[Sansevierias] My Kind of GAL!

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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1891

The C. H. Lippincott Seed Company was the 1st 
seed company in the United States to be founded & 
managed by a woman, Carrie H. Lippincott 
(1863-1941) .  Carrie Lippincott had been born in 
in the middle of the Civil War in Burlington, New 
Jersey, in September of 1863.  Her father was 
Joseph P Lippincott, a tailor & merchant, born in 
New Jersey in 1821.  When he was 27 in 1848, he 
married Martha Abigail H Moore, who also was born New Jersey in June of 1829.


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1893

Carrie Lippincott was the youngest of their 
children & was still living at home with her 
parents in 1880.  By 1888, the Minneapolis City 
Directory showed Carrie living at 305 South 11th 
Street in Minneapolis.  When her father died, 
Carrie, her mother, her sister, & her 
brother-in-law moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1896

The unmarried Carrie Lippincott opened her flower 
seed business in Minneapolis in 1896, when she 
was 33 years old.  The seed business blossomed & 
was housed in a 2-story brick building next to 
the home she shared with her older sister Rebecca 
(1849-1944) & her husband Henry B. Kent 
(1852-1935) & their teenage daughter Florence 
(1883-1980) & with the Lippincott girls' widowed 
mother Martha at 319 & 323 Sixth Street South, in 
Minneapolis.  Sister Rebecca Lippincott had 
married Henry B Kent in 1878 in Bloomfield, Essex 
County, New Jersey. Henry was a carpenter in Bloomfield in 1880.


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The Lippincott sisters lived here with the 
brother-in-law, teenage neice, & widowed mother

Apparently, Carrie Lippincott issued her 1st seed 
mail catalog in January of 1896.  She also 
advertised in the local Minneapolis Journal for 
several years.  From March through April, 1896, 
Miss C H Lippincott advertised nasturtiums, sweet 
peas, & lawn grass for sale at her seed store in 
the Minneapolis Journal.  She also advertised, 
"The most magnificent catalogue free on 
application." Several of her ads boasted, that 
she had "The Best Flower Seeds."


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1896  This catalog 
seems to connect the Chinese Primroses for sale 
to a celebration of the immigration into America of the late 19C.

An article in the October 19,1896 Minneapolis 
Journal reported that, "When Miss C H Lippincott, 
the florist, issued her 1896 catlogue of flower 
seeds last January, she offered $200 in cash 
prizes for the largest blossoms raised from the 
seed of her "Royal Show Pansies," to be divided 
into twenty prizes.  This was the largest sum of 
money ever offered in a similar contest."  The 
contest drew 5,000 pansies submitted by 750 
competitors from across the nation. The article 
concluded, "The contestants represented nearly 
every state in the union and demonstrated to Miss 
Lippincott that advertising pays when intelligently done."


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1898

Carrie continued to place ads in the local 
paper.  The following year on April to May, she 
advertised sweet peas & nasturtiums along with a 
supply of lawn grass. for sale in the same local Minneapolis newspaper.


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1898

Carrie Lippincott apparently was a woman who 
liked to be in control & who feared little.  She 
made the local newspaper again on Monday, April 
5, 1897, when a man was bound over to court for 
burglary.  He was identified by Miss Carrie 
Lippincott as the man with whom she had a tussle 
in the hall of her brother-in-law's house on 
Sixth Street.  Police noted that man had several 
prior charges of burglary & blowing up safes in Minneapolis.


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1899  This catalog is 
intriguing because of it blatant 
orientalism.  The Orient, including present-day 
Turkey, Greece, the Middle East, & North Africa, 
exerted its allure on many Western artist's 
imagination in the 19C.  Harem scenes evoked a 
sense of cultivated beauty & pampered isolation 
to which many Westerners aspired.

In 1891, Carrie Lippincott began calling 
herself  The Pioneer Seedswoman of 
America.  Unique among seed companies, she 
specialized in flower seeds, & targeted female 
clientele.  Her greatest contribution to the seed 
trade industry was her gift for marketing. In the 
1880's, most seed packets from most seedhouses 
looked the same. The packets were printed on 
medium bond manilla paper with the text in black 
ink, perhaps with a little color on the vegetable 
or flower illustration. The farm-oriented 
catalogs appeared with big 8x10 illustrations 
featuring fruits & vegetables on their covers & 
in interior illustrations.  Lippencott's seed 
catalogs & advertisements revolutionized how 
garden seeds were sold. Her catalogs featured 
images of children, women & flowers giving her an 
edge with women customers among her competition.


