Category Archives: Ephemera
James Vick and his Illustrated Floral Guides
Spring fever was as common 150 years ago as it is now, and for many winter-weary souls, the illustrated seed catalogs that began appearing in that era are still the closest thing to a cure. Among the many fine examples of early seed catalogs in our collections, my personal favorites were produced by James Vick, [...]
A Short, Incomplete History of American Traditional Tattooing
This post is written by Joe Festa, Print Room Reference Assistant As my colleague Ted pointed out in his previous blog post, the electric tattoo machine revolutionized tattooing at the end of the 19th century. However, it wasn’t just electric current that propelled the industry; another factor can be attributed to the circulation of what’s [...]
Louis Prang, Father of the American Christmas Card
This post was written by Marybeth Kavanagh, Print Room Reference Librarian. It’s widely accepted that the first Christmas card was printed in London in 1843, when Sir Henry Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a holiday card that he could send to his friends. But it was Boston-based printer Louis Prang who introduced [...]
From Kilted Soldiers to Scottish Poets–The New York Caledonian Club
This post was written by N-YHS intern Alison Shore Dundy. The recently acquired New York Caledonian Club Records (MS 2923) are a gateway to gemstones from the history of Scottish immigrants in New York City. The records of the Caledonian Club document the work, activities, and membership of this society dedicated to the preservation of [...]
NYC 2012: Imagining the Olympic Games in New York City
From 2000-2005, New York planned a bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic games. It was New York City’s first bid to host an Olympics and was managed by Daniel Doctoroff and his private non-profit organization, NYC2012. New York City was one of five candidates for the games but came in fourth behind London, [...]
