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Historical trade literature at the H.F. du Pont Winterthur Museum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

E. Richard McKinstry
E. Richard McKinstry*
Affiliation:
H.F. du Pont Winterthur Museum, Route 52, Winterthur, DE 19735, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Trade literature at Winterthur is broadly defined and is collected in many formats, including published trade catalogs, printed ephemera, drawings, manuscript account books, magazines and salesperson’s samples. Each kind of source contributes to a better understanding of America’s rich heritage in early handicraft, more modern production of goods, and domestic life. Examples of Winterthur’s holdings suggest a rich and much larger collection that is available for research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , 2006 , pp. 33 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2006

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References

1. Romaine, Lawrence B., A guide to American trade catalogs, 1744-1900 (New York: Bowker, 1960): 395.Google Scholar
2. Ames, Kenneth L., ‘Meaning in artifacts: hall furnishings in Victorian America’, Journal of interdisciplinary history 9, no. 1 (Summer 1978), 26.Google Scholar
3. For a fuller discussion of the types of catalogs and Winterthur’s trade catalog collection see McKinstry, E. Richard, Trade catalogues at Wintertbur: a guide to the literature of merchandising, 1750 to 1980 (New York; London: Garland, 1984), ix–xv.Google Scholar
4. Rickards, Maurice, This is ephemera: collecting printed throwaways (Brattleboro, Vt.: Gossamer Press, 1977), 7.Google Scholar
5. Shorter Oxford English dictionary, 3rd ed., rev. with addenda (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952), 1: 621.Google Scholar
6. Roylance, Dale, Graphic Americana: the art and technique of printed ephemera from abecedaries to zoetropes, (Princeton: Princeton University Library, 1992), 6.Google Scholar
7. For a discussion of trade cards, see Jay, Robert. The trade card in nineteenth century America (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987)Google Scholar
and Means, Mary Elizabeth, ‘Early American trade cards’ (Thesis, University of Delaware for the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, 1958).Google Scholar
8. For an introduction to poster stamps see Steele, H. Thomas, Lick ‘em, stick ‘em: the lost art of poster stamps (New York: Abbeville Press, 1989).Google Scholar
9. The pieces of ephemera at Winterthur are considered further in Rickards, Maurice. The encyclopedia of ephemera: a guide to the fragmentary documents of everyday life for the collector, curator, and historian (London: British Library, 2000).Google Scholar
10. Gebelein’s life is covered in Leighton, Margaretha Gebelein, George Christian Gebelein, Boston silversmith, 1878-1945, (Boston: privately printed, 1976).Google Scholar
11. For a description of the manuscript account books, as well as other items, see McKinstry, E. Richard, Guide to the Winterthur Library: the Joseph Downs Collection and the Winterthur Archives (Winterthur, Del.: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 2003).Google Scholar
12. An informative monograph on women’s periodicals is Garvey, Ellen Gruber, The adman in the parlor: magazines and the gendering of consumer culture, 1880s to 1910s, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).Google Scholar
13. Two books contain descriptions of Winterthur’s library holdings, including trade literature: Martinez, Katharine, ed. American cornucopia: treasures of the Winterthur Library (Winterthur, Del.: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1990)Google Scholar
and Thompson, Neville and others, The Winterthur Library revealed: five centuries of design and inspiration (New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press in association with Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 2003).Google Scholar