I first visited the Smithsonian Institution Museum, Washington, D.C., in search of insulators in 1991. I found a total of fourteen insulators in three separate museum buildings. Of these fourteen insulators, only three were noteworthy. In a telegraph display in the old Smithsonian Castle, there was a CD 123 EC&M, a CD 1038 coffin base Cutter, and a CD 1000 glass block, all in aqua. 

Over the next two years, I spent many hours going through the different Smithsonian museums. After viewing the expansive collections of other items of American history, I began to wonder if there were more insulators packed away in the museum archives. I called the National Museum of American History, Department of Electricity and Modem Physics, in search of more information. I was informed that there were more insulators available for viewing in the Research Division. I made an appointment for the following week. 

My guide for the trip was the Research Collection Manager, Nance Briscoe. It turned out that one of her sons had also collected insulators, so she naturally understood my curiosity. She took me upstairs in the National Museum of American History to the caged room which housed the research collection. 

The collection was stored in a long rectangular room with floor to ceiling shelves organized in stacks not unlike the research area of a public library. The shelves contained everything imaginable having to do with electricity and modem physics, from Ben Franklin's experimental devices, through the inventions of Edison and Bell to the pocket calculators and laser disc players. Many of the items were one-of-a-kind, patent models, or items of historical importance. Nance Briscoe not only catalogs and researches the collection, but also repairs, restores, and maintains these important links in the chains of American history. And you thought keeping track of your insulator collection was tough! 

Nance told me that before I could look at the insulators, I had to look at the rest of the inventions and devices stored in the research collection. Needless to say, it was like trying to drink water from a firehouse!! We made our way chronologically through telegraph keys, phones and fiber optics. About twenty minutes into the tour, Nance told me that we were almost to the insulators. 

Two wood covered Wades

CD 1000 glass block in a wooden  "roof-cover" side mount

I looked at the shelf on my left and responded, "I think we're already there'" 

On the shelf to my left were three items; two Wades with perfect wood covers complete with sidepins and a CD 1000 glass block still in its wooden side mount! I wrote down the reference numbers for these beauties, and with Nance's help found that they had been donated to the museum by "an insulator collector" in the late 1800's'!!

The next set of shelves yielded a pair of royal purple CD 102 B.T.C. of Can/Diamond ponies complete with phone line and wires attached. One whole shelf was devoted to glass and porcelain suspension insulators. I noticed that there were no carnival glass suspensions and asked Nance about their absence. She explained that her department had not sought to obtain one of every type of insulator, merely representative samples of the field. This made sense given the limited about of storage space available to the Electricity and Modem Physics Department. As an example of excessive, one specialized area Nance Briscoe showed me was a vacuum tube collection that had been donated by a collector. The wooden, glass enclosed cases with their infinite array of TV, radio and communication tubes were beautiful to look at, but they took up the better part of an entire wall in the research collection. 

The actual insulator collection itself was stored in large wooden drawers at the end of the room and was divided into two sections. The first set of drawers contained insulators which had arrived piecemeal over the years. The second set of drawers contained a collection that had been donated by a man named Sawyer. 

The first drawer I opened had four Wades and three Brooke's ramshorns along with various white porcelain spools used in household wiring. The condition of these pieces would lead one to believe that they had been salvaged from historical digs or demolitions of old structures. 

Two CD 735 Chesters flank a carnival CD 118 and an H.K. Porter on the right.

A couple of drawers later I came upon the threadless insulators and my second favorite insulator of the entire trip. This drawer had four threadless insulators, an H.K Porter plastic replacement (how did that get there?) and a carnival glass CD 118. There were two aqua CD 735 U.S. TEL./CHESTER, one mint and one near mint, a shellaced wooden/composition hat, and the "beauty" -- a VNM (Skirt crack) CD735.6 "Big Blue." The label affixed to this insulator was yellowed with age and stated that the insulator had come off the side of a house in the late 1800's! But I said that this was my second favorite insulator, I found my favorite in the next drawer! 

"Big Blue's" label indicated it came off 
the side of a house in the 1800's.

As we finished up I asked Nance about donations. There were, for example, no power piece or porcelain and many common shaped and manufacturers missing as well. She reminded me again about the "representative" nature of the collection and the problems with storage. She also stated that she is interested in the research that collectors have done, and would welcome information to augment their research files. Her address, should anyone like to help preserve information concerning insulators, lightning rod balls, etc. is:

Nance L. Briscoe 
Collection Manager
Division of Electricity and Modem Physics 
National Museum of American History 
Smithsonian Institution 
Washington, D.C. 20560 
(202) 357-1840

One final note...as I was leaving, I commented to Nance that I had been through all of the museums in the Smithsonian looking for insulators. She asked me if I had been to the new hands-on exhibit in the National Museum of American History. I told her that I had not, and she led me downstairs.

In the telegraph hands-on area was a reconstruction of an old telegraph pole with two cross arms. "What was on it?", you ask. Only a mint CD 737 Lefferts, two Brooke's ramshorns, two cobalt CD 123 EC&Ms, an aqua CD 131 Brookfield and a purple CD 121 W.G.M. CO.!

Several other items in the general collection: CD 732 in blackglass 
and CD 106 Lynchburg in olive green; CD 102.3 Dot, Dot in aqua and
 a CD 106.1 Duquesne in cornflower blue.