4.19 Cubic feet (consisting of 9 boxes, 1 folder, 5 oversize folders, 1 map case folders, plus digital images of some collection material. )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Printed ephemera
Publications
Business letters
Business ephemera
Reports
Periodicals
Correspondence
Illustrations
Trade catalogs
Printed material
Trade cards
Commercial correspondence
Manuals
Receipts
Commercial catalogs
Business records
Advertisements
Catalogs
Advertising
Catalogues
Business cards
Printed materials
Mail order catalogs
Sales catalogs
Letterheads
Scrapbooks
Advertising cards
Advertising fliers
Ephemera
Photographs
Print advertising
Trade literature
Manufacturers' catalogs
Advertising mail
Samples
Invoices
Date:
1803-1961
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:
Material within the subject category Paints relates to the production and sales of interior and exterior paint in the United States.
The series contains business records and advertisements generated by manufacturers and distributors of paints, enamels, and varnishes in the form of receipts for goods and services, price lists, paint samples, import and export documents, advertising catalogues and pamphlets. No complete or substantial number of records exists for any single company.
Additional material includes guides and scrapbooks manufactured by paint companies, educational material about painting and interior decorating, types and qualities of paint, and literature discussing select histories of paints.
The oversize items are comprised of paint and color swatches, can labels, printed advertisements, brochures, related publications, and images. Images include houses, rooms, painters, and families.
There is no detailed information fNo particular depth is present for any singular subtopic though some publications may provide general and historical overviews of paint, the paint industry, and home or furniture decoration and alteration.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three subseries.
Business Records and Marketing Material
Genre
Subject
Brand Name Index:
The following is a list of brand names for various paints and related names that appear on this list is a compilation of those found on materials in the vertical document boxes. It is not a complete list of all the brand names for paints. The list is intended to assist researchers locate desired materials when only the brand name is known.
Brand Name Index
Manufacturer -- Brand Name
Acme -- Acme Paint
Alabastine -- Seeley Bros.
Alcolac -- Pratt & Lambert Inc.
Amalie -- L. Sonneborn Sons Inc.
Amsterdam -- Kelloggs & Miller
Anchor -- E & F King & Co.
Aquarine -- Muzzy Bros.
Aquatite -- Edward Smith & Co.
American Seal -- Wm. Connors Paint Manufacturing
American Seal -- Troy Paint & Color Works
American Seal -- Higgins & Gilgore
Arco -- Atlantic Refining Co.
Atlas -- Geo. D. Wetherill & Co
Averill -- Seeley Bros.
Barreled Sunlight -- U.S. Gutta Percha Paint Co.
Bessemer -- Rinald Bros.
Blue Ribbon -- Beckwith-Chandler Co.
Bull's Eye -- Wm.Zinnser & Co.
Caboose -- Beckwith-Chandler Co.
Calendar -- Chas. H. Winkleman & Co.
Calcimo -- Montgomery Ward & Co
Cempro -- Asphalt Products Co.
Chalcol -- H.B.Chalmers Co.
Champion -- King Paint Mfg. Co.
Chi-Namel -- Ohio Varnish Co.
Chilton -- G.A.Reeve & Co.
Cliff -- Frank S. DeRonde Co.
Collier -- National Lead Co.
Country Gentleman -- M.G. Stoneman & Son
Colotec -- Western Auto Supply
Conservo -- Samuel Cabot Inc
Coverall -- Montgomery Ward & Co.
Creo-Dipt -- J.W.Stonebeck & Sons
Creolite -- Heath & Milligan Mfg. Co.
Cup Defender -- Edward Smith & Co.
Deco Electro -- Elmquist-Hannan Co.
Degrah -- Keystone Varnish
Detro -- Detroit Whitehead Works
Duco -- Dupont DeNemours Co.
Duragloss -- Ackerman Corp.
Duramant -- Mayer & Loewenstein
Durotone -- Heath & Milligan Mfg. Co.
Elastic -- Atlantic Refining Co
El Dorado -- Rambo & Specht
Effecto -- Pratt & Lambert Inc.
Escolac -- Edward Smith & Co.
Expedite -- Pratt & Lambert Inc.
Flooralas -- Cincinnati Varnish
Genasco -- Barber Asphalt Paving Co.
Glasbrite -- Benjamin F.Forbes Co.
Gold Seal -- S.P. Van Duzer & Co.
Golden Rule -- Robinson's
Golden Shield -- John G. Willits & Co
Graf-Tonic -- Grafton & Son
Gray's Ferry -- Harrison Bros. & Co
Home Comfort -- Wrought Iron Range Co.
Haddonfield -- John G. Willits & Co.
Hilo -- Moller & Schumann Co.
Hydrofugol -- Central Chemical Co.
Imperial -- John Lucas Co
Ingersoll -- Patron's Paint Works.
