Worcester archive, ca.1863-1953, ca.1863-ca.1900 (bulk dates).

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Worcester archive, ca.1863-1953, ca.1863-ca.1900 (bulk dates).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/668310192

A special group within the Grossman Collection are materials documenting the history of the greeting card industry based in and around Worcester, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. This special collection contains embossed and lacy greeting cards and envelopes, fancy scrap, lace paper, original production art and printing proofs, a few engraving dies and plates, and a small quantity of business records. Most of the greeting cards are just the embossed or lacy paper, but a few have been embellished with scrap. Some of the materials were imported from Europe, while the rest was manufactured in the United States, with an assortment being from George C. Whitney & Co. The collection documents an early chapter in the development of a greeting card industry in America and indicates a working relationship between two Worcester businessmen: George C. Whitney, a Valentine manufacturer, and E. A. Timme, a printing die maker. One of the printing dies is stamped E.A. Timme, while another is stamped Wyman Engraving Co., Billerica, Mass. (Most of the dies are not marked.) An advertisement for E.A. Timme, steel stamp and stencil cutter and die sinker, was embossed with two greeting card designs. Timme apparently made dies for embossed paper for the Whitney company. Also in the collection are pages from trade catalogs of companies which supplied stock type ornaments. These companies are James Conner's Sons (New York, 1863), C.J. Peters & Son (Boston), W.C. Both (Chicago, 1920), and John R. Hoole (New York). In 1995, the collection was studied and organized by Judy Baletka while she was a student in the museums studies program at John F. Kennedy University. She traveled to Massachusetts to study documents pertaining to the Worcester greeting card industry, and her research notes are part of this collection. The collection was assembled by an unknown person; possibly most of it came from the Whitney company archives, but parts of the collection post-date Whitney's closing.

1 box, 1 filing cabinet drawer : ill.

Winterthur Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7961964

Winterthur Library

Related Entities

There are 8 Entities related to this resource.

C.J. Peters & Son.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r25tzq (corporateBody)

Grossman, John.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63r1jdq (person)

Worcester, Massachusetts, was an early center for the production of greeting cards, particularly Valentines, in the United States. In 1847, local resident Esther Howland began to make and sell Valentines. She used imported embossed and lacy papers and scrap and assembled them by hand, assisted by friends. Later, she merged her business with that of Jotham Taft, another Valentine maker, and they formed the New England Valentine Co. (N.E.V. Co.). In 1863, George C. Whitney began his Valentine busi...

George C. Whitney Co.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v45kmz (corporateBody)

George C. Whitney Co., manufacturer of Valentines, established late 1850s by George C. Whitney as a cottage industry, later becoming a manufacturing facility in Worcester, Mass.; absorbed many competitors including New England Valentine Co., which had been founded ca. 1849 by Esther Howland; ceased operations 1942. From the description of Whitney Valentine collection, ca. 1860-ca. 1940. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70926416 George C. Whitney & Co. began in...

James Conner's Sons

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6809wbz (corporateBody)

W.C. Both (Chicago, Ill.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c8741r (corporateBody)

John R. Hoole (New York, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6644h8c (corporateBody)

E.A. Timme (Worcester, Mass.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60628ng (corporateBody)

Baletka, Judy.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x06zzm (person)