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The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Maxson collection provides a valuable resource for the study of 19th-century visual culture, commercial advertising, and humor in addition to the role of gender, ethnicity, and race in advertising. American businesses are the predominant focus of the collection, though many international businesses are also represented. While trade cards are by far the most prevalent type of ephemera found in this collection, an extensive array of genres are present including die cut scrapbook pieces, photographs, engravings, maps, serials, and manuscript materials.

The 23 binders that house the Maxson collection were arranged by the collectors themselves. Items are organized somewhat randomly in terms of topical arrangement. While pockets of related materials can be found here and there (for instance, the entirety of Volume 16 contains circus-related items while Volume 11 contains an extensive number of Shaker-related materials), for the most part any given subject may appear in any given volume. In some cases, items are clustered as a result of having been acquired together or due to a documented common provenance. Occasional typed annotations written by the Maxsons help provide additional context for certain items.

The Maxson Collection Subject Index serves as a volume-level subject index for materials found throughout the binders. The subjects indexed here are generally representative of both visual and commercial content. In addition to more general subjects, many names of specific people, places, buildings, events, and organizations that appear in the materials have also been listed. Researchers engaging with this collection should be aware that they will encounter numerous examples of racist caricatures, especially ones depicting African American, Native American, Irish, and Chinese people.

Richard Schneidewind's collection of photographs, stereographs, newspaper articles and advertising materials about the Igorot peoples of the Philippines, and "Igorot Villages" traveling exhibits in the U.S., Canada and Europe that his company, the Filipino Exhibition Company, organized and managed between 1905 and 1913; also photographs of locations in the Philippines and Hawaii taken ca. 1899.

Photo albums and photographs dating from Richard Schneidewind's military service in Hawaii and the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. Images depict locations, street scenes, military camps and hospitals in the Philippines and Hawaii, and group photographs of military units. Also photographs and stereographs depicting Schneidewind's "Igorot villages": group photographs and individual portraits, scenes, dances, etc.; newspaper clippings documenting the tours, programs, advertising materials, and business contracts signed by Schneidewind and the Igorots.

Paper records include admission tickets and passes to Igorot Village exhibits at state fairs and expositions; advertising flyers and brochures for the Igorot Village exhibits; Schneidewind's contracts with Igorots Felingao and Ugaog [Ugaag?] (1905); newspaper clippings and articles reporting about Igorot Village exhibits in various locations; photographs and stereographs, with mostly staged images, of Igorot Village exhibits, as well as miscellaneous photographs, including Schneidewind's portraits; among miscellaneous items are Schneidewind's business card and 2 letters (one in French).

The Photo album contains mostly photographs of Hospital Corps officers, personnel, nurses and patients, as well as military ships, hospitals, historic buildings and street scenes in Manila, Makati, Caloocan, Corregidor Island, Honolulu, and other locations. Also includes undated photographs of scenes from the Igorot Village exhibits.

The two Scrapbooks contain newspaper articles and clippings, as well as some advertising materials. The larger scrapbook mostly contains U.S. materials, 1907-1909 and undated, and the European tour materials (some in French), dated 1913-1914. The smaller scrapbook in original binding contains materials from the European tour, 1911-1912.

The two Oversize folders contains loose materials found in the European tour scrapbook: an undated photograph of Igorot Village exhibit; undated group photograph containing portrait of Schneidewind's son Richard (his last name spelled Schneidowin); and 3 newspaper articles (1910, 1912 and undated)