Ironore -- Prince Bros
Isolatine -- Roessler & Hasslackher Chemical Co.
I.X.L. -- Edward Smith & Co.
Japalac -- Glidden Varnish Co.
Japalac -- Lowe Bros.
Jellitac -- Arthur S. Hoyt
Jigtime -- Merkin
Kemicoris -- Eclipse Paint & Mfg. Co.
Keystone -- Keystone Varnish Co.
Klenzer -- Detroit Whitehead Works
Kyanize -- Boston Varnish Co.
Little Blueflag -- Lowe Bros.
Lu-co -- John Lucas Co.
Luxeberry -- Berry Bros.
Lux-o-lite -- Longman & Martinex
Lawson -- Valentine & Co.
Lythite -- Frank S. DeRonde Co.
Magnite -- J.A. & W. Bird & Co.
Monarch -- Senour Mfg.Co.
Monitor -- S.Wolf's Sons
Mountain Torrent -- E.J. Sanford & Co.
Mura lo -- Bowers Bros.
Muresco -- Benjamin Moore & Co
Nava lite -- Chicago Varnish Co.
Neals -- Acme White Licard & Color Works
Nukote -- Pratt & Lambert Inc.
Opal-Gloss -- David B.Crockett Co.
Opal-Lac -- David B.Crockett Co.
Paragon -- Charles H. Connors Co.
Paragon -- Charles H.Connors Co. Paint Mfg. Co.
Petrol -- J.A. & W. Bird & Co
Pilgrim -- Vaughan Paint Co.
Primelac -- David B.Crockett Co.
Railway -- Beckwith-Chandler Co.
Raven -- Berry Bros.
Red seal -- National Lead Co.
Royal -- A. Wilhelm Co.
Royal -- King Paint Mfg. Co.
Ruberoid -- Ruberoid
Ruskilla -- Atlas Preservative Co. of America
Sani-Flat -- Benjamin Moore & Co.
Sapolin -- Gerstenderfer Bros.
Seroco -- Sears Roebuck Co.
Shel-Lite -- Excelsior Varnish Works
Star -- Pratt & Lambert Inc.
Suncota -- F.O.Pierce Co.
Sun Proff -- Patton Paint Co.
Sunshine -- Heath & Milligan Mfg. Co.
Superior -- Detroit Graphite Mfg. Co.
Super-Tex -- Tex Products Inc.
Surpaco -- St. Louis Surfacer & Paint Co.
Thermalite -- Hascall Paint Co.
Town & Country -- Harrison Bros. & Co.
Town & Country -- Sager & Jennings
Trade -- Harrison Bros. & Co.
Trinidad -- Thomas Mfg. Co.
Valdura -- American Asphalt Paint Co.
Valspar -- Valentine & Co.
Velvex -- Barret Mfg. Co.
Vitralite -- Vaughan Paint Co.
Vitrolite -- Pratt & Lambert Inc.
Wadsworth -- King Paint Mfg. Co.
Wax-Lac -- Detroit Whitehead Works
Wheeler's -- Bridgeport Wood Finishing Co.
Florence White -- A. Wheeler & Co.
Watco -- Wm. Waterall & Co.
Zinolin -- Keystone Varnish Co.
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:
Paints 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: Paints, 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).
The life and anecdotes of William Russell Birch, enamel painter / William Russell Birch, [ca. 1800]. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art, American -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with June Schwarcz, 2001 January 21. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview with Margret Craver Withers conducted 1983-1985, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Withers discusses her childhood in Kansas; early education; and aptitude for drawing.Education in art and design, including studying crafts at the University of Kansas, 1925-29; her position as a grade school teacher in Kansas and as a crafts instructor at Wichita Art Association, 1930s; study with various master metalworkers, including Arthur Nevill Kirk, Arthur J. Stone, Leonard Heinrich and Wilson Weir in the USA, and Baron Erik Fleming in Sweden.Development of Hospital Service Program, with the support of Handy and Harman, precious metal refiners, during World War II, to train army therapists in metalworking for disabled soldiers; supervision in post-War period of Handy and Harman's Craft Service Department, producing films on hand-wrought silver, a traveling exhibition of outstanding contemporary silver, instructional brochures, and a series of workshops for American silversmiths, taught by European masters.Marriage in 1950 to Charles Withers, president of Towle Silver, and that company's policy of employing top designers; Towle's commissioning of works in silver from top modern sculptors; her making of silver holloware and jewelry for private clients; her re-invention of the en resille process for enameling (1959) and in the early 1980s her invention of a process for combining enamel, glass, and silver and gold leaf in jewelry; and her involvement in crafts organizations.She discusses her en resille enameling technique. [The 1985 session is transcribed, and is accompanied by slides of the work discussed].
