Stringed Instrument Certificates and Photographic Reference Files
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Herrmann, Emil, 1888-1968
label: Collection Creator
content: Francais, Jacques, 1923-2004
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jacques Français Rare Violins, Inc. Photographic Archive and Business Records
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1927-1979, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0872, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: SERIES 1:  STRINGED INSTRUMENT CERTIFICATES AND PHOTOGRAPHIC REFERENCE FILES, 1566-1959, undated.  This series consists of Français and Herrmann's stringed instrument certificate files, photographic prints, and negatives. The date span of this series reflects the manufacture dates of the instruments pictured in the certificates as assigned by Jacques Français or Emil Herrmann.  The series is arranged alphabetically by surname of the instrument maker.  Copies of certificates were created in the office and used as a reference archive; information on many of them was not as detailed as that on a customer's certificate.  Not all certificates were duplicated for the office archive and seldom, if ever, did they carry a date of creation.  Loose photographs are labeled with the certificate number and filed with that certificate.  If no certificate or certificate number was available to identify the extra material, it is filed separately in chronological order by the year of manufacture --if given.  The year of manufacture is written on the photograph along with the date of the photograph (if any) from the accompanying envelope.  Spelling of makers' names follows Français and Herrmann's original folder labeling; obvious misspellings have been corrected.  The researcher is encouraged to check for alternative spellings.  Photographs with undateds are filed at the back of folders or in a separate folder.  Herrmann's certificates are often in German.  

Also included in this series are photographic portfolios of violins by the photographic studio, P.S. Photo.  The P.S. Photo portfolios are large format photographs.  This series also contains the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers (AFVBM) Photo Archive 1997 and Violin Photos, 1988.  The photographer Herman Gordon's portfolio entitled "36 Famous Italian Violins" is in this series.