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:         Maurer, Louis, 1832-1932.

Title:               Letters

Dates:             1925-1932

Call No.:         Col. 450

Acc. No.:        71x107.32-.49

Quantity:        17 items (1 folder)

Location:        34 J 2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Louis Maurer was a German born lithographer and painter who spent much of his life in New York City.  Born on February 21, 1832, he studied art as a boy in Mayence (Mainz), Germany.  He emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1851 and found work with the publishing firm of T.W. Strong.  He also worked for Currier & Ives for eight years before moving to Major and Knapp sometime around 1860-1861.  From 1872-1884, Maurer headed the firm of Maurer and Heppenheimer.  After his retirement, he continued to sketch and paint at his residence at 404 W. 43rd St. in New York City. He died on July 19, 1932, several months after his 100th birthday.

 

Maurer married Louisa Stein (1840-1917).  They had several children.  In one letter, he mentioned his son Charles, who was a lithographer.  Another son was the artist Alfred Henry Maurer.

 

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 letters from lithographer Louis Maurer to Harry T. Peters.  Some letters contain information about lithographers Stahl & Jaeger, and Currier & Ives.  (Peters had solicited information from Maurer for his book on Currier & Ives.)  Many letters, however, contain personal information such as holiday greetings, invitations to social events, and thank you notes for fruit baskets sent by Peters.  Other letters request copies of prints and chromolithographs.  In one letter, Maurer mentioned that he had prepared sketches [not present] for book bindings, and was prepared to show them to Peters.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

The letters are in chronological order, with undated items at the end.

 

 

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:

                        Peters, Harry Twyford, 1881-1948.

                        Maurer, Charles L., 1861-1933.

 

Topics:

            Currier & Ives.

            Stahl & Jaeger.

            Artists - Correspondence.

Chromolithography, Victorian - History.

            Lithography - History.

Painters, American.

Letters.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 34 J 2

 

 

All accession numbers begin with 71x107.

All letters were written by Louis Maurer, and all were written to Harry T. Peters.

 

 

.32       Nov. 10, 1925: accepting invitation for Nov. 16

 

.33       Dec. 26, 1828: thanks for fruit

 

.34a-b  Jan. 15, 1929: glad to hear of progress with Currier & Ives book; plates of the futurity race were made after his painting; there were 13 plates for the 13 different colors, and they were made under his superintendence and printed by Stahl & Jaeger

 

            On Maurer’s letterhead stationery

 

.35       Jan. 16, 1929: Dr. Frank Weitenkampf at the Public Library can show Peters a copy of the print of the futurity race

 

            On Maurer’s letterhead stationery

 

.36-.37             Feb. 22, 1929: about color prints done by Currier & Ives: Maurer did some sketches in india ink, and his son Charles drew them on stone and made color plates with the firm Stahl & Jaeger; these were color prints (not chromos); had forgotten about this until a recent meeting with Miss Harriett E. Waite and son Charles.

 

.38       Nov. 11, 1929: accepting invitation to Grolier Club

 

.39       March 31, 1930: Mr. Thurman at public library has shown him fancy bindings and has worked up some preliminary sketches, which am prepared to show Peters at any time

 

.40       Dec. 11, 1930: accepting Peters’ invitation for transportation to the Art Director’s Club

 

.41       Dec. 23, 1930: thanks for the fruit

 

.42       Feb. 24, 1931: thanks for fruit on 99th birthday, and for the sketch, and could he have two more for friends?

 

.43       March 18, 1931: requests two copies of the print of the sketch of Davy Crocket with a raccoon cap

 

.44       April 22, 1931: very much appreciates the second volume of the Currier & Ives work – “so rich in information as in entertainment”; P.S. “In ‘America on Stone’ may those stones succeed in pronouncing their stories in a voice like of Thunder over the population of the entire continent.”

 

.45       Feb. 23, 1932: thanks for gift on 100th birthday; memory still “bright & vivid”;

 

.46       no date: thanks for fruit sent on Christmas Eve

 

.47       no date: Christmas and New Year’s greetings to Peters family

 

.48       no date: Christmas and New Year’s greetings

 

.49       calling card: Louis Maurer, 404 W. 43rd St.