|
« Back to "Archives" menu
|
|
Henry Booth Collection,
1942-1974 |
Extent and Forms of Material: 2.5 cubic feet (7 boxes, including
one 16mm film and glass plate negatives)
Creator: Henry Booth
Abstract: Papers document Henry Booth’s invention, use
and marketing of the PhotoMetriC custom tailoring system.
Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; archivescenter@si.edu
; 202-633-3270; www.americanhistory.si.edu/archives
Collection Number: AC0726
Processing Note: Processed by Jennifer Hecker, August 2000;
supervised by Alison Oswald, archivist.
© 2007 by the Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved.
Information for users of
the collection
Conditions Governing Access: The collection
is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected
photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies
of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the
Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an “as
needed” basis, as resources allow.
Technical Access: Viewing 16 mm film requires
special appointment; please inquire.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: Copyright
held by the Smithsonian Institution. Collection items available
for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees
concerning copyright restrictions. Reproduction permission from
Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
Preferred Citation: [Title and date of item],
Henry Booth Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American
History, box number X, folder number XX, digital file number XXXXXXXX
In-depth information about the collection
- Administrative/biographical history
Scope and content
System of arrangement
Acquisition information
Related archival materials
Related artifacts
Access points
Container listing
Henry Booth was a textile jobber who invented the PhotoMetriC
custom tailoring system in the 1940s, an innovation which temporarily
revolutionized a small corner of the custom clothing industry.
Henry Booth (1895-1969), son of a Methodist minister, was born
in Canada and raised in England where his grandfather, General
William Booth, founded the Salvation Army. In 1911, Henry Booth
came to the United States from England on the Lusitanian.
He worked in the textile industry for a few years; specifically
as a manager for John B. Ellison jobbing offices in Portland and
Seattle. In 1922 he formed his own firm with Harry Kemp and Robert
Walker. By 1929, Booth moved east to New York City in order to
pursue his career in the textile industry. He formed Amalgamated
Textiles Limited with John and Blake Lawrence. In 1938, Booth
met Curt Erwin Forstmann and entered into an agreement whereby
Amalgamated Textiles Limited became fabric stylists and sole agents
for the Forstmann Woolen Companies.
In the early 1940s, Booth came up with the idea for the PhotoMetriC
camera system to be used in the custom tailoring industry. The
system consisted of a specially-designed arrangement of nine mirrors.
Eight mirrors reflected separate views of the customer and one
mirror reflected the customer’s name and other information.
These angled mirrors allowed a photograph to be taken which showed
the customer from the front, back, side, and top. A slide of this
photographic measurement would be sent, along with the customer’s
garment order, to the manufacturer. When the order arrived, the
tailor would project the customer’s image on a special screen
which facilitated the taking of certain physical measurements.
With the aid of the PhotoMetriC calculator, the tailor translated
the measurements into specifications for a customer-specific garment.
When finished, the garment would be mailed directly to the customer’s
home. According to testimonials in the collection, the garments
fit perfectly the first time, every time. The PhotoMetriC system
both saved the tailor money and relieved the customer of the inconvenience
of having to return to the tailor again and again for time-consuming
fittings, alterations, and adjustments.
The camera which supported this invention needed to be virtually
foolproof, enabling the average shop clerk to reliably collect
the necessary data. To this end, Booth took his idea to the Eastman
Kodak Company, where he worked with Dr. Kenneth Mees, Director
of Research and Fred Waller, a camera expert. Waller designed
the camera; the remainder of the system design was done by Booth.
The PhotoMetriC system made its debut in two Richard Bennett stores
in New York City on May 17, 1948. It was subsequently licensed
to other select retailers such as: The Custom Gentleman (Englewood,
NJ); Nathan’s (Richmond, VA); The Golden Fleece (Point Pleasant
Borough, NJ); and Joseph’s (Terre Haute, IN).
Hillandale, a Brooklyn, CT farm which Booth purchased
about 1940, was later used to produce hand woven wool fabrics.
These fabrics were used extensively by various PhotoMetriC retail
outlets. Henry Booth’s son, Robert (b. 1924), took over
farm operations circa 1960 and opened a retail outlet on the premises
which featured a PhotoMetriC fitting room which provided custom
tailoring until the mid-1970s. Today Robert Booth, with his wife, Jimmie,
operate the Golden Lamb Buttery Restaurant in Brooklyn, Connecticut
full-time.
Patents of Henry Booth:
- United States Patent: #2,037,192/RE #20,366, “Visible
inventory and sales recording device, April 14, 1936
- United States Patent: #2,547,367, “Method and apparatus
for testing fabrics, April 3, 1951
- United States Patent: #2,547,368, “Cloth rack,”
April 3, 1951
- United States Patent: #2,563,451, “Photographic fitting
method,” August 7, 1951
- United States Patent: #2,624,943, “Proportionally balancing
garments,” January 13, 1953
- United States Patent: #2,664,784,”Apparatus for measuring
objects by photography,” January 5, 1954
- United States Patent: #2, 2,688,188, “Apparatus for
proportionally balancing garments,” September 7, 1954
The Henry Booth Collection, 1942-1974, focuses primarily on the
PhotoMetriC custom tailoring system. It consists of advertisements,
brochures, photographs, glass slides, a 16mm film, correspondence,
financial records, meeting minutes, an operating manual, scrapbooks,
magazines, and a guest register.
The collection is arranged into five series.
- Series 1: PhotoMetriC Apparatus Materials,
1948-1965
- Series 2: PhotoMetriC Advertising and Press
Materials, 1942, 1948
- Series 3: PhotoMetriC Retail Materials,
1958-1974
- Series 4: PhotoMetriC General Business
Materials, 1947-1974
- Series 5: Hillandale Handweavers, 1960-1962
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American
History by Henry Booth’s son, Robert Booth, in April 2000.
