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Trade card scrapbooks
Creator:
Call Number: D.307
Dates: circa 1880-1900
Physical Description: 17 Volumes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Table of Contents:
Revision Information
Biographical/Historical Note
Scope and Content
Subject(s)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Access
Use
Citation
Content List
Box 1 Loose trade cards - Upstate New York
Box 1 Loose trade cards - New York City
Collection Overview
Title: Trade card scrapbooks
Call Number: D.307
Dates: circa 1880-1900
Physical Description: 17 Volumes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Biographical/Historical Note
Trade cards were an early form of collectible advertising. The advent of lithography in the 1870s opened the possibilities for large-scale production of highly coloured, very detailed images, and companies and retailers took advantage of the eye-catching technique. Trade cards usually featured an image on one side and an advertisement on the other. Calling cards, religious sentiment cards, and greeting cards also featured colourful lithographic techniques, and many people collected these ephemera in scrapbooks. Popular themes printed on the cards took advantage of the colourful lithographic process, and featured tropical birds, flowers, animals, romantic imagery, and scenes from fable and fairy tale. Romantic, Orientalist, and racist themes are all also common.
Scope and Content
The materials in this collection are scrapbooks of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century trade cards. The cards in volumes 1-3 are mainly for Rochester, New York manufacturers and merchants and in volume 4 for New York City businesses. These small cards advertise such products as soap, clothing, shoes, food, jewelry and medicines and are illustrated with idealized views of children engaged in various activities and stereotypical depictions of ethnic and racial groups. Other popular subjects are animals and nature. Volume 5 contains cards from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Each trade card in Volume 1 has been listed in a database by name of company, address, product, and a brief description of the picture. Volume 2 has been partially listed. The database is currently only available on site in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
The trade cards in Volumes 6-17 date from 1880-1889 and include greeting cards, calling cards, some samples of printed wallpaper, cards given as merit awards for schoolchildren, invitations, and some illustrations which may have been cut from larger posters or advertisements. The locations of most of the cards place them in Western New York (Oneida, Buffalo, Rochester, Oswego, Fulton, and others), or in New York City. Numerous families and names are included.
Box 1 contains loose cards which were collected by the donors but which were not part of the present bound scrapbooks.
Subject(s):
New York (State)--Rochester
New York (State)--New York
Albums (Books)
Advertising cards
World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of Walter Cassebeer (1931); Robert Baron (2009); Victor Markiewicz (1998), with additional purchasesAccess
The Trade card scrapbooks is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.Use
Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.eduCitation
[Item title, item date], Trade card scrapbooks, D.307, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Administrative Information
Author: Lori Birrell, 2016. Updated March 2020 by Lev Earle.
Publisher: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Address:
Rush Rhees Library
Second Floor, Room 225
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
rarebks@library.rochester.edu
URL:
Revision Information
March 2020: Finding aid was updated and revised during accrual for clarity and to match updated departmental processing standards.
Content List
Creator:
Call Number: D.307
Dates: circa 1880-1900
Physical Description: 17 Volumes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Table of Contents:
Revision Information
Biographical/Historical Note
Scope and Content
Subject(s)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Access
Use
Citation
Content List
Box 1 Loose trade cards - Upstate New York
Box 1 Loose trade cards - New York City
Collection Overview
Title: Trade card scrapbooks
Call Number: D.307
Dates: circa 1880-1900
Physical Description: 17 Volumes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Biographical/Historical Note
Trade cards were an early form of collectible advertising. The advent of lithography in the 1870s opened the possibilities for large-scale production of highly coloured, very detailed images, and companies and retailers took advantage of the eye-catching technique. Trade cards usually featured an image on one side and an advertisement on the other. Calling cards, religious sentiment cards, and greeting cards also featured colourful lithographic techniques, and many people collected these ephemera in scrapbooks. Popular themes printed on the cards took advantage of the colourful lithographic process, and featured tropical birds, flowers, animals, romantic imagery, and scenes from fable and fairy tale. Romantic, Orientalist, and racist themes are all also common.