Biographical / Historical:
Margret Craver Withers (1907-2010) was a silversmith in Boston, Massachusetts.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 58 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
An interview of June Schwarcz conducted 2001 January 21, by Arline M. Fisch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Schwarcz's home and studio, Sausalito, California.
Schwarcz speaks of her family background; early interest in color and form; studies at Pratt Institute; working in as a package designer and free-lance designer for department stores such as Macy's in New York and Hochschild-Kohn in Baltimore; living in Chicago, Brazil, and Denver; learning about enamels from a group of "housewives" in Denver; reading Kenneth Bates's book [Enameling: Principles and Practice] "as if it were the Bible"; visiting America House and meeting Dominick Maillard; settling in Sausalito, California, in 1954; the comparison of natural erosion in streams and rocks to etched surfaces; sources of inspiration including fog, folk art, African art, ancient Chinese ceramics, the Japanese aesthetic, ethnic clothing and fabrics, pleats and folds, and works by Isamu Noguchi, Constantin Brancusi, Morris Louis, and Mark Rothko; the practice of working on several pieces at one time; the influence of two books, Santayana's "The Sense of Beauty" and Junichiro Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows;" her desire to "making things that are beautiful"; her husband's support and assistance with tools, materials, and techniques; the significance of various tools and equipment; developing forms through paper patterns; the body as vessel; color as "personality"; technical pitfalls of the enameling process; technical problems of electroplating; the 1974 World Craft Conference in which Stanley Letchzin presented his findings on electroforming; meeting Letchzin and comparing processes; the difficulties in selling work; the lack of an audience; teaching workshops at Arrowmont and Vail; aversion to teaching and commissions; relationships with Susan Cummins Gallery, Bellas Artes Gallery, Japonesque Gallery, De Vera Gallery, Sybaris Gallery, and Mobilia Gallery; travel to Europe and Japan; honors and awards; and interest in transparent enamels. Schwarcz also describes her use of basse taille, plique-à-jour, electroplating, electroforming, brush plating, raku, scotchbrite, and Mi-Tique (patina solutions). She also recalls development of each piece in her retrospective catalog, "June Schwarcz : forty years, forty pieces" (San Francisco Craft & Folk Art Museum, 1998) and concludes the interview by discussing five current pieces in progress.
Biographical / Historical:
June Schwarcz (1918-2015) was an enamaler from Sausalito, California. Arline M. Fisch (1931-) is a metalsmith from San Diego, California.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 36 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
An interview of Heikki Seppä conducted 2001 May 6, by Lloyd Herman, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in the artist's home and studio, Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Seppä speaks of his early childhood in Finland and being placed in a children's home (twice) in the Karelian Isthmus; his mother's move to Canada; his parents' divorce; his educational background including his course of study at the goldsmith school in 1940 and 1941, at age 14, and his lack of role models; the postwar growth of the metal industry; his participation in an exchange program with Denmark; his athletic accomplishments, especially kayaking; his service in the Finnish Army; his employment in Helsinki; producing objects for Georg Jensen; the state of Nordic decorative arts in the 1950s; his marriage and move to British Columbia; working with refrigeration systems; obtaining Canadian and American citizenship; teaching metalsmithing in a community center; winning prizes for metal pieces in Canadian national exhibitions; attending Cranbrook Academy of Art; introducing reticulation to Cranbrook; and his Cranbrook classmates Stanley Lechtzin, L. Brent Kington, Leslie Motch, and teachers Richard Thomas and Alma Eicherman. Seppä describes in detail the history of and process for producing a reticulated surface; he refers to crimping and spraying metal; teaching at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1965 to 1992; the origin of his spiculum and shell forms; his books, "Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths" (Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1978) and "From Silversmith's Workshop" (1996 or 1998); commissions; his gradual withdrawal from juried and competitive exhibitions; his use and limitations of preliminary drawings; the silversmith as a maker of expressive objects; and repairs he made to silver pieces made by metalworkers who did not understand silver. He discusses a difficult period marked by his early retirement in 1992, his wife's death in 1993, and declining commissions.
