Frank Seymour Firefighting Ephemera Collection
name: label: Donor
content: CIGNA
label: Collector
content: Seymour, Frank
topic: label: Topic
content: Firefighters
label: Topic
content: Ships -- Fires and fire prevention
label: Topic
content: Fire extinction
label: Topic
content: Fire departments
label: Topic
content: Disasters
label: Topic
content: Fires
label: Topic
content: Fire engines
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated by CIGNA through Roxanne Korostowski, Director, Relocation Services on August 19, 2005.
creator: label: Donor
content: CIGNA
label: Collector
content: Seymour, Frank
setName: label: See more items in
content: Frank Seymour Firefighting Ephemera Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents firefighting and fires in American history through newspaper and magazine illustrations, ephemera, and photographs. The emphasis is on large urban fires (New York City and Chicago) and industrial fires in the northeastern United States. There are some illustrations of cartoons, rescues, poems, fires on ships and clippings about great floods in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.3 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
phystech: label: Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
content: Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs, negatives, and slides.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1852 - 1957
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center in 2011 by the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life).
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1232
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Postcards
label: Type
content: Illustrations
label: Type
content: Prints
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into three series. 

Series 1, Newspaper Clippings, 1852-1933

Series 2, Illustrations, [1939?]

Series 3, Photographs and Ephemera, 1957 and undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2012.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Articles
label: Genre/Form
content: Postcards
label: Genre/Form
content: Illustrations
label: Genre/Form
content: Prints
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents firefighting and fires in American history through newspaper and magazine illustrations, ephemera, and photographs. The emphasis is on large urban fires (New York City and Chicago) and industrial fires in the northeastern United States. There are some illustrations of cartoons, rescues, poems, fires on ships and clippings about great floods in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Series 1, Newspaper clippings, 1852-1933, consists primarily of illustrations and text from Harper's Weekly, but other publications represented include Collier's Weekly, Harper's New Monthly MagazineIllustrated London News, Leslie's Weekly,  Gleason's Pictorial, and Scientific American. The clippings are arranged geographically by state and city. The majority of the clippings relate to fires, firemen, fire engines, and parades featuring fire equipment.  There is one folder that relates to a fire on the steamship Bienville, an explosion of the H.L. Cotton,  as well as the floods.  There is some ethnic imagery depicting John Bull during the Civil War and antislavery movement in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania folder. 

Series 2, Illustrations, [1939?], consists of printed color illustrations of fire engines from Kenneth Holcomb Dunshee's book, Enjine! Enjine! published by Howard Vincent Smith of New York in 1939. The illustrations are arranged in an alphanumeric system (FS 105) assigned by Frank Seymour. 

Series 3, Photographs and Ephemera, 1957 and undated, consists of primarily black-and-white photographs of engines, horse-drawn fire ambulances, a dog-drawn fire hose, an auction program for the Joseph L. Hallett Firemanic Collection, and a brochure for the National Fire Museum, Inc. of South Carver, Massachusetts. There is one color photograph of Ellie Mazur, undated.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Fires and firefighting (series), circa 1821-1955.(AC0060)

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Fires and firefighting: stereographs, circa 1875-1888 (AC0060)

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Inventions: stereographs, 1880s (AC0060)

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, [Firefighters working water pump: Active no. 1810. photonegative,] 1926. (AC0143)

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, [Firefighters in action.] 2031 photonegative. (AC0143)

Jack Robrecht Firefighting Photographs (AC1231)

Materials at the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life), National Museum of American History

The Division of Home and Community Life  holds fire-related artifacts.  See Accession numbers: 2005.0233; 2005.0279; 2006.0247; 2007.0160; and 2007.0174.