The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Duncan Phyfe, 1768-1854

Title: Papers

Dates: 1801-ca.1860

Call No.: Col. 313

Acc. No.: [various – see detailed description]

Quantity: 1 box

Location: 17 J 3

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Duncan Phyfe was a furniture maker in New York City. Born in 1768 in Loch Fannich, Scotland, he emigrated with his family to Albany, New York, in 1783. Probably serving his apprenticeship in his native country, Phyfe is believed to have opened a small shop in Albany before moving to New York City around 1792.

From the 1790s through 1847, Phyfe had a successful cabinetmaking business in New York City on Partition St., later becoming Fulton Street. Phyfe's shop, which at one point had almost one hundred working craftsmen, attracted many of New York's leading citizens as customers. Many other cabinetmakers copied Phyfe's work.

Until 1837, Phyfe conducted business under his own name, but in that year his sons, William and James D., became partners, and the firm was renamed Duncan Phyfe & Sons. When William left the business in 1840, the name of the firm changed once again to Duncan Phyfe & Son. Phyfe retired in 1847 having accumulated a large fortune. He died in 1854.

Phyfe also had a daughter named Mary. She married Sydney B. Whitlock. In 1853, Phyfe gave a house in Southbury, Connecticut, to his daughter, who was by then a widow.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection consists of bills, receipts, a letter, and the inventory of Phyfe's estate. The bills of sale provide broad, general descriptions, usually recording the kind of the furniture that Phyfe made. (None of Phyfe’s account books are known to have survived.)

As well, there is a group of photographs, taken in the late 1850s or the early 1860s, of the house which Phyfe had given to his daughter Mary Whitlock. Included are two photos taken at the time of the wedding of her son Duncan Phyfe Whitlock.

ORGANIZATION

Documents are arranged chronologically.

PROVENANCE

Purchased from various sources.

ACCESS POINTS

Topics:

Furniture - Drawings.

Furniture - Prices.

Furniture industry and trade - New York (State) - New York.

Inventories of decedents' estates - New York (State) - New York.

Coffins.

Bills of sale.

Receipts.

Estate records.

Furniture makers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 17 J 3

Ph1348 Photoreproduction of a receipted bill from Duncan Phyfe to Mr. Rutherford, June 24, 1801. For a coffin.

DAPC Photocopy of a receipted bill from Duncan Phyfe to Mr. Morewood, Dec. 28, 1802. For a counting house desk and washstand.

Original in Museum of the City of New York (57.28.1)

DAPC Photocopy of a photograph of a receipt from Duncan Phyfe to John Cruger, Feb. 14, 1803 in a notebook kept by Cruger. For a tea table.

Location of original is unknown.

54.37.33 Receipted bill from Duncan Phyfe to George P. McCulloch, Sept. 10, 1806. Furniture forms include a sideboard, set of dining tables, pair of bedboards (?), pair of bureaus, etc.

Ph1123 Photocopies of two bills from Duncan Phyfe to Mr. Talbot, May 20, 1807 and June 10, 1808. Forms include bedsteads, pine tables, and bureaus. There is also a charge for mending blinds.

Originals in Marine Historical Association, Mystic, Ct.

Ph183 Photograph of a bill from Duncan Phyfe to William Bayard, Nov. 21, 1807. Forms include chairs, sofas, a sideboard, dining tables, dressing table, card tables, tea tables, a basin stand, etc. Ten side chairs and two arm chairs in the Phyfe Room here at Winterthur are thought to be mentioned in this bill.

(This is the same as 65x595 which is still in the museum's collection, their acc. #61.1436).

61x052.1-.2 Two bills from Duncan Phyfe to Thomas Masters, 1810. Forms include a wardrobe, bureau, bedsteads (including a “trunnel” [trundle] bedstead), basin stands, tables, a writing desk, a bookcase, and a child's coffin. As well, a counting house desk was mended and beds were put up.

Ph928.1-.2 Photostatic copies of the title page and fly leaf of Phyfe’s copy of Revised Prices for Manufacturing Cabinet and Chair Work, New York, 1810.

69x62.3 Bill from Duncan Phyfe to William Rogers, agent for Lady Elizabeth Heyliger, Jan. 1811 for a dining table.

55.115 Letter: Duncan Phyfe to N. Bancker of Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1815. Concerns chairs and a sofa Phyfe is making for Bancker and mentions tables he would like Bancker to see on his next visit to New York.

56x006.3 Bill from Duncan Phyfe to Charles N. Bancker, Aug. 21, 1816. Forms include chairs, sofa, pier and card tables, and foot stools.

56x006.4 Drawings of two Phyfe chairs, giving the price of each with cane bottoms, extra cushions, or stuffed bottoms. The prices correspond with those on the above bill.

73x1-73x3 Bills from Duncan Phyfe to George Newbold, 1823-1826. Items listed include dining table, dressing table, bidet, sofa, butler tray and stand, knife box, tea table, basin stands, bookcase, bookshelves, and pillows. Charges for repairing furniture are also noted.

