Franklin Barrett – Between the Pages

As far back as I can remember I have always been a “book person”.  The earliest memories of my things included a collection of Little Golden Books (mainly Disney titles). As time moved along books were always a major factor in my life. This includes both fiction and non-fiction titles. When I got into the aquarium hobby in the middle/late 1960s books came right along with it…up until today. During this time, I have collected aquarium books, had a book business (new and used) dealing with such titles, and written a monthly column (for almost 12 years) in Aquarium Fish Magazine reviewing them. And, over the decades, I have written more than a few free-standing articles dealing with various aspects of them.

One fascinating aspect of obtaining used books is the occasional finding in them of various mostly paper items that the previous owner(s) had stored between the pages. Over the years I have found a decent number of such items in various aquarium titles. These have included but are not limited to: clipped newspaper articles (unfortunately often without the date); some (obviously losing) raffle tickets; letters, sometimes from the author of the book (if you are lucky); and various pieces of aquarium product advertising. All such things may generally be classified as ephemeral items. These are basically items that were not meant to be long lasting. They serve their purpose and then, for the most part, disappear to wherever such things go, never to be seen again. But, by being preserved between the pages of a book they can be awaiting a new, unintended, life. And such pieces may often provide valuable little bits of history in various aspects of the aquarium hobby.

In what follows I would like to present a look at one such ephemeral item which is among some important pieces that I have encountered over the years. In one way this might be considered just a “show and tell” event, but I will attempt to take it past that and offer some of the aspects that make this item a potentially important addition to the overall history of the aquarium hobby.

I would like to share with you here a rare piece of aquarium advertising that I came upon quite a few years ago. I was on a trip from Rhode Island to South Florida to visit my mom and during this time my sister Carol (who is also a book person) took me out to visit a couple of her favorite used bookstores. (“There were a lot more of such stores in those days,” he thought sadly).

In one store I came upon a 1910 copy of the British book “The Aquarium: Its Inhabitants, Structure and Management” by J.E. Taylor. It was in nice condition, reasonably priced, and with a dealer discount well worth adding to my business stock. But what made the purchase even more worthwhile was a folded single sheet (making four pages) undated advertising piece for Franklin Barrett’s Philadelphia Pennsylvania goldfish and aquarium business. The four-page presentation of it may be seen below. This shows his available stock of fish, plants, and other related products. A pleasant addition is seen on page four which discusses aquarium management.

Barrett (1871 – 1958) has been called “…the pioneer Philadelphia goldfish breeder…” by hobby historian Al Klee in his 2003 book “The Toy Fish – A History of the Aquarium Hobby in America – The First One-Hundred Years”. Barrett, along with others, formed a Philadelphia nucleus for the U.S. goldfish hobby in the late 19th and well into the 20th Century – and in keeping with the times tropical fishes were included in his business as the availability of them increased, especially in the 1920’s and 30’s. His advertising is well known in “The Aquarium” magazine which was put together by a varying number of aquarium societies (in the teens) and later in the William T. Innes “The Aquarium” magazine but both were at different addresses than on the piece under discussion. I was unfamiliar with the address on the piece under discussion. So, a looking I went and ended up pleasantly surprised.

Going into back issues of a local newspaper title (The Philadelphia Inquirer) I discovered, by examining classified ads, that Barrett was doing business at the 1324 North Front Street address as early as February 1901. I will note that it might have been even earlier as another piece of source material noted Barrett as having been in business since 1894. In any case, Barrett was at that address until October 10, 1909, when he relocated. This relocation was initiated in that Barrett noted that he was going to change to an exclusively wholesale business. This he did for several years, but for the benefit of the hobby he later backtracked and ran a combined wholesale and a retail business. In most of his newspaper ads is noted the following: “Send for descriptive catalogue” or “Send for descriptive price list.” So, I am feeling very confident that what is presented herein is one of these descriptive lists which would date it to from 115 to 123 years old. This is the only such copy that I have seen. Gary Bagnall, the director of MOAPH, is also unfamiliar with the publication (personal communication). The copy seen here had gone into the library of Wayne Leibel, and subsequently will go to the MOAPH research library for permanent placement. I will state that hopefully other examples may be found to exist and should anyone be familiar with such a document I would love to hear from you.

A note on the examined newspaper ads: Some classified types of newspaper ads are rather static and change very little, if at all, and consequently are of minimal historical importance. The ads by Barrett are the opposite of this. His ads constantly changed depending on what goldfish he was importing, breeding or otherwise obtaining. He also regularly highlighted the various types of aquarium plants that he mostly produced in his greenhouses. He regularly included prices for such noted items. These varied over the covered period due to various factors including availability of stock and special sales especially for times like Christmas.

From the ephemeral point of view the noted piece is an important document. It is one of those advertising pieces that is meant to come and go. I feel sure that Barrett would have updated it as he did with his regular classified ads in the newspaper. So, seeing any additional copies could prove interesting with any changes that might have been made. And there is another important feature that adds to the ephemera status that needs to be mentioned: this is the paper that it is printed on. The paper used on this piece is the then inexpensive acid-based paper. Over the years such printed material on this paper literally falls apart and tears easily…and keeps doing so with any use.  You can note on the first page of the publication the flaked falling apart shape of the right-hand edge where it was originally folded. I am almost sure that if I stare hard enough at such an edge, I can mentally make a piece of it flake off. I know that Yoda could. Such paper can be treated but this is an expensive proposition. Another preservation technique is to place such publications into available acid free rigid plastic holders. This makes them available for study without any further direct handling which will lead to additional paper loss.

So, without any additional chat, on the following four pages I present for your possible interest the noted Franklin Barrett catalog/price list.

The following four pages are a Franklin Barrett catalog from the 1890s-1909.

Several other pieces of Barrett advertising are shared below from the MOAPH collection.

From the December 1932 edition of The Aquarium, series 3.

From the June 1912 edition of The Aquarium, series 2.

The following four pages are a Franklin Barrett catalog from 1927.