Watch Papers at the American Antiquarian Society
August 9th, 2011 by Lauren Hewes
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This summer, Graphic Arts intern Dominique Ledoux, a student at Wellesley College, created an inventory of the Society’s collection of 464 watch papers. Watch papers are round decorative papers placed between the inner and outer case of a pocket watch to protect its inner workings. They also served as advertisements for watchmakers as they often included names and addresses along with elaborate designs. 
Popular iconography included Father Time, Aurora in her chariot, cherubs, allegorical women, Masonic symbols, hourglasses, clocks and eagles. Most of the papers are engraved, although a few are letterpress printed. Famous engravers including Peter Maverick, Paul Revere, and Nathaniel Hurd are represented in the collection.
Currently, the collection is being digitized and by December 2011, the images will accompany Ledoux’s inventory in an electronic resource on the Society’s website. If you just cannot wait until then, we have put a selection of watch papers on display in the AAS reading room for you to examine.
Hi Lauren and thanks for this : good news!
I did a post based on the British Library’s collection of watchpaper prints here:
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/05/watch-paper-prints.html
I mention this mostly to draw your attention to one of the comments I added that includes an important reference with respect to watchpaper prints (1948). I’ve actually dropped that person a line to tell them of this blog entry of yours so if you want to request a copy of the article from him, drop me a line if you wish.
great news….. i have a collection of over 80 papers, new york,long island, costal conn, ri, and a few other places.
all belonged to the dominy family clock makers in easthampton long island during the federal peroid.can’t wait to see your collection !!
Thank you for your quick comment! Ms. Ledoux had seen your posting about the British Library’s collection and particularly appreciated the photograph of a watch paper in a case. She and I recently visted the Willard House and Clock Museum (Grafton, Mass.) where we saw a similar case with a Willard watch paper inserted. We would love a copy of Mr. Knaster’s 1948 essay. Dorothea Spear’s 1952 essay “American Watch Papers,” published by AAS is a good resource for American papers. We look forward to putting the entire collection online and hearing from more watch paper enthusiasts!
Lauren, would you please email me : I’ll share a bit further in private. peacay –> gmailD O Tcom, cheers.
These are great! I can’t wait to see the whole collection online. Congratulations on putting together such a terrific resource!
Stephen Manheimer, I am delighted to hear about the Dominy family collection of papers. We have completed the photography of our collection and are building the web resource as fast as we can! We hope to launch at the end of December, so keep checking back.
how is the watch paper site developing ?
i actually have 93 papers, if you get alot of hits, when posted, i would be willing to let you scan mine for achedemic interest. keep me posted thanks
Hello Stephen, We are still building our web resource. It is looking great, but is not yet ready to go live. I hope we do get a lot of hits, and hear from other collectors of watch papers. Thank you for your offer to include your Dominy material. I am not sure how the logistics of that might work, but I am open to talking with you more about it!
when will the papers be visable ? thanks
when will the papers be on line ??? thanks
Hi Stephen! We are so pleased that you are excited about the resource! We are still working on the inventory and aiming for the Summer. There will be a nice blog post announcing it when its ready – so stay tuned!
thanks