Gibson
Orville Gibson founded the company in 1902 as the "Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd." in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to make mandolin-family instruments. Gibson invented archtop guitars by constructing the same type of carved, arched tops used on violins. By the 1930s, the company was also making flattop acoustic guitars, as well as one of the first commercially available hollow-body electric guitars, used and popularized by Charlie Christian. In 1944, Gibson was bought by Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI), which was acquired in 1969 by Panama-based conglomerate Ecuadorian Company Limited (ECL), that changed its name in the same year to Norlin Corporation. Gibson was owned by Norlin Corporation from 1969 to 1986. In 1986, the company was acquired by a group led by Henry Juszkiewicz and David H. Berryman.
Edwin A. Gibson
Gibson opened his own firm (Ed Gibson & Associates, Inc.), a general architecture and engineering company, in 1968. The company was in operation until 1986 when he dissolved the company, and left to work exclusively for Methodist Hospital. After leaving Methodist Hospital, Gibson worked as a consulting architect until his retirement in 2002. Some of the buildings he designed or renovated were located at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Evansville State Hospital, Central Elementary in Plainfield, Broad Ripple Library, renovations at Central Library in Indianapolis, IUPUI, IU Bloomington, including renovation of Ernie Pyle Hall, Hudnut Plaza, and other HUD projects throughout Indiana.
When Gibson closed his private practice in 1987 to work exclusively for Methodist Hospital, most of the drawings in his office were discarded and those in this archival collection are the few examples of his work that remain. Shortly after his death in 2011, his family gave an additional donation of photographs and papers, including his Master of Science thesis, awards, and certificates to the Ball State University Drawings and Documents Archive. The family also donated Gibson's personal tape measure engraved with his initials, which can be viewed in the digital collection.