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Jay T. Last collection of military prints and ephemera


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    Jay T. Last Collection of Horticulture Prints and Ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last Collection of Horticulture Prints and Ephemera contains approximately 1,425 printed items from 1840 to 1933, with the majority of material dating from 1865 to 1920. The collection consists of advertising prints and ephemera promoting businesses whose products and services relate to growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables. This includes the tools, equipment, and supplies used for planting and cultivating gardens, orchards, and lawns for commercial and noncommercial purposes by nurseries, florists, fruit growers, and home gardeners. Seed companies are most prominently represented. 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 and selected 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 more than 50 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographs and engravings, including seed advertisements, decorative floral prints, and promotional materials related to fruit, vegetable, and floral products. Small-size items in the collection number almost 1,400 items and are comprised mainly of trade cards, stationery, handbills, and seed packets from various businesses. Approximately 285 ephemeral items featuring images of anthropomorphic fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other plants are also contained here, even though the products they promote do not always relate to horticulture. The collection's prints and ephemera are primarily promotional in nature and provide information about American fruit, vegetable, seed, and flower-related industries, as well as the evolution of advertising strategies employed by these businesses in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Materials in this collection also provide a perspective on American aesthetic sensibilities during this period, as many of these prints were offered as decorative items as well as advertisements. 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.

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    Jay T. Last Collection of Views Prints and Ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last Collection of Views Prints and Ephemera consists of approximately 250 mostly lithographic items depicting physical locales, primarily in the United States. While the majority of the collection features lithographs of American views produced by American artists, printers, and publishers, there are also a few engravings and foreign prints. The collection dates from approximately 1815 to approximately 1921 and includes town and city views; pictorial maps and plans; images of landscapes and waterscapes; scenes of rural and wilderness areas; commercial and residential streets and individual buildings and structures; parks, bridges, and monuments; and a small number of interior views. Generic dwellings as well as homes of famous people are also contained here. The images often incorporate depictions of people, animals, street traffic, railroad trains, and structures but share a focus on place, as opposed to genre scenes of everyday life or company- or product-based advertisements. For advertisements or views of specific types of buildings see other Jay T. Last sub-collection subjects: e.g. for churches see Religion, for schools see Education, for grain mills see Food, and for breweries see Beverages. For monuments relating to the armed forces see Military. For views of the cosmos and natural phenomena occurring in the atmosphere see Science and Technology. The prints in this collection were produced for a variety of purposes including as art reproductions, as illustrations in books, and occasionally as promotional materials. They consist of color-printed and/or hand-colored images and uncolored images, and range in size from approximately 2 x 3 inches to 27 x 43 inches. The prints are organized geographically by region based on the four geographic regions of the United States recognized by the United States Census Bureau: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West, plus foreign views. 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 view prints provide rich resources for the study of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American printing history, visual culture, and social history. They offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers who created these items. As a visual historical record, this collection provides documentary evidence of the interplay between individuals and their environments, and their perceptions and interpretations of their surroundings. Prints in the collection document the topography, development, and promotion of towns and cities; urban planning; the impact of settlement, transportation, and infrastructure on both rural and urban environments; the architectural history of business and retail centers, civic buildings, and private residences; and perceptions towards wilderness and frontier areas. Information about social history emerges through the depictions of individuals and street scenes in many of these prints, including modes of transportation, leisure, and commercial activities.

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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 Finance Prints and Ephemera

    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. 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 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). Of note are more than 100 bank checks issued by John H. Piatt & Co. Bankers of Cincinnati, Ohio, dating from 1817 to 1820 (Binder 1). They are signed by various Cincinnati-area businessmen and citizens including shoe store owner James Chute, druggist William Crissey, Methodist preacher Adbeel Coleman, and American Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Chase. 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.

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    Jay T. Last Collection of Fashion Prints and Ephemera

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last collection of fashion prints and ephemera contains approximately 7,500 items dating from the 1570s to the early 1900s, with the bulk of the items spanning from 1825 to 1900. This collection consists of fashion plates, advertising prints, broadsides, and promotional ephemera produced for clothiers and tailors, dry goods suppliers, garment manufacturers, fashion publications, and textile companies affiliated with the design, production, and/or sale of clothing, accessories, and dry goods. While most of the materials are American, there are also notable quantities of foreign items in the collection, including French fashion plates, fez labels in several languages, and foreign textile labels. Labels affixed to textile samples of various sizes are also included. Materials are broadly divided into two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or smaller) and large-size items (typically larger 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 250 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic advertising prints and fashion plates. Small-size items number approximately 7,250 and contain a variety of promotional materials including trade cards, calendars, booklets, product labels, fashion plates, periodicals, clippings, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. Each series is divided into subseries according to the kind of business, service, or trade sponsoring the advertisement. Types of businesses have been identified according to the principal type of product(s) manufactured or sold by the business. These subseries are arranged as follows: Accessories; Clothiers, Tailors, and Dry Goods; Fashion Plates And Periodicals; Footwear; Garments; Headwear; Sewing Supplies; and Textiles. This collection contains many American and European printed illustrations, commonly known as "fashion plates," that typically depict men, women, or children modeling current clothing and dress styles. Small plates (usually 14 x 10 inches or less in this collection) illustrated the pages of magazines and bound volumes that were marketed specifically for women. Larger plates, primarily intended for display, advertised the products and services of fashion designers, tailors, and pattern makers. The collection provides a resource for studying clothing and dress, sales and merchandise, textiles, and sewing, as well as changing fashion trends in the United States and Europe in the 19th century. The images are primarily promotional in nature and provide information about the history of the American fashion, clothing, dry-goods, and textile industries and the evolution of their advertising strategies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 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 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.

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