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[Walter L. Pforzheimer collection of Century Company illustrations]

 Collection
Call Number: GEN MSS 1219

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 142 drawings and watercolors by twenty-seven artists who were commissioned by the Century Company to create illustrations for their popular periodicals The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine and St. Nicholas Magazine, in particular to illustrate stories for children. Most of the drawings have paper labels or production marks in crayon on their versos indicating the magazine, volume number, and projected page number where the images were to appear, the section of the magazine (such as "Open Letters" to the editor or the “In Lighter Vein” departments), prices paid to the artists, and notes such as “Plate wanted,” “Blueprint at once,” and “Great Haste!” While many prominent illustrators from the era are included in the collection, those represented by the largest number of drawings are Reginald B. Birch (10), Harrison Cady (9), Oliver Herford (22), Charles M. Relyea (47), and I. W. Taber (8).

Dates

  • 1879-1914

Creator

Language of Materials

Captions in English.

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Walter L. Pforzheimer Collection of Century Company Illustrations is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Walter L. Pforzheimer (Yale 1935, 1938L), 1955.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by artist, and by size thereunder.

Extent

2.1 Linear Feet (17 boxes)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.century

Additional Description

Overview

The collection consists of 142 drawings and watercolors by twenty-seven artists who were commissioned by the Century Company to create illustrations for their popular periodicals The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine and St. Nicholas Magazine, in particular to illustrate stories for children. Most of the drawings have paper labels or production marks in crayon on their versos indicating the magazine, volume number, and projected page number where the images were to appear, the section of the magazine (such as "Open Letters" to the editor or the “In Lighter Vein” departments), prices paid to the artists, and notes such as “Plate wanted,” “Blueprint at once,” and “Great Haste!” While many prominent illustrators from the era are included in the collection, those represented by the largest number of drawings are Reginald B. Birch (10), Harrison Cady (9), Oliver Herford (22), Charles M. Relyea (47), and I. W. Taber (8).

Walter L. Pforzheimer (1914-2003)

Walter L. Pforzheimer (Yale 1935, 1938L), lawyer, intelligence officer, and book collector.

Century Company (1881-1933)

The Century Company was an American publisher of books and magazines. Founded in 1870 in New York City as Scribner and Company, a subsidiary of Charles Scribner's Sons, it was purchased in 1881 by Roswell Smith and renamed the Century Company. The firm's magazine, Scribner's Monthly, also founded in 1870, was renamed The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine in 1881; it ceased publication in 1930. The Century Company also became the publisher of the children's periodical St. Nicholas Magazine, which had been founded by Scribner and Company in 1873; it ceased publication in 1940. In 1933 the Century Company merged with publisher D. Appleton & Company to form the Appleton-Century Company, Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.

Subjects

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Walter L. Pforzheimer Collection of Century Company Illustrations
Author
by Beinecke Staff
Date
2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/
Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.

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