Archives Center, National Museum of American History

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

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Photography
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
circa 1871-1925
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
6.79 Cubic feet
consisting of 11 boxes, 2 folders, 10 oversize folders, 3 map case folders, 1 flat box, plus digital images of some collection material.
Repository:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Photography 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 catalogs, printed advertisements scattered correspondence on letterhead stationery, price lists, bills/receipts, addresses, envelopes, advertising cards both for products and photographers, reports, photographs, descriptive circulars, leaflets, sales contracts, product manuals, periodicals, books, handbooks, guides, patents and order forms from manufacturers and dealers of photographic supplies and equipment. The different types of products include film, burnishing tools, cameras, camera lenses, magazine plate holders, photographic chemicals, magic lanterns, stereopticons and slides, photographic paper, daguerreotype apparatus', pressing machines and dry plates. Many of the companies sold other products such as photograph albums, books, views, photograph cards, reproductions and other photographic outfits.
There are numerous illustrations throughout this collection. A number of these images are of photographic products. These product illustrations are found primarily in trade catalogs, as well as on advertisements and price lists. Various images are of world sites and cities. There are numerous images of women, children, flowers and birds on photographer advertising cards and some catalogs from some of the manufacturers and dealers.
Researchers interested in material from photographic societies, organizations and associations will also find information in this collection. Such organizations include the Photographers Association of America, The Association of Heliographers, and various other groups formed on the state level. Most of the information relates to exhibits and conventions.
Publications pertaining to photography for the amateur and novice are in a variety of articles, reports, bulletins, periodicals, journals and handbooks. Instructional guides on using photographic products are also included, as well as discussions on many aspects of photography.
Most of the material found in this collection was published in English, however, several articles, books and reports were printed in German and French.
Manufacturers and dealers of photographic materials are in boxes one through seven and are arranged in alphabetical order by name of company. Box seven also includes photographers, instructors/schools and printing, developing, enlarging and copying houses. Box eight through nine is a continuation of the developing houses, general works, patents, import/export documents and related publications. Related publication s are organized by type and then alphabetically by name of publication.

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
Photography 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
Oversize material is unprocessed.
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.

Digital Content

More …

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Preferred Citation note
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Photography, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
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
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photography Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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