Archives Center, National Museum of American History

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

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Tea
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1800-1966
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
3.3 Cubic feet
consisting of 5 boxes, 6 oversize folders, .25 oversize flat box, 2 map case folders, 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: Tea 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 consists of materials that relate to tea products produced and sold in the United States and abroad. Some of the businesses represented in the collection produce or sell other dry goods, especially coffee. There is an extensive amount of rich visual material, in particular, the graphics used for trade cards, promotional material, and related novelties. The oversize items are comprised of printed advertisements, signs, posters, and images. The material dates from the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Tea is arranged in three series.
  • Business Records and Marketing Material
  • Genre
  • Subject

Administration

Author
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
Tea 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. 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 Nicole Blechynden, 2017 August.

Digital Content

More …

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Tea, 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


More Information

Partial List of Companies in the Oversize Materials

Partial List of Companies in the Oversize Materials
Oversize materials include, but are not limited to the following companies:
Arcularius, James L., Manhattan Mills, New York, NY
Faile, Williams and Company, New York, NY
Grand Union Tea Company , Brooklyn, NY
Great American Tea Company , New York, NY
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, New York, NY
Milliken Tomlinson Company , Ceres Brand, Portland, ME
National Biscuit Company , Five O=Clock Tea, New York, NY
O and O Tea , Company and Location unknown
Parke, H.C. , New York, NY
Ridgways Incorporated, Ridways Orange Label Tea, New York, NY
Smith, George W. , Albany, NY
Tenderleaf Tea Bags, Company and Location unknown
Walsh and Company, Boston, MA


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Tea Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tea -- China Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tea trade Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Teahouses Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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