2026-10-08 — American Philosophical Society, Elihu Thomson Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.74)

URL: https://as.amphilsoc.org/repositories/2/archival_objects/919813 (a Series IV item page whose sidebar lists the whole series). Reached from Google site:as.amphilsoc.org Elihu Thomson Papers Houston notebook 1871 OR 1875 "etheric". The site showed a Cloudflare-style "Performing security verification" page that cleared by itself after a few seconds (no CAPTCHA, nothing clicked).

Found (finding-aid entries only; no documents read) [web]

Series IV, Published Works, 1869-1932, includes: - "Electrical phenomena; the alleged etheric force--test experiments as to its identity with induced electricity (with E.J. Houston), Apr.-May 1876" - "Experiments with Ruhmkorff coil and spark, Jan.[?] 1876" - "On the change in color produced in certain chemical compounds by heat (with E.J. Houston), Aug. 1871" - "Thomson discovered electric waves fifty years ago, Jul. 1922" - "A short story in wireless, Jul. 1922" (published in The Electrician, London, vol. 89, pp. 242-243, 1 Sept. 1922, per Yates, Everyman's Guide to Radio) - "Wireless considerations, Oct. 1922"; "Wireless telegraphy, Oct. 1908"; "Curious effects of Hertzian waves, Jul. 1894" - "A tribute to Dr. Monroe B. Snyder, 1932" (the 1875 witness in Woodbury's account) Other series: Series VIII Notebooks, 1865-1936; Series I Professional Correspondence ca. 1870-1937; Series XIII Clippings and Scrapbooks, 1866-1955. No entry in this list is Houston's 1871 "New Connection" note (it was Houston's alone).

Bearing

Priority 1/4: Thomson's notebooks for 1871 and 1875 are the record that would show who made the 1871 observations, with what battery and what measurements, and whether the 1875 test used "resonators" (Woodbury) or balanced battery halves/magnets (April 1876 paper). Thomson's 1922 pieces are his own later account (stake: his priority claim to electric waves). Result: positive (records located, not read). Recheck: yes (request notebooks 1871 and 1875; the 1922 items).