Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last collection of printing and publishing: Louis Prang archive contains over 3,600 items dating from 1858 to 1916, with the bulk of the items spanning from 1860 to 1897. This archive chronicles the business history of Boston lithographer Louis Prang through art prints, advertisements, printed volumes, and promotional ephemera produced by L. Prang & Co. and its successor companies: Prang Educational Company and Taber Prang Art Co. The archive also contains catalogs, certificates, price lists, business records and correspondence, personal letters and photographs, news clippings, and original art considered for lithographic reproduction. The collection provides a resource for studying the business and output of one of the most influential major lithographic firms in the United States in the 19th century. The images provide information about American tastes and culture as well as the evolution of advertising strategies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the prints offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.
priJLC_PRG_004377
