Last (Jay T.) Collection of Sports and Leisure Prints and Ephemera, 1758-1938, bulk 1850-1900

Summary

Title:

Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera

Dates:

1758-1938, bulk 1850-1900

Creators:

Last, Jay T.

Abstract:

The Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera contains about 1,770 printed materials related to the history and advertising of sports, recreational activities, pyrotechnics, gambling, and games in the United States. The materials date from approximately 1758 to approximately 1938, although the bulk of the items date from the mid-19th to the early-20th centuries. The collection consists of about 67 large-sized items, and over 1,000 smaller-sized items, including paper dolls, playing cards, lottery broadsides, novelty items, trade cards, puzzle cards, dime novels, and promotional billheads, and letterheads. Images on materials range from scenes of indoor pastimes to outdoor sports and activities.

Extent:

24.1 Linear Feet (13 binders, 2 boxes, 6 flat-file drawers)

Language:

Materials are in English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera contains about 1,770 printed materials related to the history and advertising of athletics, recreational activities, pyrotechnics, gambling, and games in the United States. The materials date from approximately 1758 to approximately 1938, although the bulk of the items date from the mid-19th to early-20th centuries. The collection consists of about 67 large-sized items, and over 1,000 smaller-sized items, including paper dolls, playing cards, trade cards, puzzle cards, dime novels, and promotional billheads and letterheads.

Images on the materials range from scenes of indoor pastimes such as billiard and board games, to outdoor sports and activities like roller skating and horse racing. Some materials also include advertisements for fireworks and other pyrotechnic products, largely promoted for Fourth of July celebrations.

The collection also consists of many broadsides announcing lottery and charity drawings that took place in Delaware, Maryland, Louisiana, Wyoming, Kansas, and other parts of the United States. Many of the drawings were organized by reputed swindlers at the time, like J.M. (James Monroe) Pattee and L.D. Sine. Some of the drawings organized by the Louisiana State Lottery Company were also officiated by former Confederate generals G. T. (Gustave Toutant) Beauregard and Jubal Anderson Early.

In addition to sport materials, this collection also consists of items relating to toys and novelties. Items range from paper cut-out templates, to playing cards, holiday toy listings by retailers, and toy advertisements by manufacturers such as the Milton Bradley Company and the McLoughlin Bros. A significant portion of this collection includes paper dolls with fashion accessories, published either as promotional product advertisements by companies, as art supplements by newspapers, or as toys retailed to consumers.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:

Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005.

Custodial history:

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 sports and leisure materials were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012. Additional materials were transferred in 2017.

Processing information:

Processed by Mari Khasmanyan in December, 2021.

Arrangement:

Organized in three series:

• Series 1. Small size prints and ephemera, 1758-1938
• Series 2. Large size prints and ephemera, 1839-1905
• Series 3. Toys, games, and puzzles (UNPROCESSED), undated

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Alternative form available:

Selected items from this collection have been digitized. Digital reproductions are available in the Huntington Digital Library.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Advertising -- Firearms industry and trade
Advertising -- Lotteries
Advertising -- Sporting goods
Advertising -- Toys
Ball games
Board games
Camping
Decoration and ornament
Firearms
Fireworks
Fisheries -- Equipment and supplies
Games
Health and fitness
Horse racing
Hunting
Indoor games
Leisure -- Pictorial works
Lotteries
Outdoor games
Paper dolls
Paper toys
Playing cards
Race horses
Recreation
Roller skates
Selling -- Firearms
Selling -- Fireworks
Selling -- Lottery tickets
Selling -- Sporting goods
Selling -- Toys
Skating
Sports
Sports and recreation facilities
Swindlers and swindling
Toys
Billheads
Broadsides
Chromolithographs.
Ephemera
Letterheads
Lithographs
Posters
Prints
Trade cards

Names:

Alton Telegraph Printing Co
American Card Co. (New York, N.Y.)
American Publishing Co. (Hartford, Conn.)
Armstrong & Co. (Boston, Mass.)
Austin, Nichols & Co
Barney & Berry (Springfield, Mass.)
Beadle and Co.
Bingham & Dodd.
Bowers, Wilkins & Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
Brett Lithographing Co
Calvert Lithographing Co. (Detroit, Mich.)
Charles W. Neeld & Co. (Philadelphia, Pa.)
City of New Orleans (New Orleans, La.)
Clarenbach & Herder (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Clay & Richmond
Claus Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Clerk, Green & Baker (New York, N.Y.)
Clough & Fountain (New York, N.Y.)
Coburn & Co. (Plaistow, N.H.)
Currier & Ives
D.W. Kellogg & Co.
Denison Daily Times (Denison, Tex.)
Detwiller & Street Fireworks Manufacturing Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Dick & Fitzgerald
E. Fox & Co. (Kansas City, Ka.)
Endicott & Sweett (New York, N.Y.)
France, Broadbrents & Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
Fletcher & Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Geo. Schlegel (Firm)
Globe Newspaper Co.
Greer & Laing (Wheeling, W.Va.)
H. Dexter, Hamilton & Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Haskell & Allen.
Heliotype Printing Co.
Hillebrand & Lewis (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Hudson Enterprise Steam Job Print (Hudson, N.Y.)
International Stock Food Co. (Minneapolis, Minn.)
J.H. Fenton Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
J.H. Miller & Co. (Baltimore, Md.)
J.M.W. Jones Stationery & Printing Co.
James Field Co. (Rochester, N.Y.)
James G. Hovey & Co
Kavanagh & Decker (New York, N.Y.)
Kelly, Hubbard & Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
Kelly & Whitehill (New York, N.Y.)
L. Graham & Son (New Orleans, La.)
Louisiana State Lottery Company
McLoughlin Bros.
Milton Bradley & Co.
Murphy & Co. (Baltimore, Md.)
Mutual Label & Lith. Co.
The New England Laboratory of Boston (Boston, Mass.)
News Steam Job Printing Establishment (Danbury, Conn.)
Parker Bros. (Meriden, Conn.)
Pharazyn, H.
Porous Plaster Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Sanderson & Lanergan (Boston, Mass.)
Santo Domingo Guaranty Co, (New York, N.Y.)
Sloan & Woodward Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Sportsmens Depot (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Stein & Jones
Unexcelled Fireworks Company
Vacuum Oil Company (Rochester, N.Y.)
Winchester Repeating Arms Company
Wood, Eddy & Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
Ayers, R.F.
Baker, Joseph E, approximately 1837-1914
Bowlend, George B.
Bufford, John Henry, 1810-1870
Buttersworth, James Edward, 1817-1894.
Carter, Lincoln J.
Crosby, Charles H., 1819-1896
Filleau, E. A.
Frizzell, S. S. (Samuel S.), 1843-1895
Geer, Elihu, 1817-1887
Giles, J. L. (John Lawrence)
Gleason, Frederick, 1816-1896
Hart, Chas. (Charles), active 1870-1880
Horsman, E. I. (Edward I.)
Howe, E. R. (Edward Robinson), 1847-1915
Knowles, J.
Magnus, Charles, 1850-1900
Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902
Parsons, Charles, 1821-1910
Rosenthal, Max, 1833-1918
Schile, H. (Henry)
Sebald, Hugo, active 1850-1870
Sibert, J.
Smith, F.R.
Thistleton, George
Vanderbilt Allen, W.S. (William Sullivant)
Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917

Places:

Relief prints

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Mari Khasmanyan

Date Encoded:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-02-03 10:45:12 -0800 .

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Restrictions apply to: Series III. Series III is unprocessed and is not available for paging until processed. Please contact Reader Services for more information.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Prints and Ephemera Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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