Aladdin Museum of Light now open at Lehman's
Though electric lighting has been the ubiquitous source of light worldwide since the company’s founding in 1908, the Aladdin Lamp company has been a steady light source throughout the last century and remains the major source of non-electric lamps in the world today. Lehman’s Hardware in Kidron has just opened a new section of their retail location devoted entirely to the history of the Aladdin Lamp: The Aladdin Museum of Light.
Lehman’s has always been a major retailer of Aladdin Lamps. In fact, Lehman’s has been the largest Aladdin dealer in the United States for many years. Two years ago, Lehman’s strengthened their position in the non-electric lamp market by purchasing Aladdin’s lamp division, which is now a part of the Lehman’s company.
“When Aladdin was started over 100 years ago,” said store owner Galen Lehman, “They introduced a major innovation that was a breakthrough in lamp design. They discovered that if you regulate the amount of air reaching the burner, you can get a much hotter, brighter light. Suspending a mantel over the wick meant they could get a light as bright as a kerosene lantern, without the need to keep pumping it up and without the noise.”
Lehman’s now supplies 250 Aladdin dealers across the country. “But after we brought Aladdin into our company,” Lehman said, “we discovered there was this really large and active group of passionate collectors. And there was nowhere to really see all this collected history. So we needed a way to bring the company and those collectors together, as well as a way to create a sort of national center for interest in the company’s history.”
Lehman said an example of just about every Aladdin lamp ever manufactured can be seen at the new Museum of Light. “Everything from the beginning to about 1950,” he said. “This is the only Aladdin history facility of its kind in the world. There’s really nowhere else to see something like this, and you get quite a number of great stories about the individuals who have made the company great.” Lehman said the exhibit will be permanent, and the company has made an investment in creating the museum space at the retail location.
Lehman said that while the lamps do not represent a large market for them, “it is a very steady market.”
The reason, Lehman explained, is a reliable light source no matter what kind of emergency the electrical grid may present. “If you have a supply of kerosene fuel, which can be safely stored in a well sealed container in a cool place almost indefinitely, and you have an Aladdin lamp, you will always have an immediate, reliable source or bright light, almost as bright as electric, in any power outage. And the lamps are made in many styles and designs.”
Lehman is proud to open the museum as part of the large hardware location. “Aladdin is one of the great American companies, more than a hundred years old and still successful. And we have the only comprehensive museum anywhere to tell the story.”
Lehman’s Hardware is at 4779 Kidron Road, in Kidron. Call the store at 800-438-5346 for more information, or visit www.lehmans.com.