Archives Center, National Museum of American History

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

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Textiles
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1784-1970
Languages:
Collection is in
English
. Some items in
French
,
German
,
Russian
, and
Spanish
.
Physical Description:
12.77 Cubic feet
consisting of 26.5 boxes, 1 folder, 7 oversize folders, 2 map case folders, 1 flat box (partial), 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: 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
This material is concentrated on the 19th century United States textile manufacture and trade, and the sale of textiles in the form of bale, bolt, roll, and fabric to commercial vendors or consumers as source material to make other goods. The first series contains day-to-day records of dealers and vendors, plus advertising and marketing material. Artisan and home production of goods are virtually not covered but are a couple of incidental publications related to arts, crafts (rugs, weaving, looms), and more refined work such as tapestry. The import/export of textiles is well represented with a large volume of records, which may also provide some insight into the shipping industry.
There is not much on the infrastructure of the industry in the way of directories, trade journals, trade associations, along with manufacturing and plants, though there are a few examples of each. There are virtually no catalogues, except for a few thin ones that were filed by company name. While not extensive, the sample books and swatches offer a glimpse into product lines. Material types offers limited, specific information on certain varieties such as cotton, wool, linen, rayon, etc. Thread might be incidentally present but is not specifically included since there is already a dedicated subject category for it.
There is a healthy sampling of product labels. A handful of intellectual property related documents cover protections of designs, plus patents and trademarks. There is a small bulk of publications related to tariffs and the wool industry.
Clothing patterns, home economics, sewing and seamstresses, household use of textiles (furniture covering, as a cleaning tool, bedding/pillows, etc.) are not covered within this category. Researchers should also look at any of a number of other Warshaw categories, particularly those related to clothing, hosiery, dry goods, furniture, curtains, etc. for period popularity of certain materials and patterns.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Textiles is arranged in three subseries.
  • 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
Textiles 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 Nicole Blechynden, 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: Textiles, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Trade associations Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Print advertising Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Patents Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Periodicals Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton textile industry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising mail Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fabrics, including spinning and weaving Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tapestry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Patterns Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile manufacture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Catalogues Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Designs (textile) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sales catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile design -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Sources Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile crafts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Contracts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textiles Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Exhibition catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertisements Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mail order catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Designs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Retail trade Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed material Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Labels Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Instructional materials Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trademarks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal documents Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legislation (legal concepts) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Samples Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tapestry -- Design Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textiles -- India Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Labels -- Design Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuals Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sample books Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Design patents Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising fliers Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Illustrations Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile fabrics in art Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sales letters Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile fibers, Synthetic -- Equipment and supplies Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business letters Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton picking machinery Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manufacturers' catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wool, Artificial Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Commercial correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton manufacture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Letterheads Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile fabrics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Invoices Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton picking Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile fabrics -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sales records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile fibers, Synthetic Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trademarks -- Design Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Silk industry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile fibers, Synthetic Dyeing Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed materials Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fabrics Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade literature Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile industry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton industry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tapestry -- Technique Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton growing Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications -- Business Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cotton -- 1890-1910 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Receipts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile mills Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Commercial catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Synthetic fabrics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Consumer goods -- Catalogs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Textile industry -- 1900-1910 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-3270
Fax Number: Fax: 202-786-2453
archivescenter@si.edu