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Visual Materials

Series II. Beverage Prints and Ephemera (large size)


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    Series I. Beverage Prints and Ephemera (small size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains approximately 3,175 small-size printed items that pertain to the beverage industries and related products in the United States from approximately 1840-1930. The materials consist of advertising and promotional ephemera, illustrations, and business records related to beverage industries. The beverage-affiliated entities represented in this series include breweries, distilleries, liquor distributors, tea and coffee merchants, milk suppliers and dairies, and water and ice companies. Item types include trade cards, die-cut scraps, calendars, booklets, product labels, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The materials in this series either promote or are broadly connected to beverage-related products, services, or sponsoring businesses. Many of the images depict bottles, barrels, and drinks, though the collection also has a wide variety of other images, including young women; animals; children and families; comic scenes and caricatures of ethnic groups such as Chinese, Native American Indians and African Americans; views of buildings and landscapes; and patriotic symbols and vignettes. Items are arranged mainly by product type and then alphabetically according to company name. Groupings include: Beer, Liquor, and Wine; Coffee and Tea; Juice (including ciders and cider vinegars), Soda, and Water (including ice); and Milk. Items smaller than 8 x 10 inches are housed in binders, while items that are between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size are individually sleeved and arranged in folders in one box.

    priJLC_BEV

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    Jay T. Last Collection of Beverage Prints and Ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last Collection of Beverage Prints and Ephemera contains approximately 3,240 printed items advertising beverage products and related businesses in the United States from the 1840s to the 1940s, with the bulk of the items spanning from 1850 to 1915. The collection consists largely of lithographed ephemeral items produced for American businesses affiliated with the manufacture, distribution, and sale of beverages such as coffee, tea, juice, milk, carbonated beverages, and alcoholic drinks including beer, wine, whiskey, and other liquors. Materials are arranged in two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (more than 11 x 14 inches). Small-size items are described broadly at the series level; large-size items and select small-size items are fully inventoried and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection includes approximately 65 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographed advertising prints and product labels for tea, coffee, and spirits. Small-size items number nearly 3,200 and contain a variety of promotional materials including trade cards, calendars, die-cut scraps, booklets, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection deals with beverage production, merchandising, advertising, and consumption -- including depictions of families and other groups drinking together -- and the images provide a resource for studying the history of American beer, liquor, coffee, tea, and carbonated beverage industries along with the evolution of their advertising in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Materials in the collection produced for manufacturers and distributors of alcoholic beverages also provide a perspective on their advertising strategies in the face of a growing temperance movement in the United States leading up to Prohibition. As graphic materials, the prints offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.

    priJLC_BEV

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    Series II. Fashion Prints and Ephemera (large size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains 250 large-size printed items that pertain to fashion, clothing and dress, textiles, and sewing supplies from the 1830s through 1920, with the bulk of the items spanning from 1850-1890. The material consists of advertising prints, calendars, newspapers, periodicals and clippings, product labels, fashion plates, caricatures in prints and periodical illustrations, and other visual materials, and is grouped according to the primary business, trade, or service associated with the principal entity represented by the item. The series contains color-printed, hand-colored, and uncolored images that range in size from approximately 11 x 14 inches to 34 x 48 inches.

    priJLC_FASH

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    Series II. Maritime Prints and Ephemera (large size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains 57 large-size printed items pertaining to travel, shipping, and other maritime-related activities and businesses in the United States from 1825 to approximately 1942, with the majority of items dating from 1840 to 1890. The series is comprised mainly of lithographed advertising prints produced for steamship companies, including both domestic and transoceanic passenger and commercial services. Genres represented include advertising prints, certificates, broadsides, and documentary prints. The series contains color-printed, hand-colored, and uncolored images that range in size from approximately 11 x 14 inches to 30 x 40 inches.

    priJLC_MAR

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    Subseries D. Milk (large size)

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of beverage prints and ephemera contains approximately 2,650 printed items advertising beverage products and related businesses in the United States from the 1840s to the 1940s, with the bulk of the items spanning from 1850 to 1915. The collection consists largely of lithographed ephemeral items produced for American businesses affiliated with the manufacture, distribution, and sale of beverages such as coffee, tea, juice, milk, carbonated beverages, and alcoholic drinks including beer, wine, whiskey, and other liquors. The collection includes approximately 40 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographed advertising prints and product labels for tea, coffee, and spirits. Small-size items number approximately 2,600 and contain a variety of promotional materials including trade cards, calendars, die-cut scraps, booklets, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection deals with beverage production, merchandising, advertising, and consumption -- including depictions of families and other groups drinking together -- and the images provide a resource for studying the history of American beer, liquor, coffee, tea, and carbonated beverage industries along with the evolution of their advertising in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Materials in the collection produced for manufacturers and distributors of alcoholic beverages also provide a perspective on their advertising strategies in the face of a growing temperance movement in the United States leading up to Prohibition. As graphic materials, the prints offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.

    priJLC_BEV

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    Series II. Fairs and Expositions Prints and Ephemera (large size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains approximately 100 large-size printed items related to fairs and expositions in the United States from approximately 1834 to 1970, with the majority of items dating from 1850 to 1893. The series is comprised mainly of lithographed advertising prints produced for fairs, exhibitions and expositions; exhibitors at these events; and related businesses. Genres represented include advertising prints, views of exhibition buildings, certificates, broadsides, and specialty newspapers and programs. The series contains color-printed, hand-colored, and uncolored images that range in size from approximately 11 x 14 inches to 35 x 46 inches.

    priJLC_FAIR