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Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Guide to the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Shoes
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Shoes
- Creators:
-
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
- Dates:
-
1794-1961
- Languages:
-
Collection is inEnglish. Some items are inGerman.
- Physical Description:
-
5.57 Cubic feetconsisting of 11.5 boxes, 1 folder, 5 oversize folders, 3 map case folders, 1 flat box (partial).
- Repository:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping 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
Materials relate to the manufacturing and sales of footwear primarily in the United States. This includes shoes, boots, sandals, slippers, moccasins, tip shoes, orthopaedic modified designs (extension shoes), storm boots, gaiters, foul weather rubbers, plus accessories or replacement parts like laces, heels, soles, and slip on rain/mud guards, cobblers and the repair of shoes.
Design improvements such as the "standard screw fastened" often appears in ads. Some common themes appear regularly in ads and images: people living or being transported in footware (Old Mother Hubbord, shoes as boats, sleds), cats (a la Puss in Boots), and horseshoes. However, this category only covers footwear for men, women, and children, both casual styles and for dress. For actual horseshoes, see subject category Horses. While there make be an incidental exception, lacking also is the presence of shoes specifically for certain professions (nursing, steel-toed workboots), dance (ballet, tap), or sports (cleats, riding boots, hiking, waders for fishing or hunting).
The bulk of the subject category comprises of business records, advertisements, and catalogues created by manufacturers and distributors of shoes. Oversize material included with the series comprise of additional business records including price lists, printed advertisements, and catalogues. Material includes import and export documents and records of patents.
Additional material includes serial publications from trade magazines, and realia in the form of shop signage and token coins. Material related to specific subject areas provides brief overviews of the shoe trade history, shoe construction, and shoe care intended for a general audience, as well as shoe and leather information intended for tradesmen.
No particular depth is present for any singular subtopic though some publications may provide general and historical overviews of various aspects of the shoe industry. A small number of German language material is within the collection and is indicated in folder descriptions when present.
Arrangement
Arrangement
Shoes is arranged in three subseries.
- Business Records and Marketing Material
- Genre
- Subject
Administration
Author
Kendra Jae
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
Shoes 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 reservation 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.
For this subject, minimal processing included arrangement to the folder level, based on prior processing and preservation action, with retention of the pre-existing arrangement when possible, if applicable. Otherwise, an order was imposed by the Processing Archivist. Some materials were consolidated to eliminate excess bulk but items within folders were not arranged further. The guide may or may not include a more refined lists of folder contents. Non-archival housing was replaced for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed.
Minimal level processing and machine-readable finding aid completed by Kendra Jae, 2017 March.
Digital Content
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Preferred Citation
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Shoes, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
More Information
Keywords
Repository Contact
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
archivescenter@si.edu
