page 113 -- A.E. Jeaneret, Boss cases, Mrs. Avery's Lunch Room, Union Card Co., Terry's Art Gallery, Leavitt & Brant

updated 4 January 2016

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A.E Jeaneret won a bronze medal for its patented silver polish at the fifteenth exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable & Mechanic Association in Sept/Oct 1884. The happy event was recorded (via Google Books) in:

Title	The Exhibitions and Fairs of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Volumes 15-18
Author	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association
Published	1884
Original from	Harvard University
Digitized	May 3, 2008

As per this Google Street View, there are still jewellers on Boston's Washington St. as of June 2014.

From the card above, note the Boss pocket watch case on the railroad tracks.
Boss frequently illustrated the toughness of its cases on its advertising cards by claiming it could easily throw a train off the tracks.

As the grandson of DeForest Diver, engineer and photographer on the Ontario & Western Railroad
in New York, I am aware that this was not always a laughing matter:

The New York Ontario & Western Railway was also referred to as
"The Old & Weary" or "the railroad that ran on its side."
Even without Boss cases, track maintence was a challenge!

James Boss' (Patent # 23820) pocket watch cases, though probably not enough by themselves to cause a derailment, were far stronger and more durable than previous cases due to their manner of construction. As explained on the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors message board,

"The following chronology and information is from "History of the American Watch Case," Warren H. Niebling, Whitmore Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, 1971 (available on loan by mail to members from the NAWCC Library & Research Center (http://www.nawcc.org/Library/library.htm)), with additional notes in blue based upon an article in an 1889 issue of The Keystone, posted by Greg Frauenhoff, 30-Apr-04 and quotes in brown, based upon the online article "Decorative Aspects of American Horology (http://www.antiquorum.com/vox/june_2002/poniz/poniz.htm)," by Philip Poniz, on The Antiquorum Magaizine Website 

"1853 - Randolf & Reese Peters were making cases in Philadelphia, employing James Boss.
1859 - J. Boss received a patent for "spinning up" cases made of "gold-filled" type material. That is, material made of a sheet of composition metal (usually brass) sandwiched between two thin sheets of gold. Boss formed cases by rolling sheet metal as opposed to the traditional method involving soldering and cutting. Rolling increased the molecule density of the metal. His patent, No. 23,820 of May 3, 1859, revolutionized the watch case industry by enabling the production of not only less expensive, but considerably stronger cases. ... Unlike gold washed cases, which were made using electroplating, cases produced by means of rolling had much harder gold surfaces and were thus less apt to wear.
1871 - J. Boss sold patent rights to John Stuckert of Philadelphia....."

The following cards depict the nursery rhyme "This Little Piggy." Wikipedia explains to those of us who have forgotten that recitation is usually accompanied by toe counting and tickling. So take a break! Find somebody's toes to tickle!

I'm sure you'll want to hear this from the experts on YouTube (believe me they've got all the moves!):

The rhyme endures, but Mrs. Avery's left no trace.

From Industries and Wealth of the Principal Points in Vermont via Google Books,

Title	Industries and Wealth of the Principal Points in Vermont
Publisher	American Publishing and Engraving, 1891
Original from	Harvard University
Digitized	Dec 19, 2007
Length	217 pages p.145

The back of a card recently acquired by the Diver collection shows that the Union Card Company had a wide selection of cards:

According to Google Books, in 1908 the Union Card Company changed hands:

Title	The American Stationer, Volume 63, p.12
Publisher	Howard Lockwood, 1908
Original from	the New York Public Library
Digitized	Apr 29, 2011

Using current street numbering, No. 30 Main St. vanished down this alley between no.28 and no. 32 Main St. I suspect, however that the Union Card Company may have been part of "French's Block, 1875," which is the red brick building on the right of this Google Street View:

From the Library of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, which holds his bound letters:

---

William Almeron Terry (1828-1917)
Bound Letters

Biography:

"William Almeron Terry lived in Bristol, CT. He was a merchant and owned or ran Terry's Art Gallery. His hobbies included the collection and study of diatoms, as well as photography. He created slides of his diatom samples and exchanged both slides and samples with a number of other diatom enthusiasts. He published articles in Micrographie Preparateur, American Monthly Microscopical Journal,Rhodora and may have had a column in American Journal of Photography."

...

The Bibliography of William Almeron Terry, prepared by Robert K. Edgar (2003) is listed as part of Harvard's William Almeron Terry Collection. The Farlow collections even have some of his microscope slide labels on display:

From Bristol Connecticut in the Olden Time comes this article on diatoms by Wm A. Terry:

Published 1907

Topics Bristol (Conn.)

Publisher Hartford, City printing co.

Pages 734
Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language English
Call number b4218589
Digitizing sponsor MSN
Book contributor New York Public Library
Collection newyorkpubliclibrary; americana

The Boston Almanac for the year 1871 (via Google Books) contains this ad for Leavitt & Brant:

Title	The Boston Almanac for the Year ..., Issue 36
Publisher	S.N. Dickinson, 1870 p.164
Original from	Harvard University
Digitized	Apr 24, 2007

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