The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware 19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Thacher family

Title: Thacher family collection

Dates: 1807-1984, bulk 1937-1984

Call No.: Col. 806

Acc. No.: 06x186

Quantity: 7 boxes (about 30 linear inches)

Location: 18 F 5

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

The Thacher family lived in New York. Thurston (d.1965) and Doris (d.1990) Thacher ran an antique business, the Rip Van Dam Shop, in Hyde Park. Among their customers were Henry Francis du Pont and Mr. and Mrs. Edgar William Garbisch. Doris Thacher was especially interested in needlework and became an expert embroiderer. She taught classes, had an embroidery supply business, and reproduced antique pieces of embroidery. Thurston Thacher was interested in early American paintings, particularly those executed in the Hudson River valley in the 18^th century. They had one son, Jan.

Around 1950, the Thachers acquired the contents of the home of Anne and Jane Wilson in Clermont (now Germantown), New York. The house contained over two centuries’ worth of family acquisitions, including paintings and documents. Most of these were sold through their business, but the Thachers retained embroidery and dress patterns and a few other odds and ends from the house.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

Collection includes a few business papers for the Thachers’ Rip Van Dam Shop and for Doris Thacher’s needlework business; some information about 18^th century paintings; and genealogical information about New York families, particularly the Glen, Livingston, Sanders, and Wilson families. Collection also includes a number of 19^th century embroidery, knitting, dress, slipper, and other needlework patterns from the Wilson family home in Clermont, New York. Most of the dress patterns are from the 1860s, with one from the 1890s. The patterns are not sized. Other items from the Wilson house include some Victorian calling cards and tracings of figures used for a shadow theater. Several books on New York genealogy belonged to Judge John Sanders, a prominent citizen of Schenectady, or were given by him to one of his daughters. One book belonged to William Wilson, a Union College student. As well, the collection includes copies of the publication Ciba Review, published by the Ciba Company of Switzerland, on topics relating to textiles.

ORGANIZATION

The papers are grouped into business, genealogical, and needlework papers, and books.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

The materials are in English.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.

PROVENANCE

Gift of Jan Thacher.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

Sanders, John, 1802-1883.

Thacher, Doris, d. 1990.

Thacher, Thurston, d.1965.

Glen family.

Livingston family.

Saunders family.

Wilson family.

Topics:

Briggs & Co.

Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.)

Antique dealers – New York (State).

Artists – New York (State).

Canvas embroidery.

College students – Books and reading.

Dressmaking - Patterns.

Dyes and dyeing.

Embroidery – Patterns.

Handicraft.

Knitting – Patterns.

Needlework.

Shadow shows.

Shoes.

New York (State) – Genealogy.

Patterns (design elements).

Trade catalogs.

Embroiders.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 18 F 5

Box 1:

Folder 1: Correspondence of Doris and Thurston Thacher, 1959-1983, n.d.

Folder 2: Thacher Strousse: Doris Thacher and Pam Stousse needlework business, 1973-1977

Folder 3: Thacher, Doris: correspondence with Muriel Baker and Scribner’s, 1978-1984

Folder 4: Thacher, Doris: needlework designs for Philipsburg Manor restoration, Sleepy Hollow, NY, no date

Folder 5: Thacher, Doris

Folder 6: Rip Van Dam Corp., 1947-1959, no date

Folder 7: Consignments, 1938-1981, no date

Folder 8: Bills for antiques and other articles; sales of antiques, 1966-1983, no date

Folder 9: Business cards

Folder 10: Deyo bedspread

Folder 11: Bills for needlework supplies, 1970s-1980s

Folder 12: “Weeds and Wool: A Natural Dye Sampler,” by Kelley Keller Baker (Albuquerque: the author, 1976).

Printed work, with samples of plant material and yarn colored with natural dyes.

Signed by author.

