Tiffany and Company stationery collection
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Printed samples from the stationery department of Tiffany and Company. Samples date from 1875 to 1960, and include invitations, letterhead, envelopes, at-home cards, visiting and calling cards, admission tickets, certificates, dinner party menus, and holiday cards.
Biographical / Historical
In 1837, Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young opened a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" at 259 Broadway in New York City. Charles Tiffany's father Comfort Tiffany financed the store with a $1,000 loan. Initially known as Tiffany & Young (1837-1841) and later Tiffany, Young & Ellis (1841-1853),the store sold stationery products, glassware, silverware, jewelry, and porcelain. Unlike other stores at the time, Tiffany clearly marked the prices on its goods (to avoid haggling); only accepted cash payments; and did not allow purchases on credit. The first Tiffany mail order catalog, known as the "Blue Book", was published in 1845.
Charles Lewis Tiffany took sole control of the company in 1853, renamed it Tiffany & Company, and established the company's emphasis on jewelry, especially pieces featuring silver and precious stones. By 1877, the company had acquired the Tiffany diamond, a large yellow stone from the Kimberley Mines in South Africa. In 1887, Tiffany acquired major pieces at the sale of the French Crown Jewels in Paris.
On his father's death in 1902, Louis Comfort Tiffany became design director, and the company became one of the leading proponents of the Art Nouveau style. In 1905, the Manhattan flagship store was relocated to the corner of 37th Street and Fifth Avenue; it moved to the present address, Fifth Avenue and 57th street, in 1940.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by format.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of printed samples from the stationery department of Tiffany and Company. Samples date from 1875 to 1960, and include invitations, letterhead, envelopes, at-home cards, admission tickets, certificates, dinner party menus, and holiday cards (mainly Christmas cards). Also included are examples of identifying cards: Small cards bearing the name, and sometimes the address, of a person for presentation, i.e. business, calling and visiting cards. as when formally calling or visiting cards. There are 7 bound sample books, 2 of which were created to showcase the work of the stationery department at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The remainder of the collection is loose ephemera. Most individual items have a Tiffany watermark or printed mark. Some are embossed with "Sample to be returned to Tiffany & Co." Of special interest are invitations to wedding anniversary celebrations printed on linen, wood, and tin to correspond with the traditional gifts given on the respective anniversaries: 4th-linen; 5th-wood; and 10th-tin.
Subjects
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, contact the Print Room Librarian at printroom@nyhistory.org.
For offsite material: Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact printroom@nyhistory.org prior to your research visit to coordinate access. Keep in mind that it will take between two (2) and five (5) business days for collections to arrive, and you should plan your research accordingly.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Tiffany and Company Stationery Collection, PR 433, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession information is available.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processed by Marybeth Kavanagh, 2022