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F. Weber and Co. Records
950018
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Title: F. Weber & Company, Inc. records
Date (inclusive): 1865-1973
Number: 950018
Creator/Collector:
F. Weber & Co.
Physical Description:
18 Linear Feet
(41 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Manufacturer of artists' materials,
including paints, papers, and other supplies. Records contain trade catalogs and price
lists, paint formula books, sample books, and business papers, trade catalogs and sample
books of other companies, and lectures written and delivered by F. Weber.
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Language: Collection material is in
English
Successors to Janentzky & Weber Manufacturers & Importers, F. Weber & Company,
Inc. was established in 1853 and incorporated in 1920. The company manufactured artists
supplies, including painting and drawing supplies, mathematical instruments, materials for
gilders, sign and coach-painters, china decorators, engineers, lithographers, etchers and
engravers, as well as materials for pyrography or wood burning, and wax and paper flowers.
Their main office was located at 1125 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and branch houses
existed at 709 Locust St., St.Louis, Missouri, and 5 North Charles Street, Baltimore,
Maryland.
Frederick Weber was a chemist, author, lecturer and painter.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Rights and Reproductions .
F. Weber & Co., Inc. Records, 1865-1973, Research Library, The Getty Research
Institute, Accession number 950018.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa950018
The archive was accessioned by the Getty Research Library, Special Collections in 1995,
although received prior to 1995.
Pamela Johnson, library assistant at the Getty Conservation Institute, began processing the
collection in early 1994. Jill Markman, also from the library of the Conservation Institute,
took over the processing in 1995. Jocelyn Gibbs assisted her in the processing and
arrangement of the papers, and compiled the finding aid March 1996.
Selected items from Series II. Paint formula books have been digitized.
Click here for digital images.
Scope and Content of Collection
The archive of F. Weber & Company, Inc. contains printed catalogues and brochures,
ledgers with financial and technical information (including paint formulas), correspondence
and other business papers, manuscripts of lectures and photographs from trade fairs. The
material dates from 1865-1971, with the bulk of the material from the first 3 decades of the
20th-century.
Paint formula books, ca. 1865-1967, undated (ca. 30), are handwritten ledgers documenting
most aspects of F. Weber & Company's manufacture of paint, including special orders and
customers. Many of the ledgers include inserted paint samples. All of the ledgers cover a
span of years; some as many as 20 years. All of the ledgers are fragile.
Sample books, 1925-1951, (ca. 30 items) include printed books, brochures and cards which
provide samples of artists' materials for sale by Weber. These include samples of canvas,
various types of paints, inks, papers and colored pencils.
Business papers (2.5 lin. ft.) 1870-1973, n.d., include 4 small wage and expense account
books from the 1870s; a ledger of Weber Co. stock on hand for 1897; 3 stock certificate
books, 1921-1963; blueprints, drawing and specifications for an F. Weber manufacturing
building, 1917; and by-laws and incorporation papers, 1920-1921. The F. Weber &
Company's participation in trade fairs and expositions (1922-1941, n.d.) is documented with
some correspondence, printed material and ca. 15 photographs. There are also ca. 15 lectures
(and announcements for lectures) by F. Weber, ca. 1922-35, in mss. and printed form, on the
technical aspects of artists materials, especially paints. A scrapbook contains clippings,
brochures and flyers about his lectures.
Other companies' trade catalogs and price lists (ca. 40 items) were collected by the F.
Weber & Company in the course of doing business, and date from 1870-1951.
Monographs from the collection have been accessioned to the Reseach Library's general
collection.
The collection is arranged in 5 series:
Series I. Trade catalogues and price lists, ca. 1876-1962;
Series II. Paint formula books, ca.
1865-1967;
Series III.
Sample books, ca. 1925-1951;
Series IV. Business papers, ca. 1870-1973;
Series V. Other companies' trade catalogues and sample books, ca.
1870-1951
Artists' materials
Artists' materials industry
Artists' materials -- Formulae
Paint -- Catalogs
Paint
Paint materials
Paint industry and trade -- United States
Pigments
Painting -- Materials
Janentzky and Weber, Manufacturers and
Importers
Weber, Frederick
F. Weber & Co.