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:
Minimally covers the terminus of the wind-powered (sail) era and more fully documents the peak of the engine (steam) era of commercial cargo and passenger vesselsk, including freight and dockage services, maintenance and provisioning, ferry service, navigation (tug and tow) assistance, plus leisure cruising and touring. There is not a significant amount of material on battle or war ships. Includes both short distance routes such as lakes, rivers, and islets, and longer trans-oceanic crossings.
Documents within the collection consist of handbills, broadsides, leaflets, books, business cards, advertisements, insurance forms, wreck reports, passenger lists, baggage tags, freight manifests, rate cards, correspondence on letterhead stationery, booklets, newspaper clippings, postcards, menus, periodicals, manuals, photographs, engravings, woodcuts, sketches, bills of lading, receipts, catalogues, ledgers, journals, purchase orders, broadsides, brochures, custom forms, schedules, shipping and receiving documents, early steam guides, timetables, lithographs, announcements, etc. There are no navigational nautical maps. There is very little in the way of international import/export records. However, domestic and North American freight services are well-covered through invoices, bills of lading, manifests, and receipts for goods and services.
Some materials cover the history and development of steamships, particularly in the latter half of the nineteenth century with the iron screw replacing the wooden paddle steamer in the 1850s. The late 1860s brought the compound engine, which led to the steamship, previously used for the conveyance of mails and passengers, to compete with the sailing vessel in the carriage of cargo for long voyages. The 1870s brought improvements in accommodation for the passenger, with the midship saloon, conveniences in state-rooms, and covered access to smoke rooms and ladies cabins.
Ownership of specific lines and vessels was very fluid throughout shipping history, including the renaming of vessels. Mergers, dissolution, and absorption of fleets were frequent. Thus, researchers should independently seek out a more detailed history for any entity of particular interest.
The general maritime business series focuses on good and services related to maritime operations such as repair, shipbuilding, parts, ticket agents, chandlers, groceries, coal supply, dockage, wharfs/marinas, etc.
Operation records of named vessels contains primarily bills of lading and similar receipts for the movement of material goods or in-water services such as tow and tug assistance.
The largest series covering shipping lines and conglomerates offers a wide assortment of miscellaneous, nonexhaustive operation records for cargo and passenger lines and corporations, typically those with multiple holdings. These documents may include receipts, bills of lading, correspondence, and financial ledgers, plus promotional material for services and routes offered. Passenger sailings and luxury cruise documentation may contain menus, passenger lists, itineraries, shore excursion information, souveniers such as luggage tags, ticket stubs, and postcards. See also the subject category Menus, for additional examples of passenger and cruise ship menus.
When not associated with any of the above, general examples of materials related to the industry have been by arranged by their material type such as images, reports, and serial publications. More formal documentation, especially legal and reports, can be found here.
Narrative type materials related to lore, history, and building and design specifications have been sorted by subject. A scarce amount of material covers ships used for military service. Likewise, there are a few examples of maritime related material from the art world, mostly in the form of catalogues for exhibits or auction of paintings and scale models.
A note on vessel names: those used as contract carriers of mail and when in service, were entitled to unique prefix designations such as Royal Mail Ship (RMS.), otherwise, the ship name may be preceded by the more generic S.S. for single-screw steamer or steamship, SV for sailing vessel, PS for paddle steamer, RV for research vessel or similar type prefix. USS is the standard for the United States Navy commissioned ships while in commission, with HMS used for His/Her Majesty's Ship of the British Royal Navy.
Some of the major lines/companies represented in the collection include: American Line, American Steamship Company, Anchor Line, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Cunard-Anchor Line, Cunard Line, Cunard Steam Ship Company, Limited, Cunard White Star Line, Eastern Steamship Lines, Furness, Withy & Company, Hamburg American Line (HAPAG) / Hamburg Amerika Linie, Holland America Line (N.A.S.M. / HAL), Inman Line, International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM), International Navigation Company, North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen), Panama Pacific Line, Peninsular and Oriental, Red Star Line, Royal Mail Steam Packet, U.S. Mail Steamship Company, United States Lines, White Star Line.
Arrangement:
Ships, Boats, and Vessels is arranged in three subseries.
Business Records and Marketing Material
General Maritime Businesses
Operation Records of Named Vessels
Shipping Lines/Conglomerates
Miscellaneous Business Records and Marketing Material
Genre
Keepsakes
Images
Ledger
Legal
News Clippings
Regulatory
Reports
Serial Publications
Stamps/Cigarette Cards
Associations and Societies
Images, Artwork, Racing, Technical Literature
Subject
Battleships, Warships
Destination Guides
Employment and Licensing
Insurance
Maritime History
Maritime Models and Art
Revue Generale Des Sciences
Warshaw Administrative Records
Related Materials:
Several other Warshaw Subject Categories may have closely related material such as Submarines and Transportation. For casual and recreational boating see Boats and Boating Equipment and Yachts. Other subject categories that may have related materials include: Canals, Dredging, Engines, Menus, Railroads (point of common transportation transfer), and Tours. .
