W3XK -- America's first television station A scrapbook of postcards, letters, and QSL cards collected by station owner, Charles Francis Jenkins Charles Francis Jenkins (1867-1934) was the founding member and first president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers ( SMPTE ). He was a prolific inventor who achieved over 400 patents, including 75 devoted just to mechanical television. Among his other patents were the automobile self-starter, radio navigation, paper milk carton technology, reversible propellers, time-lapse photography, and the front-mounted automobile engine. Albert Abramson wrote that Charles Francis Jenkins was "...the only man in history who was present at the birth of both the motion picture and television. As America's first pioneer of television, his vision is revealed in two historic articles: "Transmitting Pictures by Electricity" in the July 25, 1894 issue of ELECTRICAL ENGINEER and "Motion Pictures by Wireless" in the September 27, 1913 issue of MOTION PICTURE NEWS. Jenkins transmitted the earliest moving silhouette images in December 1923, which was the first witnessed demonstration (by two journalists, including Hugo Gernsback) of a working television system. On June 13, 1925, he publicly performed his first public wireless transmission of television images from Anacosta, Virginia to Washington, D.C. And on July 2, 1928, Jenkins Labs commenced broadcasting on W3XK scheduled television programs five nights a week continuously for several years. At first, the television station was limited to primitive silhouette images because of its 10kHz bandwidth, but soon it was allowed to move its carrier frequency to 4.95 MHz with a bandwidth of 100 kHz and a power of 5000 Watts. The following documents (QSL postcards and ordinary postcards) assembled by Jenkins in his personal scrapbook record the reception of some of these vintage television transmissions as well as his other amateur radio and experimental broadcasts involving this station.

Cover article: "Men Who Have Made Radio--C. Francis Jenkins," RADIO-CRAFT, Vol 1 (5): 201, November 1929 Cover article: "Pioneers of Television--Charles Francis Jenkins," by Albert Abramson, SMPTE JOURNAL, Vol. 95 (2): 224, February 1986 Four books by Jenkins: ANIMATED PICTURES, Wash., DC: C.F. Jenkins, 1898, 118pp., plus 20pp. ads. VISION BY RADIO. RADIO PHOTOGRAPHS. RADIO PHOTOGRAMS., Wash., DC: Jenkins Lab., 1925, 140pp. RADIOMOVIES, RADIOVISION, TELEVISION. 1929, Wash., DC: Jenkins Lab., 143pp. THE BOYHOOD OF AN INVENTOR, Wash., DC: C.F. Jenkins, 1931, 273pp.

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	1AIX QSL card from Ed. Waitt 9DKA QSL card from J. A. Piker, 4/6/27		5AQE QSL card from F. W. McKelvy, 11/26 8SV QSL card from D.S. McClung, 12/26
	Letter from R. McWilliam, 2/30 Letter from James Millen, 8/28		Letter from Leo Hruska, W9BBH, 11/28 Letter from C. B. Hoffmann, 6/30
	1BQD QSL card from George M. Mathewson, 4/10/27 8BMR QSL card from John J. Fluck, 4/10/27		1BSJ QSL card from I. Creaser, 6/29/30 6NK QSL card from R. J. Denny (England), 1/2/27
	1CCZ QSL card from Ed. C. Crossett,, 6/29/30 2VC QSL card from Louis J Varson, 6/27/28		2AFV QSL card from E. Roberts, 8/27 1BJM QSL card from A. M. Tewksbury
	2AHI QSL card from John Morley, 10/27 1AGA QSL card from R. W. Peterson, 10/27		2AHP QSL card from J. Spafford (England), 6/30 Letter from W. R. Orell, 4WW, 5/27
	2BV QSL card from Charles M. English, 4/27 3WT & 8BTI QSL card from Carl W. Luhn		2BFY QSL card from O. E. c.1927 2CXL & 2XBB QSL card from Army ARRL, F. E. Lynn
	3AEU QSL card from Ruffner Jr. H.S., Bill Martin, 12/26 9BVP QSL card from E. J. Maloney		3ALF (3FR) QSL card from O. E., c.1927 3FI QSL card from Charles Hartman, 7/28
	3BBW QSL card from ??? 3NR QSL card from Willard R. Burton		3CGF QSL card from R. A. Lloyd, 8/28 9BNF QSL card from Louis Thomsen, 9/28
	5IE QSL card from John Williams, 8/29 Letter from N. Booth (England), 4/1/27		Letter from Fred E. Allen 8ASW QSL card from Buckalew, 7/16/28
	3SN QSL card from A. Foxcroft, 8/13/27 Letter from A. E. Smith (Nov.)		Letter from Fraenckhel Letter from A. E. Smith (Feb.)
	8AHP QSL card from R. H. Kolks, 9/7/28 1AUE QSL card from Harry O. Graves, 8/23/28		6EA QSL card from Howard C. Seefred, 11/5/27 9CRV QSL card from Charles W. Soltau, 9/1/27
	W1IM QSL card from Clifford Fraser, 10/15/28		8AQM (8CGH, 8YP) QSL cards from Seneca Vocational School, 11/24/26
	8CAU QSL card from U. of Cincinnati, 4/10/27 3ACM QSL card from E. A. Merryman		8DUB QSL card from G. Donald Fenton, 8/22/28 8AXF QSL card from Harry G. Cotter, 8/24/28
	9DUB QSL card from A. H. Wiedenheft, 1/9/26 Letter from Smith		8NWU QSL card from Dr. Girvin 3ADM QSL card from John A. Roehm, 7/2/28
	8UP QSL card from B. A. Chenoweth, 10/29/28 Letter from Charles Hazzard, 9/21/28		9ARK QSL card from M. J. McKee, c.1928 1AKD QSL card from John Johnson, 8/3/28
	9DUW QSL card from J. Brubaker, 4/25 9DAX QSL card from Leon A. Faber, 10/19/27		9BLU QSL card from Victor Morrison, 8/4/27 9AQE QSL card from E. Hesher, 4/11/27
	8AAZ QSL card from E. H. Wollmuth, 8/20/28 Letter from Howard Adams, Jr., 8/28/28		9KB QSL card from VKern, 1/5/27 9BPX QSL card from Jo
	8YP & 8CGH QSL card from Seneca Voc. H.S., "8SD" 11/24/26 9CNN QSL card from J. F. Craft, 1/9/27		9DYT QSL card from W. W. Quinley, 8/30/27 8CMO QSL card from H. S. Miller, 10/15/27
	9CSJ QSL card from Robert E. Hastings, 10/22/27 5ATS QSL card from S. J. Bayne, Jr., 10/22/27

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A selection of television history websites with information about Charles Francis Jenkins http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/JENKINS_BIO.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Jenkins http://home.luna.nl/~arjan-muil/radio/HomeRadioMovies.htm http://inventors.about.com/science/inventors/library/inventors/blcharlesjenkins.htm http://www.mrlinfo.org/history/biography/jenkinscf.htm http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/J/htmlJ/jenkinschar/jenkinschar.htm http://www.tvhistory.tv/C-Francis-Jenkins.htm http://www.victorian-cinema.net/jenkins.htm

NOTE: This scrapbook is in public storage and unavailable. I cannot answer specific questions regarding its content at this time.

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