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Jay T. Last Collection of Fashion: William Hunt Business Ephemera: Finding
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priJLC_FASH_Hunt
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Title: Jay T. Last Collection of Fashion: William Hunt Business Ephemera
Dates (inclusive): 1861-1916
Collection Number: priJLC_FASH_Hunt
Collector:
Last, Jay T.
Extent:
approximately 125 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 William Hunt Business Ephemera, a subset within the Jay T. Last Collection of Fashion Prints and Ephemera, contains promotional
materials accumulated by jeweler William Hunt of
Uniontown, Pennsylvania. About 125 items from approximately 1861-1916 focus on merchandise and supplies solicited to Hunt,
mainly by jobbers and manufacturers of jewelers' and watchmakers' tools, parts, products, and services.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on September 23, 2016.
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]. Jay T. Last Collection of Fashion: William Hunt Business 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 fashion ephemera was transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2013.
The Hunt records described in this finding aid were acquired en bloc in 2014 by
the Library and are organized according to size and correspondent.
Background of the Jay T. Last Collection
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.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
William Hunt was born in Dunbar Township, Pennsylvania, on February 2, 1836. He became apprenticed to jeweler and watchmaker
Henry W. S. Rigdon of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1850 for 4 1/2 years. Following four years of employment elsewhere, Hunt
opened his own successful watch, clock,
and jewelry repair shop in 1858 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He began adding merchandise by 1860, and in subsequent years the
repair shop grew into a sizable mercantile business that remained in operation through at least 1912.
The William Hunt Business Ephemera, a subset within the Jay T. Last Collection of Fashion Prints and Ephemera, contains promotional
materials accumulated by jeweler William Hunt of
Uniontown, Pennsylvania. About 125 items from approximately 1861-1916 consist mainly of advertisements received by Hunt from
jobbers and manufacturers of jewelers' and watchmakers' tools, supplies, and services. Advertisements for household objects
such as silverware, servingware,
utensils, toothpicks, pens, and ornamental items are also included, as is a small number of advertisements for clothing and
other fashion accessories.
The materials predominantly consist of leaflets, handbills, price lists, and billheads with manuscript text, as well as small
catalogs, envelopes, and trade cards.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
The collection is arranged in the following two series:
- Series I. William Hunt Business Ephemera (small size)
- Series II. William Hunt Business Ephemera (large size)
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.
Business records -- United States -- 19th century.
Catalogs.
Ephemera.
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th
century.
Ephemera -- United States -- 20th
century.
Engravings.
Handbills.
Intaglio prints.
Leaflets (printed works).
Letterheads.
Price lists.
Printed ephemera.
Promotional materials.
Relief prints.
Stationery.
Trade cards.
Hunt, William, 1836-1916 -- Archives.
Advertising -- House furnishings.
Advertising -- Jewelry.
Advertising -- Watches.
Gems -- Pictorial works.
Jewelry -- Pictorial works.
Jewelry making.
Pens -- Pictorial works.
Tools -- Pictorial works.
Watches -- Pictorial works.