Table of Contents
Scope and Contents of the Collection
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Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Creaden, Dave. |
| Title: | Dave Creaden Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1963-1965 |
| Quantity: | 2.5 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | Administrative materials, correspondence, and design materials of Dave Creaden relating to his work on the Stereo 8 cartridge at Lear Jet Corporation |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Biographical History
Dave Creaden (1931-2010) was an American mechanical, electrical, and design engineer.
Creaden was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was raised in Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois. He moved to Kansas in the 1960s. In the mid-1960s he helped design the 8-track tape for car radios for Lear Jet. Later he worked for Midwest Plastics and was a partner at Packer Plastics. He was married to Elaine Creaden and had three children.
Lear Jet's development of the Stereo 8 cartridge, also referred to as 8-track tape, was an evolution of the Fidelipac cartridge of the 1950s. It reduced the complexity of the design by integrating a pinch roller into the cartridge, lowering the likelihood that the cartridge would jam. The redesigned cartridge could hold up to 80 minutes of recordings. The 8-track cartridge retained its popularity through the early 1980s, when it was overtaken by compact cassettes.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Dave Creaden Papers contains administrative materials, correspondence, and design materials. All materials relate to the design and production of the Lear Jet Stereo 8 cartridge.
Administrative materials contains invoices and purchase orders for 8-track production materials, Lear Jet employee stock option information, and Lear Jet personnel information.
Correspondence contains Lear Jet internal and external communications about the 8-track design process.
Design materials is subdivided into drawings, project notes, and specifications. Drawings consists of sketches and blueprints of the 8-track and its components. Project notes contains handwritten notes and a journal pertaining to research and production. Specifications contains engineering requirements, parts lists, and product change notices.
Arrangement of the Collection
Internal correspondence and product change notices are arranged chronologically. The rest of the collection is arranged alphabetically.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Use Restrictions
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Subject Headings
Persons
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
Genres and Forms
Occupations
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Dave Creaden Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 2023.
Finding Aid Information
Created by: DTF
Date: 05 May 2023
Revision history: 06 November 2023 - collection processed (SAB)
Inventory
| Administrative materials | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Invoices and purchase orders 1964-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Lear Jet employee stock options 1964 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Personnel documents 1965 | ||||||||||
| Correspondence | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Internal 1964-1965 - communications among Lear Jet employees relating to the design and production of the 8-track. (5 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | External 1964-1965 - communications with material vendors and electronics companies, such as Allied Chemical, Methode Electronics, and the Radio Corporation of America (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Design materials | |||||||||||
| Drawings | |||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | Blueprints, external 1963-1965 - blueprints for externally produced components of the 8-track | ||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | Blueprints, Lear Jet 1964-1965 - blueprints designed by the Lear Jet team for components of the 8-track | ||||||||||
| Map-Case | Blueprints, Lear Jet 1965 - blueprint for the 8-track cartridge | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Sketches and drafts 1964-1965 | ||||||||||
| Project notes | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | General 1964-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Journal 1964-1965 - Creaden's personal research and design notebook | ||||||||||
| Specifications | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Engineering requirements 1964-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Parts lists 1964-1965 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Product change notices 1964-1965 | ||||||||||