Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Special Collections Research Center
Title:	Central New York Trade Catalogs and Business Ephemera
Inclusive Dates:	1804-1963
Quantity:	7 linear ft.
Abstract:	Collection of catalogs, trade cards, merchants' scrip, letterhead, photographs, and other ephemera from businesses in and around Syracuse, New York. Towns represented include Elbridge, Syracuse, Marcellus, Litchfield, Morristown, Scipio, and others. Also includes financial records and legal documents from local businesses and government offices.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Central New York has been the home of many companies that went on to become known nationwide, among them Smith Bros. Cough Drops, L.C. Smith Typewriter Company (which later became Smith Corona), Oneida Silverware, Clark Music Company and the Franklin Automobile.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Central New York Trade Catalogs and Business Ephemera consists of correspondence, financial material, legal material, printed material, and miscellany related to businesses and industries in and around Central New York. Counties represented include Auburn, Cortland, Monroe, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego.

Correspondence contains business communications from Central New York retailers.

Financial material consists of account books, checks, ledgers, promissory notes, sale receipts, and stocks and bonds. Also present is a small collection of merchant scrip - non-legal tender issued by local merchants as a substitute for currency.

Legal material contains insurance policies, Cayuga County liquor and wine license applications, and various indentures, such as mortgages, road warranties, and warranty deeds. The series also contains miscellaneous court documents, including records from an 1889 murder trial.

Printed material consists of calendars, maps, promotional materials for the New York State Fair, and various forms of advertising such as broadsides, fliers, pamphlets, and trade catalogs. Objects of interest include several hundred highly stylized lithograph trade cards and sample books from printing companies demonstrating various paper weights and colors available for advertisers. Please note that the State Fair promotional materials folder contains material that some researchers may find objectionable due to racist content. This material is preserved and retained with the collection for its historic and research value.

Miscellaneous contains a copper printing block, photographs of Central New York businesses and events, and assorted ephemera such as postage stamps, theater tickets, bottle caps, and a solar eclipse viewing lens sent out by the Syracuse Herald in 1900. Also present are the design proofs for a souvenir booklet and postcard for Eighteen Mile Creek.

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Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is arranged alphabetically.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Related Material

L. C. Smith Typewriter Company material has been removed and is now part of the L.C. Smith & Bros. Typewriter Co. Collection.

See also the Central New York Local History Collection and Central New York Cultural Ephemera. There are also separate collections related to a number of businesses and companies, such as Oneida Silverware (Oneida Community Collection), Endicott-Johnson (Charles F. Johnson and related collections), and Clark Music Company (Melville Clark); please refer to the SCRC Subject Index under "Business and Industry" or under "New York State" for a full listing.

For full descriptions of the merchants' scrip, see New York State scrip and private issues by Gordon L. Harris (S.l. : G.L. Harris, c2001), call no. New York HG627 .N4 2001 (refer to Libraries Search to locate).

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Places

Genres and Forms

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Central New York Trade Catalogs and Business Ephemera,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Scrip gift of Gordon L. Harris, July 2003. Other material purchased.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRC
Date: 11 Jun 2007
Revision history: 3 Jun 2008 - change to regular coll; additions (MRC); 24 Jul 2007 - additions (MRC); 1 Nov 2007 - additions (MRC); 3 Dec 2008 - additions (MRC); 12 Feb 2009 - additions (MRC); 8 Jan 2010 - additions (MRC); 12 Jul 2010 - additions (MRC); 21 Dec 2010 - adds (MRC); 7 Jan 2011 - adds (MRC); 6 Oct 2011 - additions, updated description (MRC); 25 Jun 2012 - additions, more detailed processing, updated subject headings (MRC); 16 Oct 2012 - additions, minor reorg. (MRC); 3 Jan 2017 - L.C. Smith material removed. (SM); 24 Jan 2024 - additions, minor reorganization (SAB)

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Inventory

	Correspondence
Box 1		Birdsall Engine Company 1918
Box 1		Cayuga Chief Manufacturing Company 1867-1874
Box 1		Navarino Auto Garage 1926
Box 1		Taylor Brothers Company 1919
Box 1		Miscellaneous businesses A-Z 1837-1928 (6 folders)
Box 1		Miscellaneous individuals 1823-1905

	Financial material
Box 1		Account book, unidentified circa 1920s
Box 2		Account book, Elbridge 1869-1871
Box 2		Checks and deposit slips 1826-1893
Box 2		Checks, refused 1871-1875
Box 2		Merchants' scrip 1859-1862, undated
Box 2		Monthly ledgers 1833-1844, 1869
Box 2		Promissory notes 1810-1817
Box 2		Receipts A-Z 1856-1923 (5 folders)
Box 2		Stocks and bonds circa 1860-1930
Oversize 1		Stocks and bonds 1870-1900

	Legal material
Box 3		Indentures 1863-1899
Oversize 1		Indentures 1804-1869
Box 3		Insurance policies 1837-1897
Oversize 1		Insurance policies 1837, 1841, 1844, 1894
Box 3		Liquor and wine license application ledger, Cayuga County 1933-1934
Box 3		Miscellaneous 1817-1912 - business contracts, resolutions, and assorted civil and criminal court documents

	Printed material
Oversize 1		Advertisements and broadsides 1896, undated
Box 3		Broadsides undated
Map-Case 102		Broadsides undated
Box 3		Booklets undated (2 folders)
Box 3		Calendars 1896, 1930
Map-Case 102		Map of Syracuse 1977 - cartoon-style map of Syracuse showing all major businesses and attractions, by Francesca Profili
Oversize 1		Maps 1920, undated - map of Syracuse with street directory; maps of lots in Lyncourt Lawns, Lyncourt Knolls, and Eastwood
Box 3		Pamphlets and fliers undated (3 folders)
		Printing industry
Box 3			Paper and print samples 1934, undated
Box 4			Paper sample sheets undated
Box 4			Print typing and lettering handbooks 1963, undated
Box 4		Produce packing labels undated
Box 4		State fair promotional materials 1903, 1910, 1936-1949
Box 4		Trade catalogs A-R 1836-1962 (8 folders)
Box 5		Trade catalogs S-Z 1836-1962
Box 5		Trade cards undated (7 folders)
Oversize 2		Trade cards undated
Oversize 2		Trade card scrapbooks undated (2 albums)

	Miscellaneous
Oversize 3		Copper printing block undated - wood-backed copper plate for printing an advertisement for an unnamed farm implement company offering "THRESHERS, SHELLERS, FEED CUTTERS, PLOWS"
Box 5		Ephemera 1895, 1900, undated - cardboard bottle caps, stamps, solar eclipse viewing lens, theater tickets
Box 5		Photographs 1909, 1932, 1934, 1970, undated - images of Syracuse Street Railroad Co staff, winter log transportation, Vernon Downs, and Jerome Barnum. Also includes accordion-folded photo books of Fultonville, Dryden, and the Finger Lakes region.
Oversize 1		Photographs undated - Lipes Machine Shop employees, portraits of Thomas and Thomson Kingsford
Box 5		Souvenir design proofs undated - photographs, layout sketches, and text drafts for a souvenir postcard book titled "The Saga of Eighteen Mile Creek"

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