The Acquisitions Table: Index or Pointer or Book Mark. Ansonia, Connecticut: Wallace & Sons, 1858.

Index or Pointer or Book Mark. Ansonia, Connecticut: Wallace & Sons, 1858. On October 10, 1858, the manufacturing firm Wallace & Sons (founded 1848) took out a patent to make foldable bookmarks from brass. The company’s primary product was brass fasteners for hoop (or skeleton) skirts which were becoming fashionable in the late 1850s. One ...

Time for a New Illustrated Inventory – Watch Papers

After many years of inventorying, identifying and digitizing, the Society’s collection of nearly 500 watch papers are now available as an illustrated inventory! Watch papers are small, decorative pieces of paper or cloth that are meant to protect the mechanisms of watches, and were also used to indicate when a watch was last repaired and ...

The Surprisingly Similar Case of Shopping, Then and Now

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At this time of year, when shopping becomes a constant (and sometimes stressful) preoccupation, it’s easy to forget that for many people it’s a pleasurable pastime. Not just because of what you actually buy, but also because of the searching, comparing, matching, and imagining that all make up the act of shopping. As it turns ...

The votes are in!

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The collection of election ballots at the American Antiquarian Society is an impressive group of 952 items spanning the nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Several of these are individual ballots for specific elections, others are completely uncut; some are annotated, others are marked-up canvassing sheets (with sample tickets) or are comprised of paste downs. ...

Tracking down a Big Thing on Ice

Here in Central Massachusetts in July, readers and staff at AAS are experiencing our third heat wave of the summer.  Mind you, heat waves here in New England cannot compete with those that build in the American Southwest, Texas, or the Deep South, but we suffer all the same.  To counter the heat, I decided ...

The Acquisitions Table: Archive of American Publishers’ Ephemera

Archive of American Publishers’ Ephemera, 1840-1900, 216 pieces. The American Antiquarian Society’s collection of American ephemera includes much material related to the book and printing trades, including bookplates, binders’ tickets, and trade cards for printers and publishers.  A recent donation in honor of long time ephemera dealer and collector Joseph Freedman (who passed away in January ...

The Acquisitions Table: 100 Pieces of American Ephemera

Group of 100 pieces of American ephemera, 1830-1900. In order to mark the Society’s 200th birthday, AAS member and collector Lisa Baskin took the unique approach of donating 100 pieces of American ephemera, including the examples shown here.  The collection includes labels, trade cards, and tickets, and features a variety of printing styles, including letter press, ...

Get Ready for the 2013 Adopt-a-Book Event!

On Friday, April 5th from 6:00 to 8:00pm, the American Antiquarian Society will be hosting our 6th Annual Adopt-A-Book event.  This event is an important fundraiser for the curatorial team at the Society, and monies raised will go towards future acquisitions of books, prints, newspapers, manuscripts, and children’s literature. You can browse the entire ...

Happy New Year!

As many scholars of American history are aware, for many decades before 1840 the largest winter holiday in the nation was New Year’s Day, not Christmas.  Christmas was perceived by many Protestant Americans as too closely linked to Catholicism.  New Year’s Day, on the other hand, was a secular family holiday often marked by travel ...

My Hairy Valentine!

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In 2010, the Graphic Arts department will be evaluating and re-housing its collection of nineteenth-century valentines.  We have over 3,000 of these lacy, be-flowered paper objects and they are being sorted to provide better access for readers.  Due to the high number and complexity of each object (some have moving parts, accompanying envelopes, etc., while ...