Gift of Frederic A. Blank, 1989–1992.
The collection is open for research.
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use
and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to
publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special
Collections Department, University of Delaware Library,
MSS 572, Frederic A. Blank papers, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Processed and encoded by Lora J. Davis, May 2008.
Frederic A. Blank was born on Bastille Day, July 14, 1890, in the French border-town of
Strasbourg. Over the course of the next century, Frederic Blank would immigrate to
America, establish a successful import-export business, take the U.S. government to
court over "antiquated" import/export laws, serve in the American military during the
First World War, and develop and distribute a new brand of synthetic wall covering –
Fabron – that is in many ways emblematic of the iconic style of mid-century America. By
the time of his death in September of 1992, the 102-year-old Blank had, in his own
words, "survived two world wars, two major depressions, and more than ten
recessions."
Upon graduating from college in France, Frederic Blank left on a trip to America to visit former classmates. The 1908 trip was a graduation gift to the 18-year-old Blank from his parents. Once Blank arrived in New York City for his four-week visit, however, he did not want to leave. He quickly found a job as an office boy for William Hills, Jr., at Hills Brothers in New York and, within three years, had risen to office manager. In 1913, at the young age of 23, he founded Frederic Blank & Co., an import/export business that would allow him to make use of his knowledge of overseas markets and practices. This business venture became difficult with the outbreak of European war in 1914 and Blank was forced to disband his initially successful company.
Prior to American entry into the war Blank worked as an export manager for a Richmond, Virginia-based flour mill, The Dunlop Mills. In 1917 Frederic Blank joined the U.S. Army and was sent to field artillery officer training school at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, where he spent the remainder of the war. With the end of European hostilities, Blank returned to his import/export business and revived Frederic Blank & Co.
As Frederic Blank & Co. continued to prosper as an import/export outfit, Blank branched out and began a relationship with a Swiss wall covering manufacturer in 1926. The Swiss product, named Salubra, was a synthetic, vinyl-based, wall-paper-like material that customers (mainly commercial in nature) could install on the interior walls of their buildings. The material was both washable and guaranteed to resist any color-fading. When importation of the Swiss material became difficult during the Second World War, Blank developed his own brands of the Swiss product, which he named Fabron, Permon, and Detron. From the early 1940s onward, Frederic Blank & Co. focused its energies on the development and distribution of its wall covering products to hospitals, movie theaters, universities, and businesses throughout the country.
Frederic Blank retired from the company in 1949 following a heart attack and moved to Wilmington, Delaware. Throughout the next forty-three years of his retirement, Frederic Blank remained very active; he followed American business trends, supported many political candidates, donated time and money to the causes he cared most about, and traveled extensively with his wife, Beatrice Cauffiel Blank, who passed away on August 11, 1989. Frederic Blank died just over three years later, on September 20, 1992.
The papers of centenarian and retired wall covering entrepreneur Frederic Blank,
spanning close to 150 years (1866–1991), are illustrative of Blank's long life and
career. The collection includes materials related to three broad components of Blank's
life: 1) his time served as a World War I field artillery officer-in-training at Camp
Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, 2) his career as an independent industrialist
with the import/export business turned wall covering distributor Frederic Blank
& Co., and 3) his personal life as a civic-minded and socially engaged French
immigrant to the United States.
The collection contains news clippings, published books, U.S. court records, personal and professional correspondence, membership cards, articles, booklets, memoranda, pamphlets, wall covering sample books, metal printing plates, class notes and exams, business cards, passports, wall covering advertisements, maps, and periodicals. Though the collection is small – less than three linear feet – the diversity of the materials within the collection provides the researcher with a rounded glimpse of the varied life of a twentieth-century businessman and provides important sample books of iconic mid-twentieth-century American wall coverings.
The collection is organized into three main series. Series I. World War I, contains documents relating to Blank's time in the U.S. Army, specifically his training manuals from Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky (Folders 4-7). Additional material relates to his recollections about another Army facility, the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania (Folder 9).
