Wheelchair

Object Details

Title: Wheelchair

Maker: Colson Company

Date: ca. 1920

Medium: Wood, rattan, steel, rubber

Dimensions: 48 x 26.5 x 46 in. (121.9 x 67.3 x 116.8 cm)

Catalog Number: HOFR 3069

 

History

The Colson Company traces its history to 1885 when it was established as Fay Manufacturing, creators of the Fay Sulky Scraper and the Fairy Tricycle. By 1903, under new ownership, the company was manufacturing tricycles, invalid chairs, wheel chairs, carts, and casters as The Worthington Company. Principal owner Fred Colson purchased the company in 1917 and changed the name to The Colson Company. Based in Elyria, Ohio, Colson was an international supplier of hospital equipment for leading institutions throughout the United States, including the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation established by Franklin Roosevelt.

During the late nineteenth century, wheelchairs were becoming less cumbersome and more comfortable, and by the early twentieth century, manufacturers boasted further improvements. The Colson Model C-37-B illustrates some of these innovative features—caned seat, back and leg rests for cooling airflow, cushion rubber tires, and coil springs for easy riding. Adustable back and leg rests could accommodate recumbent or reclining positions. Although this model includes a rear handle bar more typical of nineteenth-century invalid chairs, the addition of wheel rims (sometimes called push rims) provided capability for independent movement.

This chair was likely purchased for FDR's use during the first year of his paralysis. However, the width of the wheel base and overall large size would soon prove problematic for manuevering the narrow passages and tight turns of his house at Hyde Park.