The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Sittig, Edgar Hans, 1899-1985

Title: Edgar and Charlotte Sittig antiques business records

Dates: 1936-1999

Call No.: Col. 878

Acc. No.: 13x8

Quantity: 21 boxes

Location: 11 G 4-6

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Edgar Sittig and Charlotte Weiss Sittig were antique dealers and collectors in Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania. They dealt in early American antiques, particularly Pennsylvania pieces. Among their customers were Henry Francis du Pont, Edgar and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, the Henry Ford Museum, Old Salem, and Winterthur Museum and Library.

Edgar Hans Sittig was the son of Frederick Valentine and Emelie Hurtter Sittig, born on November 26, 1899, in New York City. Edgar was a professional cellist, and played with his sister Margaret (violin; also called Gretchen) and his father (piano). Eventually he had to stop playing professionally, and he went into the antiques business. After their marriage on September 3, 1940, the Sittigs established a shop in Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania; they also exhibited at shows in the mid-Atlantic region. Edgar died on March 15, 1985. As a young man, he was called Hans, and some people continued to call him that throughout his life.

Charlotte Frances Weiss was born in Philadelphia on January 8, 1917, the daughter of J. David and Mary Holmes Hamilton Weiss. She was already in the antiques business, with a shop in Brodheadsville, Penn., before she married Edgar Sittig. In addition to being a business woman, Mrs. Sittig was a community volunteer, especially noted for her service to Meals on Wheels and the American Cancer Society. She and Edgar belonged to a number of historical societies, collectors’ groups, museums, and other similar organizations. Mrs. Sittig died on November 6, 1998. The Sittigs had six children.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

Collection documents the antiques business of Edgar and Charlotte Sittig. It includes their sales books; bills for purchases made by them (bills are probably for stock for their business as well as items for their own collection); some information about shows in which they were vendors; and correspondence with fellow dealers, collectors, and museums. As well, the collection includes diaries (brief entries, chiefly about trips to shows, often including expenses), photographs (mostly unidentified pieces), some dealers’ catalogs, and the catalog of the auction of their own collection (held in 1999). The collection also includes a bill dated 1853 from the firm of Brown and Dillaway of Boston, to the bark Radiant and its owners, for clamps, pumps, etc.

ORGANIZATION

The sales books and bills for purchases are arranged by year. Correspondence is arranged by name of correspondent, and then by date.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

The materials are in English.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

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

PROVENANCE

Gift of the Sittig family.

ACCESS POINTS

Topics:

Antique dealers - Pennsylvania - Shawnee-on-Delaware.

Antique dealers - Catalogs.

Antiques business.

Collectors and collecting - Pennsylvania - Shawnee-on-Delaware.

Selling - Antiques.

Auction catalogs.

Bills of sale.

Trade catalogs - Antique dealers.

Additional author:

Sittig, Charlotte Frances Weiss, 1917-1998.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 11 G 4-6

Box 1: Sales books, 1939-1943

Box 2: Sales books, 1944-1957

Box 3: Sales books, 19358-1967

Box 4: Sales books, 1968-1976

Box 5: Sales books, 1976-1993, 1995 and undated

Box 6:

Folder 1: Auction sales (Sittigs as consignors)

Folder 2: Consignment sales

Folders 3-8: Bills for purchases, 1936-1957

Box 7: Bills for purchases, 1958-1971

Box 8: Bills for purchases, 1972-1984

Box 9: Bills for purchases, 1985-1995 and no date

Box 10:

Folder 1: Bills for purchases of books

Folders 2-10: notes about antiques bought and sold, inventory, profit, 1939-1993 and no date (not all years are represented)

Box 11:

Folder 1: Advertising expenses and advertisements

Folders 2-7: Antiques shows, 1939-1993, 1996 and no date (not all years are represented)

Folder 8: Names of contacts (see also business cards in separate box)

Box 12:

Folder 1: Appraisals

Folder 2: Auction catalog: Collection of Charlotte and Edgar Sittig (1999)

Folder 3: Bill from Brown and Dillaway, Boston, 1853, to bark Radiant and owners, for clamps, pumps, etc.;

Photocopy of account between Dr. Woodbridge and Dan. Henchman, pertaining to silver, 1760

