The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917.  

Title:               Papers,

Dates:             circa 1915-1917

Call No.:         Col. 449         

Acc. No.:        71x107.24-.31

Quantity:        8 items (one folder)

Location:        34 J 2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Thomas Worth was a comic and genre artist, working from the mid 19th century until the early 20th.  He was born in New York City in 1834, the son of Lydia Dakin and Gorham Akin Worth.   Worth’s father was a banker and hoping his son would follow in his footsteps, he found Thomas a job in his bank, but Thomas spent his spare time sketching and drawing caricatures.  In 1855 he sold his first sketch to Currier & Ives which led to the subsequent publishing of a number of his horse racing scenes.  He was also known for his “Darktown” series, which at the time was considered to be humorous.  He lived most of his adult life on Long Island or Staten Island, New York, but in his later years he moved to New Brighton, Staten Island, where he died in 1917.

 

Thomas Worth was married to Maria Louise Stellenwerf (1838-1917), and they had several children.

 

Harry Twyford Peters (1881-1948) joined his father’s coal business upon his graduation from Columbia University in 1903.  He was also a sportsman, especially enjoying equestrian sports, and an avid collector of Currier & Ives prints.  Peters wrote several books, including a two-volume work about Currier & Ives.  (His papers are held by the Museum of the City of New York.)

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

This collection contains primarily letters from artist Thomas Worth to Harry T. Peters, offering his pictures for sale and admitting his financial difficulties.  Also included are several anecdotes about the sale of his first sketch to Nathaniel Currier; a story of an African-American who did not like a comic sketch published by Currier & Ives; and tales about two of his journeys to Long Island, one by stagecoach and the other at night during a thunderstorm.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

The letters are in chronological order.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of Harry T. Peters, Jr.

           

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Currier, Nathaniel, 1813-1888.

            Ives, James Merritt, 1824-1895.

            Peters, Harry Twyford, 1881-1948.

            Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917 – Anecdotes.

 

Topics:

            Currier & Ives.

            African Americans.

            Aged men.

Artists - United States.

Anecdotes.

Artists as authors.

Horses.

Painting.

New York (State) - Description and travel.

Cartoonists.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 34 J 2

 

 

All accession numbers being with 71x107.

All letters were written by Thomas Worth

 

 

.24       to Mr. Peters, Jan. 2, 1915: sends a small painting: “if you do not want it, will you kindly let have $10; will surely pay it next week.”

 

.25       to Mr. Peters, written from New Brighton, S.I., July 11, 1916: sends some “stuff”: please see if he can keep any of them; not in good health

 

.26       to Mr. Peters, written from New Brighton, S.I., Jan. [unclear], 1915: two paintings: one of Paul Revere, and the other called “Telling Jokes Against the Old Man” – an old painting; will Peters give him $10 for them?  very short of funds;

 

.27       to Mr. Peters, Dec. 11, 1917: sends a photograph which he drew and colored, and a book of scrapbook pictures; please buy one of them so has money for medicine and coal;

 

.28       to Mr. Peters, no date: have been ill and unable to get up; sends two pictures for which would like to have $25;

 

.29       note about a painting of an old sportsman who arrived too late for the season; painted summer of 1882;

 

.30a-c  story: “The Old Print-House of Currier & Ives of Nassau St., New York,” written at New Brighton, April 1915:

                        Worth’s reminiscences, including recounts of his first sale of a comic picture to Mr. Currier, the people who worked in the Currier & Ives store, visiting trotting tracks with Mr. Ives, the way Mr. Ives handled an objection to “Darktown pictures,” a purchase by the Duke of Newcastle, etc.

 

.31a-d  story: “A Sunday Morning Trip on the Long Island R.R. to Babylon, A Matinee in the Woods; and an awful ride by night in a thunderstorm behind a team of colts,” no date.

                        The “Sunday Morning Trip” also involved a trip by stagecoach which was interrupted by a broken bolt on the coach.  Actor Harry Placide was traveling with another (unnamed) actor, and the unnamed actor proceeded to give an entertainment while they waited repairs [this entertainment was the matinee]. 

                        The “ride at night” was a result of Worth’s rushing from Newport to Islip because of his wife’s illness.  The team of colts were driven by Selah Smith of Babylon.