S. S. Silver & Company Archive
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Photographs and some company documents from a Brooklyn-based interior design and store fixture company.
Historical Note
S. S. Silver & Company was formed in 1910 by Sol S. Silver (1885-1946). The company was located at 350-352 Butler Street in Brooklyn, and specialized in building and equipping commercial customers with new interior design displays. S. S. Silver & Company mainly dealt with businesses in the retail clothing trade, including specialty hat, shoe, and fabric stores as well as women's apparel. Among the other types of clientele served were restaurants, private residences, and business offices, primarily in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Sol Silver died in 1946 while playing golf with his son, Bertram. Bertram S. Silver (1907-1999), who had been a vice-president in the company, subsequently became president of the firm. Under his leadership, S. S. Silver & Company began to expand the customer base, increasing both the geographical area and the size of the typical establishment served. Beginning in 1946, Silver & Co. won contracts to design the interiors for renovations at two major New York City department stores, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. This led to further work designing displays and interiors for Saks Fifth Avenue's new stores in Beverly Hills, Chicago, and Detroit. The non-New York work attracted midwestern clients for Silver & Co., primarily larger department stores in Kansas City, Chicago, and Colorado Springs. Silver & Co. continued to be involved in smaller New York City-based store and office buildings and renovations.
Bertram Silver sought to raise the company's public profile by emphasizing publicity, writing many articles for trade publications, and advertising in the New York Times, among other periodicals. He emphasized a no-nonsense approach to retail design, one guaranteed to please his clients. In "Novelty Isn't Everything - Don't Overlook Prosaic," an article Silver wrote in June 1948 for Women's Wear Daily, he suggested that "â?¦ some of the more prosaic design elements, such as locking devices for fixtures, or thoughtfully-planned fitting rooms still can save headaches and make the difference in sales." Letters from satisfied clients (found in Series III) attest to their satisfaction with Silver & Co.'s design work.
In 1954, Bertram Silver moved from his West End Avenue apartment to a 65-acre estate in Newtown, Connecticut. S. S. Silver & Company was dissolved in 1960-1961. In 1968 Silver was named President and General Manager of the Lehigh and Leopold Division of Litton Industries.
Arrangement
Missing Title
- Series I. Commercial Interiors
- Series II. Residences
- Series III. Company Records
- Series IV. Publicity Scrapbooks
Scope and Content Note
The S. S. Silver & Company Archive spans the period from 1922 to 1957, with most photographs dating from 1946 to 1956, when the company was led by Bertram S. Silver. The collection primarily contains photographs documenting the company's interior design work for retail companies. Photographs highlight the custom fixtures and office furniture, as well as the use of new technology (innovative lighting techniques, plexiglass partitions) that were the firm's strengths. Major photographers included are Joseph Molitor (1907-1996), an architectural photographer, and Ben Schnell, another photographer of interiors. The collection is divided into four series: Commercial Interiors; Residences; Company Records; and Publicity.
The majority of the collection consists of 8 x 10 inch photographs, generally black and white with some color, which are mounted on paper board. These were originally housed in thirty-nine numbered black binders, probably for publicity or archival purposes. However, photographs of the same store were not necessarily filed in the same binder, making it difficult to view all photos of one store at the same time. As the binders were not found to correspond to a chronological or other discernable order, the pages were disbound and filed alphabetically by store for ease of retrieval. Each page has been labeled on the verso with the original binder number and page number; a list of this original order also follows this finding aid. Three of the company's original binders have been saved and are housed at the end of the collection.
The collection also includes a folder of correspondence from satisfied clients, two scrapbooks of clippings and publicity material, and some early consultant reports on the company's structure and workflow. These materials document the inner workings and history of a commercial display and interior design firm.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as S. S. Silver & Company Archive, PR 061, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Provenance
Gift of Bertram S. Silver, 1982.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: Commercial Interiors
Scope and Contents note
Series I fills boxes 1 through 12 and forms the bulk of the collection. These photographs are all mounted on board, as described above, except for one folder of unmounted photographs of Bergdorf Goodman, and a spiral-bound notebook including a few photographs of a variety of stores. The Bergdorf photos are filed in with those from the albums. The notebook is filed at the end of the series.
Bergdorf Goodman, Bernhard Ulmann, Kaufman's, S. M. Frank & Company, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Woolf Brothers are represented by the largest numbers of photographs. Architectural plans for the Bergdorf Goodman renovations are also included in this series. Color photographs were taken of the Detroit Saks Fifth Avenue and the Kansas City Woolf Brothers jobs; these are noted in the box listing.
While most of the Silver & Co. work was for the garment trade, several other types of businesses are represented here. The offices of the law firm Strasser, Spiegelburg, Fried & Frank (now known as Fried, Frank) and the executive offices of Sterling Drug are represented. C & L Delicatessen, a midtown Manhattan restaurant, is also shown.
