Skip to content

OPEN TODAY: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.

Tickets

Visual Materials

Jay T. Last Collection of Finance Prints and Ephemera


You might also be interested in

  • Image not available

    Series II. Finance Prints and Ephemera (large size)

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of finance prints and ephemera contains approximately 1,075 printed items from the United States dating from 1794 to 1926, with the bulk of the content dating from 1840 to 1900. Items are related to the creation, distribution, and management of money as well as the conduct or transaction of money matters, including the protection or sale of personal and real property by agents, brokers, dealers, or land developers. This category covers accounting, auctions, banking, collection agencies, credits and loans, insurance, investment, and real estate along with the equipment, supplies, and structures associated with these businesses such as cash registers, checks, insurance policies, paper currency, and financial buildings. Most items are lithographs, but engravings and woodcuts are also included. The collection includes 54 large-size items comprised mainly of advertising prints and insurance agreements. Small-size items number approximately 1,020 and contain a variety of materials, including trade cards, checks, leaflets, currency, imitation currency, and printed billheads and letterheads (with and without manuscript text). The collection provides a look at the evolution of advertising strategies and contractual language in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The images on the insurance-related materials often include depictions of fires and natural disasters, providing a resource for studying the history of emergency response and firefighting during this era. 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.

    priJLC_FIN

  • Image not available

    Series I. Finance Prints and Ephemera (small size)

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of finance prints and ephemera contains approximately 1,075 printed items from the United States dating from 1794 to 1926, with the bulk of the content dating from 1840 to 1900. Items are related to the creation, distribution, and management of money as well as the conduct or transaction of money matters, including the protection or sale of personal and real property by agents, brokers, dealers, or land developers. This category covers accounting, auctions, banking, collection agencies, credits and loans, insurance, investment, and real estate along with the equipment, supplies, and structures associated with these businesses such as cash registers, checks, insurance policies, paper currency, and financial buildings. Most items are lithographs, but engravings and woodcuts are also included. The collection includes 54 large-size items comprised mainly of advertising prints and insurance agreements. Small-size items number approximately 1,020 and contain a variety of materials, including trade cards, checks, leaflets, currency, imitation currency, and printed billheads and letterheads (with and without manuscript text). The collection provides a look at the evolution of advertising strategies and contractual language in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The images on the insurance-related materials often include depictions of fires and natural disasters, providing a resource for studying the history of emergency response and firefighting during this era. 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.

    priJLC_FIN

  • Image not available

    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).

    priJLC_SCI

  • Image not available

    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

  • Image not available

    Jay T. Last collection of military prints and ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of military prints and ephemera contains approximately 4,900 printed items from 1785 to 1966, with the majority of material dating from 1860 to 1900. The collection consists of prints depicting primarily American battle scenes, forts, camps, prisons, and military officers; advertising ephemera with military-related images, more than 3,000 Civil War-era patriotic envelopes, and over 100 Civil War-era song sheets.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 measuring less than 8 x 10 inches are described broadly at the series level; large-size items and small-size items between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches are fully inventoried, and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection has nearly 400 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic and engraved prints including printed illustrations of battlefields, certificates and contracts, and portraits of major military and political figures during wartime. Small-size items in the collection number almost 4,500 items and are comprised mainly of patriotic envelopes (also known as patriotic covers) from the American Civil War. Other stationery such as postcards and printed billheads and letterheads (with and without manuscript text) are found in this series, as well as advertising ephemera with military-related illustrations. The collection mainly includes prints and ephemera related to the American Civil War, both contemporaneous and commemorative in nature. The American Revolutionary War, the Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War are also represented. The images are primarily documentary or patriotic in nature and provide information about the American military, as well as the evolution of advertising strategies employed by businesses during periods of conflict in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of printmaking techniques and trends, as well as information about the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.

    priJLC_MIL

  • Image not available

    Jay T. Last Collection of Education Prints and Ephemera

    Visual Materials

    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.

    priJLC_EDU