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J. Norman Spawn lantern slides and stereopticons
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Held at: The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute [Contact Us]222 N 20th St, Philadelphia, PA, 19103
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
No biographical information could be determined about J. Norman Spawn.
It is possible that this person is James Norman Spawn (1881-1960), who was more commonly known as "J. Norman Spawn" or just "Norman Spawn." James Norman Spawn was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1881. From 1907 to 1911, he was employed as a mechanical drawing instructor at Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University). By 1934 he was working as associate supervisor for industrial training in the Indian Field Service, Office of Indian Affairs for the United States government. During World War II, he worked in the US Office of Education, but returned to industrial education for the Office of Indian Affairs in 1945. In 1946, he donated 206 photographs to the Smithsonian, related to his work in the southwest. He died in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1960.
J. Norman Spawn lantern slides and stereopticons, circa 1890s-early 20th century, consist of approximately two hundred images that depict locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Montana, Colorado, Canada, Italy and other places in Europe, Egypt, and other locations. Some of the images are images of drawings and other documents. Some images may be commercially published. Each slide measures 3.25" x 4". A detailed inventory is available on-site.
Gift of Mrs. J. Norman Spawn, 1939
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2014-2016 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute directly for more information.
- Publisher
- The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Sarah Leu and Anastasia Matijkiw through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute for information about accessing this collection.