Inventor Name
Whittemore, Amos
Repository
Winterthur Museum & Country Estate
Winterthur, DE 19735
http://www.winterthur.org/
Physical Description
3 cu. ft. [1 box + 1 folio] : ill (some col.)
Summary
Amos Whittemore was an inventor and manufacturer who lived and worked in Cambridge, MA. Born in 1759, he was the son of Thomas and Anna Whittemore. After attending public school, he became an apprentice to a gunsmith. He married Helen Weston in 1781 and they had twelve children. Whittemore was noted for his patented inventions, including a machine for cutting nails, a loom for weaving duck, a form of a mechanical ship's log, and several machines which made cotton and wool cards. He died in 1828. This collection contains two account books compiled by Amos Whittemore in 1812-1813 and 1815, as well as two inventories of his estate auction. Several manuscripts compiled by Henry Whittemore are also included: a copybook, a personal expense book, and an account book. The collection also contains several receipts and scraps of paper containing poetry and prayers found in a sewing box owned by Henry Whittemore. Henry Whittemore’s school copy book, or exercise book, was done in 1812, at Miss Gill’s Academny in West Cambridge, Mass., when Henry was 15 years old. It includes poetry (not by him) and essays written especially neatly. It contains mathematical and a number of geometry exercises. A mariner’s compass fills most of one page, along with an hourglass and a globe showing the poles, the equator, and the tropic lines. Two pages are devoted to architecture, on one of which appears two columns illustrating the Tuscan and Corinthian orders. There follows the façade of a house and a drawing of a sepulchral monument dedicated to the children and Amos and Helen Whittemore. The pages have decorative borders, several of which are in color. Laid into the front of the volume is a short essay entitled “Knowledge of the World,” written inside an oval floral border. It is signed by Henry Whittemore.
Finding Aid
http://findingaid.winterthur.org/html/HTML_Finding_Aids/COL0429.htm