The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          John M. Kramer, b.ca.1853                            

Title:               Papers

Dates:             1882-1901

Call No.:         Col. 770

Acc. No.:         05x148

Quantity:        2 boxes (0.6 cu. ft.)

Location:        19 C 1

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

John M. Kramer sold carpets and window shades in Philadelphia, Pa.  He is first listed as a carpet dealer in the Philadelphia directory for 1880, at 252 E. Girard Ave.  He might have been the same John M. Kramer listed as a weaver in the 1875 city directory.  The 1880 Pennsylvania census lists a 27 year old carpet weaver named John Kramer, living at home with his mother, Sophia, and his brother, William, also a carpet weaver, and sister, Louisea [sic], who worked in a carpet mill.  Sophia and her deceased husband had been born in Germany, while their children were born in Pennsylvania.  John Kramer was a member of the Orestes Senate of the Order of Sparta, a benevolent order founded in 1879 for the purpose of providing money for the families of deceased members.  Nothing further is known about Kramer. 

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Half of the collection consists of bills for carpets, window shades, and related materials.  Kramer bought these items, as well as oil cloth, cocoa mats, carpet linings, floor cloths, carpet sweepers, drapery rods, and stair rods from various Philadelphia area manufacturers, agents, importers, and auction firms for resale to his customers.  The collection includes a few personal bills, primarily for clothing.  As well, there are bills for repairs to buildings, either his store, his home, or his rental properties—possibly all three.  Among these bills are charges for roofing, painting, installation of stoves, hanging wallpaper, and brickwork.  Gas and coal bills could be for the store or for his home.   As well, the collection includes business correspondence, mostly on postcards.  Some of it was with the dealers from whom Kramer purchased his wares; the remainder was with customers, who were either submitting orders or expressing their displeasure with late deliveries.  A small group of papers relates to the Order of Sparta, a benevolent organization to which Kramer belonged.  One of the order’s publications described it further.  Also in the collection is an illustrated pamphlet about the upcoming Southern Exposition of Art, Industry, and Agriculture in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1883.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

Box 1 contains the bills from carpet and window shade vendors, arranged alphabetically by vendor’s name.  Box 2 contains other bills, correspondence, the papers relating to the Order of Sparta, and other miscellaneous papers.

 

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of David Doret.

           

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

            Order of Sparta.

Southern Exposition (1st : 1883 : Louisville, Ky.)

            Carpets - Prices - 19th century.

            Floor coverings.

            Window shades.

            Friendly societies.

            Philadelphia (Pa.) - Commerce.

            Bills.

            Billheads.

Trade catalogs.

Merchants.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 19 C 1

 

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1: Carpet bills by company: A-B:

            E.R. Artman & Co.

            Artman & Treichler

            E.R. Artman-Treichler Co.

            H.S. Atwood & Bro.

            C.M. Bailey’s Sons & Co.

            Boyd, Harley & Co.

            Boyd, White & Co.

            Chas. Boylen

            Sam’l. Bunting’s Sons & Co.

            John J. Byrnes

 

Folder 2: Carpet bills by company: William Campbell

 

Folder 3: Carpet bills by company: Cl-Do

            George A. Clark & Brother

            Chas. P. Cochrane

            J. Osbood Cook (J.O. Cook)

            W. Creagmile

            William J. Crowe

            William W. Crowe

            Davis & Harvey, auctioneers

            Henry Dickel & Son

            C.H. Dillinger & Co.

            John & James Dobson (Falls of Schuylkill Carpet Mills)

            Dornan Bros. & Co.

 

Folder 4: Carpet bills by company: Dunn & Co.

 

Folder 5: Carpet bills by company: E-H

            Electric Carpet Sewing Co.

            James Gilmore

            Benjamin Green

            Jno. Hamblen

            Jacob Hess

            E.S. Higgins & Co.

            J. Hinkel

            D.K. Hocker & Co.

 

Folder 6: Carpet bills by company:

            Ivins, Dietz & Magee

            George F. Kempf

            George F. Kempf & Bro.

            John Kuestner

 

Folder 7: Carpet bills by company: L-Chas. W. Schwartz & Co.

