Beschreibung:

Lot of 3. TNS, 7.25 x 8.5 in., Rochester (NY), Apr. 9, 1902. On Eastman Kodak Company letterhead, signed Geo. Eastman. Declining nomination for membership in the Lotus Club. Eastman writes that he is already a member of two other clubs, the thresholds of which he has never yet crossed. George Eastman (1854-1932) began by manufacturing dry plates used in early cameras. He developed these into a camera and plate system which could be used by amateurs, but the following year purchased a patent for roll film, which he then modified and improved. The film was used in the first small cameras - a Kodak that took 2.5 in. diameter round pictures with 100 per roll of film. These were followed shortly by Eastman Kodak's folding and pocket models in the early 1890s, and the first Brownie in 1900. In spite of this, Eastman continued to focus his energy on film and other "consumables" (paper, chemicals, etc.). Not only did Eastman bring photography to everyone, he laid the foundations for motion pictures, and, one might argue, today's digital world in which nearly everyone has a camera at their fingertips. Having never married, Eastman used his great wealth for many philanthropic endeavors, including many schools of technology, dentistry, and medicine (Rochester Institute of Technology, MIT, Eastman School of Music, Tuskegee, Hampton Univ., and more). TLS, 1p, New York, Mar. 26, 1934. On Thomas J. Watson's letterhead wishing Regina Wiley a happy 85th birthday, signed by Watson. Thomas John Watson (Sr.) (1874-1956) held a number of jobs, mostly sales (organs & pianos, sewing machines, stocks, running a butcher shop), none successful. When his butcher shop failed, he had to get his newly-purchased NCR cash register transferred to a new owner. While visiting NCR, he decided this was where he wanted to work, and (today we would say) stalked the Buffalo manager, John Range, until he hired Watson. Watson went on to transform NCR (partly by anti-competitive practices for which he and 26 others were tried and convicted), and later, IBM. And, no, there is no evidence that he made the statement often attributed to him that there was a world market for only about five computers (although he did acknowledge that early computers were so expensive that the number of companies which could afford one was limited). TNS, 5 x 6.5 in., New York, Oct. 24, 1918. On note paper with only an address (although all New Yorkers at the time would have known "26 Broadway"), signed John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Inviting Wiley, as one of a number of newspaper men in Greater New York, to a luncheon to discuss the United War Work Campaign. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960) was a member of the family which founded Standard Oil. While Junior was involved in the family business, especially mining, he had far more impact in the Rockefeller philanthropic efforts, in part driven by strong religious and moral beliefs, which amounted to over half a billion dollars in his lifetime. He aided organizations from the Museum of Modern Art to the Bureau of Social Hygiene to religious institutions to repair of famous buildings in Europe damaged by the war and many building efforts in America. Louis Wiley was born in Homell, Steuben County, NY in 1869. The family moved shortly after to Mt. Sterling, KY, then to Ft. Wayne, IN. Even as a child, he left an impression on all with whom he came in contact as energetic, enthusiastic and always trying to do his best. He decided in childhood that he wanted to be in the newspaper business. His father died when he was 17, and the family moved to Rochester, where he began working for the Union and Advertiser, and soon moved to the Post Express, while also publishing his own paper, Jewish Tidings. By the age of 26, he decided to try his luck in the "Big Apple." So, with a pile of recommendations solicited from everyone he knew, he struck out on his own, away from family and friends. He immediately went to work for the New York Sun, but found that it d