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Stainforth Antique Shop

1920 - 1950 ?

Remarks: In 1941, David P. Wheatland and I. Bernard Cohen were informed of the existence of some antique glassware in the Stainforth Antique Shop on Beacon Street in Boston. When they went to inspect it they discovered that it was stamped with numbers which had been used to identify glassware in the Physics Department at Harvard. Evidently, during the renovation of the department, some of the old pieces of glassware were discarded. Since there was no space available to store the glassware and this collection had not begun at that time, Cohen and Wheatland did not purchase the pieces from Mr. Stainforth. Three years later at a meeting of the Club of Odd Volumes, at which many Harvard personnel were present, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Wheatland discussed the possibility of conserving the old scientific equipment so it would not be discarded "as some of the glassware had been" and the story of Mr. Stainforth was related. This statement having caused some excitement at the meeting, Mr. Hickman went searching for Mr. Stainforth's glassware. He returned with the information that such glassware was not to be found. Mr. Cohen and Mr. Wheatland found that Mr. Stainforth had sold his shop and its contents with the exception of the pieces which the new owner did not desire. After more searching, Mr. Stainforth was located and did, indeed, still have the glassware. It was in a garage (snowed in) and was purchased. It was returned to Harvard on 10/21/49. (All the above taken verbatim from the old inventory of chemistry instruments in the CHSI library).

The few references to these names that can be found online refer to Mr. A. Stainforth of the Boston Antique Shop.

The old inventory of chemistry instruments in the CHSI library informs us that Mr. Stainforth was the owner until some time in the mid-1940s.

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reference

For more info, see "Home," Basic Antiques, http://www.basic-antiques.com/glass-knobs.htm (accessed 07/14/2015)

The Henry Francis Du Pont papers at the Winterthur Library (Delaware) has a finding aid relating to his correspondence with Antique dealers, with a section on the Boston Antique Company (correspondence from 1924-1946). See " Antique Dealers papers," Winterthur Library, http://findingaid.winterthur.org/html/HTML_Finding_Aids/ARC28.htm (accessed 07/14/2015)