Box 2:

Folder 1: Paintings: photos and other information

Folder 2: Gridley notes and portrait of Richard Gridley by John Smibert

Folder 3: Janssen, Cornelius: painting of “The Annunciation”

Folder 4: Van Rensselaer overmantel: “Joseph and Potifar’s Wife”

Folder 5: Paintings from Wilson house sold to Mr. and Mrs. Garbisch by Thurston Thacher

Folder 6: New York Dutch painters

Folder 7: Swedish rooms with paintings, 17^th-18^th centuries: photographs taken 1898

Folder 8: drawing and poem: Anne and Aunt Polly knitting (not signed, not dated)

Folder 9: clippings and notes from John Sander’s copy of his Early History of Schenectady (note: his copy of the book is not part of this collection)

Includes copyright certificate for book (issued by Library of Congress, 1879); obituary of Jane Livingston (Mrs. John) Sanders, 1871; a printed copy of the ballad “The Burning of Schenectady in 1690” (a 19^th century copy); a tribute to John Sanders by Judson Sanders; a record of births, marriages, and deaths for members of the Livingston and Sanders families; a letter to John Sanders from nephew James W. Beekman, Sept. 22, 1876; letter to John Sanders from J. Pearson, Jan. 23, 1873; other Sanders and Livingston family notes and newspaper clippings

Folder 10: genealogy chart: Anneka (Anna) Jants Bogardus (born early 17^th century)

Folder 11: de Peyster family: notes, genealogy, portraits

Folder 12: Glen family Bible records [copies, not originals]

Begins with birth of John Alexander Glen in 1648

Folder 13: photos: Glen-Sanders House, Schenectady, NY: interiors and exteriors

[house still in existence, now operating as a restaurant]

Folder 14: Livingston family: genealogy notes, letters, clippings

Folder 15: Livingston family (with note: “written by Anne or Mary Wilson?”)

Folder 16: Livingston documents, 1802: statements from various men that James S. Livingston had not paid a debt.

Statements are from Thomas Brodhead, Abraham Post, Moncrief Livingston, Abraham B. Ten Eyck, Henry Livingston, John McClennel[?]

Folder 17: McKinstry genealogy

Folder 18: Provoost, Samuel (Bishop): article and notes

Box 3:

Folder 1: Sanders family

typed and handwritten notes about family genealogy and history; includes copy of will of Robert Sanders (1673, copy made later);inventory of estate of Jacob G. Sanders (1867, lists only money, stocks and notes); notes about estate of Jane Sanders (1865); letter of John Sanders to Peter van Deusen, Dec. 21, 1842, etc.

Folder 2: genealogy chart: Mary Elizabeth Livingston Sanders (married Harold Wilson of Clermont, 1863): her ancestors

Folder 3: Wilson family: notes, letters, genealogy

Folder 4: Wilson family letters

Includes two letters from Frances Wilson, both dated 1806; other letters are 20^th century

Folder 5: other families

Folder 6: speech notes [of John Sanders?]

Folder 7: articles, primarily on needlework

Folder 8: old newspapers, ads, etc.

Includes Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser (Boston, March 12, 1795);

Ballou’s Pictorial (Boston: Nov. 19, 1859);

Part of a guidebook to South Kensington Museum;

Page of an upstate New York newspaper

Folder 9: Embroidery and needlework scrapbook [assembled by Doris Thacher?]

Folder 10: Pennsylvania German art: booklets, articles

Folder 11: booklet: “Turkish Embroideries,” from DMC Library series, no date

Folder 12: booklet: “Descriptive Catalogue of E.S. Frost & Co.’s Hooked Rug Patterns”

(Dearborn, Mich.: Greenfield Village, Henry Ford Museum, no date)

Folder 13: miscellaneous items about art shows and festivals:

Coxsackie Art Association,1868,

Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society,1908-1909,

Pieter Stuyvesant Festival at Wolvega, 1955

Folder 14: slides of paintings, house interiors, furniture, needlework, and manuscripts

