by Marconi and Holman’s diary for January to April 1902. There are six pieces of ephemera, including two published copies of a paper by Marconi on the wireless telegraphy that he gave March 2, 1899 to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and 141 newspaper clippings. Subjects include: Marconi and Holman’s relationship, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Morse Code, and Marconi’s invention: the wireless telegraph. Arrangement The collection, which is housed in two boxes, is arranged in the following manner: the first three authors are arranged by number of letters in the collection (Guglielmo Marconi, R. Norman Vyvyan and Annie Jameson Marconi, in that order), and the rest are arranged alphabetically by other authors. The manuscripts, ephemera and clippings are placed after the

Guglielmo Marconi mssMarconi correspondence 2 Correspondence correspondence. Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog. Personal Names Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937 - Archives Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847-1922 Tesla, Nikola, 1856-1943 Subjects Courtship - Europe - History - 19th century - Sources Inventors - Great Britain - Archives Inventors - Italy - Archives Morse code Telegraph, Wireless - Marconi system - History - Sources Women - United States - History - 20th century - Diaries Genre Diaries - United States - 20th century Letters (correspondence) - Great Britain - 19th century Personal papers - Great Britain - 19th century Alternate Author Holman, Beatrice Bowen Marconi, Annie Jameson Vyvyan, R. Norman

Box 1 Correspondence: Marconi, Guglielmo. Letters to Josephine Bowen Holman Folder 1 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1899, November 25) Notes Marconi is doing experiments in Dorsetshire, and he mentions the government wanting to send him to South Africa.

Folder 2 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1899, December 12) Notes Marconi mentions traveling to Holland for work and that he will work hard to try to speed their nuptials.

Folder 3 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1899, December 19) Notes Marconi mentions he will speak before the Royal Institution in London in Feb.; program enclosed.

Folder 4 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1899, December) Notes Printed Christmas card from Marconi.

Folder 5 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1899) Notes Marconi to Holman, saying he will pick her up for the theater at 7:30.

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Folder 6 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, January 15) Notes Marconi tells Holman his experiments have been successful, but secret from the press, and mentions his meeting with Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936, and how he is going to write a poem about wireless telegraphy.

Folder 7 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, February 9) Notes Marconi tells Holman about the lunch he had with the Belgian royal family in Brussels.

Folder 8 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, February 14) Notes Marconi talks of his lecture before the Royal Institution and delays in his work.

Folder 9 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, May 22) Notes About their respective healths and Marconi’s plan to come to New York.

Folder 10 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, June 3) Notes Marconi’s work plans while in New York.

Folder 11 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, June 8) Notes About Marconi’s lunch plans and his plans to visit Holman’s family in Cragsmoor.

Folder 12 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, June 18) Notes Recaps the time Marconi spent with the Holmans at Cragsmoor.

Folder 13 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, June 20) Notes Conveys Marconi’s sadness at leaving America, partly in Morse Code.

Folder 14 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, June 21-July 4) Notes Discusses Marconi’s passage from New York to England on the HMS Teutonic.

Folder 15 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, July 1) Notes Discusses Marconi’s experiments with wireless telegraphy and various current events; partly in Morse Code. With short note by Marconi.

Folder 16 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, July 6) Notes Marconi writes briefly in response to Holman’s welcome home letter; partly in Morse Code. With short note by Marconi.

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Folder 17 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, July 13) Notes The effect the assassination of the King of Italy, Umberto I, 1844-1900, is having on Marconi and the role the king played in his life and career; partly in Morse Code.

Folder 18 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, July 31) Notes Apologizes for not having written sooner; partly in Morse Code. With short note by Marconi.

Folder 19 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, August 20) Notes Apologizes for not having written sooner; partly in Morse Code. With short note by Marconi.

Folder 20 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, September 7) Notes Marconi is sailing around on British naval ships and how the “great experiment” (trans-Atlantic transmission) is going. With short note by Marconi.

