Guide to the Collection of late 19th century sewing machine trade cards, advertisements, and catalogues.

Finding Aid Authors: Thai-Van Stanoff and Sutro Library staff.

1630 Holloway Avenue

5th floor

San Francisco, CA, 94132-4030

URL: http://www.library.ca.gov/about/sutro_main.html

Email: sutro@library.ca.gov

Phone: 415-469-6100

Guide to the Collection of late 19th century sewing machine trade cards, advertisements, and catalogues. 1871/1901

Sutro Library, California State Library

Overview of the Collection

Collection Title: Collection of late 19th century sewing machine trade cards, advertisements, and catalogues.

Dates: 1871-1901

Identification: M000088

Physical Description: 0.25

Language of Materials: English Spanish;Castilian

Repository: Sutro Library, California State Library

1630 Holloway Avenue

5th floor

San Francisco, CA, 94132-4030

URL: http://www.library.ca.gov/about/sutro_main.html

Email: sutro@library.ca.gov

Phone: 415-469-6100

Administrative History:

Throughout the 19th century, trade cards were distributed by businesses to potential consumers to advertise and announce their trade. Oftentimes, these ornate and easily-transportable items were collected and exchanged in social circles.

This collection demonstrates the significance of sewing machines in women's lives as well as the different marketing strategies businesses used. Advertisers considered women's values, depicting a variety of social situations including women's work, courtship, and the family. Advertisers also made the trade cards entertaining and interactive by including humor and novelty effects such as hold-to-light and before-and-after images.

The remainder of the collection, mostly consisting of small catalogues, provides information on the capabilities of specific machines and overall technical improvements as they occurred. The collection also contains a wide variety of printing techniques and artistic styles. Some of the companies within this collection are Davis Sewing Machine Company, New Home Sewing Machine Company, Singer Manufacturing Company, Standard Sewing Machine, and the White Sewing Machine Company.

Administrative Information

Processing Information:

Index created by Thai-Van Stanoff, student assistant, in Winter 2024.

Conditions Governing Use:

Property rights reside with the repository. Any applicable literary rights would reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please email: sutro@library.ca.gov .

Conditions Governing Access:

This collection is open for research. Please page materials three business days in advance of your visit by email: sutro@library.ca.gov .

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item] Collection of late 19th century sewing machine trade cards, advertisements, and catalogues, 1871-1901, M000088, Sutro Library, California State Library, San Francisco, Calif.

Arrangement of Materials:

This collection is arranged into two series:

Series 1: Sewing machine trade cards, 1880-1901

Sub-series 1: "Domestic," "New Home," "Singer," and "White" trade cards, 1880-1901

Sub-series 2: Misc. trade cards, 1881-1888

Series 2: Booklets, catalogues, and periodicals, 1871-1884

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of approximately 196 pieces of advertising materials created and distributed by sewing machine companies in the late 19th century. Advertisement trade cards make up the majority of the collection, but catalogues, periodicals, and assorted novelty items are also included.

Series 1: Sewing machine trade cards 1880-1901

Scope and Contents

This series consists of sewing machine trade cards. Some of the brands and types include "Domestic," "New Home," "Singer," "White," "Howe," "Eldredge Sewing Machine," "The Companion," "Royal St. John," and others.

Sub-series 1: "Domestic," "New Home," "Singer," and "White" trade cards 1880-1901

Scope and Contents

This sub-series consists of "Domestic," "New Home," "Singer," and "White" sewing machine trade cards.

Box 1

Box 1, Folder 1

"Domestic" trade cards n.d. [18 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes "Domestic" trade cards [some have annotations]. Highlights include "Domestic" Silver Anniversary card [1863-1888], a trade card depicting a proposal [the woman agrees to the proposal on condition that the man buys her a "Domestic"], and a card depicting a woman with her husband and three children in their home with [one child is holding a flag that says "The star that leads them all"].

Box 1, Folder 2

"New Home" trade cards n.d., 1880-1891 [44 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes "New Home" trade cards. Highlights include a trade card depicting vibrant purple and yellow pansies, anthropormorphic subjects [including foxes and lions] using the "New Home" machine, a series of four trade cards depicting a lovers' journey and their "New Home," cards depicting a woman getting jeered at for wearing a ripped dress [one is written in Spanish], a butterfly-shaped "New Home" trade card, and a card that changes image when held to the light [Without light: a solemn-looking woman hand-sewing without her "New Home" machine. With light: the woman is happy and wealthy with her "New Home" machine].

Box 1, Folder 3

"Singer" trade cards n.d., 1892-1901 [51 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes "Singer" trade cards. Highlights include various trade cards depicting people of different countries using "Singer" sewing-machines [the caption on the back of these cards includes information on the country and discusses how "Singer" 'civilized' these different peoples], cards depicting scenes of Adam and Eve and Romeo and Juliet, cards depicting children sewing the tails of two cats together, and a "Singer" envelope with an advertisement card inside.

Box 1, Folder 4

"White" trade cards n.d., 1883-1899 [19 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes "White" trade cards. Highlights include cards with various illustrations of women [includes the caption "This is the Girl of the Period"], a card of a girl picking flowers [includes the caption "So simple, a child can use it"], book-shaped "White" trade cards, a leaf-shaped trade card, and a cut-out card of a girl sitting on a ladder advertising "White" sewing machines.

Sub-series 2:Miscellaneous trade cards 1881-1888

Scope and Contents

This sub-series consists of various miscellaneous sewing machine trade cards.

Box 1

Box 1, Folder 5

Misc. trade cards #1 n.d., 1881-1884 [17 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes miscellaneous trade cards [some with annotations]. Includes trade cards for "Eldredge Sewing Machine," "The Companion," "Howe" sewing machines, "Hartford Sewing Machine," "Household" sewing machines, "American Sewing Machine," "Florence Machine Co.," and "Willcox & Gibbs." Also includes an advertisement envelope for "The Bolgiano Manufacturing Co," and an advertisement envelope and trade card for "Finkle & Lyon, Sewing Machine Co. New York."

Box 1, Folder 6

Misc. trade cards #2 n.d., 1884-1888 [27 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes miscellaneous trade cards. Includes trade cards for "Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine," "Royal St. John" [the back of some of these cards have sheet music and lyrics], "Remington Sewing Machines," "Williams Sewing Machine," "Wheeler & Wilson," "Union Sewing Machine," "The Leader Sewing Machine Co.," "The Standard Sewing Machine Co.," "Petit's," and "The Elastic Stitch."

Series 2:Booklets, catalogues, and periodicals 1871-1884

Scope and Contents

This series consists of various sewing machine advertisement booklets, instruction booklets, catalogues, and periodicals.

Box 1

Box 1, Folder 7

Booklets n.d., 1871 [4 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes various sewing machine advertisement and instruction booklets. Includes an advertisement booklet for "Wheeler & Wilson," an advertisement booklet for "Standard Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machine," an instruction booklet for "Wheeler & Wilson's Family Sewing Machines," and an instruction booklet for using sewing machines [the specific kind and company is unclear].

Box 1, Folder 8

Catalogues n.d., 1876-1884 [14 items]

Scope and Contents

Includes various sewing machine catalogues from "White Sewing Machine Co.," "Florence," "Davis," "New Home," "Domestic," "Wilson Sewing Machine Company," "The Finkle & Lyon Sewing Machine," "The Singer," and "Sears, Roebuck & Co. Chicago."

Box 1, Folder 9

Periodicals 1874 [1 item]

Scope and Contents

Includes a periodical for The "Domestic" [Vol. I, January 1874, No. 3].