Scope and Content
The materials in this collection are scrapbooks of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century trade cards. The cards in volumes 1-3 are mainly for Rochester, New York manufacturers and merchants and in volume 4 for New York City businesses. These small cards advertise such products as soap, clothing, shoes, food, jewelry and medicines and are illustrated with idealized views of children engaged in various activities and stereotypical depictions of ethnic and racial groups. Other popular subjects are animals and nature. Volume 5 contains cards from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Each trade card in Volume 1 has been listed in a database by name of company, address, product, and a brief description of the picture. Volume 2 has been partially listed. The database is currently only available on site in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
The trade cards in Volumes 6-17 date from 1880-1889 and include greeting cards, calling cards, some samples of printed wallpaper, cards given as merit awards for schoolchildren, invitations, and some illustrations which may have been cut from larger posters or advertisements. The locations of most of the cards place them in Western New York (Oneida, Buffalo, Rochester, Oswego, Fulton, and others), or in New York City. Numerous families and names are included.
Box 1 contains loose cards which were collected by the donors but which were not part of the present bound scrapbooks.
Subject(s):
New York (State)--Rochester
New York (State)--New York
Albums (Books)
Advertising cards
World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of Walter Cassebeer (1931); Robert Baron (2009); Victor Markiewicz (1998), with additional purchasesAccess
The Trade card scrapbooks is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.Use
Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.eduCitation
[Item title, item date], Trade card scrapbooks, D.307, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Administrative Information
Author: Lori Birrell, 2016. Updated March 2020 by Lev Earle.
Publisher: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Address:
Rush Rhees Library
Second Floor, Room 225
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
rarebks@library.rochester.edu
URL:
Revision Information
March 2020: Finding aid was updated and revised during accrual for clarity and to match updated departmental processing standards.
Content List
Volume 1Rochester and Western New York (bulk)
Creator unknown. The majority of content is from manufacturers and merchants in Rochester, New York. Each trade card in Volume 1 has been listed in a database by name of company, address, product, and a brief description of the image. The database is currently only available on site in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation.
242 pages
Gift of Walter H. Cassebeer, 1931.
Cards have been glued on top of a 1868-69 ledger from a Caledonia, New York office of the New York Central Railroad.
Volume 2Rochester and Western New York (bulk)
Creator unknown. The majority of content is from manufacturers and merchants in Rochester, New York. The contents of Volume 2 have been partially listed in a database by name of company, address, product, and a brief description of the image. The database is currently only available on site in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation. Pages 47 and 48 hold Soapine / Kendall Manufacturing Co. trade cards designed by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
129 pages
Gift of Walter H. Cassebeer, 1931.
Cards glued to pages of a catalog for "Hopkins & Dickinson Manufacturing Co., Fine Metal Workers." Covers separated from textblock, pages fragile.
Volume 3Rochester and Western New York (bulk)
The majority of content is from manufacturers and merchants in Rochester, New York.
Gift of Walter H. Cassebeer, 1931.
Creator unknown. Cards glued to pages of a copy of Military Commission to Europe in 1855 and 1856, Report of Major Alfred Mordecai of the Ordinance Department , 36th Congress, 1st session, House Ex. doc. Contains correspondence between Mr. Joseph Baron and Mr. Arthur L. Whall on behalf of a Mr. Allen McIntosh concerning the disposition of the collection. Covers separated from textblock, pages fragile.
Volume 4New York, New York (bulk)
Nearly all cards are from New York City and Brooklyn merchants and manufacturers; some hand-drawn cards and some child's scribbling throughout.
Gift of Robert Baron, 2009.
Pages have been removed from binding. All cards are glued to pages, some of which have manuscript writing.
