Last (Jay T.) Collection of Artist Posters, 1883-1964, bulk 1890-1900

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Summary

Title:
Jay T. Last collection of artist posters
Dates:
1883-1964, bulk 1890-1900
Creators:
Last, Jay T.
Abstract:
The Jay T. Last collection of artist posters contains over 370 printed works spanning over eighty years, from 1883-1964. The bulk of the materials date from 1890 to 1900 and advertise American literary books and periodicals. Bicycles, household goods, and other products are also advertised. Notable artists represented in the collection include Will Bradley, Maynard Dixon, J. J. Gould, Edward Penfield, Ethel Reed, and Louis Rhead. Subjects addressed within the collection include international art styles (such as Art Nouveau), fashion, graphic design, publishing, book and literary journal publication, advertising, and the intersections between them, especially during the last decade of the 19th century.
Extent:
378 items
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last collection of artist posters, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Jay T. Last collection of artist posters contains over 370 printed works from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The bulk of the materials date from 1890 to 1900 and advertise American literary books and periodicals. Bicycles, household goods, and other products are also advertised.

Materials are fully inventoried, and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. Notable illustrators represented in the collection include Will Bradley, Maynard Dixon, J. J. Gould, Edward Penfield, Ethel Reed, and Louis Rhead. The collection includes over 100 posters collected by illustrator Curtis Wager-Smith (1870-1950), some with inscriptions to her from the artist.

Subjects addressed within the collection include art styles, book and literary journal publication, advertising, and the intersections between them, especially during the last decade of the 19th century. The images encompass the popularization of Art Nouveau in the United States, as well as the advertising strategies employed by various 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.

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:
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 artist posters were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012 .
Arrangement:

Items are arranged alphabetically by artist and described in the following format:

  • Call number. Title of print. Date
  • Artist(s) (when known). Printer(s). Publisher(s)

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Note:

Finding aid last updated on July 25, 2019.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Charla DelaCuadra.
Date Prepared:
©July 2019
Date Encoded:
Machine readable finding aid encoded by Charla DelaCuadra in June 2019 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

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:

[Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last collection of artist posters, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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