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Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Scales

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Creator
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Topic
Consumer goods -- Catalogs
Measuring instruments
Measuring instruments industry
Scales (Weighing instruments)
Patents
Retail trade
Provenance
Scales is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Creator
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
See more items in
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Scales
Sponsor
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Summary
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Extent
3.25 Cubic feet (consisting of 7 boxes, 1 folder, 2 oversize folders, 1 map case folder.)
Date
undated
1791-1943
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Scales
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Catalogs
Invoices
Business records
Advertising fliers
Publications
Advertising mail
Commercial correspondence
Correspondence
Business ephemera
Printed ephemera
Business letters
Exhibition catalogs
Receipts
Sales letters
Trade literature
Advertising
Sales records
Ephemera
Manuals
Business cards
Sales catalogs
Illustrations
Trade catalogs
Print advertising
Advertising cards
Technical manuals
Advertisements
Periodicals
Reports
Mail order catalogs
Catalogues
Letterheads
Trade cards
Photographs
Manufacturers' catalogs
Citation
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Scales, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
Scales is arranged in three subseries. Business Records and Marketing Material Genre Subject
Processing Information
In 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund, the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History implemented the use of minimal level processing standards to increase information about and facilitate access to more of our collections. For this subject, minimal processing included arrangement to the folder level, based on prior processing and preservation action, with retention of the pre-existing arrangement when possible, if applicable. Otherwise, an order was imposed by the Processing Archivist. Some materials were consolidated to eliminate excess bulk but items within folders were not arranged further. The guide may or may not include a more refined list of folder contents. Nonarchival housing was replaced for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed. Minimal level processing and machine-readable finding aid completed by Max Howell, 2017 February.
Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form
Catalogs
Invoices
Business records
Advertising fliers
Publications -- Business
Advertising mail
Commercial correspondence
Correspondence
Business ephemera
Printed ephemera
Business letters
Publications
Exhibition catalogs
Receipts
Sales letters
Trade literature
Advertising
Sales records
Ephemera
Manuals
Business cards
Sales catalogs
Illustrations
Trade catalogs
Print advertising
Advertising cards
Technical manuals -- 20th century
Advertisements
Periodicals
Reports
Mail order catalogs
Catalogues
Letterheads
Trade cards
Photographs
Manufacturers' catalogs
Scope and Contents
Scales contains business records and advertisements created by manufacturers and distributors of scales, as well as companies employed to weigh items for communities. Additional materials include scale design patents and educational material on weights and measures. Extensive business documentation for the Riehlé Brothers is present. The Riehlé Brothers were a scale and testing-machine manufacturer based in Philadelphia. In 1865, Frederick Riehlé purchased two-fifths of interest in the Banks, Dinmore and Company and later helped coordinate the purchase of the Abbott Scale Works company. Frederick's brother Henry later purchased another three-fifths of interest in Banks, Dinmore and Company and the brothers changed the company name to the Riehlé Brothers in 1867. Material concerning specific subject areas within the topic of scales provides a narrow window into the field of scales, weights, and measures but nonetheless a unique one. The subject category contains a broad view of the business of manufacturing scales and measuring goods for communities, as well as a small amount of social commentary on the necessity of the field in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Forms Part Of
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana. Series 1: Business Ephemera Series 2: Other Collection Divisions Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1562725813233-1562725813239-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82ac49d9e-9fbf-498e-bd9b-8a065224839b

In the Collection

  • R

  • Business Records and Marketing Material

  • Riehlé Brothers

  • Receipt Book

  • G

  • Catalogues

  • T

  • Watling Manufacturing Company

  • Riehlé Brothers

  • S

  • Subject

  • W

  • A

  • Business Records

  • Riehlé Brothers

  • F

  • Images

  • Scales and Society

  • Daybook

  • Riehlé Brothers

  • Standard of weights and measures in the Exchequer list

  • O-P

  • Genre

  • L

  • Exposition Literature

  • J

  • C

  • Oversize Advertisements

  • M-N

  • Oversize Miscellaneous

  • Miscellaneous

  • Ledger, List vs. Sold for prices

  • G-J

  • Toledo Computing Scale Company

  • Scale Education

  • Bills, Notes, and Receivables

  • Patents

  • Howe Company

  • A.B. Davis and Company

  • Ledger

  • D

  • A-F

  • B

  • K

  • H

  • Mills Novelty Company

  • Load Weight Receipts

  • E

  • K-Z

Warshaw Subject Category: Scales
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International media Interoperability Framework
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