Call Number:

06

Repository:

Historical Society of Tacony

Extent:

0.5 linear feet ((1 document box, 1 folder of photographs, 1 small framed item, 1 oversize framed item))

Language:

English

Date:

1912-2011 (inclusive)

Abstract:

Frank Shuman (1862-1918) was a resident of Tacony, Philadelphia, and an inventor. He built the world's first solar thermal power station in Maadi, Egypt from 1912-1913: it was used to irrigate the desert near the Nile River. The bulk of the Historical Society of Tacony Frank Shuman collection, 1912-2011, consists of secondary materials, but there is also an original plan for the Maadi solar plant, and about two dozen original photographs of Shuman and his team building it.

Frank Shuman (1862-1918) was an inventor whose most notable inventions were wired safety glass and the first solar power steam engine. He moved to the Tacony section of northeast Philadelphia in 1891 to aid his uncle, Francis Schuman, in the creation of the William Penn statue that is now atop City Hall. He built the world's first solar thermal power station in Maadi, Egypt from 1912-1913; it was used to irrigate the desert near the Nile River. The First World War broke out soon afterward, and despite the success of Shuman's project, his solar power invention never caught on.

The bulk of this collection consists of secondary materials: photocopies of historic photographs, articles written about Shuman in the 1990s and 2000s, and multiple copies of a catalog from an art exhibition inspired by Shuman, "Sun of 1913," which was part of the Egyptian biennial celebration in 2008. However, there is a small amount of original material in this collection which is of great value. There is an original plan, hand-drawn by Edwin Smith, 1912, for the "Sun Engine" to be installed near Cairo, Egypt. Another highlight of the collection is about two dozen original photographs of Shuman and his team in Egypt installing that solar plant. The photographs are identified with captions on verso.