Frost & Adams (est.1869) was an artists' supply firm in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Cornhill, on the current site of Boston City Hall and City Hall Plaza.Boston commercial directory. 1869Boston Almanac. 1875In 1889, the firm had a 5-story retail outlet at no.37 Cornhill, "two floors at No. 69 Cornhill, devoted to manufacturing, and several large storage and packing rooms at No. 34 Cornhill." Cf. King's. 1889 It began in 1869 when artist Francis Seth Frost and retailer E.H. Adams bought the business of Matthew J. Whipple.Whipple established his business sometime around the 1830s. Cf. King's. 1889 By the 1880s Frost & Adams were "the chief dealers in artists' materials in New England."
History Proprietors included F.S. Frost, E.H. Adams, H.A. Lawrence, Herbert C. Gardner, Joseph H. Peacock, and Edward J. White.Directory of directors in the city of Boston and vicinity. 1911Advertisement in: Loan collection of portraits for the benefit of the Associated Charities and the North End Union. Boston: 1896 The firm later moved to Arch Street (ca.1921).Boston register and business directory. 1921
In the 1880s the firm stocked "all the materials used by painters, engravers, etchers, repousse-workers, china-painters, crayon artists, water colorists, tapestry-painters, architects, engineers, and draughtsmen." They also carried "fancy articles for decorating, in bronze and brass, porcelain and china, Albenine and Barbotine ware, bisque vases and terraline ware, tambourines of sheepskin, calfskin, brass, and satin." "Five-sixths of the trade is wholesale, extending throughout New England, the Middle and Western States, and Canada, and kept in activity by travelling salesmen."
Some art world luminaries shopped at Frost & Adams. It was "the depot of supplies for Hunt, Inness, Neal, Brown, Enneking, Norton, Vinton, Picknell, Gaugengigl, Shapleigh, ... H.H. Richardson, Cabot & Chandler, Van Brunt & Howe, Peabody & Stearns."
Sometime after 1921, Frost & Adams was bought by the H.H. Sullivan Company, which itself was acquired by B.L. Makepeace Inc. in 1931. As of 2010, Makepeace operates from headquarters in Brighton, Massachusetts, and specializes in reprographics and survey equipment.
In 2019, the Frost & Adams brand was revived and refreshed by The Juna Group, LLC.
References
Further reading Frost & Adams Co, Boston. Descriptive Catalogue. Importers of Artists' Materials, Draughting Papers, Tracing Cloth, and Mathematical Instruments, 1877. Norman E. Muller. Checklist of Boston Retailers in Artist's Materials: 1823-1887. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Autumn, 1977), pp. 53–69
External links Catalogue of Artists' Materials & Mathematical Instruments, Frost & Adams Co., Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1905 Flickr. Photo of canvas from Frost and Adams Cornhill-Boston ca.1856 Flickr. Close-up photo of canvas from Frost and Adams Cornhill-Boston ca.1856
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