In general, these photographs are stark shots meant to show the new interiors and display cases. People appear only in a few images of Bergdorf Goodman (before renovation). Publicity and clippings from Series IV, as well as correspondence from Series III, were used to provide dates from some of these photographs.
The photographs are arranged alphabetically by company or store name, and then by city where necessary. The number of prints follows the name in parentheses.
A. & J. Engel, Inc. (4 prints)
18 East 50th Street, New York, NY, undated
General note
See also: Box 13, Folder 157
Addis Co. (3 prints)
Syracuse, NY, 1944
Adeline Shops (3 prints)
1018 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, undated
Alexette Gloves (9 prints), undated
Alfreda, Inc (8 prints)
15 West 39th Street, New York, NY, 1946
General note
See also: Box 13, Folder 157
Arnold Constable (11 prints)
Fifth Avenue at 40th Street, New York, NY, 1939
Arthur Beir & Co. (9 prints)
57 Worth Street, New York, NY, 1939
Automatic Manufacturing Co. (7 prints)
Newark, N.J., undated
B. Blumenthal Co. (6 prints)
1372 Broadway, New York, NY, 1939
Bacmo Postman Corp. (7 prints)
244 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Bergdorf Goodman, Perfume Department (2 prints)
746 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1951-1956
Bergdorf Goodman, Shoe Department (3 prints)
746 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1951-1956
Bergdorf Goodman, Sportswear Department (2 prints)
746 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1951-1956
Bergdorf Goodman, Van Cleef & Arpels (2 prints)
746 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1951-1956
Bergdorf Goodman, General (74 prints)
746 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1951-1956
Bergdorf Goodman, Architectural plans for alterations
746 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1951-1956
The Bermuda Shop (2 prints)
545 Madison Ave, New York, NY, 1956
Bernhard Ulmann Co., Inc. (28 prints)
1150 Broadway, New York, NY, 1946-1947
Best & Co., Inc. (3rd floor) (6 prints)
New York, NY, undated
Black, Starr & Gorham (8 prints)
Millburn, NJ, 1956
Black, Starr & Gorham (10 prints)
New York, NY, 1930-1956
Black, Starr & Gorham (6 prints)
White Plains, NY, ca. 1948-1949
C. & L. Delicatessen (10 prints)
2131 Broadway, New York, NY, undated
Cherie, Inc. (2 prints)
887 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Christian Dior Shoes (1 print), undated
Collins & Aikman Corp. (7 prints)
200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Crescent Corset Co. (5 prints), undated
Delman Shoe Salon (8 prints)
Los Angeles, CA, 1957
Delman Shoe Salon (1 print)
New York, NY, 1956
Dieges & Clust (3 prints)
17 John Street, New York, NY, undated
Dobbs (13 prints)
380 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 1928
Ducharne Fabrics (11 prints)
244 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 1945-1946
E. T. Howard (6 prints)
New York, NY, undated
Flah & Co. (5 prints)
Syracuse, NY, undated
Fred Greenberg Dress Co. (5 prints)
New York, NY, 1947
Friedman's Shoe Store (5 prints)
1034 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY (5 prints), undated
Friedman's Shoe Store (3 prints)
379 Knickerbocker Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, undated
Futura Sales Company (6 prints)
210 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 1951
General Shoe Corporation (6 prints)
Empire State Building, New York, NY, 1956
Georg Jensen (10 prints)
667 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1946-1947
Ground Gripper(1 print)
310 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, NY, undated
Hafner Associates (14 prints)
New York, NY, 1946
Hat Corporation of America (9 prints)
530 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1957
Hudson Finishing Corporation (5 prints)
New York, NY, undated
I. B. Cohen & Sons (6 prints)
New Rochelle, NY, undated
Ideal Novelty Toy Company (11 prints)
New York, NY, undated
John B. Stetson Company (5 prints)
475 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1954
Julius Kayser & Co. (5 prints)
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Kaufman's (31 prints)
27 South Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, CO, 1948
Kenyon & Eckhardt Inc. (9 prints)
New York, NY, undated
Knox the Hatter (4 prints)
452 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Knox the Hatter (4 prints)
161 Broadway, New York, NY, undated
M. G. Peters & Bros. (4 prints)
480 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY, undated
Masback Hardware (4 prints)
326 Hudson Street, New York, NY, 1936
Monique Bag Company (3 prints)
745 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Munsingwear, Inc. (3 prints)
New York, NY, 1947
Nat Lewis (9 prints)
1637 Broadway, New York, NY, before 1947
General note
See also: Box 13, Folder 157
National Fabrics Corporation (27 prints)
1071 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Physical Culture Shoe Store (3 prints)
2398 Broadway, New York, NY, undated
Remond-Holland (9 prints)
244 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 1946
Rhealee Hat Shop (6 prints)
408 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 1940
