Visual Materials
Jay T. Last collection of travel and exploration prints and ephemera
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Series II: Large 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: 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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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.
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Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera contains more than 730 printed items that relate to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States from the 1820s to the early 1900s. The bulk of the collection dates from 1840 to 1905 and consists largely of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to the bicycle, carriage and wagon, railroad, and freight and passenger transport industries. 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 are fully inventoried, and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection has 167 large-size items consisting of advertising cards, posters, broadsides, system maps, timetables, views, and other visual materials primarily produced for railroad companies, with additional items concerning vehicle and part manufacturers such as wheel works, carriage builders, bicycle manufacturers, and locomotive machine shops. Small-size items in the collection number more than 570 and are comprised mainly of advertising and promotional ephemera and business documents such as 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. The collection touches on topics of transportation, commerce and manufacturing, technology and engineering, travel and tourism, and geography. The images are primarily promotional in nature and provide information about the history of the American railroad, bicycle, and horse-drawn vehicle industries and the evolution of their advertising strategies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the prints offer evidence of the development of printmaking techniques and trends, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.
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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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