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
Creator: Joselow, Evie T.
Title: Research papers on mail-order houses
Dates: circa 1990-1998
Call No.: Col. 954
Acc. No.: 15x107
Quantity: 17 boxes
Location: 7 J 2-4
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Evie T. Joselow received her Ph.D. in art history
from the City University of New York in 1998, after having received her B.A.
from Vassar College. She writes, teaches
and lectures on art appraisal and the history of art, and she is also an art
consultant.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Research notes, articles, and photographs accumulated
while Evie Joselow was researching her doctoral dissertation, “The Ideal
Catalogue House: Mail-order Architecture and Consumer Culture, 1914-1930.” Included are copies of catalogs and newspaper
and magazine articles about mail-order houses and the companies which produced
them. There are also a number of photos,
some of catalog pages and some of mail-order houses. As well, there are copies of papers by and
lectures given by Joselow.
ORGANIZATION
The papers came in a rough order, and that rough
order has been maintained: general files; companies; more general files;
papers, theses, dissertations; photos and slides.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Gift of Evie T. Joselow.
ACCESS POINTS
Topics:
Architecture, Domestic –
United States – 20th century.
Mail-order business.
Industrial housing.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 7 J
2-4
Box 1: general
files
Folder 1: Architecture:
articles about
Folder 2: Atlas
Portland Cement: “Building a Bungalow”
Folder 3: “The
Average Man’s Home”: Hodgson Book Co., Chicago
Folder 4: Bay
City, Michigan
Folder 5: Better Homes and Gardens: mail-order houses:
endorsement of product (1933)
Folder 6: Building Age & Builder’s Journal:
“Beautiful Homes of Moderate Cost” (1922)
Folder 7: Building
station: construction levels, 1919-1923;
Building
costs, 1914-1924;
Labor
shortage, 1910-1920;
Rent
situation, 1914-1924
Folder 8: California
influence
Folder 9: Dover
Historical Society (Dover, Mass.): references
Folder 10: Fred Ley & Co.: “Building for wage
earners, 1920,” “A builder’s statement and plans for workers housing”
Folder 11: Hagley Museum: materials from library
Folder 12: House
Beautiful: war and peace house
Folder 13: Housing developments
Folder 14: Influence of magazines: spatial programs
Folder 15: Jackson, Allen W.: “What style shall we
choose for the new home” (House &
Garden, Jan. 1914)
Folders 16-17: Joselow, Evie T.: talks, lectures, papers
[see also Box
11]
Folder 18: Ladies
Home Journal: articles
Folder 19: “Lost cost cottage construction in
America” (Harvard Social Museum)
Folder 20: Mail-order houses background: Arts and Crafts
style
Folder 21: Mail-order houses background: 1920s plan
services
Folder 22: Mail-order businesses: articles
Folder 23: Mail-order houses in Jacksonville,
Florida
Folder 24: Mail-order houses: mid-Atlantic
Folder 25: Old
House Journal: articles
Folder 26: O’Neal, William B.: “Building by the
Book”: Palladian studies in America 1 (1984)
Folder 27: Pattern book homes: Smeins, Linda:
“National rhetoric, public discourse and spatialization…”: 19th
century contexts (1992)
Folder 28: Plans:
The Blue Book of Model California Bungalows
Folder 29: Plans:
Bungalow Craft
Folder 30: Plans:
E.W. Stillwell & Co.
Folder 31: Plans:
“Home Sweet Home: There is no place like home,” circa 191?
Box 2: general files; Companies: Aladdin
Folder 1: Plans: Hopkin’s Homes: plan book from
Hopkins & Davis, Grand Rapids, Michigan (1905)
Folder 2: Plans: Keith’s Plan Book: Bungalows,
Cottages, Two-Story Homes, circa 1920
Folder 3: Plans: NATCO (National Fire Proofing
Co., Pittsburgh)
Folder 4: Plans: Radford Architectural Co.
Folder 5: Plans: Standard Homes Co.
Folder 6: Plans: Wilson, Henry L.: A Bungalow Book, 1908 (Berkeley, Calif.)
