Retail Displays and Events

Summary: Black-and-white prints, color prints and negatives depicting various aspects of Lenox, Incorporated, and its operations, including products and their creation and sale, and employee activities of both a work and a recreational nature.

Physical Plant: Arranged alphabetically by geographic location; thereunder by building or event.

Photographic prints, mostly black-and-white, depicting Lenox facilities in various states of construction, both interior and exterior, as well as ceremonies such as groundbreakings and dedications. Facilities depicted include the original Lenox plant in Trenton, NJ, the Lenox production facility in Pomona, NJ, Lenox corporate headquarters in Lawrenceville, NJ, Lenox crystal facilities in Mount Pleasant, PA, the Lenox Mexicana plant in San Salvador and the ArtCarved factory and offices in Austin, TX. Included in the sub-series are 3.5x5, 4x6 and 8x10 black-and-white prints, 3.5x5 and 8x10 color prints and 4x5 and 8x10 negatives, as well as occasional press releases and memoranda of transmittal.

Among the photographs in the sub-series are depictions of the groundbreaking, and possibly dedication, of the Pomona plant and the dedication of the Lenox Mexicana plant after the purchase of Plata Elegante.

Images of the Trenton and Pomona showrooms are not filed here, but rather in the Non-Retail Displays and Events sub-series.

Product Creation: Arranged alphabetically by general function; thereunder by specific process.

Photographic prints, primarily of operations in Trenton, New Jersey, depicting the production stages of Lenox dinnerware and giftware. The principal categories are design work, creation, firing and finishing of the china body, decoration and sorting. Included in the sub-series are 4x5 and 8x10 black-and-white prints, 4x6 color prints and 4x5 and 8x10 negatives, as well as prints of several other, less standard sizes. Key personnel depicted at work include decorator William H. Clayton, decorator William Morley, chief modeler Ernest Henk and chief designer Frank Graham Holmes.

Among the prints in this sub-series are images of operations from facilities in Pomona, New Jersey, and Central America.

Filed at the end of this sub-series are images of crystal production--including the engraving of the inaugural bowl for President George H. W. Bush--and images of jewelry production.

Retail Displays and Events: Arranged alphabetically by display location or event title.

Photographic prints, mostly black-and-white, of retail store displays and special promotions and events. The images depict displays in major department stores and smaller china dealers nationwide, as well as special Lenox exhibits (including Command Performance exhibits), limited-time store promotions and local table setting contests. Included are 3.5x5, 5x7 and 8x10 black-and-white prints and 3.5x5 and 8x10 color prints. Located sporadically throughout the sub-series are supporting documents, such as memoranda of transmittal.

Among the display photographs are images from 1985 of Lenox Tea Salons located throughout Japan in department stores and retail centers, serving tea exclusively using Lenox china. While technically restaurants or tea houses, the salons functioned as working displays of Lenox products.

Among the event photographs are images for a Wanamaker's exhibit related to the 1940 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia that depict table settings in honor of various Republican Presidents and the Republican Presidential nominee Wendell Wilkie.

Some of the photographs in the subseries are gathered in albums. Several albums focus on nationwide sales events at department stores, including "The Lenox Event" from 1978 and 1979 and Lenox centennial events in 1989, as well as one album entitled "Event Store Photographs," consisting primarily of bridal events and Command Performance exhibits spanning from 1983 to 1987. One undated album illustrates suggested display layouts for Lenox Retail Stores. An additional album, from 1992 and 1994, is entitled "Lenox in Europe" and features images of Lenox displays from French department stores, such as the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, as well as images from a non-retail display hosted at the Hotel Bradford in Paris.

Also included in the sub-series are photographs of retail display cases, presumably display units that Lenox made available for sale to retailers.

Non-Retail Displays and Events: Arranged alphabetically by display or event type.

Photographic prints of non-retail product displays, including flower shows, trade shows, museum installations and the Lenox showrooms at the Trenton and Pomona facilities. Included in this sub-series are 3.5x5 and 8x10 black-and-white prints, 3.5x5, 5x7 and 8x10 color prints and 35mm negatives, as well as occasional supplementary material such as memoranda and press releases. Featured shows include the New York Flower Show, the Atlantic City China and Glass Show for 1974-1981, National Restaurant Association (NRA) events for 1989-1992, the New York Tabletop and Accessories Show and the Tableware International Symposium of 1988 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Accompanying the images of the Tableware International Symposium are reports and memoranda from Edelman Public Relations regarding preparations for the event.

