G. Smith through F. Taylor

The card file contains approximately 22,000 3 x 5 and 4 x 6 index cards documenting Charles Scribner’s Sons transactions with artists and artworks used in their many publications. The artworks included range from reproductions of external works to photographs of portraits to original book jackets and illustrations commissioned by Scribner’s Sons. The cards include a range of information; some include only the names of artists and artworks, while others include the corresponding publications, publication dates, and even artists’ home addresses. All cards are filed in their original order, which is primarily alphabetical within separate sections.

The index cards are divided into three series. The first series, “borrowed, referenced, and reproduced materials,” includes four boxes, each with a different subseries. Each subseries is alphabetical by its respective subject, artist, or publication. The second series, “jacket artists and illustrators,” is composed of two boxes and is separated into artist and payment documentation for illustrations from 1951-1955, illustrations from 1915-1951 (most of the series), and illustrations from 1956. Each subsection is filed alphabetically by author.

The last and largest series, “artist illustration cards,” consists of approximately 16,000 3 x 5 inch cards, created for individual paintings and drawings received by Scribner’s in advance of publication, from January 1887 to the mid-1930s. Filed alphabetically by artist’s name, each card lists the artwork by its published caption, the price paid to the artist, its publication citation, and often the disposition of the work. A very small percentage of the cards have photographs attached. Each of the approximately 1,200 artists in the series has been labeled and indexed (see “artist index”), and while many card sections contain only a handful of artworks, others artists’ sections contain extensive cards that correspond to the numerous works they produced for Scribner. Some of the most prolific artists in the collection include H. C. Christy, Harrison Fisher, Arthur E. Jameson, Ernest Peixotto, Howard Pyle, Ernest Thompson Seton, Florence S. Storer, George Varian, N. C. Wyeth, and F. C. Yohn.

Artworks in the third series are alphabetical by artists’ last names and further divided into artwork for periodicals (white cards) and artwork for books and book jackets (primarily blue and orange cards). Organization within these subsections is relatively inconsistent. Some sections are in chronological order, others are in reverse chronological order, and others appear to be in no specific order. Many cards have been updated with information written in red ink that includes loan dates, return dates, and, in many cases, destroy dates. As the notes explain, a large percentage of the artworks to which the cards refer were destroyed in the 1908 fire on the third and fourth floors of the Charles Scribner’s Sons offices, where Scribner Magazine was produced. These cards are an invaluable resource for the artworks lost, both from the fire of 1908 and from other incidents.