Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Category: Wagons

Summary
Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Wagons
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1818-1919
bulk 1840-1910
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
3.25 Cubic feet
consisting of 7 boxes, 1 folder, 2 oversize folders, 2 map case folders.
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
Contains materials relating to the manufacture and sale of wheeled and ski-based vehicles, primarily horse drawn, but in some cases human powered such as wagons, carriages, buggies, sleds, and sleighs used for transportation of goods and person. Includes information about a variety of wagon types runners, cutters, coaches, trucks, surreys, and phartons. Accessories include harnesses, reins, metal wheels, axles, spokes, tops, aprons, ornaments. There is one example of a baby carriage.
Businesses include general merchants, specialty dealers, service, parts and accessories, and repair.
Materials represent a sampling of daily transactions such as receipts and invoices for purchases. Marketing materials consists of price lists, ads, and brochures. There are several illustrated catalogues which provide good coverage on product lines. The images files provide good visual content of wagons used for work and leisure.
No extensive runs or complete records exist for any single company, brand, and no particular depth is present for any singular subtopic though some publications may provide general and historical overviews of a person, company, or facet of industry.
Arrangement
Arrangement
Wagons 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
Wagons 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 list of folder contents. Nonarchival 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, 2016 December.
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: Wagons, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Forms Part Of
Keywords
Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sales letters Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Farm equipment Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade literature Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Illustrations Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal documents Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications -- Business Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade associations Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed material Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Trade cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Patents Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Commercial catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manufacturers' catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carriages and carts Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Periodicals Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sales catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising fliers Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carriages and carts -- Design Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising mail Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carriages Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Print advertising Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertisements Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Letterheads Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Licenses Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Invoices Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carriage and wagon making -- 1880-1910 -- Maryland Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed materials Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Horse-drawn vehicles Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wagon manufacturing Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Receipts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carriage and wagon making Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mail order catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business letters Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wagon wheels Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Instructional materials Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Commercial correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carriage industry Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Catalogs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wheels Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Road vehicles Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wagons Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sales records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Consumer goods -- Catalogs Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sleds Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sleds (animal-powered) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Catalogues Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
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