A Poster Collection

1896-02-05

In this letter, J.G. mentions that "Some of the Scrantom posters are very good I think and altogether my collection is much envied; at least several fellows have asked for some of them." Scrantom's was a Rochester institution that sold books and art works.  Rochester was known for its color lithography, so it's possible that the posters J.G. mentions might have been printed in Rochester, or might have been created by members of the Rochester Art Club.  Poster collecting was popular in Rochester: Claude Bragdon, Harvey Ellis & M. Louise Stowell were among area collectors who held an Exhibition of Japanese prints and modern French posters, prints, and covers under the auspices of the short-lived Rochester Society of Arts and Crafts in 1897. The whereabouts of J.G.'s poster collection is unknown, although his mother, Emily Sibley Watson, donated 10 Renaissance prints from J.G.'s collection to the Memorial Art Gallery upon its opening.