            Lippincott & Son, auctioneers

            Lynn & Brother

            C.J. Mattock (formerly Lytle & Mattock)

            John McHatton

            James Pollock & Son

            Ross & Getty (Richmond Carpet Factory)

            Chas. W. Schwartz & Co.

 

Folder 8: Carpet bills by company: Schwartz & Graff

 

Folder 9: Carpet bills by company: Se-W

            Leopold Seckinger

            Leopold Seckinger & Son

            Seffarlen & Frtiz

            Joseph A. Seffarlen

            J.R. Smith & Co., auctioneers

            Wm. H. Snowden & Co.

            Standard Mat & Carpet Works

            Jos. Stelwagon’s Sons

            William F. Stewart

            Strawbridge & Clothier

            Isaiah Weinmann

            Adam W. White

            Henry L. Wilson

            H. Wonderlich & Bro.

           

Folder 10: Window shade bills by company: A-Z

            Wm. H. Child & Co.

            C.W. Clark

            Chas. W. Clark & Son

            William Devine

            Martin Free & Sons

            Martin Free Estate

            McMaster, Eldridge & Maugle

            National Shade Co.

            New National Shade Co.

            W. Rommel

 

Folder 11: Window shade bills by company: Henry W. Green & Co.

 

Folder 12: Window shade bills by company: Imperial Shade Cloth Co.

 

Folder 13: Window shade bills by company:      Pabst & Co.

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1: announcements re:

 Insurance;

Northern Storekeeper’s Early Closing Movement;

Cosmopolitan Electric-Underground, Telegraph, Telephone, & Electric Light Co.;

Girard Avenue Improvement Association;

Pleasant Hill Land Association

 

Folder 2: announcements from carpet companies, window shade companies, and other businesses

            William W. Altemus & Son (Keystone Machine Works)

            Barnes & Beyer

            Thos. Birch’s Sons, auctioneers

            Bissell Carpet Sweeper Co.

            Boyd, White & Co.

            Carpet Trade and Review (Review Publishing Co.)

            Wm. H. Child & Co.

            C.W. Clark & Son

            J.O. Cook       

            Thomas Depuy

            John & James Dobson

            Dornan Brothers (Monitor Carpet Mills)

            Dunn & Co.

            Martin Free

            James A. Freeman & Co., auctioneers

            Geo. P. Gore & Co.

            Goshen Sweeper and Wringer Co.

            Benjamin Green

            Henry W. Green

            D.K. Hocker & Co.

            The Item

            Ivins, Dietz & Magee

            Jennings & Meadowcroft

            Lippincott, Son & Co.

            Reune Martin & Sons (Hartford Carpet Company)

National Shade Co.

            New National Shade Co.

            Pabst & Co.

            Pack & Son

            W. Paucker & Son

            George Rafferty

            Reifsnyder & Dutcher

            Schwartz & Graff

            Transatlantic Banking House

            Henry L. Wilson

            Woodrow & Lewis, auctioneers

 

Folders 3-4: Business correspondence and notices

 

Folder 5: Bills: insurance, medical, advertising, business license, food and beverage; and acknowledgments of donations to the German Hospital; note

 

Folder 6: miscellaneous bills, mostly for repairs and maintenance work on store, house, or rental properties

 

Folder 7: miscellaneous bills for various goods: probably stock for store, possibly household supplies

 

Folder 8: shipping bills

 

Folder 9: carpet cleaning bills; bills for horseshoes and grain; bills for clothing and textiles

 

Folder 10: gas bills, Bureau of Surveys bill; coal bills; Crystal Carbon Light Co. bill

 

Folder 11: publications

            Advertisement for canvas telescoping trunks, from Geo. B. Bains & Sons;

            Advertisement for Ewart’s Detachable-link Belting, from Burr & Dodge;

            Catalog for Henry T. Patterson & Co., mills supplies and machinery;

Brochure about the Southern Exposition of art, industry, and agriculture, Louisville, 1883;

            blank check from Land Title and Trust Company.

 

Folder 12: mortgage interest statements; ground rent statements; bill from constable for getting possession of a property

 

Folder 13: Order of Sparta, Orestes Senate no. 18, 1883-1895