When the writer started to collect lamps (in the late 1950s) there were only a few collectors with whom one could communicate, and generally that was by means of letter writing. Websites can help to achieve greater communication and that is presently achieved by means of Tim Tromp's site, for example. Get-together meetings also have multiple benefits and Jerry Westlick's annual meetings have served that need very well. Few people who have collections that are displayed have come forward to invite others who are interested to visit and view them. The late Dr. Hugh F. Hicks was an exception and his Mt. Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting was well worth a visit to view. In 1976 Dr. Hicks created a lamp display for viewing in Moscow as part of the United States bicentennial celebration exhibition.

The origin of the following article is not known nor is the time frame. Based on the content of the article it appears that it might have been written about 1946. A picture appeared with the article but was too dark for reproduction. The article read:

"He Scours the Earth for Light Bulbs "When Charles B. Sero, a third-generation Detroiter, was six years old, he happened upon an old electric-light bulb, thought it a very interesting object, and laid it away among his prized possessions. Now sixty, Sero has the world's largest collection of old and odd bulbs, many of which are historically or scientifically invaluable.

"One reason this singular project—it is no longer a hobby, he says, but 'my life'—has succeeded is that Sero has built up an army of volunteer deputy collectors all over the world. The war greatly accelerated this international search, bringing in such items as bulbs that helped fly the Enola Gay on her atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a dial light from Himmler's personal radio, and bulbs that lighted the German and Japanese surrender signatures on the Victory Train that toured the United States.

"Sero's oldest item is an 1883 handmade Edison that still burns. He might have acquired—one way or another—the very first bulb Edison made, but after it had glowed for forty-four hours, the inventor broke it to see why it went out. Sero did pick up an exact reproduction, even to the carbonized sewing thread filament. He trailed four rare Austrian-made bulbs nineteen years, and two unusual toy bulbs forty years, before landing them. His tiniest is about the size of a grain of wheat; his largest, a 50,000-watt bulb, is as big as an eight-year-old boy.

"One of his present goals is an osmium-filament bulb, of which a very few were made in Europe around 1906 and rented, not sold, to users. 'I'll get one any day now!' he declares.

"Sero, who is pictured above, has been urged to commercialize his unique collection in public exhibitions, but he has steadfastly refused. 'I don't want to make a cent from it,' he says. Recently, he gladly complied with an Army request to show the bulbs without charge in an enlistment drive, He has decided to place his collection on free permanent exhibition. The formal dedication is scheduled for February 11, 1947. Why that particular date?

" 'That date' Sero explains, 'is the hundredth anniversary of Tom Edison's birth.' "
—Mack Brandewiede.

"Original Edison Light Bulb is Among 1,900 in Museum
"TORONTO (Canadian Press)
"—One of Thomas Edison's original light bulbs—still in working condition—is part of a collection of 1,900 lamps that 77-year-old Arthur Plumpton has in his care at the Ontario Hydromuseum.

"Mr. Plumpton works half a day five days a week and spends a lot of time writing letters.

" 'I'm in contact with people all over the world,' he said.

"As a result, he has obtained lamps from as far away as Australia to add to his collection.

"Mr. Plumpton, regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on light bulbs, spent 45 years with Hydro's research division before his retirement in 1958."

The following article appeared in the Illuminating Engineering Society publication of August, 1965, pg 22A.

"Historical lamps...A rare collection of early incandescent lamps, some produced as long as 70 years ago, has been put on display at the Burndy Library in Norwalk, Conn. On indefinite loan from Westinghouse Lamp Division, the collection includes nearly 300 incandescent lamps produced during a 35-year period starting in 1895. The old light sources were produced by various concerns, and a number were made abroad.

"Many fascinating examples of earlylamp-making craftsmanship are included in the exhibit. Filaments are made from carbon, tantalum, or squirted tungsten and are formed in strange, complex patterns no longer seen. The filaments are not coiled as is custimary today. Also of interest is the great range of shapes and sizes of bulbs.

"The Burndy Library, which contains 20,000 volumes, houses one of the world's fine collections of physical and biological science manuscripts. One mezzanine is devoted to electricity and magnetism."

An article appeared in The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine (newspaper in Cleveland, OH) on November 22, 1970 that showed the extensive collections of William G. Hachtel. Hachtel's overall collection included many items other than old light bulbs, but judging from the picture, his lamp collection appeared to be substantial.

Some lamps from the collection of G. R. Brown were shown in two articles in the Spinning Wheel, Feb 1959 and Jun 1960.

Fin Stewart, who resides in Australia, was featured as a lamp collector in 1961 in the Philips Reporter. Then, again, in 1969, a story about his collection appeared in a suburban Cleveland newspaper when Fin and his family visited the United States.

The collection that this writer had several years ago appeared in The Record Newspapers in Troy, NY in 1960. A lamp display was then shown in the GE News in Cleveland in early 1962.

It is believed that some lamps are on exhibit in Havemeyer Hall on the main campus of Columbia University in New York City.

Some of the lamps in the Smithsonian collection can be seen in their publication: Lighting a Revolution, The National Museum of History & Technology, Smithsonian Institution, 1979.

A Light Exhibition was held from April to July, 2001 at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA. Eleven lamps were exhibited there from the William J. Hammer Collection that is stored at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. These lamps were: 1883 Siemens, 1880 Maxim, 1882 Lane-Fox (which was acquired by Hammer at the 1882 Crystal Palace Electrical Exposition), 1881 Lane-Fox, 1882 Swan (a lamp presented to Hammer by Joseph Swan at the Royal Institution), 1889 Thomson-Houston, 1888 Hammer (designed by Hammer and taken to the Paris Exposition in 1889), 1883 Maxim, 1883 Cruto, 1885 Bernstein and 1904 Nernst.

An article in a 1961/62 issue of the Philips Technical Review (Vol 23, No 8/9) showed a picture of 20 lamps that were on display at Teyler's Museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. The lamps had been purchased at the Paris Exhibition in 1881.

Jerry Westlick, of Elmore, Ohio, has a magnificent private collection of lamps that is shown in grand style in his home. It is certainly one of the most impressive displays this writer has seen. He had an article printed on May 28, 2002 in The Plain Dealer, the Cleveland, Ohio daily paper, about his collection. Another article appeared in The Press, of Elmore, Ohio, on Jun 17, 2002.

An article appeared in the Cleveland GE News on Feb 4, 1972 in which a collector of incandescent lamps was featured; her name: Millie Boutall. One of three photographs from that article follows.

The writer has communicated for many years with a collector who lives in Czechoslovakia; his name is Stanislaw Slabyhoudek. His interests are broad and he has a very large collection. Stan put a message on Tim's site (under Bulb Discussion) on Aug 6, 2003. I followed, on Aug 7th, with a picture of a display he had several years ago.

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