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Major Library Collections
Trade Catalogs
The publications of manufacturers and dealers in architectural
elements and interior embellishments have been found to be useful to
design professionals concerned with the restoration or the recreation
of period interiors. The Athenĉum's holdings are particularly strong
in areas such as paint colors, lighting fixtures, wallpaper, heating
and kitchen equipment, plumbing, and household furniture. Internal
finding aids are available. Most of the trade catalogue holdings have
been entered into the RLIN system and Athena, our online catalogue.
Several rare catalogues have been reprinted by the Athenĉum, most
notably the Devoe Paint Company Exterior Decoration (1885) from the
Samuel J. Dornsife Collection of The Victorian Society in America
which was reprinted in 1976. Dover Publications issues several
reprints annually drawn from the Athenĉum collection. [See, Bookstore]
Samuel J. Dornsife Interior Design Collection
 Central to
the interior design collection of the Athenĉum is the Samuel J.
Dornsife Collection of The Victorian Society in America which
represents the life-time collecting of the design historian Samuel J.
Dornsife, ASID, Williamsport, PA. In 1976 Dr. Dornsife transferred his
collection of several thousand items to The Victorian Society in
America with the explicit restriction that it be permanently in the
custody of the Athenĉum where it could be made available for
research, exhibition, and publication under supervised conditions. The
Dornsife/VSA books are available for readers, but requests for
reproductions or exhibition loans must be approved by the Victorian
Society as well as by the Athenĉum. Additions to the Dornsife
Collection are made regularly from the income of an endowed fund
established by Dr. Dornsife's friends and colleagues.
Architecture & Building Technology
 The
Athenĉum maintains a large and growing reference collection of
directories, bibliographies, monographs, trade catalogues, and
periodicals on American architecture. British and European works used
by American architects are also collected, and the office libraries of
several architects have been acquired intact.
Most of the titles listed in Henry-Russell Hitchcock's American
Architectural Books and Helen Park's List of Architectural
Books Available in America Before the Revolution are available in
original edition or on microfilm.
Periodicals
The library makes available several hundred pre-1914 periodical
runs in nearly every branch of the humanities with particular emphasis
on Anglo-American literature, commerce, internal improvements, and
architecture. In addition to fairly common journals (for example,
Niles Register, Ackerman's Repository, and the Godey Family set of
Godey's Lady's Book) there are such rarities as The War (1812-15), The
Harbinger (1845-47), Samuel Sloan's Architectural Review and American
Builders' Journal (1868-69), Benjamin Linfoot's American Architect and
Builders' Monthly (1870), The Craftsman (1901-11), The Artsman
(1903-07), and other short-lived periodicals seldom found elsewhere.
It should be noted that many serials held by the Athenĉum have not been
entered into the OCLC, RLIN, or our online catalogue (Athena).
These titles will be entered in coming years. Check local
finding aids by contacting the Bibliographer.
Charles Rupp Transportation Collection
 Dr. Charles
Rupp (1908-1970) was a life-long collector of books and memorabilia
relating to North American railroads and steamboats. Following his
death, Jane Dubbs Rupp McPherson presented his collection to the Athenĉum
and later provided an endowment to acquire additions to the
collection. Bound books are catalogued in the RLIN system and in our
online catalogue (Athena). However, the largest part of the
collection, consisting of several thousand nineteenth and early
twentieth century booklets, brochures, and guide books has not been
catalogued by item and therefore is not accessible to researchers as
of this writing.
Interior Design
The interior design and domestic technology collection includes
trade catalogues, pattern books, domestic manuals, and periodicals
documenting curtain, wallpaper, and carpet designs, paint colors,
lighting fixtures, furniture design and arrangement, as well as such
prosaic subjects as kitchens, heating and plumbing systems. Allied
design arts are also represented. In addition to pattern books,
sketches, and manuscripts of cabinetmakers and
silversmiths--particularly important is the correspondence of the
Philadelphia neo-classical silversmith Thomas Fletcher--the library
preserves significant holdings on architectural stained glass,
including the D'Ascenzo Studios, 1896-1958. Of particular significance
are the designs of decorative painters, especially the archives of
William and Louis Beck, Otto M., Henry, and Carl Beitz from Northern
Ohio; the fashionable New York decorators H. D. and J. Moeller; and
George Herzog (1851-1920) of Philadelphia--all of whom worked in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Athenĉum also
collects documented wallpapers on which its licensed reproductions are
based.
Manuscript holdings have not been entered in the Research Libraries
Information Network (RLIN), or the Athenĉum's online public
catalogue, Athena. Check local finding aids, or consult
with the appropriate librarian or curator. [See Hours
and Location.]
Copyright 2008 The Athenĉum of Philadelphia
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