Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Scope and Content
Related materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: Jay T. Last Collection of Maritime
Prints and Ephemera
Dates (inclusive): 1704-approximately 1942
Bulk dates: 1840-1890
Collection Number: priJLC_MAR
Collector:
Last, Jay T.
Extent:
approximately 1,150 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
Abstract: The Jay T. Last Collection of Maritime Prints and Ephemera
contains approximately 1,150 printed items that pertain to travel, shipping, and
other maritime-related activities and businesses in the United States primarily
dating from the second half of the 19th century. The collection consists of
advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced
for or relevant to steamship companies, sailing vessels, shipping entities,
passenger lines, and related businesses and publications.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on September 24, 2015.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
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
[Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last Collection of Maritime Prints and
Ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
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
Maritime Prints and Ephemera was transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012.
Background
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.
Scope and Content
The Jay T. Last Collection of Maritime Prints and Ephemera contains approximately
1,150 printed items that pertain to travel, shipping, and other maritime-related
activities and businesses in the United States primarily dating from the second half
of the 19th century. The collection consists of advertising and promotional
materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or relevant to steamship
companies, sailing vessels, shipping entities, passenger lines, and related
businesses and publications.
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 are fully inventoried, and all
printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection has more than
55 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic and engraved prints of ships,
certificates and contracts, and advertising materials for passenger and shipping
routes. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 1,100 and are
comprised mainly of advertising and promotional ephemera and business documents. The
vast majority of these items are bills of lading and steamship passes, but the
collection also has trade cards, timetables, booklets, directory ads, menus,
passenger lists, postcards, handbills, and printed billheads and letterheads with
manuscript text.
Subjects addressed within the collection include commerce, advertising, technology
and engineering, and tourism as related to river, lake, and ocean travel mostly in
the United States. The images are primarily promotional and provide information
about the history of passenger travel and commercial shipping, as well as the
advertising strategies employed by these industries in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of visual culture and
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
Related materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following two series:
- Series I. Maritime Prints and Ephemera (small size)
- Series II. Maritime 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)
Indexing Terms
Genres
Billheads.
Broadsides.
Business cards.
Business records.
Certificates.
Chromolithographs.
Contracts.
Ephemera.
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th
century.
Ephemera -- United States -- 20th
century.
Engravings.
Handbills.
Intaglio prints.
Leaflets (printed works).
Letterheads.
Lithographs.
Maps.
Menus.
Newspapers.
Passenger lists.
Postcards.
Printed ephemera.
Promotional materials.
Relief prints.
Stationery.
Tickets.
Timetables.
Trade cards.
Subjects
Advertising -- Tourism.
Advertising -- Transportation.
Boats and boating -- Pictorial
works.
Docks -- Pictorial works.
Dry docks -- Pictorial works.
Fenians.
Flags -- Pictorial works.
Hudson River (N.Y. and
N.J.) -- Pictorial works.
Industrial buildings -- Pictorial
works.
Mississippi River --
Pictorial works.
Palms -- Pictorial works.
Rivers -- Pictorial works.
Sailboats -- Pictorial works.
Sailors -- Pictorial works.
Ship captains -- Pictorial
works.
Shipbuilding.
Ships -- Pictorial works.
Shipwrecks -- Pictorial works.
Steamboats -- Pictorial works.
Steamboats.
Transportation accidents -- Pictorial
works.
Printer, Publisher, Artist Index
The following is a complete list of printers, publishers, and artists represented
in the large-size items in this collection.
A. Hoen & Co.
American Lithographic Co.
Bixler & Corwin.
Britton & Rey.
Bufford, John Henry, 1810-1870.
Century Lith. Co.
Clapp, David, 1806-1893.
Clay, Cosack & Co.
Cleveland, James A., 1811-
Currier & Ives.
Davids, Oscur.
De Young, M. H. (Michael Harry),
1849-1925.
Democrat Print.
Drew, Clement, 1806-1889.
Endicott & Co. (New York, N.Y.)
F. Sala & Co.
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing
Company.
George F. Nesbitt & Co.
Gies & Co.
Gladwin, George.
Harper & Brothers.
Hatch Lith. Co.
Hoogland, William, 1794 or 1795-1832.
J.O. Seymour & Co.
Kelly, Thos., active 1867-1868.
Magnus, Charles.
Major & Knapp Engraving,
Manufacturing & Lithographic Co.
Martinet, Alf.
Menger, L. R.
N. Currier (Firm)
Nagel & Weingärtner.
Otis, Fessenden N. (Fessenden Nott),
1825-1900.
P.S. Duval & Son.
Palmer & Co. (1842-1851)
Parsons, Charles, 1821-1910.
Pendleton’s Lithography.
Pollock & Doty.
Propeller Power Presses.
Queen, Jas. (James),
1824-approximately 1877.
Rand McNally and Company.
Russell, E. N.
Strobridge & Co. Lith.
Swett, Moses.
T. Moore’s Lithography.
Tidd, M. M., 1827-1895.
Todhunter, Francis Augustus,
1884-1963.
Wade, William, active 1844-1852.
Weale, John, 1791-1862.
Webber, W.
Weingartner, A.
Wickersham, S.