Folder 7: Portland Cement Association: Plans for Concrete Houses, 1925
Folder 8: Popularization of housing in popular
magazines
Folder 9: Prefabrication
Folder 10: Profit-making plan and architectural
design firms
Folder 11: “Real Homes Worth Copying,” Woman’s Home Companion (Feb. 1916)
Folder 12: Reep, Samuel H.: “The Unit House,”
additions to the small house
Folder 13: Robinson, Thomas D.: “A discussion of
the ABCs of architecture,” House
Beautiful (Oct. 1919)
Folder 14: Stevenson, Kate: contacts and notes
Folder 15: Stuyvesant, Jared: “Stone, brick,
plaster, wood – which?” (Country Life in
America, Oct. 1907)
Folder 16: Taylor, James S.: “Trends in Home
Design,” 1929: recommendations for interior specs
Folder 17: The
Wishbook: mail-order in Minnesota
Folder 18: Wolfson
Foundation: Mt. Vernon (Sears) at world expos
Folder 19: Aladdin:
advertisements
Folder 20: Aladdin:
articles about
Folders 21-23: Aladdin:
catalogs
Folder 24: Aladdin:
magazines and publications
Box 3:
Companies: Aladdin-Harris Brothers Company
Folder 1: Aladdin:
miscellaneous materials
Folder 2: Aladdin:
orders and customers
Folder 3: Aladdin:
Otto Sovereign biography
Folder 4: Bennett-Better-Built
Homes: catalogs and other materials
[Ray
H. Bennett Lumber Co.]
Folders 5-6: E.F.
Hodgson Co.
Folder 7: Gordon-Van
Tine Homes: catalogs and other materials
Folder 8: Harris
Brothers Company (Chicago)
[continues
in next box]
Box 4:
Companies: Harris Brothers Company-North American Construction Co.
Folder 1: Harris
Brothers Company (Chicago)
[continued
from previous box]
Folders 2-3: Lewis
Manufacturing Co.
Folder 4: McClure
Folder 5: Montgomery-Ward:
Wardway Homes
Folder 6: National
Builders, Inc., Saginaw, Michigan: “Ready to erect” houses for wartime
Folder 7: North American Construction Co.:
“Aladdin Houses: Built in a Day,” catalog no. 25, spring 1913
Folder 8: North American Construction Co.:
“Aladdin Houses: Built in a Day,” 3d edition of catalog no. 25, 1914
Folder 9: North American Construction Co.:
“Aladdin Homecraft Market Place,” copyright 1915
Folder 10: North American Construction Co.:
“Aladdin Houses: Built in a Day,” catalog no. 28, 1916
Folder 11: North
American Construction Co.: various Aladdin catalogs
Box 5:
Companies: Sears-Sterling Homes; general files
Folder 1: Sears
and Montgomery-Ward: rivalry and proposed merger
Folder 2: Sears:
asdvertisements
Folder 3: Sears:
articles
Folder 4: Sears:
catalogs
Folder 5: Sears:
notes
Folder 6: Sears:
reports published by Sears
Folder 7: Sterling
Homes (International Mill & Timber Co.)
Folder 8: Architectural
styles
Folder 9: Architectural
revival styles
Folder 10: Bungalows
[continues
in next box]
Box 6: general
files
Folder 1: Bungalows
[continued
from previous box]
Folders 2-3: Home
ownership
Folders 4-5: Industrial
housing
Folder 6: Industrial
housing: Aladdin
Folder 7: Industrial
housing: DuPont
Box 7: general
files
Folder 1: Industrial
housing: Arlington, Virginia
Folder 2: Industrial
housing: Carlinville, Illinois
Folder 3: Industrial
housing: Cheverly, Maryland
Folder 4: Industrial
housing: Chevy Chase, Maryland
Folders 5-6: Industrial
housing: Hopewell, Virginia
Folder 7: Industrial
housing: Morgantown, West Virginia
Folder 8: Industrial
housing: Penns Grove, New Jersey
Folder 9: Industrial
housing: Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina
Folder 10: Industrial
housing: Washington, D.C.
Box 8: general
files
Folder 1: Aladdin
City
Folders 2-3: other
mail-order towns: various articles
Folder 4: Pre-fabrication:
various articles
Folder 5: 1932
President’s Home Conference: various articles
Box 9: general
files
Folders 1-2: Women
in the home (home economics): various articles
Folder 3: The
Kitchen: various articles
Folder 4: Appliances:
various articles
Folder 5: Additions:
attics, porches, verandahs
Folders 6-8: “Mrs.
Consumer”: various articles
[continues
in next box]
Box 10:
general files
Folder 1: “Mrs.
