Guglielmo Marconi Correspondence, 1899-1902

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Summary

Creators:
Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937
Abstract:
The collection chiefly contains the correspondence of Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), primarily to his American fiancée, Josephine Bowen Holman. There are two manuscripts: Morse Code Legend written by Marconi and Holman's diary for January to April 1902.
Extent:
125 pieces + newspaper clippings in 2 boxes
Language:
The records are in English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of letters and telegrams from Guglielmo Marconi to his fiancée, Josephine Bowen Holman.

There are also letters to Holman from Marconi’s mother, Annie Jameson Marconi, one of his engineers, R. Norman Vyvyan, and various other correspondents (mainly family members). Portions of some of the letters to Holman from Marconi are written in Morse code, and there are pictures of his telegraph towers in Cornwall and two of his family home in Bologna.

There are two manuscripts: Morse Code Legend written by Marconi and Holman’s diary for January to April 1902. There are six pieces of ephemera, including two published copies of a paper by Marconi on the wireless telegraphy that he gave March 2, 1899 to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and 141 newspaper clippings.

Subjects include: Marconi and Holman’s relationship, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Morse Code, and Marconi’s invention: the wireless telegraph.

The collection, which is housed in two boxes, is arranged in the following manner: the first three authors are arranged by number of letters in the collection (Guglielmo Marconi, R. Norman Vyvyan and Annie Jameson Marconi, in that order), and the rest are arranged alphabetically by other authors. The manuscripts, ephemera and clippings are placed after the correspondence.

Biographical / historical:

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was an Italian physicist who spent much of his professional life in Great Britain. In the late 1890s he began experimenting with wireless telegraphy, which culminated on December 14, 1901, with the first trans-Atlantic transmission of a wireless telegraph. Marconi would later go on to experiment with short-wave radio and microwaves. For a brief period that overlaps with his experiments with wireless telegraphy, he was engaged to an American he met on the steamer St. Paul from New York to England, Josephine Bowen Holman. The engagement was broken off by Marconi in early 1902, and both later married other people.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Hon. Peter Smith, August 5, 2005.
Rules or conventions:
Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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