{"id":18570,"date":"2024-12-06T10:47:49","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=18570"},"modified":"2024-12-06T10:47:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T16:47:51","slug":"victor-animatograph-company-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2024\/12\/06\/victor-animatograph-company-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Animatograph Company of America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Davenport and the other Quad Cities have a robust and vibrant industrial history. This region saw the development of many new technologies that have impacted the rest of the country and the world. One such example is the Victor Animatograph Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victor Animatograph Co., according to an article published in the Davenport Democrat and Leader<\/em> on February 6, 1910, filed with the \u201cCounty Recorder Frank Holm by Lane & Waterman in which the capitalization of the firm is placed at $100,000 and the place of business at Davenport.\u201d The first officers of the business were A.F. Victor, as president, Wilson McClelland, as vice president, W.R. Weir, as Secretary, Dick R. Lane, as treasurer, and the board of directors including A.F. Victor, Wilson McClelland, W.R. Weir, Dick Lane, C.J. Von Maur, Charles Shuler, and Sam T. White.  It was located at 1545 \u00bd Rockingham Road in Davenport, Iowa according to the 1910 Davenport City Directory.  <\/p>\n\n\n

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The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Davenport, IA), Feb. 6, 1910, page 13.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In an article published in The Daily Times <\/em>on June 17, 1910, the Victor Animatograph Company outlines the creation of their machine known as the \u201cAnimato-graph, promises to revolutionize the moving picture machine business, as it will enable the purchase of such machines for the home and enable any person to take the moving pictures, develop and print them, and reproduce them on a screen in a simple manner and at small cost.\u201d Additionally, the company highlighted toy machines designed for children to show lithograph pictures. It also confirmed the company’s officers published in the February 1910 article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company established a strong presence in the film and picture industry. They developed many different products for people of all ages. According to the Davenport city directories, the location of the Victor Animatograph Company moved from 314-316 East 2nd<\/sup> Street to 527 West Fourth Street and then finally to an office and plant on Hickory Grove Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the early 1900s, they printed the world\u2019s first catalogue of visual education subjects\u2014thousands of slides on subjects from the Holy City to the solar system.\u201d The featherweight slides are an example of this ubiquitous content that was tailored to the education field.\u00a0\u00a0 In an interview with Sam Rose and Bill Wundram, they discuss that \u201cin 1913, the first marketed product of young Victor company was the Stereotrope, a new and greatly-improved development in the stereopticon field. About this time, Victor invented the self-centering arc lamp and used it in the stereopticon.\u201d (Wundram)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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According to his obituary in The Rock Island Argus, \u201c<\/em>in 1923, Mr. Victor announced for the first time the availability to the world of 16 mm projectors, cameras and corresponding width film.\u201d (\u201cAlexander Victor\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Daily Times (Davenport, IA), Aug. 11, 1923, page 16.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alexander and the Victor Animatograph Company were credited with beginning \u201cthe 16mm industry and helping it reach its present important status in the economy, education and culture of the nation. He was the first to design, produce and market 16 millimeter projectors and cameras, and also initiated the struggle to establish a new standard of film, made from non-flammable materials and narrower in width than the theatrical size.\u201d (\u201c16 Millimeter Motion Picture\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander was president of the company until 1947-48. After he resigned, he was elected honorary chairman of the board of the Victor Animatograph Company. His successor as president was Samuel G. Rose. Samuel Rose had been with the company since 1910 when he started as its sales manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 1946, \u201cThe Curtiss-Wright Co. bought Victor Corp. and built a new Davenport plant on Hickory Grove Road.\u201d Unfortunately, the management of the two companies did not agree on the future of the company\u2019s growth which led to a buyout by Samuel Rose and a group of Davenporters. They purchased the patent rights, dies, and other equipment except for the physical plant. According to Sam Rose, \u201cProduction of Victor equipment was resumed from a plant in Chicago and continued under this arrangement\u2014with Rose at the helm\u2014until [May] 1956.\u201d (Wundram) They sold out to Kalart Company and the firm produced Victor equipment in Plainville, Connecticut. The Victor Animatograph Company from 1953 until its selling in 1956 had executive offices in the Davenport Bank Building and a Services department located at either 518 West 4th<\/sup> or its last location at 318 Pershing Avenue. In 1958, Don Greet was the service manager of the company. The Victor Animatograph Company was not listed in the Davenport city directories after 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Daily Times (Davenport, IA), Aug. 12, 1944, page 6. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The man behind the company, Alexander F. Victor, was interested in many creative and innovative avenues. Alexander Ferdinand Victor (n\u00e9 Victor F. Lagerstam) was born on June 22, 1878 to Joh. (John) Alfred Lagerstam and Emilie Sofia Klar in Bolln\u00e4s, G\u00e4vleborg, Sweden. He immigrated to the United States with his parents and his brother around 1894-1895 when he was 16 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He married Alphrilda Hanvass on August 26, 1903 in Pine City, New York. They had one daughter, Victoria Astrid, on January 19, 1905 in Davenport, Iowa. Alexander and Alphrilda divorced sometime after this. Victoria passed away on February 16, 1928 in Vermont.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1903, he lived in Toledo, Ohio where he worked as a salesman and later the Eastern Representative of the White Lily Manufacturing Company. He became a stockholder in June 1909 in the company. He is credited with inventing the first washing machine developed for White Lily. While he worked for the manufacturing company, he continued to develop his passion for delighting audiences with his performances as a magician and early projectionist. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when a fire destroyed a magic show he was conducting in Toledo. This incident was noted in several articles and seems to have been another reason for Alexander\u2019s later move to Davenport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Davenport, IA), Jun. 4, 1909, page 7. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to an article published in the Davenport Morning Star <\/em>on January 25, 1905, during a visit to Davenport, he was the entertainment at the Davenport Letter Carrier Annual Ball. In the 1910 city directory, he officially moved to Davenport and was noted as living at 31 Edgehill Terrace with his wife Lenore. They married between 1909 and 1910. They later separated either through divorce or death between 1925 and 1945. Unfortunately, there are no records to document the end of this relationship. \u00a0He was naturalized on June 6, 1924 while living in Davenport at the Blackhawk Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander lived between Davenport, Chicago, Illinois, and New York City, New York. When he resided in Davenport, he mainly stayed at the Blackhawk Hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 5, 1945, Alexander married Nora Marie Ostgaard in Chihuahua, Mexico. After retiring, Victor moved from Davenport to Carmel, California, in 1949. He died at the age of 84 on March 29, 1961 in Monterey Hospital. He was a resident of Pebble Beach, California.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Morning Democrat (Davenport, IA), Mar. 31, 1961, page 23. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Another associated with the Victor Animatograph Company since its beginning was Sam Rose. Samuel Gleason Rose was born on July 26, 1887 to John W. Rose and Mary Blanchard in Wyoming. According to the 1910 United States Federal Census, Samuel was listed as a bookkeeper in an office and lived as a lodger in Davenport, Iowa. He worked for the Victor Animatograph Company from 1910 until its final sale where he was listed as the president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his personal life, he married Kathleen M. McCluer in 1920. She was born in 1889 in Kansas City, Missouri. According to her birth certificate, they had one daughter, Mary Frances, born at St. Luke\u2019s Hospital on November 2, 1926. He passed away on March 24, 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Special Collections, we have several collections related to the Victor Animatograph Company and its products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n