Visual Materials
Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera
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Series I. Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera (small size)
Visual Materials
This series contains approximately 1,850 small-size printed items that pertain to theatrical and musical entertainment in the United States primarily from the second half of the 19th century. The materials consist of advertising and promotional ephemera, illustrations, and business records related to performers, theatrical and musical events, and venues in a wide variety of genres grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The majority of items in this series promote plays and actors, and images primarily depict scenes from theatrical or musical events or contain portraits of performers. Item types include trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, photographs, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text.
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Series II. Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera (large size)
Visual Materials
This series contains nearly 450 large-size printed items that pertain to theatrical and musical entertainment primarily in the United States from the second half of the 19th century, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The series is comprised mainly of lithographed posters advertising upcoming shows and performers in a wide variety of performance genres grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The images primarily contain depictions of scenes or acts from plays and shows, portraits of performers in formal dress and in character, or group portraits of members of burlesque troupes, theatrical companies, and traveling shows. While a few items in the series were intended to take up an entire wall, most of the items consist of "one-sheet" and "half-sheet" posters (a sheet was sized to approximately 28 x 42 inches) that were intended for smaller dipslay spaces. Pasted to the bottom of some posters are date sheets--small strips of printed text containing the date and location of a future performance. Among the most commonly credited printers in the collection are show printers including Strobridge & Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York City; H.A. Thomas and various partners of New York City; W. J. Morgan & Co. of Cleveland, Ohio; and Forbes Co. of Boston, Massachusetts.
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Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Circus Prints and Ephemera
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Circus Prints and Ephemera contains more than 850 printed items that relate to circuses in the United States from the 1846 to the 1990s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to circuses, their tours and shows, staff and performers, acts and exhibits, and animals. Materials are arranged in three series: small-size prints and ephemera (11 x 14 inches or less); large-size prints and ephemera (more than 11 x 14 inches); and broadsides and handbills. The small-size items are described broadly at the series level; large-size items are fully inventoried and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name; and the broadsides and handbills contain item-level entries that include the circus name, date, printer (when identified), and show location (when applicable). The collection has 220 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic posters containing brightly colored images of featured circus acts, performers, and animals that were typically posted outdoors in advance of the circus coming to town. Small-size items in the collection number more than 500 and are comprised mainly of advertising and promotion ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and souvenir books, route cards, envelopes, tickets, songsters, and printed billheads and letterheads. The 130 broadsides, handbills, and related advertisements consist primarily of long, narrow broadsides printed on newspaper paper in black ink using letterpress type that advertised upcoming circus shows and were intended to be distributed by hand, left in stacks in public places, or posted on walls, fences, or in windows in advance of the circus's arrival in a town. This collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American circus and its impact on popular entertainment and advertising in the 19th and 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of the development of printmaking techniques and trends, and of the artists, engraves, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.
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Jay T. Last Collection of Science Prints and Ephemera
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last Collection of Science Prints and Ephemera contains approximately 40 printed items related to science and natural history in the United States from 1840 to approximately 1921, with the bulk of the content dating from 1880 to 1900. Most items are lithographs, but engravings and woodcuts are also included. The collection deals with products, services, activities, and imagery relating to the pursuit of knowledge by observation and/or experimentation in the fields of physical science: astronomy, chemistry, earth science, ecology, oceanography, and physics; life science: biology, botany, and zoology; and pseudoscience: astrology, alchemy, occult beliefs, and phrenology. Scientific illustrations, equipment, lectures, and expeditions of discovery can be found here. As graphic materials, the collection highlights developing techniques and trends in printmaking while documenting the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process. 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 26 large-size items comprised mainly of astronomy and natural history prints. Small-size items number approximately 15 and contain a variety of materials, including trade cards, leaflets, documentary prints, and printed billheads and letterheads (with manuscript text). Notable items include a complete set of 15 astronomical drawing prints by E. L. Trouvelot published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1882 (Series II).
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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.
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Jay T. Last Collection of Maritime Prints and Ephemera
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last Collection of Maritime Prints and Ephemera contains approximately 1,150 printed items that pertain to travel, shipping, and other maritime-related activities and businesses in the United States primarily dating from the second half of the 19th century. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or relevant to steamship companies, sailing vessels, shipping entities, passenger lines, and related businesses and publications. Materials are arranged in two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (bigger than 11 x 14 inches). Small-size items are described broadly at the series level; large-size items are fully inventoried, and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection has more than 55 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic and engraved prints of ships, certificates and contracts, and advertising materials for passenger and shipping routes. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 1,100 and are comprised mainly of advertising and promotional ephemera and business documents. The vast majority of these items are bills of lading and steamship passes, but the collection also has trade cards, timetables, booklets, directory ads, menus, passenger lists, postcards, handbills, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. Subjects addressed within the collection include commerce, advertising, technology and engineering, and tourism as related to river, lake, and ocean travel mostly in the United States. The images are primarily promotional and provide information about the history of passenger travel and commercial shipping, as well as the advertising strategies employed by these industries in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of visual culture and printmaking techniques and trends, as well as information about the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.
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