An oral history project was undertaken in 1998 to interview former employees of the H W Sullivan Instrument and Standards Company which was formed in 1897 and was taken over by Cambridge Instruments in 1967. The project undertook 5 interviews. The output from that project form this collection and include the cassette recordings of those interviews together with recording transcripts and also background information on H W Sullivan prepared in 1998.
The 5 interviewees are as follows;
1. Mrs Mabel Stevens, widow of Donald Stevens. The recording was made at her home in Headcorn, Kent. Donald Stevens ran the company from 1925 until 1964, taking over the running from Herbert Watson Sullivan. A transcript of this recording has been made and a digital copy of the interviews has been made.
2. Mr David Stevens, son of Donald Stevens, who jointly took over the running of H W Sullivan from his father in 1964 and who covers the subject of sales. The recording was made at his home near Hereford. A transcript of this recording has been made and a digital copy of the interviews has been made.
3. Mr John Lewis who covers the subject of the H W Sullivan office and personnel. The recording was made at his home in Alton, Hampshire. A transcript of this recording has been made and a digital copy of the interviews has been made.
4. Mr Chris Jones who covers the subject of resistance testing. The recording was made at his home in South London. A transcript of this recording has been made and a digital copy of the interviews has been made.
5. Mr Bill Goldfinch who covers the subject of the Cambridge Instruments takeover in 1967. The recording was made at his home near Ashford, Kent. Cambridge Instruments was taken over by the George Kent Group in 1968 to form the largest independent British manufacturer of industrial instruments. The George Kent Group was itself taken over by Thorn in 1970. Bill Goldfinch was the General Manager of George Kent Group. A transcript of this recording has been made and a digital copy of the interviews has been made.
An article about the history of H W Sullivan Ltd, written by J Patrick Wilson, and which makes refererence to these oral history tapes was published in the journal of the British Vintage Wireless Society (BVWS), 'the bulletin', vol.35 no.4, Winter 2010, pp.18-29. A copy of this article is held in the IET Archives reference files. An earlier version of this article can be found in the 'proceedings of the 25th IEE weekend meeting' (Keele 1997).
See also NAEST 145, the Avo International trade literature collection, and in particular NAEST 145/6, the trade literature of H W Sullivan.
