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2007: Doodles, Drafts and Designs
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Circular SteelDoodles, Drafts and Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian: a traveling exhibition created and organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, was at the American Precision Museum for the 2007 season, May 26 through October 31. Prior to coming to Windsor, Vermont, this exhibit traveled on an 11-city tour through 2005-6 and was seen by thousands of museum visitors throughout the country. The original traveling exhibit was made possible by the support of Marsh Inc., the global risk and insurance services firm.

This exhibit documents 200 years of American ingenuity and industry, from inventor's hand to investor's boardroom and from patent office to factory floor. Drawn from the rich collections of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and by special arrangement with the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the reproductions featured in this exhibition encompass familiar domestic and industrial icons, as well as ideas that never got off the drawing board.

Seventy-four reproductions of pencil sketches, ink drawings on linen, notebooks, 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 will also be 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 'Tupperware.'

The exhibit is organized into four sections, with interpretive panels addressing how each artifact is used to explore, persuade, record, or explain. Doodles, Drafts, and Designs illustrates American industrialization and the importance of visual records in invention and industry.

Click here to view a photo gallery of images from this exhibit
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