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Jay T. Last Collection of Firefighting Prints and Ephemera:
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priJLC_FIRE
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Title: Jay T. Last Collection of
Firefighting Prints and Ephemera
Dates (inclusive): 1826-1907
Collection Number: priJLC_FIRE
Collector:
Last, Jay T.
Extent:
approximately 200 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 Firefighting Prints
and Ephemera contains more than 200 printed items that relate to firefighting and the activities and organizations of firemen
in
the United States from approximately 1820 to 1909. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials,
business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to firefighting
organizations, related social or charitable events, and firefighting vehicles,
equipment, and supplies.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on December 17,
2018.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
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, Call number]. Jay T. Last Collection of Firefighting
Prints and 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
firefighting prints and ephemera were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012.
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 Firefighting Prints and Ephemera contains more than 200 printed items that relate to firefighting
and the activities and organizations
of firemen in the United States from approximately 1820 to 1909.
The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records,
and illustrations produced for or pertaining to firefighting organizations, related
social or charitable events, and firefighting vehicles, equipment, and supplies.
Materials are arranged in two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (more than 11 x 14 inches).
Small materials broadly at the series level; large-size items have been
fully inventoried and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name.
The collection has 40 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic and
engraved prints that include:
- Fire department membership and discharge certificates
- Depictions of fires and firefighters working to extinguish blazes
- Builders prints of fire engines and similar vehicles
- Images and advertisements pertaining to social and charitable events involving fire departments and related organizations
Small-size items in the collection number more than 160 and consist mainly of business documents and
advertising and promotional ephemera such as printed booklets, trade cards, small
programs, menus, tickets and invitations for charitable and social events such
balls, concerts, musters, and celebrations, business cards, lapel ribbons, book and
periodical illustrations, membership certificates, and stationery with printed
billheads and letterheads filled out in manuscript.
Note
The Jay T. Last Collection is a gift in progress. Container numbers may change as
the collection expands.
Related materials in the Huntington Library include:
- The Huntington Library Historical Prints Collection contains six related items (priHHC_FIRE_0000008 - priHHC_FIRE_0000013) that are listed in the "Related Materials" section in Series II.
The collection is arranged broadly by size in two series:
- Series I. Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (small size)
- Series II. Firefighting Prints and Ephemera (large size)
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.
Business records -- United States --
19th century.
Chromolithographs.
Engravings.
Ephemera.
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th
century.
Intaglio prints.
Leaflets (printed works).
Letterheads.
Lithographs.
Printed ephemera.
Prints.
Prints -- United States -- 19th
century.
Promotional materials.
Relief prints.
Trade cards.
Views.
Fire departments.
Fire departments -- United States.
Fire engines -- Pictorial works.
Fire extinction -- Equipment and
supplies -- Pictorial works.
Fire fighters -- Pictorial
works.
Fire stations -- Pictorial
works.
Fires -- Pictorial works.
Fires -- United States.
Steam-engines -- 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.
Amory, Thomas C. (Thomas Coffin),
1812-1889.
Armstrong, McLellan & Green.
Bachelder, John B. (John Badger),
1825-1894.
Bennett, W. J. (William James),
1787-1844.
Bloomfield, J. J.
Brooks Bank Note Co.
Bufford, John Henry, 1810-1870.
Calyo, Nicolino, 1799-1884.
Chas. H. Crosby & Co.
Clay, Cosack & Co.
Clover, Lewis Peter, 1790-
Crump Label Co.
Currier & Ives.
Disturnell, John, 1801-1877.
Dunston, G. H.
Eddy, Isaac, 1777-1847.
Endicott & Co. (New York, N.Y.)
F.M. Baker & Co.
Frizzell, S. S. (Samuel S.),
1843-1895.
Heiss, Geo. G.
Imbert’s Lithographic Office.
J.H. Bufford's Lith.
Jones, J. R.
Kellogg, Jarvis Griggs, 1805-1873.
Ketterlinus, Eugene, 1824-1886.
L.H. Bradford & Co.
Mayer & Stetfield.
Mayer, Merkel & Ottmann.
Miller, Fred. J.
Miller, W. G. (Artist)
Morgan, William P., active 1811-1872.
N. Currier (Firm)
New York (N.Y.). Common Council.
P.S. Duval & Co.
P.S. Duval & Son.
Pendleton’s Lithography.
Queen, Jas. (James), 1824-approximately 1877.
Richardson, W. J. (Engraver)
Rogers, E. (Edward), 1831 or 1832-
Rowland, H. E., 1848?-1911.
Salmon, Robert, 1775- approximately
1848.
Sarony, Major & Knapp Lith.
Schmidt Label & Litho. Co.
Searle, Frederick A.
Smith, John Rubens, 1775-1849.
Tappan, Ebenezer, 1815-1854.
Tuthill, William H.
Wagner & M’Guigan.