Samuel Chapman Col

The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Samuel Chapman, 1860-1928

Title: Papers

Dates: ca. 1862-1928

Call No.: Col. 98

Acc. No.: 91x103

Quantity: 6 cu. ft.

Location: 15 D 2-9, Map case C, drawer 6

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Samuel Chapman (1860-1928) was born in Manchester, England. He emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1865 and settled in Massachusetts. Chapman's father worked in the shipyards around Dorchester, and in time, young Samuel apprenticed with him. In addition, Samuel worked with John M. Woods, a furniture designer and maker from Cambridge. By 1875, Chapman had begun working on interior architectural ornamentation of dwellings and churches in the Boston area, including Trinity Church in Copley Square. In 1895, Oscar Norman, an architect from New York City, asked Chapman to help design the interiors of homes of his wealthy clients. As well, he made reproduction furniture for Cooper, Williams, a Boston firm, and was employed by C.A. Wellington and Co., a Boston interior decorating establishment.

Chapman eventually joined financier C.M. Tyler to form the Tyler-Chapman Co. Prior to World War I, Chapman designed and installed the first wood passenger elevator cab in New York City. He won an excellent reputation for his work and eventually dominated this field in the city; he installed other cabs in Boston and Philadelphia. In 1927, Tyler-Chapman Co. contracted to install the interior wood work in two ships, the Morro Castle and the Oriente. Chapman died before these commissions were completed; however, his three sons, Millard, Lester, and Harold, completed the projects.

More biographical details are available at this repository.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection consists of watercolor and ink drawings of mantels, wood panels of elevator cabs, and various furniture forms; photographs, pencil sketches, and art and design serials. Among the periodicals present that influenced Chapman's work are issues or parts of issues of American Architect and Building News, The Artworker, The Decorator and Furnisher, and Furniture Gazette.

PROVENANCE

Gift of a Harold W. Chapman, grandson of Samuel Chapman.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

Norman, Oscar.

Tyler, C. M.

Woods, John M.

Chapman, Harold.

Chapman, Millard.

Chapman, Lester.

Topics:

Tyler-Chapman Co.

C.A. Wellington & Co.

Cooper, Williams.

Oriente (Ship).

Morro Castle (Ship).

Interior architecture - Massachusetts - Boston.

Interior architecture - New York - New York.

Interior decoration - Massachusetts - Boston.

Interior decoration - New York - New York.

Furniture design.

Furniture - Drawings.

Art literature.

Elevators - Massachusetts - Boston.

Elevators - New York - New York.

Elevators - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

Elevators, Private residence.

Woodwork - Massachusetts - Boston.

Woodwork - New York - New York.

Ship decoration.

Veneer and veneering.

Mantels.

Photoprints.

Drawings.

Journals (periodicals).

Blueprints.

Trade catalogs.

Sketchbooks.

Watercolors.

Designers.

Furniture makers.

Veneerers.

Architectural firms.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 15 D 2-9, Map case 6, drawer 6

Box 1: C.A. Wellington & Co. sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 9 sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 8 sketches

Mantels: 6 sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 6 sketches

Mantels: 4 sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 8 sketches

Mantels: 9 sketches

Mantels: 8 sketches

Box 2: C.A. Wellington & Co. sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 8 sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 9 sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 6 sketches

Mantels: 7 sketches

Mantels: 8 sketches

Mantels: 4 sketches

Box 3: C.A. Wellington & Co. sketches

Bookcases: 6 sketches

Cabinets and stands: 7 sketches

Desks: 6 sketches

Miscellaneous: 9 sketches

Settees and sofas: 5 sketches

Chairs: 8 sketches

Tables and sideboards: 6 sketches

Tables and sideboards: 7 sketches

Tables and sideboards: 6 sketches

Tables and sideboards: 7 sketches

Box 4: Fragments of issues of The Building News

1883 (partial)

January-June 1884

January-March, June-December 1885

January-December 1886

July-December 1894

Box 5: miscellaneous, mostly publications

Supplements to Carpentry and Building, 1891

Materiaux Documents

Moorish fretwork designs

American Architect and Building News:

1878-1879 (partial)

1880-1882 (partial)

1883 (partial)

January-December 1885

February-July 1886

August 1886-1892 (partial)

Fragments of The Workshop:

vol. II, no. 6, vol. III no. 4, 1869

vol. III, nos. 7 & 8, 1870

vol. III, nos. 9 & 10, 1870

vol. III, no. 11, 1870, vol. IV, no. 1, 1871

vol. IV, nos. 5 & 11, 1871

vol. IV, nos. 11 & 12, 1871

miscellaneous pages

Box 6

Sales books--mantels, Tyler-Chapman Co.

