3.25 Cubic feet (consisting of 7 boxes, 1 folder, 2 oversize folders, 2 map case folders.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sales letters
Ephemera
Trade literature
Trade catalogs
Illustrations
Legal documents
Publications
Printed ephemera
Printed material
Trade cards
Commercial catalogs
Business records
Manufacturers' catalogs
Sales catalogs
Advertising
Advertising cards
Advertising fliers
Advertising mail
Print advertising
Business cards
Advertisements
Letterheads
Invoices
Printed materials
Receipts
Photographs
Mail order catalogs
Business letters
Instructional materials
Commercial correspondence
Catalogs
Correspondence
Sales records
Catalogues
Business ephemera
Date:
1818-1919
bulk 1840-1910
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
Contains materials relating to the manufacture and sale of wheeled and ski-based vehicles, primarily horse drawn, but in some cases human powered such as wagons, carriages, buggies, sleds, and sleighs used for transportation of goods and person. Includes information about a variety of wagon types runners, cutters, coaches, trucks, surreys, and phartons. Accessories include harnesses, reins, metal wheels, axles, spokes, tops, aprons, ornaments. There is one example of a baby carriage.
Businesses include general merchants, specialty dealers, service, parts and accessories, and repair.
Materials represent a sampling of daily transactions such as receipts and invoices for purchases. Marketing materials consists of price lists, ads, and brochures. There are several illustrated catalogues which provide good coverage on product lines. The images files provide good visual content of wagons used for work and leisure.
No extensive runs or complete records exist for any single company, brand, and no particular depth is present for any singular subtopic though some publications may provide general and historical overviews of a person, company, or facet of industry.
Arrangement:
Wagons is arranged in three subseries.
Business Records and Marketing Material
Genre
Subject
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Wagons is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Wagons, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
In 1882, brothers Charles and Henry Hagan established a carriage, coach, and wagon business in Frederick, Maryland. This collection represents approximately two decades of business transactions through 21 volumes of daybooks and ledgers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of twenty-one manuscript account books documenting the company's carriage, wagon and horseshoeing business. Three volumes are ledgers, the rest are daybooks. Volumes often contain overlapping dates or missing periods of time, and ledgers have varying dates for each customer. In some instances, the weather for Christmas Day is recorded.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Series 1, Account Books, 1882-1903
Biographical / Historical:
In 1882, brothers Charles and Henry Hagan founded the Hagan Brothers, Carriage & Wagonmakers and Horseshoers Company with Charles A. Hagan as president.
Horse-drawn vehicles were crucial to American transportation before railroads, and the industry that supplied these vehicles was a major factor in the economy. Most of these firms were never vertically integrated, although some later developed into the "accessory industry," or specialized production of components. Major sources of revenue for businesses like the Hagan Brothers included general blacksmithing work, carriage and wagon repair, and manufacturing carriages to the customer's specifications.
The later history of the company is not known. There are no directories for Frederick County between 1911 and 1922, and there is no listing for Hagan Brothers in the 1923 directory.
Related Materials:
One account book covering the period from April 16, 1908 to November 23, 1908 is held at the Historical Society of Frederick County, Maryland. See website at: http://www.hsfcinfo.org/ .
Provenance:
This collection was purchased from Carmen D. Valentino, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rare books and manuscripts dealer, by Craig Orr, archivist in April 2009.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
