http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8pk0h51 Online items available Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation Prints: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti. Rare Books Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: 626-405-3473 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2013 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Jay T. Last Collection of American priJLC_TRAN 1 Transportation Prints: Finding Aid Descriptive Summary Title: Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation Prints Dates (inclusive): approximately 1833-approximately 1911 Bulk dates: 1840-1900 Collection Number: priJLC_TRAN Collector: Last, Jay T. Extent: approximately 167 items Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens: Rare Books Department Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: 626-405-3473 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: The prints in the Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation consist of over 160 prints related to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States. The collection dates from the 1830s into the early 20th century and consists largely of materials pertaining to railroads, with additional items concerning the bicycle and carriage, coach, and wagon industries. Item types include advertising cards, posters, broadsides, maps, timetables, views, and other visual materials primarily produced by transportation-affiliated entities such as railroad companies and vehicle and parts manufacturers. The collection features lithographs produced by American artists, printers, and publishers, as well as engravings, letterpress and woodblock prints. Topical subjects include 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. Language: English. Note: Finding aid last updated on October 11, 2013. Access The collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please visit the Huntington's website: www.huntington.org. Publication Rights In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the office of the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Huntington as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. Preferred Citation [Item title, Call number]. Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation Prints, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance This collection forms part of the Jay T. Last Collection of Lithographic 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 were transferred to the Library in 2010; additional items were received and cataloged in 2012 and 2013. Background 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 140,000 lithographic prints, posters, and ephemera of mostly 19th and early 20th century American origin and represents works by more than five hundred lithographic companies. Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation General Ephemera Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation: N.N. Hill Brass Company Business Correspondence Jay T. Last Collection of American priJLC_TRAN 2 Transportation Prints: Finding Aid Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation Railroad Passes Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation Railroad Stock and Bond Certificates Note The Huntington Library Historical Prints Collection contains two related items (priHHC_TRAN_0000006 and priHHC_TRAN_0000007) that are listed in the "Related Materials" section of the Carriage and Wagon Prints series within this finding aid. Scope and Content The prints in the Jay T. Last Collection of American Transportation consist of over 160 prints related to land-based modes of transportation primarily in the United States. The collection dates from the 1830s into the early 20th century and consists largely of materials pertaining to railroads, with additional items concerning the bicycle and carriage, coach, and wagon industries. The collection features lithographs produced by American artists, printers, and publishers, as well as engravings, letterpress and woodblock prints. The prints in this collection 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 collection contains color-printed, hand-colored, and uncolored images and ranges in size from approximately 11 x 13 inches to 26 x 40 inches. 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. Alternative Form of Materials Available Visit the Huntington Digital Library: Jay T. Last Collection to view digitized items from this collection. Arrangement The collection is arranged in the following three series: I. Bicycle prints, approximately 1881-1897 II. Carriage and Wagon prints, approximately 1833-1900 III. Railroad prints, 1834-approximately 1911 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). Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog. For additional subject terms see individual item records in the Huntington Digital Library. Genres Broadsides. Chromolithographs. Engravings. Intaglio prints. Lithographs. Maps. Posters. Prints. Relief prints. Timetables. Views. Subjects Advertising -- Bicycle industry. Advertising -- Carriages and carts. Jay T. Last Collection of American priJLC_TRAN 3 Transportation Prints: Finding Aid Advertising -- Railroads. Advertising -- Tires. Bicycles and bicycling -- Pictorial works. Bridges -- Pictorial works. Carriages and carts -- Pictorial works. Landscapes -- Pictorial works. Locomotives -- Design and construction -- Pictorial works. Locomotives -- Pictorial works. Pictorial maps. Railroad cars -- Design and construction. Railroad companies. Railroad passenger cars -- Pictorial works. Railroad stations -- Pictorial works. Railroad travel -- Pictorial works. Railroads -- Buildings and structures -- Pictorial works. Railroads -- History -- Pictorial works. Railroads -- Pictorial works. Railroads -- United States -- History -- 19th century. Railroads -- United States -- Maps. Tire industry. Tourism -- Pictorial works. Transportation -- Pictorial works. Transportation equipment industry. Wagons -- Pictorial works. United States -- Maps. Printer, Publisher, Artist Index The following is a complete list of printers, publishers, and artists represented in the collection. Allen, Lane & Scott. American Bank Note Company. American Industrial Publishing Co. Annin, William B., 1791?-1839. Ashby & Vincent. Beyer, Edward, 1820-1865. Bien, Julius, 1826-1909. Bigot, Alphonse, approximately 1828-1872 or 1873. Bingham & Dodd. Brett, Alphonse. Britton & Rey. Bufford, John Henry, 1810-1870. Burch, J. A. Callahan & Co. Calvert Lithographing Co. (Detroit, Mich.) Camerer, Wm. Cameron, Amberg & Co. Chapin, John Reuben, 1823-1894. Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons. Chas. H. Crosby & Co. Chatto & Windus (Firm) Jay T. Last Collection of American priJLC_TRAN 4 Transportation Prints: Finding Aid Cincinnati Lith. Co. Clapp, Matthews & Co. Clark W. Bryan & Co. Clarke, W. A. (Advertising manager) Clay, Cosack & Co. Compton & Company. Concanen, Alfred. Cook, Charles, 1812-1863. Corning Journal. Cotsworth, Moses B. (Moses Bruine), 1859-1943. Courier Company. Crawford, C. G. Crosby, Charles H., 1819-1896. Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co. Cushing, John Dean, 1795-1866. Daily Argus Chromotype Press. Damrell & Moore. Dickman-Jones Co. Drummond, Dominick I., approximately 1830-1899. Edwards, J. H., 1808-1879. Endicott & Co. (New York, N.Y.) Endicott & Swett.