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Missing Title
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Steamboats [Ships, Boats, and Vessels] 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: Ships, Boats, and Vessels, 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).
One of the most comprehensive collections of material relating to musical stage and film productions, the collection consists of an assortment of material including sheet music written specifically for or included in stage and screen musicals, television programs, Big Band performances, and radio. Some productions may have been produced under more than one title, especially if the production was presented internationally.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by title of production or personality using proper name. Folders for each entry may include sheet music, ephemeral items related to that specific production or personality such as theater programs, reviews, and posters. There are a number of costume design drawings. Folders will rarely include full printed scores. Published scores were separated from this collection before donation.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1, Stage Musicals and Vaudeville, 1866-2007, undated
Subseries 1.1, United States Stage Musicals, 1866-2007, undated
Series 6, Ephemera and Single Sheet Music, 1908-2005, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Donald J. Stubblebine was born on February 4, 1925 in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Edgar W. and Emma Stubblebine. He had an older brother Edgar W. Stubblebine, Jr. His father was a sheet metal worker employed by the railroad in Reading. Stubblebine was first exposed to musicals through motion pictures. His mother attended "dish night" with her son twice a week. During the Great Depression, in order to draw an audience, theaters would give out dishes with each admission. He credited this with beginning his love of musicals. By the 1940 United States Census his mother is listed as a widow. Stubblebine attended the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation he was employed for forty years as controller by the Chilton Publishing Company. He retired in 1994.
As a lifelong film and theater fan, Stubblebine began collecting sheet music, programs, and ephemera from stage and film musicals in the early 1970s. As his collection grew, so did his expertise in the history of musical theatre and film. He eventually authored four reference books dealing with United States and British stage and film musicals as well as films from Canada and Australia. He became an often sought-after expert in stage and film music. His obsession with collecting eventually filled his Philadelphia apartment with one of the largest collections of material centered on music in the United States. He collected not only the sheet music and scores from musicals but often collected copies of reviews, programs, photographs, and costume sketches.
Stubblebine died on May 1, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smitsonian Institution by Joseph Regis Hauber in memory of Donald J. Stubblebine, in 2010.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research but is stored offsite. Arrangements must be made with the Archives Center staff two weeks prior to a scheduled research visit.
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.
Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark.
Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Music and Ephemera, 1866-2009, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Scrapbook contains articles and ephemera relating to an African American troupe of thirty five minstrels who performed in the Pacific Northwestern United States.
Scope and Contents:
The scrapbook offers documentation of the troupe's activities dating from 1876-1909 in the Pacific Northwestern United States. It contains articles, ticket stubs, newspaper and magazine clippings and programs. Also included are brief biographical sketches of Billy Williams, the contortionist, and Harry Gillam, the "Hebrew acrobat," and an article about the managers of the Up To Date minstrels, J. Edward George and G. E. Hart. In addition, there are business cards from other minstrel performing groups including, Cissel and Mines and Oliver and Gilliam, with accompanying pictures. There are loose materials which were probably once part of the scrapbook, including programs and letterhead stationery. There are also photographs of the troupe taken in Missouri in 1900 standing outside a train car as they travelled from one location to another. The materials are arranged first by type and then in chronological order.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in one series.
Biographical / Historical:
George and Hart's Up To Date Georgia Minstrels were an African American troupe of thirty-five entertainers about whom this scrapbook was created. In 1901, these minstrels were described as "the only colored show running for thirty years." The troupe, which began circa 1866, was billed as "the most popular" troupe of performers from California to Montana to Washington to New Mexico to Colorado to Minnesota. They performed standard minstrel acts and included a contortionist, an acrobatic act, and a male impersonator. This form of theater entertainment was used by African American dramatic performers for consistent employment with reasonable wages. The Up To Date Georgia Minstrels were said to have been the "highest paid" performers in the area, making five to fifteen dollars a week. The troupe was managed by George Hart.
Provenance:
The material was donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by the San Diego Historical Society on March 11, 1997. The Society has no further information about the scrapbook which was outside the scope of its collecting policy.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
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.
French Aviation Catalog [Office d'Aviation Richelieu Automobiles]
Extent:
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1910
Summary:
This single-item collection consists of a French-language catalogue issued circa 1910 by the Aviation Office (Office d'Aviation) of Richelieu Automobiles in Paris, France. The catalogue consists of loose pages bound together in a decorative cover. Individual pages detail aviation equipment and services offered by Richelieu Automobiles, including airplanes from assorted designers and manufacturers, Astra balloons and airships, engines, aircraft accessories, fabric, hangars, toy airplanes, insurance, flight clothing, and books.