Page from catalog Receipted bill, from Phyfe to himself, for a coffin, Sept. 27, 1824

Ph 413 Photocopy of a bill from Duncan Phyfe to the estate of Thomas Worthington, June 23, 1827 for a coffin.

Original in Ohio Historical Society

DAPC Photograph of a receipt from Duncan Phyfe to Luman Reed, March 21, 1833 for $910.00.

Location of original unknown.

54.37.34 Inventory of the personal estate of Duncan Phyfe, Aug. 16, 1854. Lists "Household furniture at dwelling house. etc," providing a room by room inventory of the contents of his house and shop. A list of stocks, bonds, notes, and cash is also present.

99x12.1-.7 Photos of the house in Southbury, Conn., given by Phyfe to his daughter Mary Phyfe Whitlock in 1853. Two of the photos show a wedding party (the groom is identified as being Duncan P. Whitlock) inside the house; two other photos show people outside the house; one photo shows the exterior of the house. A photographic postcard shows a view of Southbury. An envelope includes a list of names, probably the children of Mary and Sidney Whitlock. The photos were probably taken in the late 1850s.

RELATED MATERIAL IN THE DOWNS COLLECTION

Col. 61: Wills, inventories, and administration papers

65x086 Administrative accounts for the estate of John Bruce, New York, 1798, includes a reference to a coffin made by Phyfe.

54.37.40 Inventory of the estate of John B. Dash (tin and coppersmith), 1804. Duncan Phyfe is listed as a debtor.

54.83.47 Accounts kept by Ann Brooks, administrator of the estate of James Brooks, New York, 1820, includes a reference to paying Duncan Phyfe for a coffin and plate.

Col. 32: Ernest F. Hagen Papers

Contains notes on Duncan Phyfe.

Col. 56: R.T. Haines Halsey Research Papers

Contains more of Hagen's notes on Duncan Phyfe.

Col. 565: Brewerton family papers

63x061 Account, the estate of George Brewerton with William and Geo. R.A. Ricketts, includes an entry for amount paid to Phyfe for a headboard for a bedstead.

75x253 List of debts owed by the estate of Catherine Brewerton, Nov. 27, 1816. Phyfe is paid for a wardrobe, coffin, etc.

RELATED MATERIALS IN OTHER LOCATIONS AT WINTERTHUR

Photographs of furniture made by or attributed to Duncan Phyfe are in the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection (DAPC), along with photos of a portrait of Phyfe and a painting of his shop.

Auction catalog for sale of furniture from Phyfe's warerooms dated April 1847 is in the Printed Book and Periodical Collection. An autographed copy of The New York Revised Prices for Manufactured Cabinet and Chair Work, 1810, is in the Rare Book Collection.

The museum collection contains furniture from the workshop of Duncan Phyfe.

PHYFE MATERIAL IN OTHER LIBRARIES AND REPOSITORIES:

Bill from Duncan Phyfe to the Corporation of the City of New York for repairs at Federal Hall, May 26, 1803. Historical Documents Collection, Queens College, Flushing, New York.

Accounts of Mrs. William Constable Sr., Nov. 26, 1805. Constable-Pierpont Papers, Box 23, New York Public Library, New York, N.Y..

Notebook of Victor du Pont bills payable, Dec. 1805. Winterthur MSS, Group 3, Series C, Box 28, Hagley, Greenville, Delaware. Du Pont ordered a piano from Phyfe.

Bills from Duncan Phyfe to William Bayard, Nov. 24, 1807 and May 13, 1810. Bayard-Campbell-Pearsall Papers, Box 8, New York Public Library.

Receipts from Duncan Phyfe to Francis Sexton, 1810-1819. Francis Sexton Receipt book, New-York Historical Society.

Receipt from Duncan Phyfe to Oliver Wolcott, Dec. 31, 1821, in Receipt book of Oliver Wolcott, 1803-1814, Connecticut Historical Society.

Bill from Duncan Phyfe to Montgomery Livingston, March 13, 1813. Newark Museum.

Receipt from Duncan Phyfe to Nicholas Low, Oct. 14, 1815. Nicholas Low Papers, Box 137, Accounts, Library of Congress.

Bill from Duncan Phyfe to James L. Brinckerhoff, Oct. 26, 1816. Papers of Robert Troup, Box 2, Folder: Brinckerhoff Domestic Receipts, 1815-1821, New York Public Library.

List of debts owed by William Constable, Jr., 1819. Constable-Pierpont Papers, Box 23, New York Public Library.

Bill from Duncan Phyfe to John Jordan Morgan, May 26, 1823. New York Society Library.

Bill from Duncan Phyfe to Mr. Turnbull, Nov. 28, 1829. New-York Historical Society.

Receipt from Duncan Phyfe to B. Clark, August 16, 1834. White House Collection.

Bill from Duncan Phyfe to Mr. Hasbrouck, August 17, 1841. Huguenot Historical Society, New Paltz, New York.