Volume 5World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair), 1893
The creator of this scrapbook is unknown. The book contains 228 advertising trade cards and other chromolithograph ephemera apparently collected at the Chicago World's Fair. Included are images of a number of Fair buildings and exhibits. The starch exhibit of T. Kingsford & Son of Oswego, designed by Claude Bragdon is represented along with Swift & Company; Pears' Soap; several piano manufacturers of pianos, lard, sewing machines, and glue; Nestle's; Corticelli Spool Silk; Libby, McNeill & Libby; Wolfe's Schnapps; Milwaukee Harvester Company; Foos Manufacturing Co.; C. M. Henderson & Co.; Heinz; Buckeye Incubator; Phelps, Dodge & Palmer shoes and more.
Purchase, 2017
All cards are glued to album pages.
Volume 6Wayne County and New York State (bulk)
Trade cards, greeting cards, calling cards, cut-outs of contemporary illustration, and more. Some locations noted include Clyde, Palmyra, and Syracuse, NY.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 7New York, New York (bulk)
Among an array of greeting and trade cards including illustrations of the normal birds, animals, flowers, children, fable themes, racist caricatures, idealized country life, Christmas and religious imagery, etc. is also a full-length two-colour portrait of Oscar Wilde, "compliments of Ehrich Bros."
Most cards are from New York City, with additional notable representation from Troy, NY.
Most cards are from New York City, with additional notable representation from Troy, NY.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 8Syracuse, NY (bulk)
Most of the trade cards in this scrapbook are from Syracuse, NY. Also included are a number of wallpaper samples and cut-outs from larger illustrations.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 9Rewards of Merit
The cards pasted into this scrapbook are largely illustrated rewards for merit awarded to various children of the Tolman (var. spelling) family, including Susie, Gardiner, Tommy, and Charlie. There are also a large number of calling cards, and a collection of larger illustrations which have been tipped in with corner holders rather than pasted fully to the album pages.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 10Western NY (bulk), 1887
Trade cards with illustrations of children, flowers and plants, and many Christian themes and morals.
The pages of the scrapbook are loose, highly acidified, and very brittle. Extra care should be taken with handling.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 11Greeting and religious cards
The cards in this scrapbook are largely greeting cards and cards with religious themes. One card of note has an elaborate fringe border. Printing locations are largely not noted. Many pages have been left blank.
Volume 12Valentines
This scrapbook has "Valentines" written in pencil in the top corner of the front pastdown. The cards are largely greeting cards, with some religious cards included, and include a number of highly ornate lace-type punched-paper cards. Some loose examples have been placed in protective sleeves.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 13Utica, NY (bulk), Christmas 1882
Smaller scrapbook with the pastedown inscription, "Christmas 1882, Presented to Lucy V. Chadwick, with love, L. M." The trade cards pasted in largely feature illustrations of animals and girls and are largely from Utica, NY.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 14Utica, NY (bulk)
A larger-format scrapbook of trade cards, mostly from Utica, NY, featuring birds, children, racehorses, romantic scenes, the "exotic," and racist depictions of people of color. Included on the front pastedown is a very small intricate tapestry of a hunt scene with the inscription, "Woven in silk by Thomas Stevens, inventor and manufacturer, Coventry and London, (Registered.)"
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 15Seasonal greeting cards
A larger-format scrapbook of mostly seasonal and holiday greeting cards. Locations and dates are not noted. The cover has a large print of an oil painting of three women in the "rustic waif" tradition also popular on many trade cards.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 16Rochester (bulk), 1882-1885
A larger-format scrapbook of trade cards, marked postage stamps, invitation cards, and flags of European countries and colonies. Front flyleaf has the inscription, "Miz [sic] Edith White, from Aunt Jane, December 25/82."
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Volume 17Small format Valentines
Single folder of contents from a scrapbook which has fallen apart. Both covers and six pages are included. Contents are small-format Valentine's themed calling cards, with examples of lace punched-paper detailing and brightly colored inks. Locations and dates not noted.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1998.
Box 1Loose trade cards - Upstate New York
Loose trade and calling cards. Some have signs of having previously been pasted into scrapbooks.
Gift of Victor Markiewicz, 1999.
Box 1Loose trade cards - New York City