Folder 15: slides of Doris Thacher’s embroidery designs

Folder 16: hand-drawn embroidery patterns, 19^th century, from Wilson House: some have names or dates (see below for names); one design on remnants of shopping bag or wrapping paper from the store of H.C.F. Kock & Co., New York City; (see also rolled patterns in next box)

[see also Doc. 697 at this repository: handkerchief and embroidery patterns from Wilson family of Clermont, NY]

Names found: E. H. Dibblee; Nancy Dibblee; Nannie Dibblee (1860);

Mrs. C.A. Ingersoll Miss Elizabeth Ingersoll [both spelled Ingersole];

List of members of the Sanders family, Mary E. L. Sanders; Mrs. John Sanders;

Mr. and Mrs. Wm. T. Shufeldt;

A.H. Wilson, Bessie Wilson; E. H. Wilson, Miss Elizabeth H. Wilson; Lud W. Willsen

Box 4:

Folder 1: French embroidery patterns (printed), 1842; and braid patterns from Demorest’s Magazine

Folder 2: rolled embroidery patterns (hand-drawn)

Folder 3: copy of 18^th century crewel motifs, done by Wilson ladies in 19^th century

Folder 4: Berlin work patterns (hand painted), from Wilson house

Includes a pattern for a slipper

Folder 5: trade catalogs from Wilson house:

J.M. Onderdonk, “Ecclesiastical Embroideries,” no date;

Brainerd & Armstrong Co., “Purse & Bag Book,” 1901 [instructions for making these items];

Strawbridge & Clothier, winter 1884 [reduced facsimile copy];

Hardanger Art Needlework [price list only; no date]

Folder 6: written instructions for knitting, etc., from Wilson house

Folder 7: needlework samples, canvaswork, etc.

Folder 8: printed embroidery patterns, many by Briggs & Co., from Wilson house

Folder 9: patterns for Mountmellick work

[also spelled Mont Mellick]

Folder 10: needlework information and articles from Ladies Home Journal, The Delineator, etc., from Wilson house

Folder 11: dress patterns, some including embroidery patterns, from Wilson house, ca.1860-1864, 1897

The patterns are from Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, Frank Leslie’s Lady’s Magazine, and Harper’s Bazaar. Included are patterns for two Spanish jackets, imperatrice paletot, postillion basque, little boy’s dress, two jackets with postillion skirts, girl’s dress, and a marquise basque. One page includes the outlines of patterns pieces for a number of different outfits. The patterns are not sized.

Folder 12: slipper patterns, with embroidery design;

One pattern is labeled “Mr. Sanders”

Folder 13: tracings of cut-outs for shadow theater, from Wilson house

Folder 14: calling cards, etc., from Wilson house

Folder 15: Holgate, Jerome B. American Genealogy, being a History of Some of the Early Settlers of North America …. (New York: Putnam, 1851.)

This volume includes genealogies of these families: Rapalje, Johnson, van Rennselaer, Gardiner, Beekman, Bleecker, de Graaf, Hoffman, Kip, de Lancey, Barclay, Roosevelt, van Schaick, Livingston, Lawrence, Osgood, and Jay.

This copy is inscribed: John Sanders of Schenectady to his daughter Mrs. Harold Wilson, June 1^st, 1869.

Someone pasted newspaper clippings about these families into the volume. Also, hand-written additions have been made, such as names and dates of later family members.

Loose items found in the front of this volume are now in folder 16.

Folder 16: Loose items found in the front of the volume in Folder 15: letters, engraving, newspaper clippings, genealogy notes

Box 5: Books

Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the Genealogies of the Descendants of the First Settlers of the Patent and City of Schenectady, from 1662 to 1800. (Albany: J. Munsell, 1873).

Inscribed on title page: Mrs. Mary Elizabeth S. Wilson from her father John Sanders, Nov. 29^th, 1873.

With some added notes.

Front cover is almost detached; use with care.

Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, from 1630 to 1800. (Albany: J. Munsell, 1872).

Signed John Sanders on title page.

With added notes and clippings.

Binding has come apart; use with care.

Recueil des chef-d’oevre des plus celebres beaux-esprits François, tant en vers qu’en prose. (Edinburg: Murray & Cochran, 1775?).

Inscribed on inside front cover: William H. Wilson, Union College, 1807.

Two names inscribed on title page: W. W. Wilson, Clermont, and Peter[?] Livingston [? the second name is not very clear].

Front and back covers detached; use with care.

Sanders, John. Centennial Address Relating to the Early History of Schenectady and Its First Settlers. (Albany: Van Benthuysen Printing House, 1879).

With added notes and clippings, including an obituary of Judge John Sanders.

The text block is separated from the covers; use with care.

Boxes 6-7: Ciba Review (Basle, Switzerland, 1937-1955)

(no. 1-64 in Box 6, no. 65-111 in Box 7)

1 – medieval dyeing

5 – tapestry

8 – dressing of hides in the Stone Age

10 – trade routes and dye markets in the Middle Ages [front page for no. 13 is attached to this]

11 – early history of silk

12 – weaving and dyeing in ancient Egypt and Babylon

13 – guild emblems and their significance

14 – cloth making in Flanders

15 – pile carpets of the ancient Orient

16 – the loom

19 – The Exchange

20 – development of textile crafts in Spain

21 – weaving and dyeing in North Africa

22 – crafts and the zodiac

23 – European carpets

24 – Basle ribbon industry

25 – Paris fashion artists of the 18^th century

26 – medieval cloth printing in Europe

27 – textile trades in medieval Florence

29 – Venetian silks

30 – essentials of handicrafts and craft of weaving among primitive peoples

33 – bark fabrics of the South Seas

34 – development of footwear

35 – hats

36 – Indian costumes

37 – textile ornament

38 – neckties

40 – Turkestan and its textile crafts

41 – human figure in textile art

46 – crinoline and bustle

47 – cloth merchants of the Renaissance as patrons of art

48 – history of the textile crafts in Holland

49 – flax and hemp

50 – medieval embroidery

51 – fashions and textiles at the court of Burgundy

52 – Ship of the Dead in textile art

53 – silk moths

54 – basketry and woven fabrics of the European Stone and Bronze Ages

55 – Swiss peasant costumes

56 – soap

57 – medieval dress

58 – batiks

59 – the reel

60 – Roumanian peasant textiles

61 – gloves

62 – Swiss fairs and markets in the Middle Ages

63 – basic textile techniques

64 – cotton and cotton trade in the Middle Ages

65 – cloth trade and fairs of Champagne

66 – peasant textile art

67 – Colbert and the French wool manufacture

68 – dyeing among primitive peoples

69 – textile art in the 16^th century France

70 – textile art in ancient Mexico

71 – costumes of porcelain statuettes

72 – paper

73 – lace

74 – Australia, the land of wool

78 – fashions and textiles of Queen Elizabeth’s reign

79 – Swiss linen embroidery

80 – Lucchese silks

81 – early history of tanning

82 – water

83 – silk and velvet industries of Crefeld

84 – Maori textile techniques

85 – indigo

86 – Scottish highland dress

87 – rubber

88 – Swedish peasant textiles

89 – handkerchiefs

90 – textile arts of the North American Indians

91 – linen industry of St. Gall

92 – aluminum – surface treatment and colouring

93 – uniforms

94 – Alaska sealskins

95 – cotton

96 – velvet

97 – New Orleans: centre of the cotton trade

98 – Persian textiles

99 - hard fibres

100 – micro-organic attack on textiles and leather

101 – chromium

102 – Turkish embroideries

103 – textiles and dyestuffs at the Frankfort fairs

104 - plangi tie and dye work

105 – textile printing in Switzerland

106 – stockings

107 – screen printing

109 – wood

111 – spun silk