The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE  19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Liberti, Enrico, b.1894            

Title:               Papers

Dates:             1932-ca.1980

Call No.:         Col. 813

Acc. No.:         07x105

Quantity:        7 boxes

Location:        27 G 1 and shelves along back wall

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Enrico Liberti was born in Italy in 1894 and emigrated to the United States, where he settled in Baltimore, Maryland.  He was a cabinetmaker, furniture restorer, and antiques dealer, and was especially well known for the quality of his reproductions of historic pieces.  He made chairs for the Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House in 1939, copying the originals made by John Shaw, and chairs for the White House in the 1960s.  His antique store was known as Chimney Corner Antique Shop, located in an old building at 532 St. Paul Street.  He retired in 1977.

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SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Enrico Liberti’s papers include templates used for making furniture, scattered financial records, a few photographs, some correspondence with clients, and a few other items from his business.  The furniture templates include patterns for the chairs Liberti made for the Maryland State House and for the White House, a chair for the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and for a Queen Anne style lowboy, as well as other templates.  The  financial records, listing expenses and income, are from the 1930s and 1970s.  Customer correspondence includes orders and notes of appreciation for work done.  A very few rough sketches of furniture are included in the collection, as is a trade card of Henry S. Shryock, a 19th century Baltimore cabinetmaker.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

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

           

 

PROVENANCE

           

Gift of Mrs. Lillian Laird and Mrs. Joseph Raphel, daughters of Enrico Liberti.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

            White House (Washington, D.C.)

Antique dealers – Maryland – Baltimore.

Business records – Maryland – Baltimore.

            Cabinetmakers – Maryland – Baltimore.

            Furniture repairing – Maryland – Baltimore.

            Furniture – Reproduction – Maryland – Baltimore.

            Maryland – Capital and capitol.

            Account books.

            Correspondence.

Patterns (design elements).

            Trade cards.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 27 G 1 and shelves along back wall

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          Chimney Corner Antique Shop – stationery, business cards

 

Folder 2:          Contacts (business cards; see also card file in box 3)

 

Folder 3:          Correspondence and statements, A-G, ca. 1940-1977

 

Folder 4:          Correspondence and statements, H-Q, ca. 1940-1977

 

Folder 5:          Correspondence and statements, R-Z, ca. 1940-1977

 

Folder 6:          Insurance, 1978

 

Folder 7:          mahogany sample

 

Folder 8:          Maryland State House Senate Chamber chairs – directions for fitting together backs of chairs

 

Folder 9:          newspaper articles

 

Folder 10:        Photographs – black and white

 

Folder 11:        photographs - color

 

Folder 12:        Sketches and miscellaneous notes

 

Folder 13:        stock record [shop inventory], 1938

 

Folder 14:        stock record [shop inventory], 1943

 

Folder 15:        trade card of Henry S. Shryock, Baltimore cabinetmaker, ca.1842

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1:          auction catalog and lists of items consigned to auction, 1977

 

Folder 2:          gifts and donations

 

Folder 3:          expense and income record, 1932-1935

 

Folder 4:          sales record, 1935-1937

 

Folder 5:          cash book, 1935

 

Folder 6:          receipts, perhaps 1948

 

Folder 7:          expense record, 1976

 

Folder 8:          expense record, 1977

 

Folder 9:          inventory, no date, with sketches [in copy of The Second New York Album, 1929]

 

 

Box 3:

 

Contact information: clients and workmen

 

 

Box 4:

 

Templates for making chairs for Maryland State House Senate Chamber [see Box 1 for directions on how to fit pieces together]

 

Box 5:

 

Folders 1-2:     miscellaneous templates

 

Folder 3:          templates for Queen Anne lowboy [see also three-dimensional pieces in Box 6]

 

Folder 4:          templates for RISD chair

 

Folder 5:          templates for White House chairs

 

Folder 6:          blueprint for additions and alterations to Chimney Corner, by Finley Wolcott & Associates, architects, 1948

 

                        Survey of  Chimney Corner property, 1945

 

 

Box 6:

 

three-dimensional pieces for Queen Anne lowboy [see also templates in Box 5]

 

 

Box 7:

 

Mr. Liberti’s work file box, with slots for Jobs to be done, Finished work, Estimates & Pick ups, Delivery receipts, and Paid work