Collection of autograph and printed material from the archives of F.W. Woolworth, regarding his business and its history, the Woolworth Building, and his family de (Woolworth, Frank Winfield) - 1927

[New York], 1927. Generally in very good condition. The Building, the Business, The Family: A Woolworth Archive. A remarkable archive pertaining to the retail (five and dime) pioneer, Frank Winfield Woolworth (April 13, 1852 - April 8, 1919), who opened his first store in 1879, and who, by 1911, had incorporated 586 stores in America, England, and Europe into the F. W. Woolworth Company. In 1913, Woolworth built the landmark Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan, at the time the tallest building in the world, at a cost of $13.5 million. The current archive documents not only the history of the business and the financial history of the Woolworth Building itself, but also contains important records and memorabilia from the Woolworth family itself. An archive of vital significance to the history of New York City and its architecture, as well as the history and development of international retail chain stores such as that pioneered by Woolworth. BUSINESS HISTORY: • An extraordinary Autograph Notebook kept by Frank Woolworth himself (approximately 6 x 4 inches), signed on front "F.W. Woolworth 280 Broadway, New York. U.S.A, ... If this book is lost - I wish the finder would send it to above address and send your name also. F.W. Woolworth." First page dated Feb 17, 1893. [122] pp., consisting of his notes on prices of various products (especially china) and sources, shipment dates, and destination stores (coded with Woolworth's unique numbering system). An intimate glimpse of Woolworth's methods. • 4 printed spreadsheets Actual Net Expenses for Year 1897, 1899, 1900, 1901, listing expenses for each Woolworth stores. 17 x 14 inches each. • Printed sheet dated 1899-1900 listing all FWW stores Lancaster-Third Avenue 8-1/2 x 22 inches. Sheet dated 1900-1901 listing all FWW stores Lancaster-Plainfield (NJ) 8-1/2 x 22 inches. • Manuscript Statement for 1903 on F.W. Woolworth Stationery. • Carbon copy of printed Inventory March 15 & April 15, 1904. • F. W. Woolworth Co. Fortieth Anniversary Souvenir 1879-1919. Illus. 32 pp. Wrappers. • F.W. Woolworth Traffic Book. 4to February 1, 1927. 31 pages. Green cloth. • Woolworth's First 75 Years. The Story of Everybody's Store 1879-1954. 62, [2] pp. Specially bound in red cloth. THE WOOLWORTH BUILDING: • Schuyler, Montgomery. The Woolworth Building. Frontispiece signed by artist E. Horter, with his illustrations throughout. 4to. New York, Privately Printed, 1913. First edition, one of 1000 done for Frank W. Woolworth. Boards, in original box. • Dinner given to Cass Gilbert Architect by Frank W. Woolworth in the Woolworth Buiding April 24, MCMXIII. Photographs of Gilbert & Woolworth, engraving of building. Printed by Munder-Thomsen 8vo, NY, 1913. Blue boards, a.e.g. Very fine in original glassine and original box. • Dinner given to Cass Gilbert Architect by Frank W. Woolworth. F. Hopkinson Smith Presiding. 2 tipped in color plates of the building, portraits of Woolworth, Gilbert, Hopkinson Smith, Louis J. Horowitz (Builder), William Winter, Hon. W.U. Hensel, Mr Patrick Francis Murphy. 140 pp. Red cloth. • Another copy of the above, SPECIALLY BOUND FOR FRANK W. WOOLWORTH (With his name stamped in name on front pastedown) IN FULL BLUE MOROCCO, neatly rebacked. • The Cathedral of Commerce. Woolworth Building New York. Illustrated. NY, 1916. 4to. Deluxe edition bound in full purple morocco, with wrappers bound in for Woolworth. Printed by Munder-Thomsen. • Photograph of Celebration of the Woolworth Building (233 Broadway) dinner, specifically of the presentation of Woolworth's silver bowl to Cass Gilbert, the Architect. 1936. • Official Award Ribbon. Panama Pacific International Exposition San Francisco 1915. 17 x 3-1/4 inches. Broadway Park Place Co. awarded for being the Highest and Finest Office Building in the World. • A substantial archive of over 100 documents and letters (mostly Woolworth's lawyers and real estate agents) pertaining to the finances and management of the Woolworth Building itself, as well as a few other properties. FAMILY HISTORY: • Original letters of Administration of the Estate of F.W. Woolworth granted to: Helena W. McCann, Jessie W. Donahue; Herbert T. Parson. May 24, 1919. FWW died without signing his newest will, so his handicapped wife received the estate under the provision of his older 1889 will. • Indenture for house in Rodman, NY. 1859. • Photos of FW Woolworth and wife. • Woolworth, Frank W. WAR! WAR! WAR! Letters from Southern France and Switzerland written in 1914. [New York] David Nelke, 1917. 76 pp. WOOLWORTH'S OWN COPY. Bound in full blue morocco with red morocco doublures with the Woolworth Crest, a.e.g. bound by MacDonald. In slipcase. • Album of 13 tipped in folio photographs of the interior of the Houses of Mr. and Mrs. C.E.F. McCann in New York and Oyster Bay. Bound in full green morocco, moiré silk endpapers by J. O. Wilson New York & Paris. • Cornell, John and Josiah. American Families Historic Lineage. Illustrated. 372, 366, 324 pp. 3 vols. (14 inches tall by 9 inches)Folio, New York: National Americana Society, no date (ca. 1914). Number 33 of 50 copies of the Etoile d'Argent Edition. Bound in full navy blue crushed levant with the Woolworth family coat-of-arms in gilt and multi-color leather onlay on the upper board of each volume; moiré silk doublures and endleaves; all edges gilt; enclosed in a navy blue straight-grain goatskin covered wooden slip case; by MacDonald, N.Y. See, John P. Nichols' Skyline Queen