Lisa Unger Baskin collection of women's work and domestic arts ephemera, 1700s-1940s

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Collection is open for research.
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Summary

Creator:
Baskin, Lisa Unger, former owner and Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture
Abstract:
Collection assembled by Lisa Unger Baskin containing printed ephemera, receipts, manuscripts, handbills, catalogs, decorative trade cards, prospectuses, circulars, political campaign materials, and other advertisements from the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and the United States. The bulk of the collection's materials advertise businesses or services offered by women, including millinery, fancy goods, hair work, tea, painting, teaching, music, bricklaying, gardening, dressmaking, apothecaries, and a clairvoyant. Also includes calling cards and bookplates with women's names, and assorted ephemera relating to women's pay, income, or work, including a pensioner's card for a firefighter's widow and a pamphlet about life insurance for women.
Extent:
2 Linear Feet (3 boxes, 2 oversize folders)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.11975

Background

Scope and content:

Collection assembled by Lisa Unger Baskin containing printed ephemera, receipts, manuscripts, handbills, catalogs, decorative trade cards, prospectuses, circulars, political campaign materials, and other advertisements from the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and the United States. The bulk of the collection's materials advertise businesses or services offered by women or for women, including millinery, fancy goods, hair work, tea, painting, teaching, music, bricklaying, gardening, dressmaking, apothecaries, and a clairvoyant. Also includes calling cards and bookplates with women's names, and assorted ephemera relating to women's pay, income, or work, including a penioner's card for a firefighter's widow and pamphlets about life insurance for women. Some receipts, contracts, and statistics record rates of pay or income for women employees, or rates charged by women proprietors. Contains some advertisements for health-related retreats or vacations; circulars seeking to hire saleswomen or other women into different occupations; and some lending library slips. Includes examples of some Lippincott seed catalogs from the early 1900s, art samples and calligraphy by women, and some materials related to domestic arts and homemaking, including advertisements for patterns, sewing, cooking, and landscaping or interior decoration. Some materials relate to women's courtesy and conduct in public spaces, or to their appearance and clothing.

Biographical / historical:

Lisa Unger Baskin, born in Brooklyn, educated in New York City public schools and Cornell University, is a political activist, book dealer, and collector. She curated the Phillis Wheatley 200th Anniversary exhibit and the inaugural exhibition at the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, Seneca Falls Women's Rights National Historical Park. She is on the faculty of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar and the board of the David Ruggles Center for History and Education. (Excerpted from: 500 Years of Women's Work: The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection exhibit catalogue, 2019.)

Acquisition information:
The Lisa Unger Baskin collection of trade cards, calling cards, and women's work ephemera was received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2015.
Processing information:

Processed by Meghan Lyon, March 2022

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2015-0050

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lisa Unger Baskin collection of trade cards, calling cards, and women's work ephemera, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1f15j