Consumer”: various articles
[continued
from previous box]
Folder 2: American
homes: articles
Folder 3: Contemporary
writing on mail-order and pattern book architecture: articles
Folder 4: Standardization
of housing, 1920s: various articles
Folder 5: Plan
book houses: popular publications
Folder 6: Plan
book houses: magazines
Folders 7-8: Plan
books: professional publications
Box 11:
papers, theses, dissertations
Folder 1: Chandler, Roger Allen: dissertation (copy,
partial): “United States Domestic Architectural Marketing: History and Methods,
1909-1987”
Folder 2: Davis, Michael: paper: “The Origins of
Manufactured Housing in Michigan”
Folder 3: Erbbes, Scott Steven: thesis (copy):
“The Redi-Cut Dream: The Mail-Order House Catalogs of the Aladdin Company,
1906-1920”
Folder 4: Evans, Cheryl DeCosta: thesis (copy):
“American Ready-Made Housing in the Early Twentieth Century”
Folder 5: Gourney, Isabelle: dissertation (copy,
partial): “France Discovers America, 1917-1939” (French writers on American
architecture)
Folder 6: Rips, Rae Elizabeth: dissertation
(copy): “An Introductory Study of the Mail Order Business in American History,
1872-1914”
Folder 7: Wineberg,
Susan: paper: “Ann Arbor’s Catalogue Houses”
Folder 8: Wolicki[?], Dale: manuscripts
(brochure about mail-order homes of Bay City, Michigan, and papers about
several of the companies which provided them)
Folder 9: Joselow: dissertation details:
corrections, permissions
Folder 10: Joselow: paper: “Mail Order
Architecture: The Right Kind of Home for the 1920s and 30s” (fall 1992)
Folder 11: Joselow: talk: “Prefabricated Homes in
America,” given at New York School of Interior Design, 2007`
Box 12: photographic materials
Folders 1-2: Joselow:
illustrations
Folder 3: Joselow:
photos on CDs
Folder 4: Joselow:
dissertation: negatives and contact sheets
Folders 5-6: Aladdin
catalog homes: photographs and slides
Folder 7: Bennett
Homes: photographs and slides
Box 13: photographic materials
Folder 1: photographs:
Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co.;
Herbert C. Chivers;
T.W. Harvey Lumber Co.:
DuPont Chemical Co.
Folder 2: E.F.
Hodgson Co.: photographs and slides
Folder 3: Gordon
Van-Tine Co.: photographs and slides
Folder 4: Harris
Brothers Co.: photographs and slides
Folder 5: Lewis-Built
Homes and Lewis/Liberty: photographs and slides
Folder 6: Montgomery
Ward: slides
Folders 7-8: Sears
catalog houses: photographs and slides
Folder 9: Sterling
and Sterling/International: photographs and slides
Folder 10: slides:
Architectural
training and practice;
Building
materials;
Built-ins;
Sales
ideas
Folder 11: catalogs
unknown: photographs
Folder 12: houses:
unidentified: photographs
Folder 13: Industrial
housing: slides
Folder 14: magazine
covers: photographs and slides
Box 14: photographic materials
Folder 1: miscellaneous
slides
Folder 2: Plan
book housing: slides
Folder 3: “Today’s
Housewife” (Aladdin): slides
Folder 4: negatives
of catalogs
11 small folders
of photographic prints
Box 15: slides
The slides are
in sections, with these headings:
California: Simi Valley
Florida: Aladdin City
Florida: mail-order houses
Illinois: Carlinville
Maryland: Bladensburg
Maryland: Cheverly
Maryland: Chevy Chase
Maryland: Oella
Massachusetts: Cape Cod
Massachusetts: Dover
Michigan: Bay City
Box 16: slides
The slides are
in sections, with these headings:
New Jersey: Cranford
New Jersey: DuPont, Penns Grove
New York: Ardsley
New York: Catskills
New York: Massapequa Park
New York: Ossining
North Carolina: Roanoke Rapids
Ohio: Maple Heights (Mimi Wise)
Pennsylvania: Hellertown, 1940s
Virginia: Arlington
Virginia: Hopewell, Aladdin
(continues in next box)
Box 17: slides
The slides are
in sections, with these headings:
Virginia: Hopewell, Aladdin
villages
Virginia: Hopewell, America’s
greatest opportunity
Virginia: Hopewell, archival photos
Virginia: Hopewell, Crescent Hills
(Sears)
Virginia: Hopewell, Lexington – interiors
Virginia:
Hopewell, Mansion Hills
Wilmington
(state not specified)
Canada:
Aladdin
England:
Austin Village, Birmingham
Aladdin
industrial housing, 1919
Aladdin
low cost industrial housing
Architects
SHSB
Herbert
Chivers/Hopkins & Davis
Hodgson
playhouse at Nemours
Home
Owners Institute
Standard
Homes
Togan
Stiles/Bossert Mershon & Morley
Kitchen/household
Miscellaneous
m-o houses
Mrs.
Sims: “Verona”