Collection Guide
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Last (Jay T.) Collection of Sports and Leisure Prints and
Ephemera
priJLC_SPO
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera
Creator:
Last, Jay T.
Identifier/Call Number: priJLC_SPO
Physical Description:
24.1 Linear Feet
(13 binders, 2 boxes, 6 flat-file drawers)
Date (inclusive): 1758-1938, bulk
1850-1900
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.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
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.
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.
[Identification of item]. Jay T. Last collection of sports and leisure prints and ephemera,
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005.
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.
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 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.
Processed by Mari Khasmanyan in December, 2021.
Existence and Location of Copies
Selected items from this collection have been digitized. Digital reproductions are
available in the
Huntington Digital Library.
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
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Advertising -- Firearms industry and
trade
Advertising -- Lotteries
Advertising -- Sporting goods
Advertising -- Toys
Ball games
Billheads
Board games
Broadsides
Camping
Chromolithographs.
Decoration and ornament
Ephemera
Firearms
Fireworks
Fisheries -- Equipment and
supplies
Games
Health and fitness
Horse racing
Hunting
Indoor games
Leisure -- Pictorial works
Letterheads
Lithographs
Lotteries
Outdoor games
Paper dolls
Paper toys
Playing cards
Posters
Prints
Race horses
Recreation
Relief prints
Roller skates
Selling -- Firearms
Selling -- Fireworks
Selling -- Lottery tickets
Selling -- Sporting goods
Selling -- Toys
Skating
Sports
Sports and recreation facilities
Swindlers and swindling
Toys
Trade cards
Alton Telegraph Printing Co
American Card Co. (New York, N.Y.)
American Publishing Co. (Hartford,
Conn.)
Armstrong & Co. (Boston, Mass.)
Austin, Nichols & Co
Ayers, R.F.
Baker, Joseph E, approximately 1837-1914
Barney & Berry (Springfield, Mass.)
Beadle and Co.
Bingham & Dodd.
Bowers, Wilkins & Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
Bowlend, George B.
Brett Lithographing Co
Bufford, John Henry,
1810-1870
Buttersworth, James Edward, 1817-1894.
Calvert Lithographing Co. (Detroit,
Mich.)
Carter, Lincoln J.
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.)
Crosby, Charles H., 1819-1896
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.)
Filleau, E. A.
France, Broadbrents & Co. (Wilmington,
Del.)
Frizzell, S. S. (Samuel S.), 1843-1895
Fletcher & Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Geo. Schlegel (Firm)
Geer, Elihu, 1817-1887
Giles, J. L. (John Lawrence)
Gleason, Frederick, 1816-1896
Globe Newspaper Co.
Greer & Laing (Wheeling, W.Va.)
H. Dexter, Hamilton & Co. (New York,
N.Y.)
Hart, Chas. (Charles), active 1870-1880
Haskell & Allen.
Heliotype Printing Co.
Hillebrand & Lewis (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Horsman, E. I. (Edward I.)
Howe, E. R. (Edward Robinson), 1847-1915
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.)
Knowles, J.
L. Graham & Son (New Orleans, La.)
Louisiana State Lottery Company
Magnus, Charles, 1850-1900
McLoughlin Bros.
Milton Bradley & Co.
Murphy & Co. (Baltimore, Md.)
Mutual Label & Lith. Co.
Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902
The New England Laboratory of Boston (Boston,
Mass.)
News Steam Job Printing Establishment (Danbury,
Conn.)
Parker Bros. (Meriden, Conn.)
Parsons, Charles, 1821-1910
Pharazyn, H.
Porous Plaster Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Rosenthal, Max, 1833-1918
Sanderson & Lanergan (Boston, Mass.)
Santo Domingo Guaranty Co, (New York, N.Y.)
Schile, H. (Henry)
Sebald, Hugo, active 1850-1870
Sibert, J.
Sloan & Woodward Co. (New York, N.Y.)
Smith, F.R.
Sportsmens Depot (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Stein & Jones
Thistleton, George
Unexcelled Fireworks Company
Vacuum Oil Company (Rochester, N.Y.)
Vanderbilt Allen, W.S. (William Sullivant)
Winchester Repeating Arms Company
Wood, Eddy & Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917