The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: J. Barton Benson, Inc.

Title: Accounts and Scrapbook

Dates: 1942-1952

Call No.: Col. 105

Acc. No.: 91x49

Quantity: 3 volumes

Location: 17 I 4

HISTORICAL STATEMENT

J. Barton Benson, Inc. was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, firm of metalsmiths, active in the 1930s and 1940s. The date of incorporation was December 19, 1928, with J. Barton Benson as president, Maurice P. Felton as vice-president, and George E. Kolb as secretary-treasurer. Their shop was located at 425 N. 54th St. The company did welding, forging, and ornamental ironwork, some in the Pennsylvania Dutch style. Among their customers were shops, churches, cabinetmakers, individuals, and the Railway Express Agency. The firm also received income from rent. The company went out of business in 1948, when J. Barton Benson retired.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection includes two volumes of financial accounts and a scrapbook featuring clippings that highlight ornamental metalwork. Financial transactions recorded include: receipts, expenditures, cash disbursements, purchases, bills unpaid, sales (listing customer and salesperson), journal entries, cash records, accounts receivable, insurance and tax payments, employee salaries and benefits, depreciation, etc. Items depicted in the scrapbook include: iron fencing, lighting devices, interior fixtures, weather vanes, knockers, etc. The cut-outs are from published sources, including the work of Todhunter, Inc., Standard Plumbing Fixtures, and weather vanes by Egbert G. Jacobson.

ORGANIZATION

Volumes 1 and 2 contain financial information; volume 3 is a scrapbook.

PROVENANCE

Purchased from Robert Edwards.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

Jacobson, Egbert G.

Felton, Maurice P.

Benson, J. Barton.

Kolb, George E.

Topics:

Standard Plumbing Fixtures.

Todhunter, Inc. (New York, N.Y.)

Business records - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

Metal-work.

Interior decoration - Design.

Arts and crafts movement - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

Art metal-work.

Decorative arts.

Financial statements - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

House furnishings.

Decoration and ornament.

Account books.

Ledgers.

Scrapbooks.

Metal workers.

Art metal designers.

Art metal workers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 17 I 4

Volume 1: Financial records

Receipts. January 1946-September 1948

Expenditures. November 1945-December 1948

Cash Disbursements. January 1949-December 1952

Purchases. December 1945-February 1947

Bills unpaid. March 1, 1947

Cash receipts. February 1949-December 1952

Sales. December 1945-August 1948

Journal entries. November 1944-December 1951

Volume 2: Financial records

Cash records. January 1944-December 1949

Accounts Receivable. January 1944-December 1950

Various financial transactions regarding business; firms with which business was conducted and cash received

Insurance, tax, employee salaries and benefits, depreciation, and various other financial records

Volume 3: Scrapbook

A scrapbook, 75 pages long, about metalwork, including photographs and clippings from magazines and catalogs. Various forms are featured: iron fencing, lighting devices, fireplace fixtures, window latches, candle sticks, statues, furnaces, weather vanes, shoe scrapers, and door knockers. The work of Todhunter, Inc., New York City, Standard Plumbing Fixtures, and weather vanes by Egbert G. Jacobson are among the items pictured. On the first page is a hand-drawn picture of a wall-mounted outdoor lighting fixture. Laid into the volume is a sheet of stationery with the heading “J. Barton Benson, Theo. D. DeBow – Associate, 425 N. 54^th Street, Philadelphia.”