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

           

Title:               Christmas Cards and Decorations Collection            

Dates:             1878-ca.1950

Call No.:         Col. 604         

Acc. No.:        97x98, 98x144, 98x151, 07x73         

Quantity:        5 boxes

Location:        17 J 1-2

 

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection includes Christmas cards, ornaments, decorations, brochures advertising Christmas lights, the “Roly-Poly Christmas Book” for 1901 (a supplement to the New York World), three photos, and a gift box.

 

The cards are of various sorts.  A few are postcards; some are trimmed with fringe; one is made to hold a coin; tucked inside another is a Santa Claus figure with a propeller that could be made to fly when the card was opened; and a couple have calendars attached.  There are a few shaped cards: star, wishbone, harp, bell, fan.  Some have holiday designs, and those that do not bear Christmas greetings. Two, however, contain generic greetings and may not have been Christmas cards at all.  A couple of the cards are samples.  Some cards are large and others are small.  One group may have been homemade, as the sender’s and recipient’s names are cut into the paper.  Some cards were printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons, S. Hildersheimer & Co., L. Prang, and others, although most were not marked with a name.

 

The ornaments are made from tinsel, chromolithograph scraps, and various kinds of paper.  Most of the ornaments appear to have been homemade, but there are some that were ready-made.  The figures in one group of decorations have picks attached so they could be made to stand up if the picks were inserted into something like styrofoam.  Two photographs show Christmas trees in homes; another photo shows a dining room decorated for the season.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

The items are partly arranged by type.

 

 

PROVENANCE

           

Purchased from Mrs. Sidney Woolf; except accession 07x73 purchased from Ian Brabner.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

            L. Prang & Co.

            Marcus Ward & Co.

            S. Hildesheimer & Co.

            Raphael Tuck & Sons.

            Children - Pictorial works.

            Flowers - Pictorial works.

            Women – Pictorial works.     

            Men – Pictorial works.

            Santa Claus – Pictorial works.

            Angels – Pictorial works.

            Chromolithography, Victorian - Specimens.

            Christmas decorations – United States.

            Christmas decorations – Trade catalogs.

            Christmas trees – Pictorial works.

            Christmas - United States.

Advertisements.

Christmas cards.

 

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 17 J 1-2

 

 

 

Box 1:

 

97x98.1           Card with fringe; pictures on both sides, featuring water-elves; printed by Obpacker Bros., New York

 

97x98.2           Folded card with fringe and tassels; four pictures, all featuring crosses; printed by H. Rothe

 

97x98.3           Large card with fringe; pictures on both sides, featuring crosses and flowers; printed by O Bs. [Obpacker Bros.?]

 

97x98.4           Large card with fringe; pictures on both sides, one side showing woods and holly, the other mountains and flowers; printed by S. Hildesheimer & Co.

 

97x98.5           Folded card with fringe; pictures depict three roses and another flower; no printer

 

97x98.6           Card with fringe; pictures on both sides, both depicting people gathering firewood; printed by Wirths Bros. & Owen

 

97x98.7           Folded card with fringe and tassels; pictures feature poems and flowers; printed by Marcus Ward & Co.

 

97x98.8           Folded card with fringe and tassels; pictures feature mills and houses; no printer

 

97x98.9           Card with fringe; pictures on both sides, same as two of the buildings in .8 above

 

97x98.10         Small card with fringe; greeting is “Offering of true love,” and shows a violet, not necessarily a Christmas card; design only on one side

 

 

97x98.42         decoration in the shape of a hot-air balloon, with a boy and a girl in the gondola, and the words “Merry Christmas” printed on the balloon; wire hanger still attached

 

97x98.43         Homemade basket-shaped ornament, decorated with tinsel, shiny flowers, and a picture of a child in front of a fireplace

 

97x98.44         Large card, with a stand with which to prop it, with floral border and a picture of sailboats, surrounded with a wreath of forget-me-nots; greeting is “Love’s Offering,” so this might not have been a Christmas card

 

97x98.45         Homemade ornament decorated with tinsel, foil, and the head of a woman (in shades of gold and copper)

 

97x98.46         Foil decoration in the shape of a fish, with wire hanger still attached

 

97x98.47         Elaborate postcard in a holder, design shows children dancing around a Christmas tree; no printer

 

97x98.48         Large homemade ornament, star-shaped, made from tinsel and paper

 

97x98.49         Box, with a fold-up handle, decorated with toys, a tree, and the words “Merry Christmas”; not clear whether the box were made to hold a specific item or if it were to be used as a gift box

 

97x98.50-55    Set of hand-drawn and colored figures, with wooden picks attached so they could be stood up by inserting them into something like styrofoam; the figures include two men (one playing a lute), a box with a hatchet, a girl, a lady, and a large group that includes two women singing, a man playing bass, and another man playing a tin whistle

 

97x98.58         A Christmas greeting, which could be propped up so it seems more a decoration than a card, decorated with birds 

 

 

98x144.1         Christmas greeting card used as an advertising card for men’s neck wear being sold by Plonsky & Simon, New York, Dec. 1883; the card design shows a girl and a bouquet of ferns and other greenery

