The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
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.:
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 &
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 –
Christmas decorations – Trade catalogs.
Christmas trees – Pictorial works.
Christmas -
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.,
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
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.,
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,
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 (?)”