Hello all.

We've had the unfortunate experience of having found a small light bulb
in our collection in a small cardboard typewriter ribbon box ( It's a GE
15w 120v bulb and about 3" long).  It has no accession number on it and
we cannot find any such object in our card catalog.  I'm sure we're the
only museum ever that's found unnumbered objects on a shelf in the
collection, right?  :-)

Anyway, we need to determine if it's a museum piece or a small light bulb
that somebody took out of an exhibit case and set on a shelf.  Have light
bulbs changed since, say 1930 or 1950, in any way that's noticeable to
the average person?

Perhaps it could be a bulb that lights the dial on a BIG radio or something
like that, but there's no documentation of it with any of the possible
electronic items in our collections, so I'm thinking all we can do is assume
that it's a museum piece and catalog it with a new number and the note
"of unknown origin--found in the collection" and hope someone figures it
out someday.  Any advice?

Thanks!

Chris.

Christine Mouw
Assistant Curator
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum
West Branch, Iowa  52358
[log in to unmask]