Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78024703
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of John Hays Hammond, inventor and scientist, were given to the Library of Congress as a bequest in 1966.
The papers of John Hays Hammond were arranged and described in 1969. The finding aid was revised in 2010.
Two complementary collections in the Manuscript Division dealing with navel radio research and development are the John Lansing Callan and Stanford Caldwell Hooper papers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of John Hays Hammond is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of John Hays Hammond are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, John Hays Hammond Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of John Hays Hammond (1888-1965) consist primarily of correspondence, notebooks, sketches, technical papers, legal briefs, printed material, chronologies, and annotated photographs. The collection spans the period 1908-1965, with the bulk of the material falling between 1912 and 1953.
The collection is divided into four series: Notebooks , General Case File , Photographs , and Oversize . The Notebooks series, dated 1912-1918, contains reports by Hammond and his staff on experiments with radio control inventions. The General Case File represents the bulk of the collection. The third series, Photographs , includes detailed prints and negatives of Hammond’s staff and radio equipment. Several of the technical prints have explanatory notes pointing out specific electrical components or design differences. The Oversize series contains a photograph album featuring the Hammond Research Library in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Ellison S. Purington, Hammond’s business associate and personal friend for over forty years who prepared these papers for transfer to the Library of Congress, arranged the materials in basic categories and included notes that point out significant segments of the collection. The addenda often provide background details not found in the documents.
Besides being a testimonial to Hammond’s scientific ingenuity, the papers contain material on early twentieth-century radio developments. Seeking technical assistance, Hammond corresponded with Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Irving Langmuir, Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, Lee De Forest, and others. These letters describe not only Hammond’s work, but also the research of those electronic pioneers. The correspondence with Alexander Graham Bell has added value because it partially describes his obscure activities in the development of the hydrofoil.
Certain case files are particularly useful in documenting Hammond’s inventions. The file of A. M. Austin, Hammond’s patent attorney, contains correspondence, original working sketches, and patent application papers dating from 1908 to 1913. The case file of Frederick Lowenstein includes detailed material on the controversial invention and use of the “audion” or triode electron tube. Other important case files cover topics such as intermediate frequency, frequency modulation (including the dispute over Edwin Armstrong’s priority in its invention), the Elmer A. Sperry dispute on inertial guidance patents, and radio control. The radio control case file, the most complete in the collection, documents Hammond’s basic experiments in radio control that led to his more important inventions of the intermediate frequency and frequency modulation.
Particular case files provide the scientific historian with valuable general information. A histories and chronologies file contains historical summaries, prepared by Hammond’s staff, which outline the contributions of the Hammond Radio Research Laboratory and others in specific radio inventions such as the triode tube, frequency modulation and intermediate frequency. Hammond’s thesis, “Telautomatics,” is a detailed technical history of radio control research and development before 1912.
This collection is arranged in four series:
Reports and observations relating to experiments with radio control devices by Hammond and his staff
Arranged by type of material. Notebooks are arranged numerically.
Topical files relating to projects.
Arranged alphabetically by project or correspondent.
Photographs.
Arranged by type or topic.
Photograph album.
Arranged and described according to the series, container, and folder from which it was removed.