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:         [unknown]                              

Title:               Scrapbook

Dates:             [ca. 1770-ca. 1850]

Call No.:         Doc. 499

Acc. No.:        77x1

Quantity:        1 volume

Location:        31 D

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Scrapbook was assembled by an unknown person.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Scrapbook includes two sections, one with 47 late 18th and early 19th century watchpapers, and the other with 25 letters written to Henry and Charles Tobias, merchants in New York. Most of the watch papers are engraved; several are signed.  Portraits of Franklin and Pitt, allegorical subjects, buildings, watercolor views, silk embroidery work, cut work, and proofs are represented.  American engravers featured include: James Akin, J. Poupard, Abner Reed, T.S. Woodcock, Robert Tiller, Phineas Eldridge Hamm, John Warr, and William E. Tucker.  The watchmakers worked in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Louisiana.   Also includes three watchmakers’ trade cards which imitate paper money (“Time is money,” according to one).  [The watchmakers represented are listed in the index to the scrapbook.]

 

The letters offer information about the watch industry in the United States, including prices, data on importation and interstate distribution, the relationship between a wholesaler and his clients, family relationships among watch makers, and details of business history in the trade (such as the negotiation of loans, state of the market, and the formation and dissolution of partnerships).  Henry Tobias appears to have been the head of a firm that imported British watch movements from Liverpool into New York, N.Y.; two of the letters suggest that he may have also been a manufacturer.  The firms ordering from Tobias were located in Philadelphia, Boston, Albany, and Baltimore.  Watch papers for a few of the ordering companies are in the first part of the volume.

           

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

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

           

 

PROVENANCE

           

Purchased from Gordon Colket.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Tobias, Henry.

            Tobias, Charles.

 

Topics:

            Clocks and watches.

            Clock and watch making - History.

            Advertising design.

            Wholesale trade - History - 19th century.

Watercolor painting – United States.

Embroidery – Specimens.

Paper work – Specimens.

            Scrapbooks.

            Correspondence.

Watchpapers.

            Watchmakers.

            Engravers.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 31 D

 

 

 

 

Index to names in Doc. 499 (acc. 77x1)

 

Acker, J. D. p. 16

Akin, J. p. 7

Anderson, J. D. p. 22

American Watch Co. p. 22

 

Babcock p. 19

Bacon, S. D. p. 19

Bailey & Kitchen p. 27

Bailey, Banks & Biddle p. 27

Balch, Daniel(?) p. 19

Ball, Albert p. 20

Banks (of Bailey, Banks & Biddle) p. 27

Brown, John  J.   p. 19

Biddle (of Bailey, Banks & Biddle) p. 27

Black, John    p. 7

 

C. L. Sculp. p. 4

Campbell, A. (of R. & A. Campbell) p. 48

Campbell, J. p. 15

Campbell, R. & A. p. 48

Child, John p. 17

Child, S. & T.  p. 17

Child, T. (of S. & T. Child) p. 17

Clark, Benj. & Ellis p. 34

Clark, Ellis (of Benj. & Ellis Clark) p. 34

 

Denne  p. 31

Dickinson & Jewett  p. 9

Dickson & Co. p. 49

Donallan, J. W.  p. 15

Donning & Phelps  p. 14

Droz, Charles A.  p. 12

Duffield, Edward  p. 5

Durand  p. 28

 

Farr, John C., & Co. p. 30

Ferris, Ziba  p. 8

Franklin, Benjamin  p. 2

Fries, John  p. 24

 

Garrett, Thos. C., & Co. p. 50-51

Goddard, D. p. 19

 

Hall, J.  p. 16

Hamm, S.  p. 21

Hansell, James  p. 17

Heinemann, L. G.  p. 17

Hildeburn (of Watson & Hildeburn)  p. 37, 46

Hobbs, Nathan  p. 15

Hoyt, Geo. A.  p. 45

 

Jewett (of Dickinson & Jewett)  p. 9

Johnston & Lewis  p. 44

Johnston, Robert  p. 42, 43

 

King, William W.  p. 10

Kitchen (of Bailey & Kitchen)  p. 27

 

Lescure, Edward P.  p. 41

Lewis (of Johnston & Lewis)    p. 44

Lownes, Caleb  p. 4

 

Martin, J. J.  p. 23

Mason, W. G.  p. 30

McCully, G. H.  p. 17

M'Keen, Henry  p. 17

McMurtrie, J.  p. 25

Megear, Thomas J.  p. 35, 36, 40

Menzies, J.  p. 14

Miller, A. & Son   p. 21

 

Passaic Falls  p. 3

Hamm, P.E.  p. 21

Phelps (of Donning & Phelps)  p. 14

Poupard, J.  p. 10

Price, Philip, Jr.   p. 17

 

Reed, Abner  p. 14

Reed, Frederick   p.  26

Reed, Isaac & Son   p. 29

Riggs, W. H. C.   p. 25, 28

Roberts, S.   p. 18

 

Sauer, Fred'k   p. 16

Statzell, P. M.   p. 23

Stevens, George W.  p. 19

Swan, B. & M. M.   p. 20

Swan, M. M. (of B. & M. M. Swan)  p. 20

 

Taylor, P. L. & C.  p. 13

Tiller, R.   p. 17

Tobias, Chas.   p. 28, 29, 40-42, 44-46, 49

Tobias, H. & C.   p. 27-29, 35, 38-42, 44-46, 49

Tobias, Henry   p. 28-30, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40-48, 50-52.

 

W. G. M.  p. 30

Wall & Weslake   p. 32

Ward, Jehu   p. 26

Ward, Jehu & W. L.  p. 26, 38, 39

Ward, W. L. (of Jehu & W. L. Ward)  p. 26

Watson & Hildeburn  p. 37, 46

Welch, T.  p. 32

Weslake (of Wall & Weslake)  p. 32

White, W. J.  p. 31

Wilkes, John, Esq.  p. 4

Williams, John J.  p. 47

Woodworth, Earl   p. 20

Woolfe, F. H.  p. 33