The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur,
Delaware 19735
Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: C.G. Sloan & Company.
Title: Records
Dates: 1895-1971, bulk 1895-1913
Call No.: Col. 92
Acc. No.: 91x64.1-62
Quantity: 62 volumes
Location: 16 J 5-7, K 2-9
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
C.G. Sloan and Company of Washington, D.C. operated
a general auction house, did appraisals, and managed the Army and Navy Storage
Rooms. The firm auctioned private estates, real and personal property, surplus
and outdated government equipment, libraries, and contents of public buildings
such as stores and hotels, and ran dead men's chests sales. The logo of the company was a variant of the
swastika. Sloan's attracted and served many clients from Washington, D.C.
society, including United States senators, authors, foreign diplomats, and
businessmen. During many of the years that these records cover, family member
Charles G. Sloan was in charge of the business.
A predecessor to C.G. Sloan and Company was Latimer
and Sloan, Latimer being Marcus B. Latimer.
After Charles G. Sloan died in 1910, the business passed to his son Mark
Sloan, who headed it until his death in 1953.
Having no children, Mark Sloan left the business to two employees, James
M. O’Brien and William Fairfax Edenlen. The firm later passed into other hands before
becoming Sloans & Kenyon around 2003.
According to the Sloans and Kenyon web site, the roots of the business
go back to 1853.
For most of its 20th century existence,
the company held twice weekly sales, with a mixture of goods being
offered. Finer goods were set aside and
were offered at special cataloged sales.
Charles Gillespie Sloan was born in 1857, the son of
Martha Isabella Mcknew and Alfred A. Sloan (in the 1860 census, his occupation
was listed as plumber). He married
Frederica Dormer Latimer (born 1866), and their only child, Marcus Mcknew
Sloan, was born in 1888. Charles died in
February 1910. (One obituary mistakenly
reported his age as 52.)
Frederica Latimer Sloan’s father, Marcus Barron
Latimer (1839-1903), was an auctioneer.
In the 1860 census, he was listed as a clerk, but he was listed as an
auctioneer in the 1870 census. He began
his auction career by working with J. Thomas Fisher of the auctioneering firm
J.C. Maguire & Co. He worked in
partnership with a couple of other men before going into business with his
son-in-law Charles G. Sloan. Latimer was
especially noted for his knowledge of Oriental rugs, but was also considered a
fine connoisseur of art.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
These records include a scrapbook of clippings and
advertisements dating from 1907 to 1912 that offer good examples of how the
company promoted itself. Two volumes record the activities of the Army
and Navy Storage Rooms, including the names of clients and what they committed
to storage. The bulk of this collection
consists of 47 volumes detailing auction sales. The names of the consignors,
the items sold, the names of the successful bidders, and the amounts paid are
invariably penned in. The remainder of
the volumes deal with office expenses and daily operations.
ORGANIZATION
The volumes are divided by type and are arranged
chronologically within each type.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Purchased from Carmen Valentino.
RELATED
MATERIALS
It is possible that some auction catalogs of C.G.
Sloan and Company are on Mic. 3156. The
index to this set of microfilm is found in American
Art Auction Catalogues, 1785-1942: A Union List (New York Public Library,
1944). However, there is no index by
auction house name to this list. (The
catalogs are listed chronologically, and the index is to the names of the
person whose goods are being auctioned.)
The Archives of American Art holds auction catalogs
from this company, 1893-1963.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Sloan, Charles G., 1857-1910.
Topics:
Advertising - United States.
Auctioneers -
Washington (D.C.)
Auctions -
Prices.
Auctions -
Washington (D.C.)
Business records - Washington (D.C.)
House
furnishings - Washington (D.C.)
Public buildings
- Furniture, equipment, etc. - Washington (D.C.)
Real property - Washington (D.C.)
Warehouses - Management.
Account books.
Advertisements.
Cashbooks.
Ledgers.
Scrapbooks.
Auctioneers.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 16 J 5-7, K 2-9
Sales books,
acc. 91x64.1.46
The general format for the sales books is as
follows: a copy of the advertisement of the sale; then the lists of the sales,
including a very brief description of the item sold (book case, table cover),
the price realized, and the surname of the purchaser.
.1 Record
book 25, 1895-1899
.2 Record
book 26, 1896
.3 Record
book 27, 1896-1897
.4 Record
book 28, 1896-1899
.5 Record
book 29, 1896-1899
.6 Record
book 30, 1896-1900
.7 Record
book 31, 1897
.8 Record
book 32, 1897-1898
.9 Record
book 33, 1898
.10 Record
book 35, 1898-1900
.11 Record
book 36, 1898-1899
.12 Record
book 37, 1899
.13 Record
book 40, 1900
.14 Record
book 41, 1900-1901
.15 Record
book 42, 1900-1902
.16 Record
book 44, 1900-1902
.17 Record
book 45, 1901
.18 Record
book 46, 1901-1902
.19 Record
book 47, 1901-1903
.20 Record
book 48, 1901-1904
.21 Record
book 49, 1901-1902
.22 Record
book 50, 1902
.23 Record
book 51, 1902-1904
.24 Record
book 52, 1902-1908
.25 Record
book 53, 1902-1904
.26 Record
book 78, 1907-1910
.27 Record
book 79, 1907-1909
.28 Record
book 80, 1908-1911
.29 Record
book 82, 1909-1911
.30 Record
book 83, 1910-1912
.31 Record
book 84, 1909
.32 Record
book 85, 1909
.33 Record
book 86, 1909-1913
.34 Record
book 87, 1909-1910
.35 Record
book 88, 1910
.36 Record
book 89, 1910-1911
.37 Record
book 90, 1911-1913
.38 Record
book 91, 1911-1915
.39 Record
book 92, 1912-1917
.40 Record
book 93, 1912-1915
.41 Record
book 94, 1913-1918
.42 Record
book 95, 1911
.43 Record
book 96, 1911-1912
.44 Record
book 97, 1917
.45 Record
book 98, 1912-1913
.46 Record
book 99, 1913-1915
.47 Record
book 100, 1913
Miscellaneous
volumes, acc. 91x64.48-.49:
.48 Check
register, 1936-1941.
.49 Scrapbook
of auction notices, 1907-1912
(spine
label reads Invoices, but the volume was not used for that purpose)
Army &
Navy Storage Rooms record books, acc. 91x64.50-.51:
The records in these volumes include the name of the
person renting storage space, a list of what was placed in storage, and the
room in which the goods were placed. In
addition, there are added notes, chiefly about the delivery of goods. Both volumes have name indexes in front.
.50 storage
records, 1899-1900
.51 storage
records, 1903-1921
Cash ledgers, acc.
91x64.52-.59:
These list receipts and disbursements of money.
.52 1893:
May -Sept. 1894
.53 1898:
Aug.-Nov. 1899
.54 1901:
Feb. -April 1902
.55 1908:
Jan.-Dec.
.56 1911:
Jan.-Dec.
.57 1912:
Jan.-Dec.
.58 1970:
Jan.- Jan. 1971
.59 1971:
Feb. -March 1972
Ledgers, various
accounts, acc. 91x64.60-.62:
.60 1891-1893
.61 1900-1901
.62 1909-1910