PITTSBURGH — The Senator John Heinz History Center merged with The George Westinghouse Museum on Friday, giving the Smithsonian-affiliated center artifacts and archival materials that tell the story of Westinghouse Electric Corp.

The Heinz History Center, which focuses on Western Pennsylvania history, already has some Westinghouse artifacts. The merger will create the largest Westinghouse collection in the world, according to Andy Masich, president and CEO of the Heinz center.

"Many of the materials were separated 20 years ago when Westinghouse Corporation closed its Pittsburgh headquarters," Masich said. "We will be reuniting the artifacts and archival materials to tell the complete Westinghouse story."

As part of the merger, the Heinz History Center will receive books, films, photographs and yearbooks that trace the company's history, along with annual reports, news clippings, press releases and marketing materials.

The center will also receive a variety of household appliances that were used in the U.S. after Westinghouse made electricity common and models of the railroad air brake that company founder George Westinghouse Jr. invented.

The exhibit materials will also include a replica of a 1938 time capsule based on capsules buried during World's Fairs in 1939-40 and 1964-65, a 1920 oil painting of the company's East Pittsburgh Works, and a light bulb display that chronicles the company's role.

The company that would become Westinghouse Electric Corp. was founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse, an entrepreneur and engineer who vied with Thomas Edison to develop a way to deliver electricity to homes. Westinghouse invented the railroad air brake and founded his self-named corporation to market the alternating current electrical system he pioneered.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. closed its East Pittsburgh plant in 1988, which had been its primary manufacturing facility. The corporation then bought CBS Inc. for $5.4 billion in 1995 and two years later renamed itself the CBS Corp.

CBS Corp. created a subsidiary in the late 1990s called Westinghouse Electric Corp. to manage the Westinghouse brand and its intellectual property.

CBS Corp. also sold off Westinghouse's remaining nuclear energy business. Toshiba Corp. now operates the business under the name Westinghouse Electric Co.