Scope and Contents:
This French language catalogue ("Catalogue B"), issued circa 1910 by the Aviation Office (Office d'Aviation) of Richelieu Automobiles, consists of 46 double-sided black and white printed sheets inserted into a heavy brown paper cover illustrated with a four-color serigraph print, bound with a blue silk cord. The front cover depicts a "Vision of the Future" ("Vision d'Avenir") at top with an eagle in flight at bottom; the back cover features the mythological figure of Daedalus in flight over Paris, with aircraft in the background. The first two sheets provide information about aviation services offered by Richelieu Automobiles, the organization of the catalogue, and include an exterior view of Richelieu's showroom at 3, Avenue de'Opéra, Paris, France. This copy of the catalogue does not include sheets for all sections listed in the introduction (Classes).
Classe 1 - Aéroplanes, Monoplans [Airplanes, Monoplanes]: Blériot, Hanriot, Koechlin, Santos Dutheil-Chalmers [Santos-Dumont Demoiselle with Dutheil-Chalmers engine].
Classe 2 - Aéroplanes, Biplans [Airplanes, Biplanes]: Henri Farman, Maurice Farman, Sommer, Voisin, Wright.
Classe 3 - Moteurs [Engines]: Moteurs légers à ailettes pour l'aviation [Lightweight air-cooled engines for aviation]; Moteurs à circulation d'eau pour l'aviation [Water-cooled engines for aviation]; Aster, Dansette, E.N.V., Gnome, Labor-Picker, Panhard et Levassor, Renault, Wolseley [Vickers Sons & Maxim Ltd.]
Classe 4 - Dirigeables - Sphériques [Airships - Balloons]: Astra.
Classe 5 - Accessoires [Accessories]: Tendeurs et Boulons [turnbuckles and bolts]; Magnétos [magnetos] Lavalette-Eisemann, Ruthardt, U. H. (Unterberg et Helmle); Bougie "Oléo" Aviation [sparkplugs]; B & S "Selve" Aluminium [aluminum radiators, fuel and oil tanks, fittings, wheel rims, coolers]; Zimmermann, Radiateur d'Aviation [radiators]; Automobiline, Oléonaphte Huile D.F. [fuel and oil for airplanes and automobiles]; Hélices [propellers] L. Chauvière, Drzewiecki, Passerat et Radiguet, W. L. D.; Fixator, Commandes Irréversibles, Leviers [control assemblies, levers]; Chauvin et Arnoux [precision instruments for aircraft including tachometer, anemometers, inclinometers, landing indicators]; Phares [lights] B. R. C. Alpha, Ducellier; Pneus [tires] Dunlop.
Classe 6 - Toiles [Fabrics]: Hutchinson, Metzeler.
Classe 7 - Hangars [Hangars]: Hangars Démontables [temporary hangars], Hangars Fixes (Système E. Laillet) [permanent hangars].
Classe 12 - Assurances [Insurance]: Richelieu Automobiles.
Classe 13 - Vêtements [Clothing]: de Baeder.
Classe 14 - Librairie [Bookstore]: Richelieu Automobiles.
Arrangement:
The catalogue, identified as NASM Archives item number NASM-9A18906, is presented in its original order.
Biographical / Historical:
The company known as "Office d'Aviation – Richelieu Automobiles" was established in Paris, France, in June 1909 by Viscount Henry de Dampierre, Jean d'Orlyé, and Belgian aviator Ferdinand de Baeder, to offer customers everything related to airplanes, airships, balloons, engines, and automobiles, including related accessories and services. Their main showroom was located at 3, Avenue de'Opéra, with administrative offices at 42, Rue de Richelieu, and a building at 19, Rue des Entrepreneurs where they offered aircraft construction and repair services as well as aircraft storage at the rate of 10 centimes per square meter per day. The business incorporated as a Sociéte Anonyme on August 10, 1910, only to dissolve just over a year later on September 12, 1911.
Related Materials:
A second circa 1910 version of an Office d'Aviation catalogue, identified as NASM Archives item number NASM-9A00722, appears in the John J. Ide Collection, NASM.XXXX.0070. This copy (44 pages total) is made up of many of the same sheets in NASM-9A18906 but includes additional airplane sheets for the Antoinette, Bréguet, Curtiss, Nieuport, de Pischoff (L'Autoplane), Savary, and Tellier companies. This catalogue is also presented in its original order, and contains several duplicate sheets.
Provenance:
Library of Congress, transfer, 1966[?], NASM.XXXX.0825
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
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