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Jay T. Last Collection of Horticulture Prints and Ephemera: Finding
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Title: Jay T. Last Collection of Horticulture Prints and Ephemera
Dates (inclusive): 1840-1933
Bulk dates: 1865-1920
Collection Number: priJLC_HORT
Collector:
Last, Jay T.
Extent:
approximately 1,425 items
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Prints and Ephemera
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Prints and Ephemera
Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: 626-405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: 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.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on August 9, 2016.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
[Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last Collection of Horticulture Prints and Ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
This collection forms part of the Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, which was
donated to the Huntington Library by Jay T. Last in 2005 as a gift in progress. The bulk of the horticulture prints and ephemera was transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2013.
The Jay T. Last Collection is an unparalleled archive of printed paper artifacts that documents American lithographic, social,
and business history. The collection began in the early 1970s when
physicist and Silicon Valley pioneer Jay Last moved to Southern California and started collecting citrus box labels he found
at local flea markets and rummage sales. As his collection grew,
Last realized that these labels conveyed important information about commercial printing, graphic design, and social history,
and he expanded his collection to include other forms
of American visual culture. Today this collection contains more than 200,000 lithographic prints, posters, and ephemera of
mostly nineteenth- and early twentieth- century American
origin and represents works by more than five hundred lithographic companies.
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.
Alternative Form of Materials Available
Visit the
Huntington Digital Library: Jay T. Last Collection
to view digitized items from this collection.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
The collection is arranged in the following series and subseries:
- Series I. Horticulture Prints and Ephemera (small size)
- Series II. Horticulture Prints and Ephemera (large size)
Items are arranged numerically by call number and described in the following format:
- Title of print. Date
- Artist(s) (when known). Printer(s). Publisher(s)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Billheads.
Business cards.
Chromolithographs.
Contracts.
Ephemera.
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th
century.
Ephemera -- United States -- 20th
century.
Engravings.
Handbills.
Intaglio prints.
Leaflets (printed works).
Letterheads.
Lithographs.
Postcards.
Printed ephemera.
Promotional materials.
Relief prints.
Stationery.
Tickets.
Trade cards.
Advertising -- Agriculture.
Advertising -- Floral products.
Advertising -- Seeds.
Flowers -- Pictorial works.
Fruit -- Pictorial works.
Gardens -- Pictorial works.
Girls -- Pictorial works.
Men -- Pictorial works.
Trees -- Pictorial works.
Vases -- Pictorial works.
Vegetables -- Pictorial works.
Women -- Pictorial works.
Printer, Publisher, Artist Index
The following is a complete list of printers, publishers, and artists represented in the individually cataloged items in this
collection.
Adolph Nolte & Co.
American Lithographic Co.
Baudot, L.
Beatty & Co., Lith.
Brett Lithographing Co.
C.F. Muntz & Co.
Calvert Lithographing Co. (Detroit, Mich.)
Clay & Richmond.
Clay, Cosack & Co.
Coffin, Haskell, 1878-1941.
Cosack & Clark.
Cosack & Co.
Crump Label Co.
Currier & Ives.
Dewey, D. M. (Dellon Marcus), 1819-1889.
Editorial Seix Barral.
Ensigns & Thayer.
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company.
Frauenberger, George F.
Goffart, J. L.
Hirschberg, Alice, 1856-1930.
J. Ottman Lithographic Company.
Kellogg & Comstock.
Kratzer, E.
Krebs Lithographing Company.
Lehman & Bolton.
Lith. & Chromo Co.
Lockhart, W. (William J.)
Lunzer, A.
Mensing & Stecher.
Peters, G. W.
Rahn, Anton.
Richmond & Co.
Stecher Litho. Co.
Strobridge & Co. Lith.
W.F. Humphrey Press.
Wall, H. M.
Walton, J. (Artist)