During the decades in which the United States achieved industrial preeminence, independent, professional inventors flourished. Before the era of the industrial research laboratory that began with the rise of the large electrical and chemical manufacturers, and before the time of the great national laboratories that originated with the militarization of nuclear power, the nation's inventiveness was concentrated in the independent professionals. Later, it resided in the industrial and government laboratories. The role and characteristics of the large laboratories, however, are fairly well understood because they are well publicized and with us today, while the role of the independent inventors has been sentimentalized, trivialized, or forgotten. The historian's responsibility is clear.