I visited the Huntington Library in San Marino a few weeks ago. The library has a collection of rare books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, maps and other materials in the field of British and American history and literature. The Library's collections range in time from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century. Among the items on permanent display is Chaucer'sThe Canterbury Tales.
Within the library is a science and technology museum covering the history of medicine, astronomy, ecology and electricity. I was delighted to find a room where they have on display around 200 light bulbs dating between the 1890’s to the 1960’s. Included were examples of the variety of bases, filament and globes in use before the development of current incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. The most interesting aspect of these bulbs for me was how different the filaments looked in each one. (see images!) Some were looped, some spiralled and some were in verticals lines, much more creative than the basic filament we’re all familiar with today.
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