Architectural decorating

Allen & Lotts

Photos

Wallace Nutting catalog, 7th ed., c 1927, 1928

Payroll, financial data

Morro Castle

Keenan Structural Slate Co.

Stanley furniture hardware

Dwight Lumber Co.

Jacobson & Co. chimney pieces

Lusky, White & Coolidge, Inc. hardware

Box 7

Tatham, Charles Heathcote. Etchings representing the best examples of ancient ornamental architecture drawn from the originals in Rome, and other parts of Italy, during the years 1794, 1795, and 1796. New York: Wm. Helburn, [n.d.]

Box 8

French furniture plates, mostly headed Le Garde Meuble, used by Tyler-Chapman

Box 9

Fragments from The Artworker, January-December 1878

Box 10

Photographs of 7 mantels

Blueprints and photographs of 22 mantels

Blueprints of 5 mantels

Blueprints of 6 mantels

Blueprints of 9 mantels

Blueprints of 4 mantels

Photogravure Co., New York, Catalogue ... Decorative Solid Wood, Panels, and Mouldings, 1890.

Charles Emmel, Boston, samples of architectural carving, papier mache

Einleitung

Das Deutsche Zimmer der Renaissance ... Georg Hirth. Munchen: G. Hirth's, 1880.

Boston and New England maps

Box 11: Cabinet Maker & Art Furnisher:

February-June 1886

February-June, September 1889

May, June, August 1890

Box 12: Cabinet Maker & Art Furnisher

September, October, December 1890

January-August, October-December 1891

Box 13: The Decorator and Furnisher

October-December 1882

April, July-November 1883

January, March-July 1884

Box 14: The Decorator and Furnisher

August-December 1884

January-April, June-September, November 1885

Box 15: The Decorator and Furnisher

December 1885

January-May, August-October 1886

February, May-September 1887

July, August, October 1888

February, March, June 1889

Box 16

Folder 1: 2 photographs of elevator paneling

Folders 2-14: color drawings of paneling, chiefly for elevator cars; two boards of drawings per folder. Tyler-Chapman, Inc.

Box 17

Folders 1-14 colored drawings of elevator panels from the Tyler-Chapman Co.

(two boards of drawings per folder, except folder 1 which has just 1)

Box 18

Folders 1-9 colored drawings of elevator panels from the Tyler-Chapman Co.

Box 19

Folders 1-9 colored drawings of elevator panels from the Tyler-Chapman Co.

Box 20

Folders 1-22: colored drawings of elevator panels from the Tyler-Chapman Co.

Box 21

Folders 1-21 color drawings of mantels by Oscar Norman

Box 22: Prints, sketches, and miscellaneous drawings

Color drawing of a mantel

Color drawing of a mantel; C.A. Wellington & Co.

Color drawing of a wardrobe

11 drawings on tracing paper, chiefly of mantels

23 drawings on tracing paper, chiefly of mantels

11 drawings on tracing paper, chiefly of mantels

5 miscellaneous prints published by George Barrie

Color drawing of a mantel; C.A. Wellington & Co.

Color drawing of bookshelves

Color drawing of a sideboard

Color drawing of furniture

Pencil drawing of a mantel

Color drawing of mantel

Pencil drawing of a mantel

Color drawing of mantel

Box 23: Fragments of The Building News

June-December 1884

January-December 1885

Box 24: Fragments of The Building News

January-December 1886

Box 25

Sketchbook of furniture

The Manchester Guardian, May 5, 1921

American Architect and Building News, 1879-1885 (fragments)

American Architect and Building News, 1885 (fragments)

American Architect and Building News, 1885-1886 (fragments)

Furniture Gazette, 1874-1881 (fragments)

Art Age (undated fragments)

4 folders of Miscellanea

Box 26

Talbert, B.J. Examples of ancient & modern furniture, metal work, tapestries, decorations, &c. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1877.

Box 27

Mauch, J.M. v.. Die architektonischen ordnungen der Griechen und Romer und der neueren meister. Berlin: Ernst & Korn, 1862.

Box 28: Cabinet Maker & Art Furnisher

July, August, December 1886

January-June, September-December 1887

January, February, May-July, October 1888

Oversize Map case C, drawer 6

Drawing of paneling for Morro Castle