Albert Swanson (2 results)

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Oblong 4to. 62 original silver gelatin photos, nearly all backed in linen, some w/ embossed photographer's stamp in lower right corner, or photographer's logo in negative, several marked in pencil, or ink on versos (occasional fraying and dustsoiling to fore-edges of linen). Recent black post-binder, original brass split pin posts at gutter margin, gilt lettering stamped on front cover, VG exemplar. This factory sales photo album for the Swanson Electrical & Manufacturing Co. offers an important visual record of the growth of a Midwestern American manufacturing firm after World War I through the Jazz Age. Founded originally in 1900 by Albert Swanson (1876-1949) in Evansville, IN, this firm became one of the largest Midwestern companies engaged in electrical engineering, construction, repair, maintenance, and retail sales. These photos show how the company built and sold washing machines, electric motors, radios, lighting systems, industrial fans, installed lighting displays for department stores, repaired electric motors, rewound generators, and installed massive electric generating steam plants for factories. These include photos of the new mill built after 1909 for Swans Down Flour, showing the exterior stack for steam, the control panels, and more; followed by images of the electrical conduits and sea of electric motors for the spinning mill machinery of the Cannelton Cotton Mill in Indiana for the Rumble & Wensel Company; a Heinz plant near Indianapolis, IN; and of special interest are the photos of the generating plant installed for the Mead Johnson Co. infant formula plant built in Evansville, IN in the wake of World War I. These photos also show the repair shops, the massive electrical machines, the winding of coils, the oil and grease-soaked workers amidst a sea of electrical machine parts, work benches, metal lathes, and more. In addition, there are a number of photos of the interior of the new Monitor Furniture Co. Plant on East Virginia St. in Evansville, IN finished at the end of 1920. Swanson began repairing and installing electrical equipment in a small downtown shop before the end of the 19th century, and by 1915 was refurbishing and selling giant Westinghouse and General Electric motors and generators. In 1919, the Company was incorporated and began quickly expanding, finally changing its name to the Swanson-Nunn Co., which continued to install and sell equipment out of their building on 8th street much of the 20th Century. Mason (1886-1944) was a commercial photographer who specialized in architectural and advertising photography in Evansville, IN throughout his career. See: Evansville Electrical Concern Re-organzied, In: Electrical Review, August 2, 1919, pp. 209-210.