Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation Prints and Ephemera: Finding Aid

Series I. Transportation Prints and Ephemera (small size) 1826-approximately 1910 (bulk 1870-1905)

Physical Description: approximately 570 items in 5 binders and 3 folders

Scope and Content

This series contains more than 570 small-size printed items pertaining to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. The series consists of miscellaneous business records and advertising and promotional materials produced for or related to the bicycle, carriage and wagon, railroad, and freight and passenger transport industries.

While most of the pieces date from the late 1870s through 1905, among the earliest items in the collection is an 1826 pamphlet printed for the American Tract Society entitled "All Right." A dialogue between a coach guard and a passenger. Items range in size from approximately 1 x 3 inches to 11 x 9 inches and though many of images depict transportation vehicles and related equipment, there is a wide variety of imagery including views of factories, buildings, and storefronts, images of children, young women, birds, animals, flowers, trees, and cartoons and caricatures.

The transportation-affiliated entities represented in this series include vehicle, part, equipment, and accessory manufacturers, dealers, and retailers such as wheel works, carriage, sleigh, and wagon builders, bicycle manufacturers, and locomotive and car machine shops. Item types include 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.

Arrangement

This series is arranged in the following 3 subseries:

Subseries A. Bicycle (small size)
Subseries B. Carriage and Wagon (small size)
Subseries C. Railroad (small size)

Subseries A. Bicycle (small size)

Physical Description: approximately 100 items in 1 binder and 7 items in 1 folder

Related bicycle ephemera described in a separate finding aid:

Jay T. Last Collection of Transportation: N.N. Hill Brass Company Business

Binder 1

Bicycle (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Box 1, Folder 1

Bicycle (between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size)

Subseries B. Carriage and Wagon (small size)

Physical Description: approximately 365 items in 3 binders and 4 items in 1 folder

Binder 2

Carriage and Wagon, A-G by company (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Binder 3

Carriage and Wagon, H-O by company (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Binder 4

Carriage and Wagon, P-Z by company (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Box 1, Folder 2

Carriage and Wagon (between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size)

Subseries C. Railroad (small size)

Physical Description: approximately 95 items in 1 binder and 5 items in 1 folder

Related railroad ephemera described in separate finding aids:

Binder 5

Railroad (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Box 1, Folder 3

Railroad (between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size)

Series II. Transportation Prints and Ephemera (large size) approximately 1833-approximately 1911 (bulk 1840-1900)

Physical Description: 167 items

Scope and Content

This series consists of over 160 large-size printed items related to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States. The items date from the 1830s to the 1910s and consists largely of materials pertaining to railroads, with additional items concerning the bicycle and carriage, coach, and wagon industries. The series features lithographs produced by American artists, printers, and publishers, as well as engravings, letterpress, and woodblock prints.

The items consist of advertising cards, posters, broadsides, system maps, timetables, views, and other visual materials primarily produced by transportation-affiliated entities including railroad companies and vehicle and part manufacturers such as wheel works, carriage builders, bicycle manufacturers, and locomotive machine shops. The series contains color-printed, hand-colored, and uncolored images and ranges in size from approximately 11 x 14 inches to 26 x 40 inches.

Arrangement

This series is arranged in the following 3 subseries:

Subseries A. Bicycle (large size)
Subseries B. Carriage and Wagon (large size)
Subseries C. Railroad (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).

Subseries A. Bicycle (large size) approximately 1881-1897

Physical Description: 6 items

Scope and Content

This subseries contains six prints related to bicycles that date from the early 1880s to 1897. The prints include four posters and broadsides advertising bicycles and bicycle tires, as well as an image of recreational bicyclists riding in a park (priJLC_TRAN_001196) and a view of the 1883 Springfield, Massachusetts, Bicycle Club cycling tournament (priJLC_TRAN_001382).

Arrangement

Individual items within this series are arranged numerically by call number.

priJLC_TRAN_001196

Autumn recreation. 12 December 1897

Collection Contents