 

98x144.2         A folding Christmas card featuring forget-me-nots and bells

 

98x144.3         Homemade ornament, made from tinsel, clear green paper with gold stars, and a piece of scrap showing an angel dressed as a little girl in a fir-trimmed coat

           

98x144.4         A double-sided ornament, with angels, using stiff fringe as their wings

 

98x144.5         Homemade ornament, made from tinsel, clear blue and clear red paper [cellophane?], and a piece of scrap of an angel

 

98x144.6         Homemade ornament, made form tinsel and a piece of scrap of a girl with a floral garland

 

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1: Christmas cards

 

97x98.11         Five-pointed star-shaped embossed card, decorated with holly; printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons

 

97x98.12a-b    Folded card made to hold a large coin, decorated with Santa Claus; no printer; also the envelope for the card

 

97x98.13         Bell-shaped embossed card, decorated with holly and an unused calendar for 1916, printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons

 

97x98.14         Harp-shaped embossed card, decorated with holly and an unused calendar for 1916, printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons

 

97x98.15         Fan-shaped card, decorated with cherry blossoms and a bird, no printer

 

97x98.16         Small card with children in classical dress, copyright 1878 by L. Prang & Co.

 

97x98.17         Wishbone-shaped embossed card, decorated with holly and mistletoe; no printer

 

97x98.18         Small card showing a girl holding a doll; no printer

 

97x98.19         Folded card, with flowers on the front; printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons

 

 

Box 2, Folder 2: Christmas cards

 

97x98.20         Six-pointed star-shaped card, decorated with flowers, a sample copy with ordering and price information on the back; available from David C. Cook, Pub. Co., Chicago

 

97x98.21         Large card; design of an open book, one page with roses and the other showing people by a river in a wintry forest; a sample copy with ordering and price information on the back, available from Western Card Co., Elgin, Ill.

 

97x98.22a-b    Folded card, with fold at bottom; on front is shown a house in snow, inside is a greeting and a figure of Santa Claus with a propeller attached (the figure is not attached to the card); on back of the card are instructions for how to wind the propeller so Santa will fly out when the card is opened; made by S. S. Adams Co., Asbury Park, N.J.; also the envelope for this card

 

97x98.23-.29   Postcards with Christmas greetings; five show Santa Claus with his bag of toys; one shows a dog dressed as Santa, carrying a pack basket of toys; another shows children playing with toys next to a Christmas tree; none list a printer

 

 

Box 2, Folder 3: Advertising brochures and Roly-Poly Christmas book

 

97x98.30-.35   Advertising brochures for Christmas lights, ca.1920s (one dated 1928)-ca.1950s, from P& S, Propp, Noma, and Diamond, available from stores in Buffalo, N.Y.

 

97x98.36         “Roly-Poly Christmas Book,” supplement to The World, New York, Dec. 15, 1901

 

 

Box 2, Folder 4: photographs

 

97x98.37         Photograph showing people sitting in front of a Christmas tree, ca.1900

 

97x98.38         Two photographs from a photo album, one showing the dining room decorated for the holidays, and the other a Christmas tree, ca.1920?

 

 

Box 2, Folder 5: Scrap

 

97x98.56         Piece of scrap with holly, pine cones, and a tag that says “A Christmas Greeting”

 

97x98.57         A piece of scrap, an angel, kneeling in prayer, but the head is missing

 

 

 

 

Box 3: (oversize box)

 

97x98.39-.41   Three figures similar to home-made paper dolls, made using chromolithograph scraps for the heads and arms, and tissue paper wrapped around cardboard for skirts, two include remnants of legs, and loops at the top with which to hang the figures

 

 

 

Box 4:

 

07x73.2           homemade ornament made in form of a tea cup on a saucer, with a spoon in the cup; made from decorative paper and scrap

 

07x73.3           homemade ornament made in form of a water pitcher or ewer, made from decorative paper and scrap

 

07x73.4           homemade ornament made in form of a cross with a crown, made from decorative paper and scrap

 

 

 

Box 5:

 

98x144.7         Homemade ornament, made from tinsel, clear green paper, and a piece of scrap showing a small boy and flowers

 

 

98x151.1         Large homemade ornament, made from tinsel and a piece of scrap showing an angel, a cross, and flowers

 

98x151.2         Homemade ornament, made from tinsel and a piece of scrap showing a young boy in a sailor suit, wearing knee britches

 

98x151.3         A large card, incorporating a smaller card; the smaller card has a picture of a church superimposed on a harp and has a greeting inside; it is mounted on a card decorated with a border of flowers and the words “From Cousin Mary to Oscar Hoffman, the flowers and words all formed by cutting the paper

 

98x151.4         Similar card to that in 98x151.3, above, but the small card is different (shows a Bible on a lectern and a window), and the words are “From Mary to Uncle George”; the flower border is the same

 

98x151.5         Similar card to those in 98x151.3-.4, above, but the small card is different (bells, holly, and a horseshoe), and the flower border is slightly different; the words are “1914, Henry G. Cranmer (?)”