Who Was Jefferson R. Burdick?

It's no surprise that many of The Met’s treasures were bequeathed by wildly wealthy benefactors (the name J. P. Morgan, for example, likely rings a bell). But it’s perhaps lesser known that one of the Museum’s most enchanting collections belonged to a comparatively ordinary man by the name of Jefferson R. Burdick (American, 1900–1963). 

An electrician from Syracuse, New York, Burdick was a passionate collector of American ephemera since childhood. Over the course of his life, he amassed over 300,000 posters, postcards, and advertising inserts that collectively illustrate much of the history of popular printmaking in the United States. 

As such, the eponymous Jefferson R. Burdick Collection at The Met is significant in its own right—his impressive assemblage of baseball cards, for instance, represents the most comprehensive collection of its kind outside of the Baseball Hall of Fame—but it’s also aspirational for art lovers without tycoon-worthy funds.

For Burdick, collecting was a joyous hobby, and he likened his beloved holdings to “a magic carpet that takes you away from work-a-day cares to havens of relaxing quietude where you can relive the pleasures and adventures of a past day—brought to life in vivid picture and prose.” 

Burdick was so dedicated to collecting that he devised a system for categorizing trade cards that was published as The American Card Catalogue in 1939. Nearly a century later, his system remains in use. Today, The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection is a fascinating part of The Met’s Drawings and Prints collection, exemplifying the department’s founding mission to represent the gamut of artistic endeavor. 

The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection is likewise a perennial source of inspiration for The Met Store, where we regularly reimagine characters and motifs from Burdick’s assortment as ornaments, stationery, tableware, and beyond.

It’s never too early to think about the holidays, and this season’s assortment of ornaments references a number of artworks from Burdick’s collection.

Our classic Santa and Reindeer Hand-Painted Glass Ornament adapts the heartwarming scene on a festive Christmas card (1952) depicting Santa and his reindeer bringing Christmas cheer to a snow-blanketed village.

This delightful set of three hand-painted glass ornaments pays tribute to three colorful commercial prints in The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection.

Two of the lithographs—Cardinal Grosbeak and Snow Bird—belong to a promotional series issued in 1888 by the Virginia-based tobacco company Allen & Ginter. Chickadee, from 1941, was included in New York author John H. Eggers’s eponymous Eggers Bird Booklets.

Cardinal Grosbeak likewise inspired our new spinning ornament, in which the cardinal is perched on a rotating bough. 

This season, we’re delighted to introduce a collection of fine holiday cards. Wish your loved ones a “Merry Christmas” with our elevated set reinterpreting Amy Drevenstedt’s (American, b. 1886) elegant print Noel (1930). The artist’s original motif of Art Deco–style angels is richly embellished with foil, and each envelope is luxuriously lined. Golden seals featuring a selection of The Met’s logos, past and present, lend an artful finishing touch to your greeting.

Or, opt for this festive quilled holiday card, which takes its design from Golden Christmas Tree, a 20th-century American commercial card gifted to the Museum by Burdick. Learn more about the skilled process behind our handcrafted quilled cards in this blog post.

In celebration of The Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, we’ve partnered with the New York City–based designer John Derian on an exclusive collection of unique decoupage decorations on hand-blown glass plates, trays, bowls, and more—many of which are inspired by artworks in The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection.

A whimsical trade card belonging to the Novelties series issued in 1889 to promote Kinney Tobacco Company informs the Novelty Butterfly Decoupage Tray (available in-store). 

The marvelous Callithea Sapphira (1860) on this domed paperweight (available in-store) comes from The Butterflies and Moths of America Part 1 series published in Boston by Louis Prang & Co. 

In 1888, the Virginia-based tobacco company Allen & Ginter issued a series of 50 trade cards depicting various avian species. The cuckoo on this charming pencil tray (available in-store) nods to a commercial lithograph from that series, titled Birds of America, which was designed to promote Allen & Ginter Brand Cigarettes.

Find all this and more inspired by The Met collection in-store and online.