By Emily Drzewiecki, communications coordinator for Marketing and Communications at Xerox
When next in New York City, take some time to wander down the Wall of Innovators Gallery at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Here, you will come upon a glass display case containing several objects – a scrap of paper with a date and location, a tiny model copier, powder-filled test tubes and other treasures.
The display reflects Xerox’s role in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. The Wall of Innovators Gallery chronicles tools that had a significant impact on the NYSE, enabling it to become the global force it is today. Xerox was asked to participate because the invention of the xerographic copier forever changed the way the New York Stock Exchange (and the world) shares information.
Pictured above, our display case includes several artifacts selected by Xerox Historian Ray Brewer, including:
- A copy of the world’s first electrophotographic image —10-22-38 Astoria. Chester Carlson, inventor of xerography, created this hazy black and white image in his apartment in Astoria (a neighborhood in Queens, New York) on that date.
- Vials of chemicals used by Carlson in his quest to create and develop xerography. Xerography literally means “dry writing.” In Chester’s day, reproducing an existing document required either a typist to rekey the message or wet chemicals and a laborious development process similar to photography.
- Possibly the most iconic and nostalgic item in the display is a model-sized version of the Xerox 914 – the first easy-to-use photocopier that transformed the way people shared information. The tiny model is an exact replica of the 914 and is rumored to have been displayed in the office of Joe Wilson, founder of Xerox.
- Looking to the future of print, a steel water bottle displays a personalized message printed using our new Direct to Object Inkjet Printer.
- The ribbons of printed micro-circuits are another example of how we’re thinking beyond paper. These tiny electronic “stickers” are printed on a thin film of plastic adhesive. Xerox Printed Memory labels like these can protect our customers’ brand by holding product information such as lot codes, serial numbers, expiration dates and geographic codes, which can keep counterfeiters at bay.
The Wall of Innovators Gallery will be displayed through the remainder of 2017 on the seventh floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
