Jay T. Last Collection of Education Prints and Ephemera

The Jay T. Last Collection of Education Prints and Ephemera contains over 2,200 printed items related to education in the United States from 1788 to approximately 1930, with the bulk of the items dating from 1850 to 1910. Most of these items are lithographs, but engravings and woodcuts are also included.

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 with printers, artists, and publishers indexed by name. The collection includes over 75 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographed views of colleges and universities, diplomas and other certificates, penmanship examples, and uncut sheets of rewards of merit. Small-size items number approximately 2,150 and contain a variety of materials, including copy and writing books (composition books), arithmetic and ciphering books, tuition bills, programs and tickets to graduations and other school events, certificates, trade cards, student identification cards, postcards, ribbons, and printed billheads and letterheads (with and without manuscript text).

The collection highlights institutions, products, and services relating to personal knowledge, understanding, character building, and moral and social qualities including the tools, equipment, supplies, and structures used for learning and teaching these disciplines in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This includes items associated with academic achievement, exhibits, lectures, and institutions of learning. The images provide a rich visual resource for studying the history of American educational institutions, methods, and materials, as well as a perspective on student life and activities during the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the prints and ephemera offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.