{"id":386,"date":"2013-07-22T04:40:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T04:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/?page_id=386"},"modified":"2013-07-22T04:40:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T04:40:16","slug":"world-war-i-victory-lamp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company\/world-war-i-victory-lamp\/","title":{"rendered":"World War I Victory Lamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morgan Momentos \u2013 World War I Victory Lamp<\/h2>\n
\"World<\/a>

Desk of Mr. D. W. Vanderbilt of New York City from the Snead & Co. Sales Brochure. Image Courtesy of Mr. Robert \u201cNick\u201d McWhorter of Springfield, KY.<\/p><\/div>\n

In late 2009, I stumbled across a \u201cVictory Lamp\u201d on an auction site on the internet.\u00a0 I had never heard of such a thing and no one I knew in the area of Morgan, where and when I grew up there, had one or likely knew about them either.\u00a0 Yet all the \u201cVictory Lamps\u201d assembled and sold by Snead and Company of Jersey City, NJ shortly after the Great War, later renamed to \u201cWorld War I\u201d, originated in Morgan, NJ.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mr.<\/a>

Mr. McWhorter\u2019s World War I \u201cVictory Lamp\u201d. Photo Courtesy of Mr. Robert \u201cNick\u201d McWhorter of Springfield, KY.<\/p><\/div>\n

Before we go much further, an enormous \u201cThank You\u201d needs to go to Mr. Robert \u201cNick\u201d McWhorter of Springfield, KY.\u00a0 Mr. McWhorter was kind enough to mail me not only photos of his Victory Lamp but copies of the original advertising brochures and assembly instructions his aunt, Thelma McIntyre, kept after she purchased Victory Lamp #822 for $18.40 in 1919 ($3 down payment, $3 a month for four months with a $3.40 final payment).\u00a0 Mr. McWhorter was also kind enough to send a copy of a draft of a letter his aunt hand wrote to Snead & Co. regarding the lamp and a short bio about her.\u00a0 She was quite an accomplished lady: Legal Secretary, Medical Technologist in the Women\u2019s Army Corps (WACs) during World War II, College Professor then Laboratory Head at two hospitals before getting married at 57, retiring, and living to over 100! This documentation, which survived 91 years only because of the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of his aunt, greatly helped me gain a full understanding of the history of the lamps, tie some disparate research together, as well as provided some interesting \u201cthreads\u201d to look into further.<\/span><\/p>\n

The essence of these lamps, and their main component, was a 75mm artillery shell recovered from the remains of the beyond enormous series of explosions at the Morgan, NJ based T. A. Gillespie Loading Company plant. This catastrophe (to be featured in a future posting) started in the early evening of October 4, 1918 and went on for something like three horrifying days.\u00a0 The gigantic \u201cMorgan Plant\u201d was quickly built in 1918 to load explosives, e.g., Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and Amatol (TNT mixed with Ammonium Nitrate), into a wide range of sizes of artillery shells and casings for use by the US and its allies during World War I.<\/p>\n

Another distinct feature of the lamp was the lampshade which was designed specifically for the lamp by a noted artist of the time (see posting from May 9, 2010).\u00a0 Snead and Company offered three options for how the lamps could be lit. Though pretty much unheard of these days when purchasing a table lamp for the home, these options were probably typical for the time period.\u00a0 You could choose between either electric, kerosene (oil) or gas (not gasoline). My mother still remembers the gas street lamps which were installed on her street in Jersey City in the early twentieth century. San Diego, California features a \u201cGas Lamp District\u201d celebrating the days when lighting was done by gas.\u00a0 Berlin, Germany has many thousands of gas lights illuminating the city.<\/p>\n

The Lamp<\/h4>\n

This unique and original lamp was composed of the following components:<\/p>\n