Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last collection of household prints and ephemera contains over 7,800 printed items advertising household products and related businesses in the United States from the 1830s to the 1920s, with the bulk of the items spanning from 1850 to 1900. The collection consists largely of lithographed ephemera produced for American businesses affiliated with the manufacture, distribution, and sale of furnishings, appliances, cleaning products, and related tools and supplies. Cleaning products include soaps, polishes, bleaches and ammonias, starches, and pest control. Furnishings include lighting, furniture, clocks and art objects, tableware, doors and other building components, as well as the manufacturers and retailers of these goods. Tools and appliances include brooms, irons, and kitchenware as well as refrigerators, freezers, sewing machines, stoves and ranges, and washers. The collection supports various fields of research relating to home decorating, housekeeping, laundering, and washing including products used to adorn interiors and exteriors, clean and maintain clothes, polish and preserve household objects, tidy living spaces, and cleanse the human body. The images provide a resource for studying American domesticity and related industries in the 19th and early 20th centuries, along with the evolution of advertising strategies. The items also offer insight to consumer buying habits, brand loyalty, and popular use for a variety of household items and products. 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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