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Series I. Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (small size)


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    Series II. Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (large size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains 40 large-size printed items related to firefighting and the activities and organizations of firemen in the United States between 1826 and 1907. The series is comprised mainly of lithographic and engraved prints including fire department membership and discharge certificates, depictions of fires and firefighters working to extinguish blazes, builder's prints of fire engines and similar vehicles, and images and advertisements pertaining to social and charitable events involving fire departments and related organizations. These items were produced for a variety of purposes including as illustrations in books, as promotional materials, as documentary and commemorative prints, and as certificates attesting to the service of firemen. They consist mainly of color-printed, hand-colored, and uncolored lithographs and engravings by American artists, printers, and publishers. Many of these prints contain scenes of firefighters assembling for duty and responding to alarms, fighting fires, and rescuing victims; views of burning and damaged buildings and ruins; and images of firefighting vehicles and equipment including steam fire engines, manual fire engines, hook and ladder trucks, hose carriages, fire hydrants, hoses, ladders, preventers, axes, and speaking trumpets. The items primarily pertain to the Northeastern United States, though the materials do include certificates for fire companies in Gold Hill, Nevada (1867), Albany, Oregon (1874), and Alameda, California (1893); a print of a manual fire engine used by the Pacific Engine Company of San Francisco, California (1851); and a view of the June 20, 1877, fire in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. The series features: Certificates that document membership in fire companies or benevolent societies, or the exemption or discharge of firemen from service. Most of these certificates are decorated with multiple vignettes including images of recent or historic fires fought by the company, as well as more generic scenes of firemen and equipment. Prints produced for firefighting vehicle builders and manufacturers, similar to railroad locomotive builder's prints, that prominently feature views of steam and manual fire engines and often include the name of the fire company that purchased the engine. Items pertaining to parades, balls, and celebrations involving firefighters.

    priJLC_FIRE

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    Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of firefighting prints and ephemera contains more than 150 printed items that relate to firefighting and the activities and organizations of firemen in the United States from approximately 1820 to 1909. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to firefighting organizations, related social or charitable events, and firefighting vehicles, equipment, and supplies. Large-size items consist of lithographic and engraved prints including fire department membership and discharge certificates; depictions of fires and firefighters working to extinguish blazes; builders prints of fire engines and similar vehicles, and images and advertisements pertaining to social and charitable events involving fire departments and related organizations. The small-size items consist mainly of business documents and advertising and promotional ephemera such as printed booklets, trade cards, small programs, menus, tickets and invitations for charitable and social events such balls, concerts, musters, and celebrations, business cards, lapel ribbons, book and periodical illustrations, membership certificates, and stationery with printed billheads and letterheads filled out in manuscript.

    priJLC_FIRE

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    Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size)

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of firefighting prints and ephemera contains more than 150 printed items that relate to firefighting and the activities and organizations of firemen in the United States from approximately 1820 to 1909. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to firefighting organizations, related social or charitable events, and firefighting vehicles, equipment, and supplies. Large-size items consist of lithographic and engraved prints including fire department membership and discharge certificates; depictions of fires and firefighters working to extinguish blazes; builders prints of fire engines and similar vehicles, and images and advertisements pertaining to social and charitable events involving fire departments and related organizations. The small-size items consist mainly of business documents and advertising and promotional ephemera such as printed booklets, trade cards, small programs, menus, tickets and invitations for charitable and social events such balls, concerts, musters, and celebrations, business cards, lapel ribbons, book and periodical illustrations, membership certificates, and stationery with printed billheads and letterheads filled out in manuscript.

    priJLC_FIRE

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    Jay T. Last Collection of Firefighting Prints and Ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last Collection of Firefighting Prints and Ephemera contains more than 200 printed items that relate to firefighting and the activities and organizations of firemen in the United States from approximately 1820 to 1909. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to firefighting organizations, related social or charitable events, and firefighting vehicles, equipment, and supplies. 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 materials broadly at the series level; large-size items have been fully inventoried and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection has 40 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic and engraved prints that include: Fire department membership and discharge certificates Depictions of fires and firefighters working to extinguish blazes Builders prints of fire engines and similar vehicles Images and advertisements pertaining to social and charitable events involving fire departments and related organizations Small-size items in the collection number more than 160 and consist mainly of business documents and advertising and promotional ephemera such as printed booklets, trade cards, small programs, menus, tickets and invitations for charitable and social events such balls, concerts, musters, and celebrations, business cards, lapel ribbons, book and periodical illustrations, membership certificates, and stationery with printed billheads and letterheads filled out in manuscript.

    priJLC_FIRE

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    Series I: Small size prints and ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of travel and exploration prints and ephemera contains about 1,190 printed materials related to the history of hotels, resorts, luggage companies, and maps in the United States. The materials date from approximately 1814 to approximately 1937, although the bulk of the materials date from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. The collection consists of 50 large-sized items, and over a thousand smaller-sized items, including trade cards, postcards, booklets, billheads, and letterheads. Many of the prints include views and promotional maps created by hotel and resort proprietors from New York City, Boston, and Chicago. Images on some of the prints trace the history of vacation destinations in the United States, predominately of beaches near Coney Island, ranging from Locust Grove to Starin's Glen Island, Dreamland, Luna Park, and more. The prints also contain images of elevated street views, storefronts, pedestrians traveling to hotels, and people at their leisure at beaches and amusement parks. A few prints also include promotional information about amenities, services, medical treatments, and local excursions offered by the various establishments. A large portion of materials in this collection are printed maps, varying from ornamental pictorial maps about U.S history and western expansion, to pocket maps created by hotel proprietors, real estate agents, government departments, and local businesses. While predominantly mapping locations within New York and Massachusetts, many of the maps also cover regions in California, documenting land development, fire-safety plans, and real-estate advertisements in Fresno, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Some of the maps in this collection also provide exploration routes and information on locating gold mines in California, Colorado, and Alaska. Information on the maps include topographic details, timetables for travel destinations, and document travel routes by rail or ferry. A smaller portion of this collection also consists of images of luggage, trunk, travel bag, and valise products advertised by manufacturers from Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Newark, and more.

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    Series I. Transportation Prints and Ephemera (small size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains more than 570 small-size printed items pertaining to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. The series consists of miscellaneous business records and advertising and promotional materials produced for or related to the bicycle, carriage and wagon, railroad, and freight and passenger transport industries. While most of the pieces date from the late 1870s through 1905, among the earliest items in the collection is an 1826 pamphlet printed for the American Tract Society entitled "All Right." A dialogue between a coach guard and a passenger. Items range in size from approximately 1 x 3 inches to 11 x 9 inches and though many of images depict transportation vehicles and related equipment, there is a wide variety of imagery including views of factories, buildings, and storefronts, images of children, young women, birds, animals, flowers, trees, and cartoons and caricatures. The transportation-affiliated entities represented in this series include vehicle, part, equipment, and accessory manufacturers, dealers, and retailers such as wheel works, carriage, sleigh, and wagon builders, bicycle manufacturers, and locomotive and car machine shops. Item types include printed booklets, business cards, calendars, catalogs, envelopes, handbills, labels, leaflets, postcards, trade cards, and separated book and periodical illustrations, as well as stationery with printed billheads and letterheads filled out with manuscript or typewritten correspondence.

    priJLC_TRAN