by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant The past few months have brought us several donations that were heavier on artifacts than they were on paper. That’s a little unusual for an archive but not necessarily a bad thing. Honestly, artifact donations are often very entertaining. The heirs of a Fort Worth-area nurse named Senorita (that was […]
Thingamajig follow-up
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu It looks as though the verdict is still out on last week’s Thingamajig. Suggestions have included rib cutters, a very small bottle opener, and tonsil guillotines. Tonsil guillotines strike me as a good guess but I think these might be a bit small even for those. One of the […]
Thingamajig
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu We haven’t had a Thingamajig in awhile but, luckily, we just got a new donation, and new donations often mean new mystery objects. We can thank the estates of Drs. Robert G. McCorkle, junior and senior, for the following: There are two of them, left and right. They’re about […]
Thingamajig, Part III
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu I’m pleased to announce that we have cause to revisit the most recent Thingamjig! I did what I often have to do when faced with an object about which I know so little I don’t even know where to start looking: I send emails. Lots of emails. A few […]
Thingamajig – The mystery returns
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Well, to borrow a sound bite from “Car Talk“, this chump is stumped[2]. The problem with identifying unidentified objects is that it’s very difficult to research them if you don’t know what they are. It’s a little bit like asking how a word is spelled and being told to […]
Thingamajig
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu Thingamajigs often make for short posts because I don’t want to give too much away. This one will be an especially short post because, in all honesty, I have no idea what it is. (I guess that solves the “give too much away” problem, doesn’t it? I can’t give […]
Thingamajig
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant We’re back with the answer to last week’s Thingamajig! Here it is, to refresh your memory: We got several suggestions about what this might be, including a snail race track (complete with “escargot”–car go–pun), a snake warmer, and, more seriously, a giant electrophoresis apparatus. Actually, the snake warmer guess wasn’t […]
Thingamjig
by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu We’ve gotten some new donations, which have included new Thingamajig fodder. The following came from the estate of Thomas Matney, M.D. (1928-2010). It’s almost three feet long and, although it’s made of aluminum, it’s pretty much cast solid and probably weighs fifty or sixty pounds. Phil commented that it […]
Thingamajig answer
by Alethea Drexler archives assistant The research center will be closed until Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I’m moving the blog post up a couple of days. Last week’s Thingamajig was an H.G Fischer x-ray power source. A similar one can be seen here at the online Museum of Electrotherapy. The Museum’s model may […]
Thingamajig
by Alethea Drexler archives assistant Hey, it’s the Thingamajig! Remember the Thingamajig? I almost didn’t, either! This edition of Thingamajig features an object that has been hanging out at the McGovern Research Center for a long time but was only recently identified (yes, I will be able to post an answer for you next week). […]