The second (and by far the largest) series details Blank's business career and his company, Frederic Blank & Co., in particular. The company, which started out in New York as an import/export business in 1913, went on to become a supplier of synthetic wall coverings to mid-century businesses and industries across the nation. Much of the material included in this series is trade advertising and sample books that hail from this later period in the company's development. Also included are several trade articles written by Blank that appeared in publications such as
The final series pertains to Blank's personal life. A good deal of this material consists of Blank's personal correspondence with politicians, newspapers, and benefactors during his later years of retirement (Folder 35). A few folders of material reflect his strong anti-union position; his views stemmed, in large part, out of a boycott of Frederic Blank & Co. by the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America that occurred early on in his career (Folders 37-41). Other items of particular interest in this series are two of Blank's passports from the early twentieth century (Folder 34). As an international trader, Blank had cause to travel extensively prior to and following the First World War. He obtained his first U.S. passport in 1913 prior to becoming an American citizen. This passport – the low-numbered #188 – was signed by then-Secretary of State William Jennings Bryant.
The three series of this collection include material that would be of interest to many different researchers. The first series is of particular use to individuals wishing to research artillery officer training programs, Camp Zachary Taylor, or those with an interest in published handbooks, textbooks, manuals, and learning aids for World War I officers. The second series includes materials that may be useful to both scholars of industrial design, interior decorating, printing processes, and color theory as well as those with a much broader interest in American businesses from the 1910s to 1960s. The personal memorabilia found in the final series helps tie the collection together and provides a nice glimpse into the interests of Frederic A. Blank – immigrant, soldier, industrialist, and businessman.
Instructional memoranda from Camp Lee, Virginia and the Field Artillery Central Officers Training School (F.A.C.O.T.S.) at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. Lecture topics include, in part: Artillery Tactics, Military Topography, and Protection of Guns and Ammunition.
Blank's personal notes from officer training classes held at Camp Zachary Taylor
Blank's personal notes from officer training classes held at Camp Zachary Taylor
William J. Milne,
U.S. Army,
Maj. George R. Guild and Maj. Robert C. Cotton,
Contains a letter sent from Marie A. Dunlop Moore to Blank at Camp Zachary; a postcard of a WWI soldier; the pamphlet "The Red Triangle at Camp Zachary Taylor, The Army YMCA"; a card entitled "Flag Signal Instructor" illustrating U.S. Army and Navy Semaphore Code and Morse Code; two issues of The Probable Error; and the Pictorial Section of The Bayonet (September 6, 1918) including information on African-American recruits.
Blank's reminiscences about training at the Tobyhanna Military Reservation while a member of the 1st New York Artillery Company in the early 1910s. Also included are letters from Blank to Alice Schreyer, former Assistant Director of Libraries at the University of Delaware, further explaining the Tobyhanna material that he donated to Special Collections.
Transcript of the case
Transcript of the case
Materials related to the boycott of Salubra and Tekko undertaken by the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America due to the belief that the wall coverings were products of Germany. The products were accepted as being Swiss-made in 1935 and the boycott was rescinded.
Information on color theory. Includes a copy of
A selection of tri-fold brochures about Frederic Blank & Co.'s wall covering products. Many include samples of Permon, Fabron, and/or Detron.
Tear sheets of the company's print advertising.
Explanatory material on how to hang Permon and Fabron and information on the architectural specifications of Permon.
Real estate listing for Blank's house, noting the fact that the rooms were decorated with Fabron and Salubra. Notes on an additional corporate project indicating product selection and highlighting potential problems for installing over existing wall coverings.
Contains two of Blank's passports (1913 and 1924) with multiple stamps from his journeys. Also includes Blank's letter to the Department of State indicating his intent to pursue citizenship, 1913.
Includes "issue mail" and political letters from Gov. Pierre S. du Pont IV, the U.S. Works Progress Administration, Senator John J. Williams, Eugene J. Keogh, Robert L. Donovan, Charles C. Lockwood, Cardinal Spellman, and Louis Kissling. Also contains a number of form letters from Presidents and political candidates that Blank supported, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
Material originally laid in Blank's copy of
Philip Zausner,
Includes the Chamber of Commerce pamphlet "Communist Infiltration in the United States: Its Nature and How to Combat it," (Washington, D.C.: Chamber of Commerce, 1946). Also includes a letter from the Chamber of Commerce about the pamphlet.
Contains articles on trade and teachers' unions, labor, the Mafia in unions, and labor violence. Also contains Blank's membership card for and a pamphlet about the organization Americans Against Union Control of Government.
Clippings and material related to Thomas Dewey that were originally laid in a copy of Dewey's
A variety of personal miscellany, including: a tear sheet from