Rollins Company (13 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1947-1948
General note
See also: Box 13, Folder 157
S. M. Frank & Company, Inc. (9 prints)
2 East 54th Street, New York, NY, undated
S. M. Frank & Company, Inc.(15 prints)
18 East 54th Street, New York, NY, undated
Saks Fifth Avenue (9 prints)
Beverly Hills, CA, 1947
Saks Fifth Avenue (7 prints)
Chicago, IL, undated
Saks Fifth Avenue, Men's Shop (19 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1946-1949
Saks Fifth Avenue, Antoine Salon (16 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1946-1949
Saks Fifth Avenue, Antoine Salon (cont.)(15 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1946-1949
Saks Fifth Avenue, General (31 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1946-1949
Saks Fifth Avenue, General (color photographs) (21 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1946-1949
Saks Fifth Avenue, General (color photographs) (cont.) (9 prints)
Detroit, MI, 1946-1949
Saks Fifth Avenue, Fabrics Salon (8 prints)
New York, NY, 1943
Saks Fifth Avenue, Jewelry Salon (4 prints)
New York, NY, 1946
Seal Sac, Inc. (6 prints)
6 East 39th Street, New York, NY, undated
Sterling Drug (7 prints)
1450 Broadway, New York, NY, 1951-1952
Store Modernization Exhibit (1 print)
Grand Central Palace, New York, NY, 1947
Strasser, Spiegelburg, Fried & Frank (3 prints)
New York, NY, undated
Treo Corset Company (13 prints)
200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 1950
Wamsutta Mills (8 prints)
Empire State Building, New York, NY, 1951
Wimmelbacher & Rice (8 prints)
244 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Wm. Hahn & Company (1 print)
414 Ninth Street, Washington, DC, 1922
Woolf Brothers, Before Renovation (4 prints)
Wichita, KS, 1948
Woolf Brothers, After Renovation (33 prints)
Wichita, KS, 1948
General note
See also: Box 13, Folder 157
Woolf Brothers, Model of First Floor (10 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
Woolf Brothers, Second Floor Before and After Renovation (5 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
Woolf Brothers, Third Floor Before Renovation (4 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
Woolf Brothers, Shoe Department (5 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
Woolf Brothers, Exterior Views (3 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
Woolf Brothers, General (30 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
General note
See also: Box 13, Folder 157
Woolf Brothers, General (color photographs) (5 prints)
Kansas City, MO, 1947-1949
Notebook with assorted photographs
includes: A & J Engel Inc., Alfreda Inc., Nat Lewis, Rollins Company, Woolf Brothers, Wichita and Kansas City, 1947-1949
Three empty binders
General note
See: Box 16
Series II: Residences
Scope and Contents note
Series II includes several interior images of four different homes. One is Sol S. Silver's residence on West End Avenue. Another belongs to Saul Brodsky, who was a business, and perhaps social, acquaintance of Silver. These images are all undated.
Photographs are filed alphabetically by inhabitant.
Brodsky, Saul, Residence (5 prints), undated
Dreitzer, Albert J., Residence (6 prints), undated
Lipson Residence (5 prints), undated
Silver, Sol S., Residence (3 prints)
336 West End Avenue, New York, NY, undated
Series III: Company Records and Correspondence
Scope and Contents note
Series III spans the years from 1922 to 1954 and consists largely of letters from satisfied customers, some of which were used as publicity by Silver & Co. The series also includes a 1922 report from Raymond Bell Consulting on the organization of Silver & Co., a 1923 report from Cooley & Marvin Co. about a proposed rearrangement of Silver's manufacturing equipment; and a 1946 Silver Company manual.
Report from Raymond Bell Consulting, 1922
Report from Cooley & Marvin Co., 1923
Company Manual, 1946
Correspondence, Letters of Reference, 1922-1954
Series IV: Publicity Scrapbooks
Scope and Contents note
Series IV. Publicity Scrapbooks contains two scrapbooks made with black kraft paper and post bindings. Newspaper and magazine clippings are pasted to each page, or are laid in to the scrapbook pages. Scrapbook One spans the years 1931 to 1952 and includes a variety of Silver & Company flyers, advertisements, specifications for potential customers, and newspaper and trade journal clippings. Publications such as Women's Wear Daily, Display World, Retail Management, Lighting & Lamps, Glass Digest, and Handbags Illustrated are represented. The majority of the publicity here is for Silver & Co.'s midwestern jobs: Saks Fifth Avenue and the Rollins Company in Detroit, Kaufman's in Colorado Springs, and Woolf Brothers in Wichita and Kansas City. Scrapbook Two spans the time period from 1943 to 1956 and contains many newspaper clippings laid in. Silver & Co. ads that appeared in the New York Times are pasted onto pages. The majority of jobs represented here are from the 1950s, such as Bergdorf Goodman and the John B. Stetson Company. A 1955 booklet put out by Silver & Co. called "Business Interiors: office, store, showroom" is also pasted in. It contains about twenty pages of illustrations and decorating tips, and was sent to potential clients.