This collection contains primarily greeting cards designed by Ernest Dudley Chase which he sent to relatives and were collected by his niece Ruth Isabel Chase Adams. Some of the European cards are actually little booklets with several views. Most are Christmas and News Year's greetings. A few are birthday cards, including "The Road to Happiness! A Birthday Wish." With one exception, the cards are not dated.
Admin/Biographical History
Ernest Dudley Chase was born 26 July 1878 in Lowell, Massachusetts, and died 26 August 1966 in Hyannis. He grew up in Lowell and took brief courses of study at the Lowell Textile School and the Vesper George Art School in Boston. He began his artistic career in 1900 with the Butterfield Printing Co. in Lowell. In 1908, he established the greeting card firm, Des Arts Publishing Co., soon renamed Ernest Dudley Chase Publishers. In 1921, it was bought by Rust Craft Publishers, with whom he stayed until 1958.
Chase published more than fifty pictorial, historical, and stamp maps. He lived for some forty years at 3 Lakeview in Winchester. He was a member of the First Congregational Church, a director of the Winchester National Bank, a member of the Waterways Committee, and served as president of the Calumet Club. He traveled extensively. Upon retirement from Rust Craft in 1958, he moved to West Harwich.
Barbara Ann Winsor (born 1943 in Bar Harbor, Maine) became an award-winning professional graphic artist. She graduated from the Massachusetts College Art, Brookline, in 1965, and has held several positions as a graphic designer, freelance designer, and illustrator.
Copyrights
Permission to publish material from this collection is subject to approval by the Town of Winchester.
Finding Aids
A finding aid with detailed information about the contents of the collection is available. Contact the Archives for a copy.
