[Dave A]

We have come to the end of the road and it is not as we hoped but common for the time. Phil was right in the reverse chase and the family did come through with an email this morning from one of Ken's daughters that got my notes from the pastor. She is spot on as to the set and it's demise. The internet is a great thing.

I have excerpted her email so as to not identify her. Her response;

"I am not sure, but I believe the TV you have a receipt for is the old one we had for years with the lift up lid. The sad story of this is that Pop saved it for many years and one day while cleaning his workshop, he decided it was of no use and broke it apart and burned it. As the story goes, three weeks later the Smithsonian called about it and Pop regretted this until the day he died."

Now it sounds like a family set and not a shop queen. As to it's fate, I am thinking back to a Smithsonian observance of the 50th anniversary of television they mounted in a few rooms in the summer of 1989 with a great display of old sets. Somewhere around here I have photo prints of the event as I went to see it. And I still have my coffee cup from the gift shop.

She continues;

"I will check through the family photos to see if we have any pictures that include it. We also had an early TV with a large round screen that I remember watching as a child. I don’t know what happened to this one but I will check with my brother to see if he knows."

"As for the receipt you have, feel free to keep it and it would be nice if you want to donate it to the Museum. I haven’t a clue how you have this receipt and I can tell by looking at it, that it is a piece of memorabilia that survived out family house fire on Oct. 1952."

Her mention of a large screen could refer to the 15" or so larger screen on Ken's bench but that would not be what a child would watch. Ken was busy with screens. Chuck A sent me a note as to him having met Ken in the 70's in his cable days and noted that Ken wrote the book on early cable. And now we know about the jagged edges of the paper surviving a house fire. How I got it is up for guess. I think it may have been in a bunch of paper I bought which may have been passed along numerous times. If Steve wants it I will frame it and send it to ETF.

You may now all turn your cars/vans/box trucks around and return home from SE Pennsylvania. Delete all you Google map photos and return to Craigslist for the find of all time. And check your paper you have stashed that you never think about.

"I rely on the kindness of strangers." Blanch DuBois

And a happy 4th of July to all the fans of this thread.