The Archives Center houses the Jimmie Booth Collection
(# 729). Jimmie Booth is the wife of Robert Booth, and she was
a buyer for Lord and Taylor.
A PhotoMetriC camera, stand, and measuring tapes were donated
to the Division of Information Technology and Communication, National
Museum of American History.
Subjects/Topical:
Tailoring
Garment cutting
PhotoMetriC (camera system)
Photography-Equipment and supplies
Inventors—1940-1990
Inventions—1920-2000
United States
Fashion
Subjects/Names:
Booth, Virginia
Eastman Kodak Co.
PhotoMetriC Corporation
Hillandale Handweavers
Hillandale Farms
Amalgamated Textiles Limited
Richard Bennett Associates, Inc.
Form/Genre:
Photographs—1940-2000
Photoprints
Pamphlets—1950-2000
Scrapbooks—20th century
| Box |
Folder |
|
| |
|
SERIES
1: PhotoMetriC APPARATUS MATERIALS, 1948-1965 |
| 1 |
1 |
Yonkler, T., Screen for Taking
Measurements from Projections, U.S. Patent No. 2,547,425,
1951 April 3 |
| |
2 |
Booth, H., Photographic Fitting
Method, U.S. Patent No. 2,563,451, 1951 August 7 |
| |
3 |
Waller, F., Method of Photographically
Correcting Photographic Images of Objects, U.S. Patent No.
2,644,780, 1954 January 5 |
| |
4 |
Waller, F., Apparatus for Measuring
Objects by Photography, U.S. Patent No. 2,644,784, 1954 January
5 |
| |
5 |
Science Comes to an Ancient
Art report on PhotoMetriC process, 1948 April 20 |
| |
|
Diagram of PhotoMetriC room, undated |
| |
|
Picture of PhotoMetriC camera,
undated |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC Operating Manual, 1955 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC measurement photos,
1948, undated |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC measurement photos,
1965 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC measurement photo,
1960 |
| 7 |
|
PhotoMetriC measurement slides,
circa 1950s |
| |
|
SERIES
2: PhotoMetriC ADVERTISING AND PRESS MATERIALS, 1942, 1948 |
| 1 |
6 |
Time, 1948 June 7 |
| 4 |
2 |
Life, 1948 June 7 |
| |
1 |
Fortune, July 1948 |
| 1 |
6 |
Popular Science, August
1948 |
| 6 |
|
Scrapbook, 1948 |
| 1 |
6 |
PhotoMetriC advertising booklets,
undated |
| 5 |
4 |
PhotoMetriC advertising posters,
undated |
| 1 |
6 |
Opening announcement for new PhotoMetriC
location in New Jersey, undated |
| |
|
Advertising photos, undated |
| |
|
Copy of film canister and mailing
label, 1962 |
| |
OF 726.1 |
Science Comes to an Ancient
Art, 1942 (16mm film) |
| |
|
SERIES
3: PhotoMetriC RETAIL MATERIALS, 1958-1974 |
| 1 |
7 |
Copy of instructions for PhotoMetriC
order taker/operator, undated |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC Alteration Tickets,
undated |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC lab Assignment of Order
Numbers forms, undated |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC Work Sheets, undated |
| 5 |
1 |
Order forms for PhotoMetriC garment,
undated |
| |
2 |
Order forms for PhotoMetriC garments,
undated |
| 1 |
7 |
Postcards for notice of shipment
to customer, undated |
| |
8 |
Henry Booth's personal PhotoMetriC
garment orders and memos, 1958-1969 |
| 1 |
8 |
Photograph of Henry Booth's PhotoMetriC
measurement session, undated |
| 2 |
1 |
PhotoMetric price chart, 1968 June
27 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC price chart, December
1968 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC price chart (revised),
December 1968 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC price chart, January
1971 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC style book, Dimensions
in Fashion, 1964 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC style book, 1970 |
| |
2 |
PhotoMetriC style book, 1972 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC style book, 1974 |
| |
3 |
Price List Fall, 1974 |
| |
|
Photos of Tom James store probably
a PhotoMetriC outlet, circa 1970s |
| |
|
SERIES
4: PhotoMetriC GENERAL BUSINESS MATERIALS, 1947-1974 |
| |
5 |
Testimonial letters, 1947-1948 |
| 5 |
|
PhotoMetriC Customer Opinion scrapbook,
1947-1948 |
| 2 |
4 |
PhotoMetriC Corporation memos and
financial records, May 1962 to August 1969 |
| |
5 |
PhotoMetriC and YOU booklets,
undated |
| |
|
What A Retailer Wants To Know
About The PhotoMetriC Process brochures, undated |
| 4 |
|
Richard Bennett Inc. meeting scrapbook,
circa 1953 |
| 2 |
5 |
Resume of the PhotoMetriC Conference,
1963 February 25-26 |
| |
|
PhotoMetriC Sales Meeting packet,
21 September 1974 |
| |
|
SERIES
5: HILLANDALE HANDWEAVERS, 1960-1962 |
| 3 |
1 |
Connecticut Life, May
1960 |
| |
|
Hillandale guest register, 1960
September 26 to 1962 September 8 |
| 2 |
6 |
Telegrams to Robert Booth, 12 October
1960 |
| 3 |
2 |
American Fabrics, Spring/Summer
1962 |
| |
|
Poster version of American
Fabrics article, Spring-Summer 1962 |
| 5 |
3 |
Christian Science Monitor
page, 1964 December 22 |
| 2 |
6 |
Copies of Christian Science
Monitor article, 1964 December 22 |
| |
|
Photos of Hillandale/PhotoMetriC
dinner, December 1964 |
| |
|
Hillandale cloth brand labels and
paper tag, undated |
|
