| MIND:
Modern Inventors Documentation Program
The MIND Program acts as a clearinghouse for inventors
seeking to preserve and donate their historical materials;
identifies and preserves the papers and other historical
materials of living inventors; promotes access to and
use of this documentary record by scholars, students,
and the public; and identifies inventors whose papers
and artifacts have particular significance to the research
and educational goals of the National Museum of American
History.
Download An
Inventor's Guide to the Preservation, Protection, and
Donation of Personal Papers (PDF file, 950K)
»
Documenting Invention presents tested methods of documenting the work of inventors and other creative individuals. The site is designed primarily for researchers, historians, museum professionals, oral historians, and students of archival and museum methodology. The documentation, reports, bibliographies, case studies, images, and guidelines included on the site reflect fifteen years of research by the staff of the Lemelson Center. Topics highlighted include: finding inventors to document; understanding inventors' work processes; identifying the kinds of resources and relationships that influence inventors' work; determining the types of materials that were created during the invention process and that can be collected; and selecting techniques to use when documenting an inventor.
Our goal is to support, encourage, and promote those who seek to document the creative process, as well as contribute to the historical record ourselves. This is an ongoing project and we will continue to refine, test, and enhance our work as we learn more about invention. Information in this website was drawn from many sources, including staff research, archival collections, oral history interviews with inventors, and professional workshops exploring targeted areas of the invention process.
Lemelson Center historian Maggie Dennis and archivist Alison Oswald researched the website, with the assistance of Lemelson Center and Archives Center staff at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and Lemelson Center senior historian Joyce Bedi, who also advised on the site's content, design, and structure. Joan Mentzer edited the site. Archives Center intern Cathy Chou designed the site's graphics and navigation. Lemelson Center new media program assistant Matt Ringelstetter built the web pages and provided technical support. The site was tested by staff at the National Museum of American History and other targeted audiences.
Go to the Documenting Invention website »
Information in the database was drawn from many sources:
Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN); Online
Computer Library Center (OCLC); National Union Catalog
of Manuscripts Collections (NUCMC); online catalogs for
universities, colleges, historical societies, and other
organizations; ArchiveGrid (a service of RLG); Sources
in Electrical History 3: An International Guide to Corporate
Records and Archives of Companies in Electrical, Electronics,
and Computer Industries compiled by the IEEE, 1995;
and A Directory of History of Medicine Collections,
9th edition, compiled by the National Library of Medicine,
1999. All database entries were sent to the appropriate
repository for verification. In some instances, repositories
submitted additional information on their holdings. The
records reflect differing descriptive practices among
repositories. Researchers seeking additional information
should contact the repository.
Alison Oswald of the Lemelson Center staff researched
and edited the original database entries with the assistance
of Lemelson Center and Archives Center staff at the National
Museum of American History. The database was designed
by Interactive Knowledge of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The first of several planned expansion phases to include
information on international archives with invention-related
holdings in the MIND database began in 2008. Project staff
is investigating Canadian holdings that are appropriate
for inclusion in the database; additions from other countries
are welcome as well. Translations into English are encouraged.
For further information on the expansion of the MIND database,
contact Alison Oswald at oswalda@si.edu.
Contributing to the MIND Database
This MIND database is an ongoing project to gather and
provide information about invention and technology collections
in archives, libraries, historical societies, and museums.
The database will assist scholars, inventors, teachers,
and students. Additionally, the database will enable the
Lemelson Center to identify gaps in the invention record,
for example the papers of women and minority inventors.
We seek information about inventors (corporate, government,
and independent), scientists, and industries in all areas
associated with invention. We also seek information on
records of institutions such as academic departments and
research laboratories. The database contains information
from all time periods. If papers are held privately, but
available for research, we welcome this information. Additionally,
we would like to know if papers of significant inventors
have been destroyed. The types of materials included in
the database are: correspondence, course notes, diaries,
drawings, financial records, grant applications, instructional
materials, logbooks, notebooks, patents, patent applications,
photographs, publications, sound recordings, videotapes,
film, and artifacts, objects, invention prototypes, and
tools associated with archival collections. You may download
the MIND Database Submission Form in either a Microsoft
Word or PDF
and return it to:
Lemelson Center
Smithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 37012
National Museum of American History
Room 1016, MRC 604
Washington, DC 20013-7012
Fax (202) 357-4517
If you have any questions, please contact Alison Oswald
at 202.633.3726 or email oswalda@si.edu
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