By the Numbers: Inventors

May is National Inventors Month

135,850
Number of items in the Edison Sheet Music Collection, housed at University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor. Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph in 1877, spearheaded this collection as a way for his phonograph company to select vocal and instrumental scores to record.

44
Number of agricultural bulletins George Washington Carver authored from 1899 to 1936, all of which are held at Tuskegee (Ala.) University (TU) Archives. Carver was best known for boosting Southern farming with his inventions and discovering hundreds of new uses for crops like peanuts and soybeans. He taught and conducted research at Tuskegee Institute, now known as TU, for nearly 50 years.

2
Number of containers of hair care product created by Madam C. J. Walker that are held by Indianap­olis Public Library (IPL). A collection of ephemera related to Walker—an early 20th-century Black beauty innovator who holds a Guinness world record for being the first self-made woman millionaire—is stored at IPL’s Center for Black Literature and Culture.

2023
Year that Kraemer Family Library (KFL) at University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS)debuted its Inventor-in-Residence program. The inaugural resident, entrepreneur and UCCS Innovation Director Benjamin Kwitek, will consult on the development of innovation-centric programs, services, and collections.

19
Number of women inventors featured in the Picturing Women Poster Exhibition, created by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation in 2021. A traveling version of the exhibit has since been made available to libraries and schools across the US, sharing the stories of astronaut Ellen Ochoa, teen entrepreneur Kavita Shukla, and more.

2012
Year the first public library makerspace opened. Lauren Britton, a MLIS intern at the time, started Fayetteville (N.Y.) Free Library’s Fab Lab. It has since inspired countless other libraries to develop similar spots for patrons to hone their own creations.

47
Number of honorary medals awarded to Wilbur and Orville Wright, who invented the airplane in 1903. The medals are part of the Special Collections and Archives at Wright State University Libraries in Dayton, Ohio.