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Jay T. Last Collection of Science 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.

    priJLC_HORT

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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 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.

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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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    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.

    priJLC_MAR

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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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