Lester O. Kruger Papers, 1956-2005 (majority within 1974-1990)

Summary

Creator:

Kruger, Lester O. (Otto)

Abstract:

Lester O. Kruger was a long-time 3M employee and a leader in the micrographics industry. As an active member of the National Micrographics Association and Association for Information and Image Management, Kruger helped develop national and international micrographic standards. This collection documents Kruger's career and involvement with Filmsort/3M, NMA, and AIIM.

Extent:

3 linear feet

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Sally Vermaaten

Background

Scope and Content:

The Lester O. Kruger Papers are divided into 8 series: National Micrographics Association (NMA), Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), 3M, Personal, Photographs, Microforms, Printed Material, and Realia. Largely consisting of professional papers, the collection documents Kruger's work in micrographics, imaging, and standards. Included are correspondence and memoranda between colleagues, organizational correspondence and information, meeting reports and resolutions, drafts of proposed standards, presentation drafts, photographs, and microfiche. The collection contains a smaller amount of more personal material, pertaining to Kruger's career and achievements. These include: awards, plaques, a scrapbook, photographs, ephemera, and a small quantity of personal correspondence with professional colleagues. Realia related to micrography, including microfilm viewers and a medallion from an NMA conference, make up the final series in the Kruger Papers.

Biographical / Historical:

Lester Otto Kruger, long-time member of 3M Company's Micrographic Products Lab, was a leader in the micrographics industry. As an active member of the National Micrographics Association and the Association for Information and Image Management , Kruger helped develop national and international micrographic standards.

Lester O. Kruger was born on May 26, 1918 in Weehawken, New Jersey to Otto and Agnes (Schmoekel) Kruger. After graduating in 1935 from Emerson High School in Union City, New Jersey, Kruger began working as a machinist and apprentice toolmaker at Robert Reiner, Inc. in Weehawken, NJ. In the evenings, he attended Dickinson Evening Technical and Industrial School in Jersey City.

From 1941 to 1945, Lester O. Kruger served a commissioned officer in the Ordnance Department of the United States Army, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant. While in the Army, Kruger attended both the U.S. Army Ordnance Officers School in the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland and the Royal Australian Army Engineer School in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. In March 1944, Kruger received the Purple Heart after driving over a land mine in the Admiralty Islands.

Despite the uncertainties of being on active duty during World War II, on October 2, 1942, Lester O. Kruger married Mildred Eve in Edgefield, South Carolina. Lester and Mildred would eventually have three children: Elizabeth Hauge, Patricia Kruger, and Gerald W. Kruger, as well as many grandchildren.

After retiring from the Army in 1946, Kruger returned to New Jersey and to the tool making field. In 1956, Kruger's professional direction changed when he took a job at the Filmsort Company of Pearl River, New York. Filmsort produced microfilm equipment and supplies, particularly for aperture cards. Three years after Kruger joined Filmsort, it was taken over by the 3M Company and the Krugers decided to follow the business and move to St. Paul, Minnesota. Lester Kruger led a distinguished career in 3M's Micrographic Products Laboratory. Kruger started off at 3M as a Technical Service Representative and had risen, by the time of his retirement, to the position of Information Scientist and Patent Liaison. For several years after his retirement in 1982, Kruger continued to act as a consultant for 3M, representing and advising the company in micrographic standards activites.

Professional and standards-setting organizations were an integral part of Kruger's micrographic work. In 1956, Kruger joined the National Microfilm Association (NMA), the field's primary professional organization. Because the micrographics industry and the information field went through significant changes during Kruger's career, NMA's name also changed. In 1969 the organization was renamed the National Micrographics Association and in 1983 the same organization became the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM). By the end of Kruger's life the, the organization would call itself AIIM - The Enterprise Content Management Association. NMA/AIIM advised on and proposed micrographic standards for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Kruger served on many NMA/AIIM committees focused on standards development, including: the Standards Board (1970-1972); the C7 Microrecording of Engineering Graphics Committee, which he chaired; the C18 Standards Committee for Public Records; and the C25 Department of Defense Standards and Specifications. He also served on some of American National Standards Institute's P5 committees. In the 1970s and 1980s, Kruger served as a national expert and delegate at many ISO meetings in Europe and North America. He also was a technical advisory group member within ISO Technical Committee C 171 (Micrographics).

Kruger won several awards for his work in standards, imaging, and micrographics including an NMA Distinguished Service Citation (1975), election to the AIIM Company of Fellows (1981), AIIM's Dr. Carl E. Nelson Engineering Award (2001), and AIIM's Thomas C. Bagg Standards Award (2005).

After retirement, Lester and Mildred Kruger moved from Minnesota to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Even after his consulting work for 3M ended in 1987, Kruger remained active in AIIM through correspondence. Lester Kruger died on May 25, 2006, hours before his 88th birthday. His wife, Mildred Kruger, had passed away two years before, on January 5, 2004.

Sources:

National Micrographics Association. Directory of Officers, Directors, Staff, Committees, Chapters and Regional Coordinators 1982-1983 . Washington, D.C.: NMA, 1982.

AIIM. "AIIM Honors the Life of Lester Kruger." AIIM, http://www.aiim.org/article-aiim.asp?id=31507 (accessed December 21, 2007).

Acquisition Information:

Donated, July 2006.

Processing information:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Sally Vermaaten.

Arrangement:

Summary Contents List:

• National Micrographics Association (NMA) -- Box 1
• AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) -- Box 1
• 3M -- Boxes 1 and 2
• Personal -- Box 2
• Photographs -- Box 2
• Microforms -- Box 2
• Printed Material
• Realia -- Box 2

Subjects

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Subjects:

Electronic data processing -- History--20th century.
Information science -- United States -- Societies, etc.
Information storage and retrieval systems -- History.
Microfilms -- Standards.
Micrographics industry.
Microphotography -- Standards.

Formats:

Correspondence.
Drafts (documents).
Memorandums.
Microfiche.
Microfilm.
Photographs.
Realia.

Names:

3M Company.
Association for Information and Image Management (U.S.).
National Micrographics Association.
Anderson, Carl.
Avedon, Don M. (Donald M.).
Bagg, Thomas Campbell, Jr.
Biach, George.
Benshoof, Barton A.
Courtot, Marilyn E.
Dormann, Kurt.
Fromm, Harold.
Hensel, J.
Hodur,Ted.
Hollinger, James.
Kidd, Harry B.
Kinney, Ron.
Linaugh, Peggy.
McArthur, Donald W.
Nelson, Carl Erwin, 1903-
Rupp, Dale.
Müller-Saala, Heinz.
Sonnonstine, T. J.
White, Herbert J.