He talks about becoming reacquainted with metalsmith Laurie Lyall in 1997 and moving to Bainbridge Island, where he now lives with Lyall. SNAG (the Society of North American Goldsmiths), its founders, membership, and five-year dormancy are discussed as is the organization's revitalization. Seppä speaks about stylistic influences; technique and style; his work-related travel; and his admiration for Jack da Silva's sculpture. He comments on the homogenization of the arts; the difference between jewelers and metalsmiths trained in art schools and vocational schools; the distinction between art and craft; the desire of craftsmen to be called artists; the function of critical writing and the lack thereof; Metalsmith magazine; Bruce Metcalf as critic; his commissioned ecclesiastical pieces, including a triangular chalice for an Episcopal church in St. Louis; metalsmiths and manufacturing companies; Fabergé-trained metalsmiths; reticulation at Fabergé's shop; enamel and enamelers at Fabergé; and gemology. Seppä also speaks about his future pursuits and artistic contributions; silver as an expressive medium; and silver as a material for utilitarian objects. He recalls Eero Saarinen, Aline Saarinen, Loja Saarinen, Nellie Peterson, Alma Eicherman, Robert Ebendorf, Michael Good, David Jaworski, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Heikki Seppä (1927-) is a jeweler and metalsmith from Bainbridge Island, Washington. Lloyd Herman (1936-) is a former director of the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery and from Seattle, Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 51 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with William Harper, 2004 January 12-13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of William Harper conducted 2004 January 12-13, by Harold B. Nelson, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in New York City, N.Y.
Harper speaks of growing up in the small town of Bucyrus, Ohio; taking art lessons as a child; attending Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art and completing an M.S. in Art Education; exhibiting at the May Show at Cleveland Museum of Art; choosing to work in enamels, especially cloisonné, and its relationship to painting; visiting New York for the first time and seeing an exhibit of June Schwarcz's work; participating in both national juried exhibitions and solo exhibitions, including a one-man exhibition at the Renwick Gallery; and receiving the National Endowment for the Arts Craft Research Fellowship. Harper also speaks of teaching experiences at several schools; being hired at Florida State University; teaching workshops at the Penland School of Crafts; publishing his book, "Step by Step Enameling;" his affiliation with various craft and fine art galleries; moving to New York City; using precious and commonplace materials; his technique in creating pieces and the tendency to work in series, such as Pagan Babies and Pentimenti; exploring jewelry forms; and the influence of African sculpture, art history, religion, mythology, and artist Jasper Johns on his artwork. Harper also recalls Kenneth Bates, John Paul Miller, Margaret Craver, Robert Ebendorf, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
William Claude Harper (1944- ) is a jeweler and enamelist from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 29 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Jewelers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Enamel artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
School of Industrial Design (Trenton, N.J.) Search this
University of California, Berkeley. Department of Art Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Merry Renk, 2001 January 18-19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Merry Renk conducted 2001 January 18-19, by Arline M. Fisch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, in Renk's home and studio, San Francisco, California.
Renk speaks of her family background; growing up during the Depression; her father's creativity and encouragement; early inspiration from "the structure of nature"; attending the School of Industrial Arts in Trenton, N.J., and later the Institute of Design in Chicago; student life at the Institute of Design; establishing a studio and gallery, 750 Studio, at 750 North Dearborn, in Chicago, in 1947, with two other students, Mary Jo Slick [Godfrey] and Olive [Bunny] Oliver; managing 750 Studio and organizing exhibitions of Harry Callahan, Henry Miller, Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Warren and Ethel MacKenzie, Doris Hall, and others; working with enamels; early "primitive" spirals; decision to be a jeweler; the importance of the "wearability" of jewelry; moving to San Francisco in 1948; living in Paris, 1950-1951; relationship with Shinkichi Tajiri; visiting Constantin Brancusi; traveling with Lenore Tawney through Spain and Morocco; settling in San Francisco; friendship with sculptor and neighbor Ruth Asawa; learning about Josef Albers from Asawa, resulting in experiments with folded metal; meeting her second husband, potter Earle Curtis on Halloween 1954; purchasing and remodeling their home; teaching part-time at the University of California, Berkeley and in workshops; her children, Baunnie and Sandra; managing motherhood and jewelry making in a two-artist household; drawing as a form of inventory; the influence of Lee Nordness; learning the plique-à-jour technique of enameling through trial and error; early influence of Doris Hall's work; working with wire; use of natural forms and interlocking forms; the process of making Wedding Crown (1968) for the exhibition Objects USA; making wedding crowns for her daughters; her shift from non-objective art to portraiture and symbolic imagery in the early 1970s; making large-scale sculpture in 1974, then "drifting back" to jewelry; importance of working independently; her "memory paintings" in the 1980s; evolution of her name from Mary Ruth Gibbs to Merry Renk Curtis (married Stanley Renk in 1941); her involvement with local guilds such as the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco and national organizations such as the American Craft Council (ACC); lack of critical writing about her work; the value of exhibitions; various pieces in museum collections; early ACC conferences; her long friendship with photographer Imogen Cunningham; posing for Cunningham; becoming an ACC fellow; her jewelry tools; the process of painting compared to jewelry making. She also mentions Kenneth Bates, Trude Guermonprez, Irena Brynner, the Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her mentor Margaret de Patta.
Biographical / Historical:
Merry Renk (1921-2012) was a jeweler, painter, and sculptor from San Francisco, California. Arline M. Fisch (1931-) is a metalsmith from San Diego, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 9 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
