Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Carpets

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Carpets
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1855-1909
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
3.66 Cubic feet
consisting of 8 boxes, 1 folder, 1 oversize folder, 1 map case folder.
Repository:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Carpets 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

Scope and Contents
This material consists primarily of illustrated catalogues, price lists, business cards, bills/receipts, order forms, import/export documents, printed advertisements, leaflets, pamphlets, patent and trademark design specifications, memorandum books, scattered correspondence on letterhead stationery, articles, and books from manufacturers, distributors and importers of floor coverings. These floor coverings include rugs, linoleum, oil cloth, floor cloths, sheepskin mats, rubber mats, steel mats, and carpets. Most of the floor coverings were manufactured for home use but there are a few companies who supplied office buildings, hotels, steamboats, lodge rooms and churches. Some of these companies manufactured carpet beating machines, brushing machines and rug anchors. Other products manufactured and sold by these companies include carpet sweepers, tapestries, curtains, floor linens, Japanese screens, mat tresses, furniture, paper hangings, stair-rods, table and piano covers, backings, window shades, brooms, willow ware, upholstery, oil cloths and mattings. There is also a substantial amount of material from carpet cleaners, dyers and weavers. There are a number of catalogues with color illustrations showing different patterns and available colors and sizes of the floor coverings.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Arranged in two subseries. The first is organized alphabetically by company and the second is arranged by subject.
  • Subseries 1: Manufacturers, Distributors, and Importers
  • Subseries 2: General Subjects

Administration

Author
Vanessa Broussard-Simmons and Nicole Blechynden
Sponsor
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Carpets 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.
Processing Information
In 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund, the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History implemented the use of minimal level processing standards to increase information about and facilitate access to more of our collections. A large portion of stored material from the original acquisition received minimal level processing, which resulted in additions to this Subject category. This effort included basic arrangement and replacement of non-archival housing for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed. Revisions to the encoded finding aid were made to reflect the added content in context to the previously processed material.
Minimal level processing and enhancement of the machine-readable finding aid completed by Nicole Blechynden, September 2017.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Conditions Governing Use note
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.

Materials in the Archives Center

Materials in the Archives Center
Archives Center Collection of Business Americana (AC0404)

Forms Part Of


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carpets Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dry-goods Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
House furnishings Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Floors Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
curtains (window hangings) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wallpaper Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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