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)