Finding aid for the Matthew Luckiesh Papers

Biography of Matthew Luckiesh

Matthew Luckiesh (1883-1967), an authority and pioneer in the research of light, lighting, color, vision, and seeing, also known as the "father of the Science of Seeing", was born on September 14, 1883 in Maquoketa, Iowa. He was the second son of John and Frances Root Luckiesh. Matthew had an older brother, Frank (William Frank), and a younger brother, Edward. He graduated from high school in Maquoketa in 1899 at the age of 15. Matthew came from a background where hard work was very highly valued and education encouraged. He wanted to go to college and his parents were supportive but he was charged with finding a way to pay for it. About the time he graduated high school, he learned to play the trombone, and became the member of some musical groups in Maquoketa and then a minstrel show and a circus. The trombone was how he would pay for college, although he never considered music as a career path. He had a goal of being an engineer and he thought of music as more of a hobby, not suitable for a life-long career goal. He had a few other jobs and adventures, however, before entering college six years after graduating from high school.

After leaving the circus band about 1904 to come home and prepare for college, his brother Frank, a photographer, convinced Matthew to go to California with him. He got a job with a band but did not want to pay the union fee so he worked in a casket factory instead, increasing his knowledge and skill of working with specialized tools. Still with his goal of becoming an engineer in mind, he began to look for work in the mining industry. He got a job with the Yellow Pine Mining Company assessing mining claims around the area of Goodsprings, Nevada with one other man for four months. After this, he returned to Los Angeles and then to Maquoketa to take care of things at home while his parents visited Frank. At home in Maquoketa, he concentrated on preparing academically and financially for college and entered Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) in the fall of 1905. He transferred to Purdue University the next fall, earning his way through college playing his trombone as a member of the musicians union. He graduated from Purdue University in 1909 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. In 1911 he received a Master of Science degree from the State University of Iowa and in 1912 the degree of Electrical Engineer from Iowa State College (Iowa State University).

In 1910 Matthew Luckiesh took a position as a physicist in the research laboratories of the Incandescent Lamp Department of the General Electric Company, then known as the National Electric Lamp Association in Cleveland, Ohio (the headquarters of the company, considered the first industrial park complex in the United States, opened in 1913 in East Cleveland and was known as Nela Park). In 1920 he became Director of Applied Science and in 1924, the director of the Lighting Research Laboratory, the position he held until his retirement in 1949. He became renowned for his work in the study of light and color. His research on the visible spectrum of light was ground-breaking. His work was instrumental to "the Science of Seeing" which was a movement to look at light and seeing as a partnership in order to improve lighting for all kinds of human tasks. His research brought to the fore the importance of better illumination and helped to develop a "better light-better sight" movement in cooperation with eyesight specialists along with other medical specialists, health, and school officials in the 1930s. He also performed important research regarding camouflage and airplane visibility during WWI and WWII and held numerous patents.

During the course of his career he was awarded the honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from Iowa State College in 1926 and Doctor of Engineering from Purdue University in 1935. He also wrote 28 books and hundreds of articles. He was the recipient of many awards and honors for his work including medals from the Distinguished Service Foundation of Optometry and the Illuminating Engineering Society, and the James H. McGraw Award for distinguished contributions to the advancement of the electrical industry. He was a member of various honors societies, fraternities, and associations including Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma XI, the Illuminating Engineering Society, the Edison Electric Institute, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Physical Society, Franklin Institute, and the Optical Society of America. He held many offices in the Illuminating Engineering Society including president, director, and various committee chairmanships. Dr. Luckiesh passed away at his home in Shaker Heights, Ohio on November 2, 1967.

As for his personal and family life, Matthew Luckiesh married Frances T. Clark (Fannie) on August 23, 1913 in Maqoketa, Iowa. She passed away in 1925. On January 31, 1928 he married Helen Pitts (1902-1995) of Lakewood, Ohio, whom he met through a mutual friend. Helen, the daughter of Charles and Margaret (Creagan) Pitts, was born on August 2, 1902. She graduated from Lakewood High School in 1918 and Flora Stone Mather College in 1922. She became a teacher at Emerson Junior High School in Lakewood and taught grades 7, 8, and 9 until her marriage to Matthew Luckiesh. Matthew and Helen had two daughters, Nancy, born September 7, 1929, and Helen Margaret (Peggy), born November 29, 1932. The family resided in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Helen was very active in civic and cultural organizations such as the Sight Center, Central Volunteer Bureau, women's committee of the Cleveland Playhouse, the Shaker Heights Red Cross Fund, and the United Way, among others. Helen passed away on July 7, 1995.

Nancy Luckiesh graduated high school from Hathaway Brown in 1947 and from Manhattanville College in New York City four years later. She married Thomas Hugh Tobin on October 16, 1954. They had a son, Thomas Luckiesh Tobin, born August 20, 1963. Nancy and Thomas later divorced and she remarried. She passed away on April 18, 1981. Peggy (Helen Margaret) graduated from high school at Hathaway Brown in 1950. She graduated from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art in1954. She married John Andrew Kundtz in August 31, 1957. They had three children. Peggy still resides in the Cleveland area.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Matthew Luckiesh

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Nela Park

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the General Electric Company

Scope and Content

The Matthew Luckiesh Papers, 1887-1998 and undated (bulk dates 1910-1965), consist of awards, booklets, a calendar, certificates, a comic book, correspondence, diplomas, directories, a dissertation, forms, a genealogy, illustrations, a license, magazine articles, manuscripts of books, newspaper articles, notebooks, notes, pamphlets, patents, photographs, programs, a radio show script, reports, research notes, research papers, scholarly articles, scrapbooks, and speeches. Photographs intrinsic to the understanding of parts of this collection have been retained. All others have been removed to PG 592 Matthew Luckiesh Photographs.

This collection is of value to researchers studying light, lighting, color, vision and seeing, any aspects of "the science of seeing" or the "better light-better sight" movement popularized in the 1930s as a humanitarian effort to educate the public about the direct links between lighting and seeing. Anyone interested in any research performed at Nela Park or in Matthew Luckiesh's research in particular will also find this collection of note. Due to Dr. Luckiesh's long, successful, and prolific career, much can be gleaned about his work specifically and also about the development of Nela Park, the General Electric Company, and lighting science in general over the period from 1910-1950. The articles and reprints and scrapbooks found in Series I will be particularly helpful as will the published books of Dr. Luckiesh removed to the WRHS Research Library Collection. The subject files in Series I will also helpful. Also, anyone interested in the genealogy of the Luckiesh or Pitts families will find this collection useful. A family genealogy, and various research materials about these families are included in Series II of the collection along with much information about the background of Matthew Luckiesh in the subject files and scrapbooks of Series I. Those interested in the history of the business and innovation of the lighting industry in Cleveland, Ohio, will find this collection particularly useful.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

The researcher should also consult PG 592 Matthew Luckiesh Photographs; and MS 4091 Franklin S. Terry Papers.

Most photographs and negatives have been removed to PG 592 Matthew Luckiesh Photographs. Published material has been removed to the WRHS Research Library Collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 5171 Matthew Luckiesh Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of Peggy Luckiesh Kundtz in 2002.

Processing Information

Processed by Hannah Kemp-Severence in 2013. The processing of this collection was made possible through a gift from Peggy Luckiesh Kundtz.

Detailed Description of The Collection