Object Details
sova.nmah.ac.0846
- Creator
- Messmore, George Harold
- Messmore and Damon Company
- Damon, Joseph
- Topic
- Parades
- Dioramas
- Parade float designers
- Parade floats
- Exhibitions
- Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery
- Provenance
- The collection was donated by Pamela Messmore Tobiason, granddaughter of George H. Messmore, in 2003.
- Creator
- Messmore, George Harold
- Messmore and Damon Company
- Damon, Joseph
- See more items in
- Messmore and Damon Company Records
- Summary
- The records document Messmore and Damon's work in the design and construction of parade floats, museum dioramas, exhibitions, displays and scenery. The materials include business records, photographs, patents, scrapbooks, promotional materials, sound recordings and moving image.
- Accruals
- Additional materials (one cubic foot) were added in 2007.
- Biographical / Historical
- Messmore and Damon, Inc. was founded in 1914 by George Harold Messmore (1884-1961) and Joseph A. Damon (1882-1962). Messmore and Damon met in 1916 while working on floats for the Elks Convention in New York City. The two formed a partnership and in 1914 opened Messmore and Damon, Inc., a small shop where they initially constructed animal displays, but quickly expanded to theatrical scenery, parade floats, props for television, amusement park operations, seasonal displays, special effects in stores, advertising and promotional work, window displays, dioramas, and other exhibit work. Most of their parade and department store work featured mechanical devices which animated the animal and human figures involved, pioneering in what became known as "animatronics." The firm did the first Macy's Day Parade in 1924 and attained world-wide fame with their exhibit, The World a Million Years Ago at the 1933-1934, Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. A separate company, Messmore, Inc., was created to manufacture and sell a cardiology patient simulator, "Harvey," later known as "George," for use in medical schools. Joseph A. Damon, born in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, attended art school in St. Louis. A scenic artist by training he worked at Lee Lash Studios and built floats for the Hudson/Fulton Celebration in 1909. Damon married Olga Schaufelberger and had one daughter named Olga C. Damon (1922-2000). George H. Messmore, known as "GH," started his career working backstage in theaters and built displays for the Panama-Pacific Exposition (1915). Messmore married Meta Decker (1890-1985) and they had one son, Francis (1916-1997), known as "Fran." Fran joined Messmore and Damon in 1946, working on department store displays and ran the company until his death in 1997. The company was dissolved on September 2, 1998.
- Extent
- 16 Cubic feet (40 boxes)
- Date
- 1892 - 1998
- Custodial History
- Six (6) drawings by Williard G. Levitas were transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Cultural and Community Life in 2022.
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0846
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Scrapbooks
- Photographs
- Clippings
- Business records
- Phonograph records
- Citation
- Messmore and Damon Company Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Arrangement
- The collection is divided into eleven series. Series 1: Background/Biographical Materials, 1925-1996 Series 2: Business Files, 1918-1997 Subseries 2.1: Messmore and Damon, Inc., 1918-1988 Subseries 2.2: Messmore, Inc., 1971-1989 Series 3: Patents, 1892-1952 Series 4: Projects/Exhibitions, 1924-1997 Series 5: Parades, 1960-1997 Series 6: Product Literature, circa 1930s-1992 Series 7: Heart Patient Simulator Materials, 1977-1998 Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1925-1947 Series 9: Photographs, 1900-1997 Subseries 9.1: Family, 1900-1997 Subseries 9.2: Subjects, 1930-1995 Subseries 9.3: Chronological, 1957-1985 Subseries 9.4: Ephemera, undated Subseries 9.5: Postcards, undated Subseries 9.6: Negatives, undated Series 10: Oversize Materials, 1930-1989 Series 11: Audiovisual Materials, 1933-1937, 1997 Subseries 11.1: Audio Discs, 1933-1937 Subseries 11.2: Moving Image, 1997
- Processing Information
- Processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2013. Pamela Messmore Tobiason and Dana McKelvy provided additional biographical information and identified some photographs in Series 9: Photographs, July 2017.
- Rights
- Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
- Genre/Form
- Scrapbooks -- 20th century
- Photographs -- 20th century
- Clippings -- 20th century
- Business records -- 20th century
- Phonograph records
- Scope and Contents
- The collection consists of papers relating to Messmore and Damon's work in the design and construction of parade floats, museum dioramas, exhibitions, displays and scenery. The materials include business records, patents, photographs, scrapbooks containing clippings and photographs, promotional materials, sound recordings, and moving image.
- Restrictions
- The collection is open for research. Social Security numbers are present and numbers have been rendered unreadable and redacted. Researchers may use the photocopies in the collection. The remainder of the collection has no restrictions. Reference copies for the audio discs do not exist. Use of these materials requires special arrangement with Archives Center staff. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
NMAH.AC.0846
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8bff24a52-47bd-4f0d-a54e-86e811c4bf27
NMAH.AC.0846
ACAH
- Record ID
- ebl-1503510311145-1503510311155-0
