Anthony W. Pendergast Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Pendergast, Anthony W., 1879-
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Music, Sports and Entertainment
topic: label: Topic
content: Cigar store Indians
label: Topic
content: Figure sculpture -- United States
label: Topic
content: Folk art
label: Topic
content: Posters
label: Topic
content: Wood sculpture
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
creator: label: Creator
content: Pendergast, Anthony W., 1879-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthony W. Pendergast Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: A Fairbury, Illinois, optometrist, Dr. Anthony W. Pendergast, (1879 -?) was a collector, author, antiquarian, dealer, and authority on the subject of cigar store figures.  The collection includes correspondence; newspaper clippings on Pendergast and his various folk art collections; a scrapbook of photographs and miscellaneous materials relating to cigar store figures; and a large number of black and white photographs of figures from his personal collection, mostly for use in selling the figures.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: A Fairbury, Illinois, optometrist, Dr. Anthony W. Pendergast, (1879-?) was a collector, author, antiquarian, dealer, and authority on the subject of cigar store figures.  As a newsboy in his youth, Pendergast was fascinated by the cigar store "Indians" he saw all around the streets of his home town.  In their book on the cigar store figure,  Dr. Pendergast and co-author W. Porter Ware state that the earliest evidence of cigar store figures dates them to as early as 1600 in the city of Amsterdam, where a tobacconist's shop had a figure of an American black slave as his sign, because of the association between slaves and tobacco.  The tradition was continued in England and the figures began to look more like American Indians, usually with feathered headdresses, often holding a pipe or a roll of tobacco leaves.  Not all the figures were of Indians or of slaves.  As their popularity spread, "Turks," "Moors," Scotsmen, jockeys, Roman figures, mythological figures, and others were used.  Antiquarian John L. Morrison, cited by Mr. Pendergast in his 1953 book Cigar Store Figures, states that the first appearance of a cigar store "Indian" in America was in 1770  in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  By the latter half of the nineteenth century the cigar store figure (usually an Indian) was as much a symbol of the tobacco trade as the barber pole was of barber shops.  Mr. Pendergast owned at least two hundred figures during his lifetime and was a noted expert on the genre.  He sold many figures to other collectors and had a workshop where he repaired and reconditioned the figures.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.5 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1920s-1970.
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center in 2005 by the Division of Music, Sports, and Entertainment (now Division of Cultural and Community and Life).
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0882
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged into one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Jason Nargis, intern, 2006; supervised by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, March 2006.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents Dr. Pendergast's interest in and work with cigar store figures as well as some of his other folk art collections.  Included among the materials are correspondence, photographs of cigar store figures, and books on the subject.  There are also articles and clippings about Dr. Pendergast and his collections and about cigar store figures in general, a scrapbook of photographs of figures, miscellaneous clippings, advertisements, business cards, postcards, and an inventory list.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

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