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).
The collection documents the life of Seaman 2nd class Roy Conley, particularly his experiences during World War 1.
Scope and Contents note:
The collection consists primarily of photographs documenting Conley's experiences as a seaman in World War I. War images include battlefields, trenches, weaponry, and damage to villages and cities. Other photographs are of family members and pictures that Conley took later in life as he traveled throughout Europe and the United States as a tourist. Personal papers consist of identification information and a few military documents. There is also a scrapbook containing photographs collected during World War I, photographs of family members and images of the United States and Europe.
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1918-1945, includes documents relating to Conley's World War I and World War II service and family photographs. There is a Naval Aviator's logbook which he used as a scrapbook and which contains photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings and other items accrued in France in World War I. A scrapbook containing photographs collected during World War I, photographs of family members, images of the United States and Europe and personal papers is also included among the materials.
Series 2, World War I, 1918-1919, consists of photographs of World War I battle scenes, including German bodies, a gas attack, tank warfare, artillery pieces and wrecked airplanes. Also included are photographs of the damage done to countryside and towns by aerial and artillery bombardment.
Series 3, Post World War I, 1919, undated, contains sightseeing and other photographs Conley collected after World War I. Scenes of Paris and other European locations, New York and Kentucky are included.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1918-1945
Series 2: World War I, 1918-1919
Series 3: Post World War I, 1919, undated
Biographical/Historical note:
Roy Gilbert Conley was born in 1899. He lived most of his life in Detroit, Michigan. Conley served in the U.S. Navy from January, 1918 until September, 1919. After basic training at Camp Decatur in Great Lakes, Illinois, he was assigned to a dirigible unit in Paimboeuf, France. He served again during World War II in Port Huron, Michigan as a member of the Coast Guard Reserve. Mr. Conley died in 1963.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Ms. Barbara Murray, Mr. Conley's grand niece.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply.
Some of the 345 silver gelatin photoprints, mounted on gray paper pages in this album, apparently were taken in Houston, as the title page indicates. However, many others were taken in New Orleans, and possibly other areas in the Gulf States. The New Orleans pictures depict City Park, St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, above ground cemeteries, the French Quarter, the French Market, the Hotel Royal (the old St. Louis Hotel), etc. Other subjects include informal portraits of men, two of which are identified and dated 1911; people fishing; horse drawn carriages, streetcars and automobiles in urban areas; women typing in an office; army barracks and tents, soldiers, and sailors; people in front of a Barnum & Bailey circus poster, a clown, and other circus scenes; houses; etc. Most of the pictures, of varying sizes, seem to be amateur work, but others are more advanced or possibly professional in style and quality.
Arrangement:
Album of photographs. Unarranged: original order of pages uncertain.
Historical:
Nothing is known about this unbound album of photographs. The content of the photographs themselves and the title page provide the only documentation. The album was found incomplete and unbound, and the original cover has been discarded because it was in poor condition and was contaminating the album pages and photographs. The "Queen" style album was manufactured by Tatum (?), patented July 13, 1909(?).
Provenance:
The album, found in the Museum vault, presumably was part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, or might have been acquired later in the late 1960s to early 1980s, by Dr. John Hoffman when he was curator of the collection.
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.
Main Image: Head and hand of a U.S. sailor smoking a cigarette
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 3824
General:
Issued by: Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co
Issued for: Chesterfield Cigarettes
Artist(s): Anon
Series:
F-16323
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. 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.
Cigarettes -- advertising -- 1910-1920 Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Advertisements -- 1910-1920
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
Main Image: U.S. soldiers and sailors using signal flags
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 9993
General:
Artist(s): Homer
Printing Info:
Printer: H. C. Miner Litho. Co., New York
Collection 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.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. 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.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
![View Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Steamboats [Ships, Boats, and Vessels] digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=120&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