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1899.  This catalog 
is particularly interesting because of the use of 
Japonisme.  The French term Japonisme, 1st used 
in 1872, refers to the influence of Japanese art, 
culture, & aesthetics, which occurred in Europe & 
America after the 1848-1854 period, when after 
more than 200 years of seclusion, foreign 
merchant ships of various nationalities again 
began to visit & trade with Japan.

A quote from one contemporary publication said 
the key to her success is prompt service, best 
seeds, reasonable prices, beautiful flowers, by a 
woman.  Contemporary accounts of her business 
highlight that her 25 seed order clerks were 
women & that she often employed housewives to 
grow out seed stock on their farms & backyard 
gardens.  In 1894, she adopted the practice of 
listing the number of seeds per-packet, so her 
customers could plan their gardens beds more 
accurately.  By 1896, Carrie's business claimed 
to have received 150,000 orders.


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Among her employees were Samuel Y. Haines (1853-) 
& his young wife Charlotte.  When Sam Haines had 
applied for a passport in 1895, he stated, that 
his occupation was seedsman.  By July 1896, Sam 
Haines, whose family had also come from 
Burlington, New Jersey & married into the 
Lippincott family there, was a full-time employee 
handling the advertising, which was the core of her success.

An interview with Carrie Lippincott & Haines in 
the July 8, 1896, issue of Printers' Ink, a 
journal for advertisers, paints a picture of a 
woman deeply involved in the operations of her 
business, so much so that all pieces of mail have 
to be opened before her eyes.  "She is the 
original pioneer seedswoman - a real woman, 
arranging all the details of a large business herself."

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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1899

Once again on April 20 & 27, 1900, she advertised 
in the Minneapolis Journal, admonishing her 
clients that was "time to give your lawn 
attention."  She was still selling lawn grass 
seed, sweet peas, & nasturtiums at her store.

By 1900, the entire family was working in 
Carrie's seed enterprise. Working with her mother 
& sister & brother-in-law, she created a thriving 
trade based on hard work & her shrewd sense of 
marketing. Her 5-inch by 7-inch catalogs were 
colorful sales tools infused with Carrie's 
personal touch. Carrie tried to make her 
customers feel that they were part of her 
family.  In her chatty catalog greetings each 
mailing, she updated her customers on the doings 
of her family, in fact, she referred to the 
catalogs as annual "Greetings."  The catalogs' 
colorful lithographed covers, usually depicted 
idealized children surrounded by colorful 
flowers.  They looked more like the chromo 
lithograph greeting postcards of the day rather than typical sales catalogs.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1901

Customers who received orders from the company 
found packages artfully tied with beautiful blue 
ribbons.  Each order contained a handwritten card 
which simply said, Yours for Fine Gardening, C. 
H. Lippincott.  By 1898, she owned an operated 
the world's largest seed house specializing in 
flowers & was printing a quarter of a million 
copies of her catalog. Competitors took note, & 
soon here colorful graphic designs & personalized 
practices were being copied by other seed sellers.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1902

Lippincott's approach to marketing through her 
emphasis on a woman-owned company that catered to 
other women, led to at least 2 other seed firms 
in Minneapolis to conduct seed distribution 
business under women's names. Their catalogs were 
also similar in size & used colorful graphic 
images.  Lippincott knew that men controlled 
these nearby companies, & she was right. Her 1899 
catalog stated it is a peculiar thing in this day 
& age that a man should want to masquerade in woman's clothing.


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Jessie R. Prior's Catalog 1901

Jessie Prior's husband had operated a seed 
business in Minnetonka, west of Minneapolis, for 
5 years, before a seed catalog using her name 
appeared in 1895. There was quickly talk among 
their competitors, that the use of Jessie's name 
was only a marketing gambit.  Jessie Prior's 
extant catalogs are silent on the gender issue. 
Jessie did apply for membership in the all-male 
American Seed Testing Association in 1903, 
however, only to be turned down ostensibly because she was a woman.


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Miss Emma V. White, 1900 catalog

Miss Emma V. White, also of Minneapolis, 
apparently took up the mail-order seed trade in 
1896, imitating Lippincott's catalog format. 
Actually, Emma White was listed as a boarder at 
the home of Alanson W Latham & his wife in 
1900.  Latham just happened to be Secretary of 
the Minnesota Horticultural Association.   He was 
so well known for his horticultural exploits, 
that the University of Minnesota chose him as one 
of 4 "Master Farmers" noting that "Mr Latham, who 
is secretary of the Minnesota State Horticultural 
Society, is known as an authority on grapes, and 
has been active in horticultural work."

