This is the type of post which started out as an “In Memoriam.” Something lighthearted which included lines about the deceased card catalog’s birth in the 1970s, it being a ‘descendent of generations of particleboard furniture’ and that it ‘leaves behind grieving relations such as the filing cabinet, map drawer, etc.’ But the more I ...
Winsor, George Jr., Ledger, 1845-1868 George Winsor, Jr. (1790-1880) lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and married Hannah Delano in 1817. Winsor was a captain of merchant vessels, including the Delano and the brig United States. This ledger begins in 1845 with the accounts of Enoch Train & Co. and Augustus Hemenway. These pages show entries such ...
Mortimer, Favell Lee. Iu Pitabun. Boston: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1844. This is an extremely rare Chippewa language translation of Favell Lee Mortimer’s adaptation of Bible stories. It was formerly owned by renowned Americana collector George Brinley (1817-1875), whose collection was sold off in a series of auctions after his death. This ...
Southern Rights (Jacksonville, FL). Oct. 4, 1862. When Brigadier General J.M. Brannan took over Jacksonville, FL, his troops found standing type in the newspaper office and pied it. Later some of them took a proof sheet of the Oct. 4, 1862 copy and added an extra paragraph at the end and printed up some copies “for ...
A Cheap Primer for the Blind. Louisville, Ky.: American Printing House for the Blind, 1874. This primer is printed in large oblong format with raised-letter type known as Boston line. AAS has some thirty titles printed in Boston line; about half of which were actually published for the blind, as opposed to providing samples of the ...
Apothecary and General Merchandise Ledger, 1859-1863 This ledger belonged to an unknown apothecary and general store owner in Vermont. The volume is arranged chronologically and lists daily notes and transactions for the business. A very active business is illustrated in this volume, with many transactions happening each day. Entries include items sold and prices, including ...
No license. A question to be settled in the State of New York. New York: Journal of the American Temperance Union, 1846. On linen. This textile broadside was issued as an extra to the Journal of the American Temperance Union during the 1846 elections in New York State. That year, every one of the 800+ towns ...
The Other Side (Bloomington, IL). Apr. 14, 1868. Vol. 1, no. 4. This is a campaign newspaper printed in broadside format. It was a Republican paper edited by C.F. Merriman, a long-time newspaper editor of this town. Though stating it was to be published daily, output was irregular, and it claimed a circulation of 2,000. The ...
Back in the 1950s, the AAS used to exhibit its items in places with traffic – (skeptical? Check out this 1952 photograph taken by Ted Woolner showing the front window of the Industrial City Bank and Banking Co. in Worcester with our Graphic Arts items) – but then the Internet was born and we learned ...
Richardson, Samuel. The History of Pamela or Virtue Rewarded. New York: N.C. Nafis, 1835. This tale of a young woman’s rise from servant to a charitable and understanding wife of a wealthy man was a bestseller in the long eighteenth century. The frontispiece is a metal engraving of Pamela embracing her husband’s daughter from a previous ...
Without a doubt, many amazing people arrive daily on the doorstep of Antiquarian Hall. They bring research early in its infancy, artistic projects, personal histories, obligations of library pilgrimage – all in need of the AAS touch. In 1813, Isaiah Thomas made clear the intent for the doors and collection be open to all who ...
E.W. Clay, attr., The Quarrel, lithograph, NY: John Childs, 1839. This previously unrecorded cartoon, published in New York, is one in a set of prints investigating the social implications of interaction between white citizens and African Americans. The cartoon, which was probably designed by the artist Edward W. Clay for John Childs, depicts two African American ...
Ever had your hand cramp up from filling out a whole stack of call slips? Or have you wondered, "What was that book I looked at last October? I'd love to see it again." (This question actually came up earlier this week and a colleague and I had to go through stacks ...
Parsons, Aaron. Daybook, 1848-1851. Aaron Parsons was a blacksmith and tinsmith in Stafford Springs, CT. His daybook chronologically records his business transactions from February 1848 through November 1851. Most concern the repair and restoration of metal ware, including items such as tea kettles, coffee pots, lead pipes, pumps, cylinders, milk pans, lamps, oven, and boilers, to ...
Tomorrow, Thursday, April 19 - 7:30 p.m. "Celebrating the American Antiquarian Society, 1812-2012" Philip F. Gura Philip Gura, William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of the just-published bicentennial history of the American Antiquarian Society. He will tell ...
