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Doodles, Drafts, and Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian Institution Print E-mail

May 30, 2007

Industrial drawings from the Smithsonian Collections illustrate the history of American ingenuity at the American Precision Museum, Windsor.

Doodles, Drafts, and Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian Institution, is just one of two new exhibits this season at the American Precision Museum in Windsor. This exhibit documents two centuries of American ingenuity and industry, from inventor's hand to investor's boardroom, from patent office to factory floor and has been underwritten by The Gene Haas Foundation, Oxnard, California.

ImageThe exhibition opened May 26th and will remain on view at the museum through October 31st, 2007. It has just concluded an 11-city tour through 2006, which was underwritten by Marsh Inc., the global risk and insurance services firm. Drawn from the rich collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) and organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the exhibition encompasses familiar domestic and industrial icons as well as ideas that never got off the drawing board. By special arrangement with SIL and NMAH, the Precision Museum received permission to present reproductions of the originals that were part of the SITES show. 'It is because of this special and very generous arrangement from the Smithsonian that we were able to arrange to have this exhibit at the museum,'says Ann Lawless, the museum's Executive Director.

At the turn of the 19th century, the United States was a country rich in natural resources and opportunity but wanting in people and machines. Initially the nation's entrepreneurs turned to England and Europe for labor, technology and tools. Over time American inventors devised their own solutions to the challenges facing the country in manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and everyday life. Then, as now, they captured their creativity on paper, recording their ideas and the evolution of those ideas into reality.

Sixty-six reproductions of pencil sketches, ink drawings on linen, patent drawings, trade literature covers and other documents illustrate well-known consumer products such as the Singer sewing machine, the Maidenform bra and the Crayola crayon. Drawings related to large-scale construction projects ranging from New York's Grand Central Terminal to a hydraulic plant at Niagara Falls are also featured. Among the highlights of the exhibition are a patent drawing for a waterwheel dating from 1838 and a patent drawing of an airtight bowl and lid, which later became known as 'Tupperware.'

Organized into four sections with interpretive panels addressing how each artifact is used to explore, persuade, record or explain, the exhibition illustrates American industrialization and the importance of visual records to invention and industry.

The Opening Reception for the two new exhibits -- Doodles, Drafts, and Designs and Windsor Post-Pastoral: The Changing Landscape of the Birthplace of Vermont, recent paintings by Bellows Falls artist, Charlie Hunter -- will be Friday, June 15th from 5:30-7:30pm at the museum. Images from the exhibit are available by contacting the museum.

Click here to view exhibit details
 
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