The cover of the White 1900 catalog had an 
illustration which featured an obvious imitation 
of Palmer Cox's popular "Brownies" characters. In 
the early years, the White catalog often used 
pixie figures to dance around the flower art in 
her illustrations, which differentiated them from 
the more straight-laced visuals of both the 
Priors & Carrie Lippincott. Her photo was printed in the catalogs.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1903

Lippincott began publishing her picture in her 
catalog beginning in 1899, explaining that "a 
number of seedsmen (shall I call them men?) have 
assumed women's names in order to sell seeds."
White countered a few years later with the 
protest, "I am a real live woman & I give personal attention to my business."


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1904

Carrie was on the 1900 federal census with her 
family in Minneapolis, & on the 1905 voter list 
there.  The Minneapolis City Directory showed her 
seed business at 4410 Harriet Boulevard.  She was 
listed until 1909, in the city directory, as a seed dealer.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1905

But, by 1910, Carrie Lippincott, her sister 
Rebecca & her brother-in-law Harry, & her widowed 
mother, now 80 years old, had moved to Saint Croix, Wisconsin.


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Photographs of Lippincott's Seed Store were 
printed on the back Carrie Lippincott's 1914 
catalog. At this time her business address was 
208 Locust Street in Hudson, Wisconsin.

By 1910, Carrie replaced her brother-in-law in 
the census as the head of the household & owner 
of a seed business.  Her brother-in-law is listed 
as manager of the seed business.  In Wisconsin, 
they employed a Norwegian woman named Eda to tend 
house & help care for the elderly family matriarch.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1907

Carrie's personal touch apparently appealed to 
her mostly female customers. In 1911, she wrote 
in her catalog, "I wish it were possible for me 
to write a personal letter to all who have 
written me such pleasant & encouraging letters 
this past year. But that is impossible for I have 
received hundreds of them, & I thank you all for 
my mother, my sister & myself…"  Her 1911 catalog 
was advertising seeds from their Hudson, Wisconsin, location.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1908

The following year, Carrie Lippincott returned to 
Minnesota & once again was listed in the 
1915-1917 Minneapolis City Directory as a seed dealer at 3149 Holmes Avenue.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1911

The 1920 census shows that the Lippincotts & 
Kents had moved back to Minneapolis permanently 
after the death of their elderly mother.  By this 
time, Carrie was still listed as the seedswoman, 
& Harry Kent was listed as a florist.  She 
appeared in the 1922 Minneapolis City Directory 
as a florist at 3010 Hennepin Avenue.  The 
1923-1929 city directories, Carrie Lippincott was 
listed as a florist at 4445 Washburn Avenue South & at 3010 Hennepin Avenue.


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  Miss C H Lippincott Catalog

By 1930, both Carrie's sister & her husband were 
listed in the census with no occupation, but 
Carrie was still listed as the manager of the 
"florist" company.  In the 1934 Minneapolis City 
Directory, Carrie was a florist at both 3116 
Hennepin Avenue & at 4145 Washburn Avenue.  In 
1937-1939, Carrie was listed in the city 
directory at 5301 Xerxes Avenue South, but her 
occupation as a florist had ceased.


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Miss C H Lippincott Catalog 1905

By 1940, Carrie H. Lippencott & her sister 
Rebecca were living in the Minneapolis Jones 
Harrison Home for the Aged which is 80 acres on 
Cedar Lake dedicated to serving the elderly at 
3700 Cedar Lake Avenue.  Carrie Lippincott died 
there on November 4, 1941, and was buried in the Minneapolis Lakewood Cemetery.

<http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-miss-ch-lippincott-to-renees.html>See 
an article on Miss C H Lippincott by MrBrownThumb.com here.

<http://www.landrethseeds.com/newsletters/Volume%205/Issue%209%20-%20Part%20IX%20The%20Period:%201880-1890/Garlic.html>See 
mention of Miss C H Lippincott in the Landreth Seed Company history here.

<http://mertzdigital.nybg.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15121coll8/id/49155>Read 
the 1901 Lippincott catalog here.

<http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html>Read 
the Smithsonian Library's biography of Carrie H. Lippincott here.

David Christenson, "Old Seed Catalogs Combined 
Science, Marketing, & Printing Arts"
<http://2manytomatoes.blogspot.com/2009/02/three-seedswomen.html>See 
The Three Seedswomen here.

<http://www.pinterest.com/hortlibumn/>See the 
Anderson Horticultural Library at the University of Minnesota here.