Object Details
- Creator
- Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
- Topic
- advertising -- Cosmetics
- Cosmetics
- Cosmetics industry
- Provenance
- Cosmetics 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.
- Creator
- Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
- See more items in
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Cosmetics
- Sponsor
- Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
- Summary
- A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Cosmetics 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
- Extent
- 2.98 Cubic feet (consisting of 6 boxes, 3 folders, 9 oversize folders, 2 map case folders, plus digital images of some collection material. )
- Date
- 1813-1940
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Cosmetics
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Business ephemera
- Ephemera
- Citation
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
- Arrangement
- Arranged into three subseries Subseries 1: Manufacturers, Distributors, and Retailers, circa 1830-1960 Subseries 2: Publications, circa 1850-1940 Subseries 3: Related Materials, circa 1890-1934
- 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. A large portion of stored material from the original acquisition received minimal level processing, which resulted in additions to this Subject category. This effort included basic arrangement and replacement of non-archival housing for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed. Revisions to the encoded finding aid were made to reflect the added content in context to the previously processed material. Minimal level processing and enhancement of the machine-readable finding aid completed by Nicole Blechynden, September 2017.
- Rights
- 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.
- Genre/Form
- Business ephemera
- Ephemera
- Scope and Contents
- This collection consists of a great variety of materials, including business correspondence, bills and receipts, advertisements, order forms, business and advertising cards, labels, bookmarks, calendars, formulas, handbooks, pamphlets, price lists, leaflets, display cards, postcards, circulars, packaging, toilet albums, and labels. Many of the products are perfumes or colognes; others include shaving creams, hair preparations, manicure supplies, soaps, creams and lotions, powders, makeup, and bath products. Foot preparations, dental care products, deodorants, medications, starch, oils and spices, and brushes are also present. Most of these products are for the use of female consumers. Trade materials are directed toward scalp specialists, hairdressers, dermatologists, beauty culturist and manicurists. There are a number of materials from female-owned establishments. Other materials include publications, such as catalogues produced by manufacturers for consumers, and publications for the trade. Cosmetic appliances, formulas, labels, trademarks and patents, and import/export documents are also present. Most of this material dates from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Images of women and of flowers predominate in this collection. Most of the women are Anglo American with a few others such as Turkish, Asian, Scots, Brazilian, Swiss, Egyptian and African American.
- Restrictions
- Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
- Record ID
- ebl-1562721619504-1562721619509-0
In the Collection
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