The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Martha Gandy Fales                            

Title:               Richardson Family Research Papers

Dates:             1954-ca.1991

Call No.:         Col. 573          

Acc. No.:         98x28

Quantity:        8 boxes

Location:        35 I 2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Martha Gandy Fales, known as M’Lou, was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.  She graduated from Wilson College in 1952 and received a master’s degree from the University of Delaware in 1954, having been a member of the first class of fellows in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. Mrs. Fales began her career as assistant curator and then Keeper of Silver at Winterthur Museum.  Over the years, Mrs. Fales contributed articles on American decorative arts to The Magazine Antiques and other journals.  In addition she has written several books on American silver and one on jewelry and has served as a consultant to museums and historical societies. 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

 Mrs. Fales first wrote about the Richardson family of silversmiths for her master’s thesis.  Later, she did more research and collected photographs of the Richardsons’ work, resulting in a book Joseph Richardson and Family: Philadelphia Silversmiths, published for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by Wesleyan University Press in 1974.  This collection contains the research notes, photographs, and correspondence that led to the publication of the book.  It addition, it includes other materials collected after the book came out.  Photocopies of Richardson family letterbooks, daybooks, and account books are present, but there are no original manuscripts relating to them.  The collection contains some information about other silversmiths, but no original research about them.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

Information about the Richardson family is found in all boxes of the collection.  Box 4 contains mostly photographs, many of which were used in Mrs. Fales’ book.  These have been filed by the figure number on the photograph.  Additional photographs will be found in boxes 1 and 2.  Boxes 7 and 8 contain note cards. 

 

An original trade card for John Cook, a coppersmith and brasier in Philadelphia, is in Box 1.  This card and copies of theses found in Box 5 are the only materials in the collection not directly related to the Richardsons.

 

PROVENANCE

           

Gift of Martha Gandy Fales, Kennebunkport, Maine.

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:                                               

                        Cook, John

                        Richardson family

                        Richardson, Joseph, 1711-1784

                        Richardson, Joseph, 1752-1831          

                        Richardson, Nathaniel, 1754-1827

 

Topics:           

                        Coppersmiths – Pennsylvania - Philadelphia

                        Silversmiths – Pennsylvania – Philadelphia

                        Silverwork – Forgeries

                        Silverwork – Photographs

                        Trade cards

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 35 C 2

 

Box: 1

            Folder: 1         Commonplace book

           

            Folder: 2         Correspondence, part I

           

            Folder: 3         Correspondence, part II

 

            Folder: 4         Excerpts from IR account books

 

            Folder: 5         Faked Richardson silver

           

            Folder: 6         FR and INR photos, part I

 

            Folder: 7         FR and INR photos, part II

 

            Folder: 8         FR and INR photos: letter and photos from John A.H. Sweeny

 

            Folder: 9         FR and INR photos: notes

 

Box: 2

            Folder: 1         FR & INR photos: with notes, part I

           

            Folder: 2         FR and INR photos, with notes, part II

           

            Folder: 3         Index to Francis Richardson account book

           

            Folder: 4         INR silver

 

            Folder: 5         IR account book

 

            Folder: 6         IR letter book: index and transcript of letters

           

            Folder: 7         Joseph and Nathaniel Richardson

 

            Folder: 8         Joseph Richardson story, 1954-1959

 

            Folder: 9         Miscellaneous notes

 

            Folder: 10       Miscellaneous notes

 

            Folder: 11       NR and INR photos: publications

 

           

 

Box: 3

           

Folder: 1         Peel caddies

 

Folder: 2         Trade card of John Cook, coppersmith and brasier, Philadelphia, and notes about him

 

Folder: 3         Wesleyan University Press

           

Folder: 4         Copies of plates from Diderot on goldsmithing, jewelry making, etc.

           

            Folder: 5         IR inventory and will: home

           

            Folder: 6         Photocopy of Richardson letter book in Downs Collection

 

            Folder: 7         Richardson accounts, inventories, etc.

 

 

Box: 4

            Folder: 1         Thompson, Mrs. Morris – correspondence and photos

           

            Folder: 2         Photographs, miscellaneous, with some correspondence

                       

            Folder: 3         Photographs: figures 1-52

 

            Folder: 4         Photographs: figures 53-128a

 

            Folder: 5         Photographs: figures 129-182a

                           

 

Box: 5

Folder: 1         “Early American Trade Cards,” thesis by Mary Elizabeth Means (Mrs. Charles Huber), part I

           

            Folder: 2         “Early American Trade Cards,” thesis by Mary Elizabeth Means (Mrs. Charles Huber), part II

           

            Folder: 3         “Elias Pelletreau: Long Island Silversmith,” thesis by Dean Frederick Failey

 

Folder: 4         Photocopy of Joseph Richardson’s Day Book, begun April 20, 1796 (part I)

 

Folder: 5         Photocopy of Joseph Richardson’s Day Book, begun April 20, 1796 (part II)

 

           

            Folder: 6         Silver colloquium, New York City [or Williamsburg, Va.], Sept. 3, 1970

 

 

Box: 6

                                    Joseph Richardson’s account books, 1733-1748, photocopy

 

Box: 7                         Joseph Richardson’s account books: indexes to forms made and sold and to customers

 

Box: 8                         Notes about the Richardson family