Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Spas and Resorts

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Spas
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1807-1955
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.39 Cubic feet
consisting of 3 boxes, 1 folder, 1 map folder.
Repository:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Spas and Resorts 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 subject category- Spas and Resorts consists primarily of business transactions, advertisements, chemical analysis, and pamphlets relating to spring water, spas and resorts. There is also documentation of foreign companies and locations dealing with this material. The bulk of the material dates from circa 1850 to circa 1910 and is from the Northeastern United States. The target audience for this material was the consumer.
Series 1, American Manufacturers, Distributors, and Dealers of Spring Water, 1836-1944, includes company documents from spring water companies. There are receipts, advertisements, company publications, and chemical analysis of water among these materials. There are variations on the term spring water, including, mineral and natural water. The companies are located throughout the United States, but are concentrated mainly in the northeast, specifically New York. Items in this series are arranged in alphabetical order by the company name.
Series 2, American Spas and Resorts, 1831-1912, includes advertisements, pamphlets, guidebooks, and miscellaneous information on (health) spas and resorts in the United States. There are variations on the names of these, including recreational springs, health springs, mineral baths, and sanitariums. Items in this series are arranged in alphabetical by company name.
Series 3, Foreign Spring Water Companies, Spas, and Resorts, 1866-1925, contains the types of documents listed in series one and two combined. These deal with foreign companies and locales and are organized alphabetically by the country name. Some materials are in a foreign language and others are in English. Items in this series are arranged alphabetically by country name.
Series 4, Publications, 1807-1955, contains books and pamphlets published on the topic of spring water and spas and resorts. These documents are not company publications. The materials in this series are arranged alphabetically by type of publication.
Series 5, Related Information, undated, contains materials that are general in nature. They are not associated with any company, spa or resort, but are generally on the topic of spring water or resorts. Such materials include water analysis for a well, a miscellaneous receipt and a leaflet for a program discussing the Shakespeare Water Cure. Import/export documents are also among these materials.

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
Spas and Resorts 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.

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: Spas and Resorts, 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
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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