Photographs

Namely the carte-de-viste and cabinet prints, were probably collected by Warshaw for subject content or as examples of advertising ephemera rather than as photographic portraits. Researchers using the collection may be more interested in these images as documentation of clothing, hair styles, family life, leisure activities, women, or a particular studio. The photographs are divided into three groups: (1) those that have been re-housed as a separate series, namely the stereographs, (2) those that remain housed in their original locations within the main collection subject categories; and (3) photographs that have been transferred to the Photographic History Collection. A number of the photographs were re-housed as a separate series because of preservation concerns. Originally stereographs were interfiled with the other materials in the business ephemera vertical files. It was felt, however, that this arrangement could be damaging to the stereographs. In 1991 they were re-housed to ensure their preservation and were reorganized to better facilitate their use as research tools. The stereographs have been arranged by subject. Whenever possible the same subject categories as the business ephemera vertical files have been maintained. Some new subject categories have been created that were more conducive to typical stereograph subject matter. The stereographs are organized first by topical divisions and then by geographical location. A number of photographs remain in the collection in the business ephemera vertical files. Most often these photographs were collected by Warshaw as documentation of the particular subject matter that they are housed with. These photographs tend to be grouped together and labeled as photographs at the end of the company names in the container list. If there are one or two photographs and a number of lithographs and engravings, these materials are often grouped together and labeled as general images.