My husband’s great grandfather was a press operator at a print shop in the 1920’s. For some reason he kept hundreds of printing proofs from his work. The Beeson family has kept them safe for over 100 years. In 2023, when the collection was unearthed from a relatives home, I scanned each one and created a digital archive. While the collection includes well known brands like Butterfinger, many of the less famous designs would have been lost to time.
Each sheet has multiple wrappers ganged up onto translucent glassine sheets. The digital scans do not capture the creative use of transparencies or the vibrant colors of the ink. The value of this collection is hard to estimate but most collectors were only interested if we cut down the proofs into singles. No museums were interested. For now, this collection is completely intact and staying with the Beeson family.
Follow my insta dedicated to this project @unwrappingthepast