Among the museum installations depicted are the Lenox Centennial exhibit at the State Museum in Trenton, New Jersey, and a reception in Tokyo, Japan, celebrating the Lenox Centennial.

Also included in this sub-series is a sequence of product creation photographs used in the "Lenox Creative Artists" display.

Portraits: Arranged alphabetically by personality type (celebrity or personnel); thereunder alphabetically by last name.

Photographic prints and negatives, overwhelmingly of company personnel. Key personalities include founder Walter Scott Lenox, company presidents Leslie Brown and John M. Tassie, chief designer Frank Graham Holmes, chief modeler Ernest Henk, Pomona plant manager Harry Ide and painter William Morley, as well as more contemporary employees, such as Ellen Denker, Marjorie Exton and Alice Kolator. Included are 4x5 black-and-white prints and negatives, 5x7 black-and-white prints and 8x10 black-and-white and color prints and negatives.

Among the images of Walter Scott Lenox is a group photograph that includes members of the Kuser family, longtime benefactors of the Ceramic Art Company.

The only celebrity image included in this sub-series is an autographed portrait of actress Lani O'Grady.

Special Events: Arranged alphabetically by event.

Photographic prints of events primarily comprised of presentations of special or unique Lenox pieces to celebrities and politicians, as well as the occasional presentation of an award to the Lenox company. The events include, but are not limited to, Presidential inaugurations, the Republican Party of Florida Statesman's Dinner, an open house at the New Jersey Governor's Mansion, the presentation of the Total Research Quality Award to Lenox, Incorporated, and Lenox Centennial events, including the award ceremony for the Create-A-Plate contest. Included are 8x10 black-and-white and color prints, as well as scattered 3.5x5 color prints, 5x7 black-and-white prints and 11x14 contact sheets. Featured personalities include Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George H. W. and Barbara Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, William Rehnquist, Lucinda Florio and Rosalynn Carter, as well as Lenox President Safford P. Sweatt.

Employee Activities: Arranged alphabetically by event.

Photographic prints and negatives, primarily from the 1950s, depicting employee recreational activities, sponsored primarily by Lenox. The activities include, but are not limited to, employee outings such as picnics and Easter egg hunts, softball and bowling leagues and their respective awards banquets, Christmas pageants and related events, office holiday parties and birthday celebrations, as well as images of employees having lunch in the company cafeteria. Included are 3.5x5 and 4x6 color prints and 4x5 black-and-white prints and negatives. While most images date from the 1950s, the office birthday celebrations date from the 1980s.

Among the images in this sub-series is a sequence from the retirement banquet for Paul Hedt.

Product Images: Arranged alphabetically by product name or description (including in a separate oversize section); thereafter, by alphanumeric pattern code (for items identified only by code).

Photographs and negatives, mostly black-and-white, of Lenox products. Coverage includes dinnerware, artware, giftware, light fixtures and figurines. Images include black-and-white photographs from several catalogs, as well as both black-and-white and color photographs of Command Performance pieces. Included at the beginning of the sub-series is a uniform size sequence of stock pattern record photographs, typically used by various Lenox departments for annotation purposes, but present here without notations.

Among the images depicted are Special Service and Command Performance pieces, labeled in this sub-series as Special Services. Included are color photographs of selected pieces from Presidential and state services, international services such as those for Saudi Arabia and Ecuador, commemorative plates and inaugural bowls.

For the (non-stock photo) images identified only by alphanumeric code, most of which are undated, the year of the pattern's design has been added to the folders in square brackets.

The six folders entitled Shape Record Photographs correspond to the 1909 Lenox catalog and depict undecorated china pieces. The shapes include vases, pitchers, bowls, dishes, candlesticks, clocks and lamp parts. Most of the photographs are annotated with the shape number as well as a numeric code on the reverse side. Also included is a memo book which serves as a guide to many of these photographs, listing shape numbers in numerical order, as well as page numbers (in the form of ## - #), which correspond to the numeric code on the reverse side of some of the photographs.