Oral & video history documentation

The Lemelson Center's oral and video history projects increase historical documentation on invention and innovation in the United States.
Above: Guitarist G.E. Smith is featured in the Electric Guitar Video Documentation Project. Smithsonian photo by Jeff Tinsley.

Full descriptions of the following collections may be found by searching the archives and manuscripts section of SIRIS, the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Unless otherwise noted, all collections are housed in the NMAH Archives Center. For further information, contact the Archives Center Reference Desk.

Oral & video history documentation is listed in alphabetical order by subject of interview. Date of interview is in parentheses.

Moore-Stein protein sequencer video documentation (1996) The first complete chemical analysis of a protein's primary structure was done on a small protein, insulin, by Frederic Sanger at Cambridge University for which he received the first of his two Nobel Prizes in 1958. The second protein structure to be completely analyzed was ribonuclease, done in the U.S. by Stanford Moore and William Stein at Rockefeller University, 1960. This videohistory documents the Moore-Stein Protein Sequencer. The sequencer enabled automatic analysis of protein structure and was the forerunner of the automated instruments essential to modern biotechnology. The protein sequencer apparatus is located in the Division of Science Medicine, and Society. 0.50 cu. ft.: 2 boxes containing original, master, and reference videos.