The Whitney Reed Chair Company was founded in 1893, and primarily manufactured furniture, though it diversified to also produce wooden toys (as apparently was not uncommon for such companies in that era). Its toy production is most commonly associated with a variety of robust wooden rocking horses, but its early catalogs reveal much more, including some wonderful toy soldiers made with paper lithography on wood. Its connection with toy production goes back to another neighboring company, the W.S. Reed Toy Company. Both companies were founded in Leominster, Massachusetts in the late 19th century.
W.S. Reed was founded in 1875, and primarily manufactured wooden toys such as ships, circus items and even a few board games. However, despite success and expansion as a toy producer, they suffered two devastating fires in their factories. The worst and final blow came in 1896 when a fire destroyed 3 of their 4 buildings and most of the company’s inventory. Frustrated and looking for alternatives, William Reed bought stock in the neighboring Whitney Chair Company, who then also purchased the toy company’s remaining assets. The WS Reed Toy Company and the Whitney Chair Company merged in 1899 to form the Whitney Reed Chair Company. They continued to make fine furniture, but also now focused more on toys. The Antique Toy Collectors of America were able to obtain and reprint two early catalogs from the family of William Herbert Green, who was the owner of the Whitney Reed company from 1925 until 1959, suggesting this was most likely the end date for the company.
The newly combined companies 1897-98 toy catalog (3) featured not only children’s furniture, but also various paper lithography on wood games, vehicles, ships in various sizes and most notable at the very end of the book, two sets of 5-inch paper soldiers on wood listed as “Royal Cadets”. A little confusing to have “Royal” soldiers marching under an American flag, but then the uniforms were fanciful and not really historically accurate either. In the tradition of the German Erzgebirge toy soldiers, these consisted of either 30 or 16 soldiers fastened onto a “scissor” base that could expand the parade from a close formation (15 x 4 inches or 10 by 3 inches) out to 4-6 feet in depth. Dowel flag poles were placed into the scissor base between groups of figures flying paper American flags and fanciful regimental flags. The figures were not removable from their articulated base. The catalog also listed a “Fort Grant” which was a wood and paper lithographed fort with 4 guardsmen along a wall flanked by 2 towers. These were hinged to the back of the wall, and a shooting cannon was included to knock back the soldiers which could then be flipped back up, as in a shooting gallery. Ed Ryan provides a beautiful color photograph of this set, which is from the Bill Nutting collection on page 300 of his book “Paper Soldiers.” (1)
In the expanded 1901-1902 catalog ”A” (Toys), we find a number of horsedrawn vehicles, doll houses and furniture, games and blackboards. Along with these, we find an improved “scissor” set (No. 73 ½) of paper lithography on wood depicting “U.S. Regulars”, mounted with two ranks of 6 cavalry followed by 3 ranks of 6 infantry, all 5 inches high. The newly designed figures still bear no likeness to any real uniforms, but have a wonderful character of that turn-ofthe-century aura to them. Again, this set expanded from a closed formation of 15 ½ inches by 4 inches, out to 6 feet in length as the scissors were expanded. Each “company” (of 6) had a flag mounted on a wooden dowel in the center, with an American flag on a taller pole in the first rank.
In a somewhat more historically accurate set, they produced a set of “Rough Riders” which was a smaller 16-piece scissor set with the first three ranks mounted, and the back 4 figures rough riders on foot. Ryan provides a black and white photograph of this set with its original box which was decorated with 3 of the mounted Rough Riders and a bust of Teddy Roosevelt. The company obviously wanted to cash in on the popularity of Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in the Spanish American war (1898). The authenticity of the uniforms of these paper litho on wood figures continued to improve as Ryan provides a color photograph of three such figures; an American colonial troop, a German imperial and a British Guardsman (page 302). As paper soldiers were only a small part of their catalog, all these figures are particularly rare and it is currently unknown as to how long the paper toy soldiers remained in the catalog, but they certainly disappeared with the First World War.
Besides the “scissor” parade set, they offered another set of the same mounted and foot U.S. Regulars (No. 73 ¼), individually mounted on wooden bases, plus an American flag. In addition, another set of individual figures on wooden bases was found in set 73, “Camp Dewey.” This was a knock-down target set which included both 12 mounted and 12 foot figures of the U.S. Regulars on individual wooden bases, plus a paper tent, an American flag on a pole and a “rapid fire gun” (a cannon that shot metal balls using a magazine above the barrel), otherwise all in wood. The gun was also offered separately (No 33 ¼).
While not as well-known as their contemporary big American paper companies like McLoughlin and Parker brothers, these high-quality sets of paper lithographed toy soldiers on wood present a rare look into the emerging manufacture of an affordable and characteristic American-made toy soldier around the turn of the century.
More Whitney Reed Chair Company?
A recent listing on eBay presents a boxed set of Whitney-Reed “Uncle Sam’s Regulars” (Fig 7). The set has 10 stand-alone paper infantry, on card, with red wooden bases, all wearing the same fanciful uniforms as seen on the last ranks of the scissor toy. The set also includes a tattered but very colorful original box lid. The box art depicts a sharp-shooter in a civil-war era uniform, unlike the contents. Notably, the back of the lid has a penciled note which says “Christmas 1904,” which coincides perfectly with the 1903-04 catalog listings.
Bibliography
Edward Ryan. Paper Soldiers; an illustrated history of printed paper armies of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Golden Age Editions, New Cavendish Books. London. 1995.
https://www.mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/whitneychairco.htm
A brief on-line history of the Reed Toy Company and Whitney Reed Chair
Company.
1897-1898 Catalog of the Whitney Reed Chair Company. Reprinted by The
Antique Toy Collectors of America, 1979.
1901-1902 Toy Catalog of the Whitney Reed Chair Company. Reprinted for
the Spring 2015 Convention of the Antique Toy Collectors of America