This articles features a John Howard Foote advertising cover from the 1860s. I have quite a number of advertising covers in my music-postal history collection. You can see a few articles on some of these including from the Sterling Organ Company, Noble & Cooley Drum Company, and the Gibson Guitar Company.
The advent of envelopes (first U.S. patent dates from 1849) brought on the possibility of decorating them with logos and eye-catching designs. Inevitably, business saw an opportunity for advertising. Such used envelopes are, in philatelic terms, advertising covers. Specifically, this is a corner card, with a design in the upper left corner. Learn more at this helpful site.
In this case, it is merely an image of an instrument, a rotary-valve cornet. This type of soprano brass instrument was popular in the in the 1860s and 1870s, before piston valves took their place. You can see an example of such an instrument, notice the keys on top of the instrument and how they push on a rotary valve. Also, look at the unusual shape of the tubing and how it is very similar to that on the advertising cover above.
The cover is a three-cent, pink stamped envelope (U58) that was introduced in 1864. Unfortunately it is largely obscured by a very large, black cancellation. This envelope, along with the type of instrument depicted in the corner, suggest a date of mid-to-late 1860s for the cover.
Maker’s Attribution
The attribution of the cover comes from a little stamp on the back of the envelope. Indeed, the mark is similar to that found on many instruments by the John Howard Foote firm. It features the letters J. H and F, surrounding a musical lyre. Below, there are the letters NYC and an ampersand (&), intertwined. The letters stand for New York City, although I do not know why there is an ampersand. Here is the stamp from the back of the envelope.
Notice how similar it is to a metal badge on a cornet from around the same time.
John Howard Foote
John Howard Foote was born in 1833 in Canton, Connecticut. He moved to New York City in the early 1850s and worked as a machinist. In 1863, he bought a company of music importers, Rohe and Leavitt, to establish himself in the business. Foote formed a short-term partnership with John Stratton, a brass maker. Then, by 1866, he was working by himself. Although he was sometimes a part of designing instruments, for the most part all of the instruments that bear his name were made by others. Foote sold brass instruments, violins, banjos, guitars, and even drums.
In 1868, a Chicago branch of the firm opened. It was eventually run by John’s son Howard. In 1896, John dies, and within a decade the company is liquidated.
The Recipient
The addressee of the cover is Professor O. Whittlesey of the Music Vale Seminary of Salem, Connecticut. In 1835, Oramel Whittlesey, a piano-maker, founded the Music Vale Seminary as a normal school (teacher’s college) for women. The school was the first accredited conservatory in the United States. It eventually became a boarding school and had about eighty students a year.
The school was known as Mr. Whittlesey’s School and students had classes in harmony and notation, while learning instruments such as the piano, harp, and guitar. Graduates of the school had teacher’s certificates authorized by the Connecticut state Board of Higher Education.
The Civil War drastically reduced enrollment and a first in 1868 destroyed the property. Although the school was rebuilt, after Whittlesey’s death in 1876, the school was closed for good.
The cover is a wonderful piece of American music history, connecting John Howard Foote with Whittlesey and the Music Vale Seminary.