Folder 4: bills for repairs to antiques; tax collection statement, occupational assessment statement

Folder 5: Census of Business, 1954, 1963

Folder 6: Dealers’ catalogs

Folder 7: Dealers’ catalogs: Carl and Celia Jacobs

Folder 8: Dealers’ catalogs: McKearins Antiques

Folder 9: “Forms and types of Early Pennsylvania Decorations” [manuscript]

Folder 10: Newspaper clippings (includes clippings about Sittig Trio and Margaret Sittig)

Folder 11: questions about antiques, for Edgar and Bill

Folder 12: Stationery and business cards for Sittigs

Folder 13: Wood samples

Box 13: Correspondence

Folder 1: Correspondence: A-B

Folder 2: Correspondence: C

Folder 3: Correspondence: D-E-F

Folder 4: Correspondence: du Pont, Henry Francis

[see also Winterthur Museum and White House]

Folder 5: Correspondence: G-H

Folder 6: Correspondence: Garbisch, Edgar and Bernice

Folder 7: Correspondence: Geesey, Titus C.

Folder 8: Correspondence:J-K

Folder 9: Correspondence: John Judkyn Memorial

[see also American Museum in Britain]

Box 14: Correspondence

Folder 1: Correspondence: L-M

Folder 2: Correspondence: McKearins Antiques

Folder 3: Correspondence: Moravian Archives (Bethlehem, Penn.)

Folder 4: Correspondence: Montgomery, Charles F., and Florence

[not from Winterthur Museum, but additional correspondence from Montgomery is filed there]

Folder 5: Correspondence: Museums and historical societies

Allentown Art Museum

Brooklyn Museum

Dallas Museum of Art

Farmers’ Museum and New York State Historical Association

Independence National Historical Park

Kenmore Association

Lancaster County Historical Society

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mint Museum of Art

Mount Vernon

Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Museum of Mourning Art

New-York Historical Society

Ohio Historical Society (Adena State Memorial)

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society

Pennsbury Manor

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences (with letters from The Magazine Antiques)

Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission

Folder 6: Correspondence: Museums: American Museum in Britain, and Halcyon Foundation

Folder 7: Correspondence: Museums: Colonial Williamsburg

Folders 8-9: Correspondence: Museums: Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village

Folder 10: Correspondence: Museums: Monroe County Museum Association

Box 15: Correspondence

Folder 1: Correspondence: Museums: Newark Museum

Folder 2: Correspondence: Museums: Old Salem

[see also correspondence with Frank Horton]

Folder 3: Correspondence: Museums: Smithsonian Institution

Folders 4-6: Correspondence: Museums: Winterthur Museum and Library

Folder 7: Correspondence: Museums: Yale University Art Gallery

Folder 8: Correspondence: N-O-P

Folder 9: Correspondence: Q-R

Box 16: Correspondence and memberships

Folder 1: Correspondence: S

Folder 2: Correspondence: Shelley, Donald

Folder 3: Correspondence: Stone, Harry

Folder 4: Correspondence: T-U-V

Folder 5: Correspondence: W-Y-Z

[includes White House]

Folder 6: Correspondence: White, Winsor

Folder 7: Correspondence: no surname or name illegible

Folder 8: Correspondence: letters not to or from the Sittigs

Folder 9: Memberships: Collectors’ organizations

Folder 10: Memberships: Genealogy associations

Folder 11: Memberships: Historical societies

Folder 12: Memberships: Museums

Folder 13: Memberships: Professional organizations

Box 17: Photographs and pictures

Folder 1: Photos: Furniture, mirrors, clocks

Folder 2: Photos: Glassware

Folder 3: Photos: Metalware and jewelry

Folder 4: Photos: Paintings

Folder 5: Photos: People, including Mr. and Mrs. Sittig

Folder 6: Photos: Pottery and china

Folder 7: Photos: Sampler, pistols, rooms, carved figures, etc.

Folder 8: Pictures of period rooms, from Metropolitan Museum, published in Ladies’ Home Journal

Box 18: Business cards

(see also folder with names of contacts in Box 11)

Box 19: Diaries, 1941-1969

Box 20: Diaries, 1970-1993

Box 21: Memorandum books, with notes about antiques, names of contacts, etc.