
Historic Prints
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In
1963, while editor of ELEVATOR WORLD, your acting curator edited the first
(but brief -- 40 pages) history of the elevator industry. Included, almost
as an after-thought, were three pages of recollections by four veterans
whose average service within the industry was half a century -- a total
of 201 years! Then in the autumn of their years, they reflected upon the
early days in the vertical transportation field. After the issue's publication,
ELEVATOR WORLD received more comments upon the reminiscences of Ray Berry,
Frank Buckridge, George Reppert and Nate Schlesinger than any other part
of the history. Later, during several decades of visiting with veterans
in other national elevator industries and collecting memorabilia, the writer
found the personal stories and photographs of our company's first building,
the founding group of employees, or the founder, himself, said as much
about the evolution of the industry as the march of equipment and techniques.
It was therefore decided to include such reminiscences and photos within
the first online museum. Human interest provided by veterans can breathe
life into an industry, the core of which has usually been seen as cold,
hard machinery. In this Wing, we will collect and present the human interest
information concerning veterans, their associates and their environments,
as well as the companies considered to have changed the course of history
in some manner. "A picture is worth a thousand words," a sage Chinese
is reported to have said; photos of founders and their workers, the original
site, the oldest employees and other human interest will personalize and
color this museum's content. Man does not live by machinery alone.
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