Last (Jay T.) Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera, 1826-approximately 1911, bulk 1840-1905

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Summary

Title:
Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera
Dates:
1826-approximately 1911, bulk 1840-1905
Creators:
Last, Jay T.
Abstract:
The Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera contains more than 730 printed items that relate to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States from the 1820s to the early 1900s. The bulk of the collection dates from 1840 to 1905 and consists largely of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to the bicycle, carriage and wagon, railroad, and freight and passenger transport industries.
Extent:
approximately 740 items
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera contains more than 730 printed items that relate to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States from the 1820s to the early 1900s. The bulk of the collection dates from 1840 to 1905 and consists largely of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to the bicycle, carriage and wagon, railroad, and freight and passenger transport industries.

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-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 167 large-size items consisting of advertising cards, posters, broadsides, system maps, timetables, views, and other visual materials primarily produced for railroad companies, with additional items concerning vehicle and part manufacturers such as wheel works, carriage builders, bicycle manufacturers, and locomotive machine shops.

Small-size items in the collection number more than 570 and are comprised mainly of advertising and promotional ephemera and business documents such as printed booklets, business cards, calendars, catalogs, envelopes, handbills, labels, leaflets, postcards, trade cards, and separated book and periodical illustrations, as well as stationery with printed billheads and letterheads filled out with manuscript or typewritten correspondence.

The collection touches on topics of transportation, commerce and manufacturing, technology and engineering, travel and tourism, and geography. The images are primarily promotional in nature and provide information about the history of the American railroad, bicycle, and horse-drawn vehicle industries and the evolution of their advertising strategies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the prints offer evidence of the development of printmaking techniques and trends, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.

Biographical / historical:

The Jay T. Last Collection is an unparalleled archive of printed paper artifacts that documents American lithographic 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 19th and early 20th 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 transportation prints and ephemera were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012 .
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged broadly by size in the following series and subseries:

  • Series I. Transportation Prints and Ephemera (small size)
    • Subseries A. Bicycle (small size)
    • Subseries B. Carriage and Wagon (small size)
    • Subseries C. Railroad (small size)
  • Series II. Transportation Prints and Ephemera (large size)
    • Subseries A. Bicycle (large size)
    • Subseries B. Carriage and Wagon (large size)
    • Subseries C. Railroad (large size)

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

Finding aid last updated on June 30, 2016.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti.
Date Prepared:
© 2016
Date Encoded:
Machine readable finding aid encoded by Diann Benti in May 2013 .

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:

IThe 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 Transportation Prints and Ephemera, 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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