Folder 21 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, October 8) Notes Apologizes for not writing sooner and talks of his plans for the winter. With short note by Marconi.

Folder 22 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, November 8) Notes Discusses their previously secret engagement, Marconi’s doubts about it and agrees Holman can tell her mother.

Folder 23 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, December 8) Notes Marconi’s health problems and his mother’s feelings that he should not be getting married until he is better.

Folder 24 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, December 20) Notes How hard Marconi is working and he misses Holman.

Folder 25 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, December) Notes A printed Christmas card from Marconi.

Folder 26 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, January 6) Notes How Marconi spent his Christmas and his plans to come to New York.

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Folder 27 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, January 14) Notes About their respective healths and delays in Marconi’s plans to come to New York.

Folder 28 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, January 21) Notes About Marconi’s now-definite plans to come to New York and how progress on his trans-Atlantic project is going.

Folder 29 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, January) Notes A printed New Year’s card signed “Guglielmo to Jo.”

Folder 30 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, March 1) Notes Marconi’s delay in coming to New York and his new travel plans.

Folder 31 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, March 14) Notes Marconi’s cold and his inability to come to dinner because of it.

Folder 32 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. 2 letters to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, March 18) Notes Two letters—one about a change in Marconi’s plans; the other a love letter.

Folder 33 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, April 9) Notes About Marconi’s trip to the Patent Office in Washington, DC.

Folder 34 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, April 20-25) Notes About Marconi’s passage to England on the RMS Campania.

Folder 35 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman ([1901], April 28) Notes A telegram that says Holman “may tell.”

Folder 36 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, April 30) Notes The reception the announcement of their engagement has received.

Folder 37 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 3) Notes Marconi’s pending travels around England and more about the congratulations he has received about their engagement.

Folder 38 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 14) Notes About how busy Marconi’s been with work.

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Folder 39 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 28) Notes How busy Marconi is with work and his father’s objection to his engagement.

Folder 40 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 31) Notes More about Marconi’s father’s objections to the engagement and gives Holman a sample schedule of his work day.

Folder 41 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, June 11) Notes Marconi’s work and how he misses Holman.

Folder 42 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, June 25) Notes Marconi’s work and a response to Holman’s last letter about her trip to Bryn Mawr.

Folder 43 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, July 9) Notes He talks about his work and letters from her mother to him and his mother.

Folder 44 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, July 24) Notes Discusses Marconi travel plans and the progress being made on trans-Atlantic transmission.

Folder 45 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, August 15) Notes About delaying the wedding until October and progress on his trans-Atlantic project.

Folder 46 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, September 10) Notes About how the building Marconi built to house the machinery needed for the “great experiment” is too small.

Folder 47 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, September 17) Notes About the adoption of Marconi’s “system” by a number of steamship companies and of further delay in coming to America.

Folder 48 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. 2 letters to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, October 15) Notes 2 letters—one of the storm that ruined some of Marconi’s telegraph poles in Cornwall, the other contains the photographs of the damage he forgot to enclose in the first. Includes three photographs.

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Folder 49 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, November 18) Notes About how Marconi is “terribly unhappy” and asks for her complete address.

Folder 50 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. 2 letters to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 8) Notes 2 letters—Marconi briefly mentions a “very serious matter” that he cannot write about until he has Holman’s full address.

Folder 51 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 18) Notes Telegram

Folder 52 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 23) Notes Telegram

Folder 53 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 26) Notes Telegram—Christmas wishes

Folder 54 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, [December] 25) Notes Telegram

Folder 55 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman ([1901], March 14) Notes Telegram

Box 2 Correspondence: Marconi, Guglielmo. Letters to Helen Holman - Z; Ephemera Folder 1 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Helen Holman (1901, December 22) Notes Telegram

Folder 2 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to Helen Holman ([undated)] Notes Telegram

Folder 3 Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937. Letter to "Holman" ([1901, December]) Notes Telegram. With two newspaper clippings

Folder 4 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 18) Notes About Vyvyan’s travel plans and progress at the Cape Cod site.

