The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Martha Gandy Fales

Title: Jewelry Research Papers

Dates: 1961-1997

Call No.: Col. 600

Acc. No.: 98x162

Quantity: 12 boxes

Location: 35 I 3-4

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’ book Jewelry in America, 1600-1900 was published in 1995 by the Antique Collectors’ Club. In this work, she writes about the history of jewelry worn and made in America. This collection contains notes, photographs, correspondence, advertisements, articles, and copies of catalogs which were accumulated during the research process prior to the writing of the book. It addition, it includes materials about silver used in America, and copies of talks she presented at the Williamsburg Antiques Forum about silver.

ORGANIZATION

Boxes 1-9 are the correspondence files, research notes, catalogs, and other materials compiled while working on the book Jewelry in America. Box 10 contains photographs gathered for use in the book. Boxes 11-12 contain the files relating to silver.

PROVENANCE

Gift of Martha Gandy Fales, Kennebunk, Maine.

ACCESS POINTS

Topics:

Jewelry – United States – History.

Jewelers – United States.

Jewelry – Catalogs.

Silverwork – United States – History.

Silversmiths – New England.

Trade cards.

Trade catalogs.

Photographs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 35 I 3-4

Box 1:

Folder 1: Antique Collectors’ Club: notice of publication of Jewelry in America

Folder 2: Articles about and exhibits of jewelry

Folder 3: Attleboro, Massachusetts: research notes on jewelry business

Folder 4: Baltimore Museum of Art

Folder 5: Brigden, Zachariah, accounts (photocopies)

Folder 6: British Museum

Folder 7: California

Folder 8: Cameo of Andrew Jackson (includes trade card for Sweet Home Soap, with portrait of Jackson)

Folder 9: Chamberlain bracelet (given to his wife by General Joshua Chamberlain)

Folder 10: Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago Historical Society

Folder 11: Colonial Dames, Boston

Folder 12: Colonial Williamsburg, 1986-1993

Folder 13: Colonna, E., drawings

Folder 14: Connecticut Historical Society

Folder 15: Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Folder 16: Correspondence, A-Z

Box 2:

Folder 1: Correspondence, A-B, 1985-1994

Folder 2: Correspondence, C-D, 1993-1994

Folder 3: Correspondence, E-H, 1993-1994

Folder 4: Correspondence, L-MESDA, 1993-1994

Folder 5: Correspondence, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Folder 6: Correspondence, Mi-Mu, 1993-1994

Folder 7: Correspondence, N, 1993-1994

Folder 8: Correspondence, P-Society, 1993-1994

Box 3:

Folder 1: Correspondence, Sotheby’s, 1993-1994

Folder 2: Correspondence, S-U, 1985-1992 (bulk: 1985)

Folder 3: Correspondence, South Carolina-V, 1993-1994 [except Tiffany & Co.]

Folder 4: Correspondence, Tiffany & Co.

Folder 5: Correspondence, W-Y, 1986-1994

Folder 6: Deerfield, Mass., and Detroit, Michigan

Folder 7: England research trip

Folder 8: Frick Art Reference Library

Folder 9: Georgia: Juliette Gordon Low Girl Scout National Center

Folder 10: Georgia museums and jewelry

Folder 11: Godey’s Lady Book

Folder 12: The Gold Rush

Folder 13: Gore Place (Waltham, Mass.)

Folder 14: Hair ornaments

Folder 15: Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Folder 16: Jewelers: Fletcher & Gardiner

Box 4:

Folder 1: Jewelers: Grimke, John Paul

Folder 2: Jewelers: Joseph Cooke & Co.

Folder 3: Jewelers: Palmer & Clapp: account book with jewelry designs, 1829-1833 (photocopy)

Folder 4: Jewelers’ advertisements

Folder 5: Jewelry, 1820-1850

Folder 6: Jewelry, research notes (part 1)

Folder 7: Jewelry, research notes (part 2)

Folder 8: Jewelry in portraits, article about

Folder 9: Johnson Hall State Historic Site (Johnstown, NY): rings

Folder 10: Letson, Walter Neil

Folder 11: Louisiana

Box 5:

Folder 1: Maine

Folder 2: Maine Historical Society

Folder 3: Massachusetts Historical Society

Folder 4: Miniatures

Folder 5: Miscellaneous notes and corresondence, 1994-1995

Folder 6: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA)

Folder 7-9: Mount Vernon (3 folders)

Folder 10: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Yvonne Markowitz and Janis L. Staggs

Box 6:

Folder 1-2: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2 folders)

Folder 3: Museum of the City of New York

Folder 4: New Hampshire Historical Society

Folder 5: New-York Historical Society

Folder 6: Newark, New Jersey

Folder 7: Newark (NJ) Museum: “The Glitter and the Gold” exhibit, 1996-1997

Folder 8: Newburyport, Massachusetts

Folder 9: Newport, Rhode Island

Folder 10: Noah Webster House: correspondence re: ring with hair, 1996

Folder 11: Peabody Essex Museum (Essex Institute)

Folder 12: Pejepscot, Maine

Folder 13: Philadelphia Museum of Art

Folder 14: Photographic reproduction cost estimates

Folder 15: Providence, Rhode Island

Folder 16: Schwarz Gallery (Philadelphia)

Box 7:

Folder 1: Seed pearl sets

Folder 2: Smithsonian.

Folder 3: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), 1984-1993

Folder 4: SPNEA talk

Folder 5: Society of the Cincinnati, 1985-1987

Folder 6: Stowe, Harriet Beecher

Folder 7: United States patents for jewelry

Folder 8: Wagstaffe, Thomas (clockmaker), 1961

Folder 9: Washington, George: relics

Folder 10: Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, 1985-1990

Folder 11: Winterthur Museum, 1985-1994

Folder 12: Worcester, Mass: Worcester Art Museum, and American Antiquarian Society, 1984-1994

Box 8: Jewelry research notecards

Box 9:

Folder 1: “Orfèvre Bijoutier, Outils” [engraved plate]

Folder 2: “Design for Goldsmiths, Jewellers, Etc.” by Hans Holbein, London, 1869 [photocopy]

Folder 3: “Things Beautiful, 1903,” by Unger Bros., Newark, N.J.

[photocopy of catalog]

Box 10: Photographs

Folder 1: Photography

Folder 2-6: Photographs (5 folders)

Folder 7: Photographs, trade cards

Folder 8: Photographs: Bagnall illuss., Dizulafait (?) facet illus.

Folder 9: Griggs, Dennis, Topsham, Maine, photographs

Folder 10: Photographs: overexposed

Folder 11: Extra photos and negatives

Folders 12-13: Slides

Box 11: Silver

Folders 1-3: English silver used in early America

Folder 4: Maces

Folder 5: Our Livingston teakettle-on-stand

Folder 6: Coffeepots

Folder 7: Coral and bells

Folder 8: Article for Connoisseur on English silver

Folder 9: Bermuda silver

Box 12: Silver

Folder 1: Williamsburg Antiques Forum, 1958

(Mrs. Fales spoke on silver)

Folder 2: Williamsburg Antiques Forum, 1965

(Mrs. Fales spoke on colonial silver)

Folder 3: Williamsburg Antiques Forum, 1970

(Mrs. Fales spoke about New England silversmiths)

Folder 4: Williamsburg Antiques Forum, 1973

(Mrs. Fales spoke on silver)

Folder 5: Williamsburg Antiques Forum, 1980

(Mr. and Mrs. Fales spoke about collecting)