RCA Corporation Records 2069
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RCA Corporation records 2069 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library RCA Corporation records 2069 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Historical Note ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Content ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Administrative Information .......................................................................................................................... 14 Related Materials ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Controlled Access Headings ........................................................................................................................ 15 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................. 16 Collection Inventory ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Secretary's files .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Contract files ........................................................................................................................................... 16 Contract file analysis .............................................................................................................................. 18 B.L. Aldridge files ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Histories & Background ......................................................................................................................... 20 General Historical Files .......................................................................................................................... 21 Museum Files .......................................................................................................................................... 33 Model Files ............................................................................................................................................. 35 Distribution & Allocation Records ........................................................................................................ 42 Chronological File of Sales & Marketing Materials .............................................................................. 47 Miscellany ............................................................................................................................................... 47 Oversize Materials .................................................................................................................................. 47 Camden Technical Library files ................................................................................................................ 49 Technical Reports ................................................................................................................................... 50 Engineering Notebooks ........................................................................................................................... 60 Standards ................................................................................................................................................. 61 Publications & Manuals ......................................................................................................................... 64 - Page 2 - RCA Corporation records 2069 Summary Information Repository: Manuscripts and Archives Creator: RCA Corporation Source: Barnum, Frederick O., III Title: RCA Victor Camden/Frederick O. Barnum III collection ID: 2069 Date [inclusive]: 1887-1983 Date [bulk]: 1914-1968 Physical Description: 250 Linear Feet Language of the English, Spanish, German Material: Abstract: For over fifty years the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. The records of the RCA Corporation consist of three series: Secretary's files; B.L. Aldridge files; and the Camden Technical Library files. The collection is largely RCA technical reports, standards, engineering notebooks, manuals and miscellaneous publications. The Secretary's files document the formation of RCA. Aldridge's files deal almost entirely with the history of the Victor Talking Machine Company, RCA-Victor and the Camden Plant. ^ Return to Table of Contents Historical Note The Radio Corporation of America was incorporated in Delaware on October 17, 1919, and changed its name to RCA Corporation on May 9, 1969. For over fifty years it was one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. Through subsidiaries, it operated the country's first radiotelegraph, radiotelephone and radio facsimile systems, as well as its pioneer radio and television networks. The company will always be identified with David Sarnoff (1891-1971), who began working for a predecessor company as an office boy in 1906, became vice president in 1922, president in 1930, and served as chairman from 1947 to 1970. Sarnoff was one of the first to grasp the full potential of radio and television and imparted to the company its reputation for research and innovation. - Page 3- RCA Corporation records 2069 The Beginnings of RCA Prior to World War I, radio, which then meant long-distance radiotelegraphy, was in the hands of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, formed in 1899 as an American subsidiary of the Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd., based in England. It was a mere branch of the extensive wireless network established by radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) and financed by British capital. During the war, the American government had seized the American Marconi stations, largely for the benefit of the Navy. At the close of hostilities, the Navy and its acting secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt strongly desired that control of America's radio facilities be in American hands. The General Electric Company had acquired the patents for the Alexanderson high-frequency alternator, which was necessary to provide the power for long-distance radio transmission, and had been negotiating the sale of these patent rights to British Marconi before the war. The Navy arranged a series of conferences in which it was agreed that General Electric would back the formation of a new American company to take over the Marconi operations and the necessary patents. As a result of these negotiations, the Radio Corporation of America, controlled by GE, was incorporated on October 17, 1919, with Edward J. Nally of American Marconi as president. On November 20, 1919, RCA acquired all the assets of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America and signed a cross- licensing and patent-sharing agreement with General Electric. GE was to perform all manufacturing, and RCA was responsible only for sales and marketing of equipment and operating the radiotelegraph stations. Commercial radiotelegraph service was resumed beginning in 1920 and was gradually extended around the world. On November 5, 1921, RCA opened "Radio Central" at Rocky Point, Long Island, which served as its main transmitting station and first laboratory. With government approval, two other cross-licensing agreements followed. On July 1, 1920, RCA and GE signed an agreement with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), under which RCA received AT&T's wireless patents and rights to the triode developed by Lee DeForest. AT&T received an interest in RCA and the use of RCA's and GE's telephone patents. On June 30, 1921, a similar tripartite agreement was signed with the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, under which Westinghouse obtained a share of RCA in return for its radio patents, including the Armstrong "feedback" amplifier, which allowed for more sensitive reception and wider transmission. RCA also obtained the coastal transmission stations of Westinghouse's International Radio Telegraph Company at Belfast, Maine, Siasconset, Mass., New London, Conn., New York City, and Cape May, NJ With the completion of these patent-sharing arrangements, either RCA, GE or Westinghouse could manufacture and sell a complete set of radio equipment and operate broadcast stations. Westinghouse's station KDKA received the first U.S. commercial broadcast license on October 27, 1920. RCA made its first permanent broadcast at station WDY at Roselle Park, NJ on December 15, 1921. After a few months, the station was merged with Westinghouse's WJZ at Newark, NJ, to avoid interference. In 1922, retired Gen. James G. Harbord replaced Nally as president and David Sarnoff was named vice president & general