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Folder 5 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 21) Notes Telegram

Folder 6 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, June 2) Notes About progress at the Cape Cod site and things like the weather.

Folder 7 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, June 28) Notes About progress at the Cape Cod site.

Folder 8 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, July 13) Notes About progress at the Cape Cod site.

Folder 9 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, July 25) Notes Details of the house being built at the Cape Cod site.

Folder 10 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, August 8) Notes About progress at the Cape Cod site.

Folder 11 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, August 14) Notes About progress at the Cape Cod site.

Folder 12 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, September 15) Notes About delays in progress at the Cape Cod site and what Vyvyan has heard about Marconi.

Folder 13 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, October 9) Notes About progress at the Cape Cod site, delays in Cornwall and a picture of the poles at the Cape Cod site.

Folder 14 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, October 14) Notes About Holman’s wedding plans and progress on the “great experiment.”

Folder 15 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, October 26) Notes About Holman’s wedding plans and progress on the “great experiment.”

Folder 16 Vyvyan, R. Norman. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, November 2) Notes Vyvyan complains about his salary and talks of the “great experiment.”

Folder 17 Marconi, Annie Jameson. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1899, December) Notes Printed Christmas card.

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Folder 18 Marconi, Annie Jameson. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, March 2) Notes About Mrs. Marconi’s hopes she will accompany Guglielmo to New York.

Folder 19 Marconi, Annie Jameson. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1900, December) Notes Printed Christmas card.

Folder 20 Marconi, Annie Jameson. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, May 24) Notes Mrs. Marconi congratulates Holman on her engagement to Marconi.

Folder 21 Marconi, Annie Jameson. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, August 9) Notes About Mrs. Marconi’s travel plans, enclosed are pictures of the Marconi residence in Italy. Includes two photographs.

Folder 22 "Aunt Mollie." Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman ([1901], December 30) Notes “Aunt Mollie” hopes the problems in Holman’s life will be resolved soon.

Folder 23 Bowen, Mabel. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1902, January 2) Notes About how exactly Mabel and Holman are related and wishes for Holman’s happiness in marriage.

Folder 24 Bowen, William. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, April 30) Notes About various Bowen family ancestors.

Folder 25 Carver, Camilla. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 27) Notes About Holman’s engagement. Includes newspaper clipping.

Folder 26 DeCaprio, A.E. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1902, January 4) Notes About a march DeCaprio wrote in honor of Marconi.

Folder 27 Layton, Harvey Porter. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 24) Notes Congratulations on Holman’s engagement to Marconi.

Folder 28 McClure, Harry. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 31) Notes Congratulations on Holman’s engagement to Marconi.

Folder 29 Michieli, J.P. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, December 29) Notes Michieli hopes Holman will use and praise his face powder.

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Folder 30 Sewall, May Wright. Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1902, January 10) Notes Congratulations on Holman’s engagement and Sewall’s hope Holman will pass on that Sewall feels Marconi should find a way to use natural gas as a replacement for oil or coal.

Folder 31 Various Authors. Letters to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, April 27-29) Notes Telegrams congratulating Holman on her engagement to Marconi. 5 items.

Folder 32 Letter to Helen Holman (1901, December 22) Notes Telegram

Folder 33 Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, March 20) Notes Telegram

Folder 34 Letter to Josephine Bowen Holman (1901, [December?] 29) Notes Telegram

Folder 35 Letter to "Holman" (1901, August 16) Notes Telegram

Folder 36 Typed article ([after 1902, January 16]) Notes Typed article about the end of the engagement between Holman and Marconi.

Folder 37 [Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937]. Morse Code Legend ([undated)] Folder 38 Josephine Bowen Holman. Diary (1902, January-April) Folder 39 Ephemera 1899-1900 Notes 6 items

Folder 40 Newspaper Clippings 1899-1902 Notes 140 items

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