Perry Paint collection

Item Information

Title:
Perry Paint collection
Description:
The Perry Paint Collection documents the work of the Edward K. Perry Company of Boston, Massachusetts, an important and influential design firm, and provides signifcant information about the practices and materials available to the paint industry from the 1930s to the 1980s. The main contents are composed of a large variety of objects that made up the Edward K. Perry Company's 'Sample Room' in their offices on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts. This room, which was used as a showroom for prospective clients, contained many examples of paints and decorative techniques produced by the company. Staff members worked with prospective clients or design professionals to determine colors, materials, and techniques on sample boards. The collection includes hundreds of such paint samples, some of which illustrate the techniques of graining, marbling, leafing, sponging, stenciling, and pouncing. Most of the objects in the collection were organized and stamped with a number in order to help in its identification. The company developed its own numbering system for the samples, hereafter referred to as the Perry Paint number. The numbers correspond to a certain color or technique that was filed on index cards. The largest part of the collection is comprised of small cardboard cards (most 8 1/2 x 11 inches), each an example of a different paint color or technique which make up the basic Perry color set. The collection was originally installed in a specially constructed room in the basement of the Lyman Estate in Waltham, Massachusetts, one of the Historic New England properties, and was meant to replicate the offices of the company. Samples of wallpaper, decorative paper, flooring, moldings, and other architectural elements, as well as sample books, architectural drawings, and various publications are also found in the collection. Among the documents in the collection are "jobs billed" and client cards, organized alphabetically by customer each year and record labor, stock, and miscellaneous costs, and an index to the Perry Paint numbers. These records provide access points to the collection through color name, client name, and color number. Source: Perry Paint Collection finding aid.
Manufacturer:
Edward K. Perry Company
Architect:
Fox, Thomas A. (Thomas Alfred), 1864-1946
Date:
1930–1989
Format:
Drawings/Illustrations
Books
Manuscripts
Ephemera
Genre:
business records
samples
personnel records
sample books
architectural drawings (visual works)
publications (documents)
account books
stencils (image-making tools)
manuscripts (documents)
ephemera (general object genre)
Location:
Historic New England
Collection (local):
CC002: Perry Paint collection
Subjects:
paint (coating)
interior decoration
graining
marbling
sponging (surface marking process)
stenciling (process)
pouncing
flooring
moldings (object components)
wood (plant material)
interior design
wallpapers
clients
architectural elements
colors (hues or tints)
Paint industry and trade
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
395 boxes; 40 flat files; 129 rolls
Link to Item:
http://gusn.us/181079
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Identifier:
181079
Call #:
CC002