Lemelson believed that education was key to helping the US regain its place at the top of innovation and creativity in the world. In 1993, he and his wife Dorothy started the Lemelson Foundation to support educational initiatives to attract young people to science and invention. © Smithsonian Institution.
WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has accepted the donation of the papers of the late inventor Jerome H. Lemelson, a gift from the Dorothy Lemelson Trust. The Jerome H. Lemelson Papers, spanning 1943–2003, consist of 363 cubic feet of papers documenting Lemelson’s inventions, his creative process, the patent process and the legal process by which he secured his rights. Lemelson’s patents cover a wide range of topics—toys, medicine and technology. In addition to documenting Lemelson’s inventions, the papers also document his work defending the rights of independent inventors by working to reform patent law and the legal system. The collection includes invention notebooks, patents, patent applications, correspondence, subject reference files, licensing agreements, patent litigation files, newspaper clippings, sketches, ephemera and audio-visual materials.
The invention notebooks form the core of the collection, providing detailed descriptions of possible new inventions and ideas spanning 46 years. Lemelson’s notebooks contain notes about meetings with colleagues, variations on patent ideas, outlines of patent specifications and related sketches. Notebook entries are often dated and signed by Lemelson and witnesses to whom he disclosed his ideas. The notebooks present a comprehensive overview of his ideas and are significant to understanding his creative process and how his ideas changed or did not change over time…