http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8z321cb Online items available Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Prints and Ephemera The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2014 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Jay T. Last Collection of priJLC_ENT 1 Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera Overview of the Collection Title: Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera Dates (inclusive): 1839-approximately 1940 Bulk dates: 1870-1900 Collection Number: priJLC_ENT Collector: Last, Jay T. Extent: approximately 2,300 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: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera contains more than 2,300 printed items primarily advertising theatrical and musical entertainment and related performers in the United States from 1839 to the 1940s, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations pertaining to a wide variety of performance genres that have been grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). Language: English. Note: Finding aid last updated on August 30, 2018. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights 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 Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance 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 performing arts prints and ephemera were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2013. Background 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. Scope and Content The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera contains more than 2,300 printed items primarily advertising theatrical and musical entertainment and related performers in the United States from 1839 to the 1940s, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations pertaining to a wide variety of performance genres that have been grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); Jay T. Last Collection of priJLC_ENT 2 Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). Materials are arranged into two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (bigger 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 450 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic theatrical and minstrel posters that were intended to advertise specific shows or performers. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 1,850 and are comprised mainly of promotional ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, tickets, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American theater and the evolution of advertising strategies for the performing arts in the United States in the late 19th century. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints. Alternative Form of Materials Available Visit the Huntington Digital Library: Jay T. Last Collection to view digitized items from this collection. Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Balls and Carnivals Prints and Ephemera Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Circus Prints and Ephemera Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Theatrical Broadsides and Playbills Note The Huntington Library Historical Prints Collection contains two related items (priHHC_ENT_0000002 and priHHC_ENT_0000003) that are listed in the "Related Materials" section at the beginning of the Music and Theater subseries in Series II of this finding aid. Arrangement Items are arranged broadly by size in two series, which have been further arranged in subseries: Series I. Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera (small size) Subseries A. Music and Theater (small size) Subseries B. Minstrel (small size) Subseries C. Magic and Miscellaneous (small size) Series II. Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera (large size) Subseries A. Music and Theater (large size) Subseries B. Minstrel (large size) Subseries C. Magic and Miscellaneous (large size) Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog. Genres Advertisements. Billheads. Business records. Business records -- United States -- 19th century. Business records -- United States -- 20th century. Caricatures. Chromolithographs. Ephemera. Engravings. Leaflets (printed works). Letterheads. Lithographs. Portrait prints. Jay T. Last Collection of priJLC_ENT 3 Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera Posters. Printed ephemera. Prints. Promotional materials. Relief prints. Theatrical posters. Tickets. Trade cards. Views. Subjects Actors -- Pictorial works. Actors -- Portraits. Actresses -- Pictorial works. African Americans -- Pictorial works. Bands (Music) -- Pictorial works. Blackface entertainers -- Pictorial works. Burlesque (Theater) Caricatures and cartoons. Comedians -- Portraits. Comedies. Dancers -- Pictorial works. Magicians -- Pictorial works. Marching bands -- Pictorial works. Melodramas. Minstrel shows. Museums -- Pictorial works. Parades -- Pictorial works. Theater -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources. Theater -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Sources. Theatrical producers and directors -- Portraits. Theatrical productions -- United States -- 19th century. Vaudeville. Printer, Publisher, Artist Index The following is a complete list of printers, publishers, and artists represented in the large-size items in this collection. A. Hoen & Co. A.S. Seer’s Printing Establishment (New York, N.Y.) Ackermann-Quigley Litho. Co. Alfred Mudge and Son. American Lithographic Co. American Show Print (Firm) Armstrong & Co. (Boston, Mass.) Arnold, Vic. Baker, Joseph E., approximately 1837-1914. Bencke, Herman. Blue, Ed. Bonar, Thomas. Boston Job Print. Briggs, A. Jay T. Last Collection of priJLC_ENT 4 Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera Cadwell, William H. Calhoun Printing Company. Calvert Lithographing Co. (Detroit, Mich.) Central Lith. & Eng. Co. Chicago Bank Note Company Chicago Lithographing Co. Clear & Co. Courier Company. De La Harpe, Joseph, 1850-1901. Donaldson Litho. Co. Dreser, William, approximately 1820- Dunshee, E. S. E. Herrlein's Lith. Enquirer Job Printing Co. Enquirer Litho. Co. Enterprise Litho Co. Erie Litho. & Ptg. Co. Etherington, C. (Engraver) Falk, B. J. (Benjamin J.), 1853-1925. Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company. Francis & Valentine Frizzell, S. S. (Samuel S.), 1843-1895. Goes Lithographic Co. Goodman, Arthur Jule, d. 1926. Graphic Company. Great Western Pr. Eng. & Lith. Co. Greve Show Print Co. Gurney, J. (Jeremiah), 1812-1895. H. A. Thomas & Sterling. H. A. Thomas & Wylie. H.C. Miner Litho. Co. Haehnlen, Jacob, 1824-. Hallworth, Joseph B. Hart, Chas.