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Series II. Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (large size)


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    Series I. Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (small size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains more than 160 small-size printed items that pertain to firefighting and the activities and organizations of firemen in the United States from approximately 1820 to 1909. The items consist of business records and advertising and promotional materials produced for or pertaining to firefighting organizations, related social or charitable events, and firefighting vehicles, equipment, and supplies. The entities represented in these materials include fire departments, engine and hose companies, relief funds, veterans' associations, and firefighting vehicle, equipment, and supply manufacturers such as engine works and pump and hose manufacturers. Item types consist of 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. Many of these items are decorated with images that include depictions of firefighters assembling for duty and responding to alarms, fighting fires, and rescuing victims; views of burning and damaged buildings, and ruins amid flames, rubble, and smoke; 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. While most of the materials date from the second half of the 19th century, among the earliest items in the collection is a circa 1820 engraving of a fire pumper that advertises the Philadelphia firm of Sellers & Pennock Patent River Hose, Fire Bucket and Hydraulion Manufacturers. Also of note are four small lithographs of parade floats carrying New York City firefighters and fire engines that were printed by Anthony Imbert of New York City and published in 1826 as part of an appendix to the 1825 Memoir by Cadwallader D. Colden commemorating the New York celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal. Later items include an 1886 booklet for the Veteran Firemen's Association annual ball held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, containing multiple pages of advertisements and illustrations for firefighting apparatus and related services interspersed with four images of historic New York City fires; and twelve color covers with images of "Young Wide Awake" in firefighting scenes from the Wide Awake Weekly dime-novel/penny-dreadful series that was published by Frank Tousey between 1906 and 1909.

    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.

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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.

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    Series II. Politics and Social Issues Prints and Ephemera (large size)

    Visual Materials

    This series contains mainly portrait prints, political cartoons, and political campaign promotional prints. Also included are certificates and illustrated materials promoting temperance, as well as a ballot from the election of 1912.

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