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Guide to The Lee and Marie de Forest Papers
2003-34.  
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Collection Contents

Box 1-8

Series 1.  Correspondence 1888-1978

Physical Description: 6 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Personal and business correspondence of Lee de Forest, Marie de Forest, and United Engineering Laboratories.
Box 1-7

Subseries 1.1  Lee de Forest Correspondence 1888-1961

Physical Description: 5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Personal and business correspondence. Includes 14 folders of letters between de Forest and his family, wives and girlfriends. Because of de Forest's work as an independent inventor, much of his business and personal correspondence overlaps.
Box 1

Subseries 1.2  Marie de Forest Correspondence 1952-1978

Physical Description: 1 folder.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Personal and business correspondence of Marie de Forest, primarily correspondence with the Perham Foundation and Foothill Museum regarding the donation of Lee de Forest's papers to the new electronics museum.
Box 8

Subseries 1.3  United Engineering Laboratories Correspondence 1950-1958

Physical Description: 1 linear foot.

Series Scope and Content Summary

UEL was set up and financed in 1950 by Lyndon Durant of United Manufacturing Company in order to provide Lee de Forest with a laboratory in which to conduct experiments related to direct energy conversion. It was located at 1027 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles 38, California. The arrangement continued until April 1958, at which point the machine shop was shut down and the equipment sold or donated to universities.
Box 9-18

Series 2.  Administrative and Financial Records 1900-1967

Physical Description: 4.5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Lee and Marie de Forest personal financial records, Lee de Forest Foundation business records, United Engineering Laboratories administrative and financial records, and corporate records and ephemera from de Forest's companies.
Box 9

Subseries 2.1  Lee and Marie de Forest Financial Records 1923-1967

Physical Description: .25 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Insurance contracts, income tax records, checkbooks, receipts, and wills.
Box 10-12

Subseries 2.2  De Forest Corporate Records and Ephemera 1900-1952

Physical Description: .5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Assorted records and ephemera from De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company, Dominion De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd., The Radio Telephone Company/de Forest Wireless System, de Forest Radio Tel & Tel Co., De Forest Phonofilm Corporation, De Forest Radio Co., De Forest Short-Wave Therapy (Dynatherm), De Forest's Training, Inc.
Box 13

Subseries 2.3  The Lee deForest Foundation Records 1950-1954

Physical Description: .5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

The Foundation was established in July 1950 as a tax-exempt organization under Section 101(6) of the Internal Revenue Code by Lee de Forest, Alfred J. Schramm, H. L. Oettinger, Ulysses A. Sanabria, and Benjamin M. Becker, for the purpose of funding research projects by United Engineering Laboratories with de Forest as Research Director. Soon thereafter, the Foundation contracted with Lyndon A. Durant to experiment with thermal electronics, specifically the conversion of heat directly into electricity. The Foundation was terminated in June 1954, apparently as the result of income tax obligations.
Box 14-18

Subseries 2.4  United Engineering Laboratories Business Records 1950-1959

Physical Description: 3 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Invoices, receipts, petty cash and expense reports to United Manufacturing Company, as well as personnel, banking and tax records.
Box No. 19-26

Series 3.  Lee de Forest Research and Reference Materials 1891-1961

Physical Description: 4.5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Includes de Forest's handwritten class notebooks from Yale University, research notebooks, loose notes, sketches and diagrams, and third-party reference material collected over the course of de Forest's career.
Box 19-22

Subseries 3.1  Lecture and research notebooks 1891-1956

Physical Description: 2 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

De Forest's handwritten sketches of Lake Quinsigamond (Worcester, Mass.), course lecture and research notebooks from Yale University, and research notebooks.
Box 23

Subseries 3.2  Loose technical notes and diagrams 1900-1959

Physical Description: .5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Handwritten technical notes, sketches and diagrams, some undated and unidentified.
Box 24-26

Subseries 3.3  Reference material 1891-1961

Physical Description: 2.5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Third-party technical reference material, including technical journals, magazine articles, product literature, and textbooks.
Box 27-28

Series 4.  Patents and Patent Material 1871-1956

Physical Description: 2.5 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Patents filed by Lee de Forest, reference patents, patent litigation documents, related correspondence.
Box 27-28

Subseries 4.1  Lee de Forest Patents 1906-1958

Physical Description: .5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

United States and foreign patents filed by Lee de Forest.
Box 29-31

Subseries 4.2  Reference Patents 1871-1955

Physical Description: 1.5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

United States and foreign patents not filed by Lee de Forest.
Box 32

Subseries 4.3  Patent litigation notes and court records 1919-1949

Physical Description: .5 linear feet.

Series Scope and Content Summary

Notes, loose documents, and court records related to de Forest's many patent litigation proceedings.
Box 22, 33-37

Series 5.  Autobiography and Diaries 1891-1955

Physical Description: 2 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Typescripts of Lee de Forest's autobiography, "Father of Radio," published by Wilcox & Follett in 1950, and "The Journal of de Forest," a condensed version of his 23 diaries (1891-1931) by biographer Eloise McCaskill (1955). De Forest donated his original diaries to the Library of Congress; a microfilm copy is included in these papers.
Box 38

Series 6.  Published articles by Lee de Forest 1903-1960

Physical Description: .5 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Articles authored by de Forest, published in a variety of magazines and journals.
Box 39-40

Series 7.  Lee and Marie de Forest unpublished literature 1899-1961

Physical Description: 1 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Typed drafts of essays, speeches and addresses; technical manuscripts; includes autobiographical material by Marie Mosquini de Forest. Includes a handwritten copy of de Forest's Yale PhD thesis, "Reflection of Hertzian Waves from the Ends of Parallel Wires," 1899.
Box 9, 45

Series 8.  Certificates and Honors 1923-1977

Physical Description: 1.5 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Awards and honors given to Lee de Forest, and programs from honorary events.
Box 41

Series 9.  Talladega College and Yale University Alumni material 1895-1960

Physical Description: .5 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Newsletters, commencement programs and periodicals. De Forest gave the 1951 commencement address at Talladega College; photographs from his visit are included.
Box 43-46

Series 10.  Publications about Lee de Forest 1906-1961

Physical Description: 3 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

News and magazine articles, radio transcripts about Lee de Forest and his business enterprises. Includes assorted biographical material.
Box 49-59

Series 11.  Lee and Marie de Forest Scrapbooks 1873-1969

Physical Description: 6.5 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

Scrapbooks of news clippings, photographs, letters, ephemera and assorted mementos related to de Forest's companies, travel, and personal life. Early scrapbooks contain a significant amount of material on Yale University in the 1890s, American DeForest Wireless Telegraph, and the wireless telegraph industry. Two scrapbooks are devoted to DeForest Phonofilm.
Box 60

Series 12.  Photographs 1873-1973

Physical Description: 1 linear feet

Series Scope and Content Summary

143 loose photographs found with the Lee and Marie de Forest papers. Note that at least 400 photographs relating to de Forest's family and businesses, some of which may have been part of the original donation by Marie de Forest, have been cataloged separately under the Perham Collection of Early Electronics (2003-1).