Meriden Britannia Company
A growing selection of primary photographs, engravings, advertisements and acquired historical OCR. Meriden Britannia, Meriden Silver Plate and International Silver are distinguished throughout. Publication dates are separated from depicted dates. Original corporate filings and complete employment records remain to be recovered.

id: MBR-001
title: Founders of the Meriden Britannia Company
kind: Photographs
date: 1906
summary: The group identified by the 1906 book as the company founders, reproduced from a photograph it dates to about 1852.
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ/page/n1094/mode/1up
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; Journal Publishing Co., Meriden; A Century of Meriden: The Silver City, part III; New York Public Library; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: Public Domain Mark 1.0. circa 1852, according to the 1906 printed caption. Selected crop; complete page is available at the original source. Historical book scan; minor source clipping, uneven margins and halftone texture retained. Full page preserved separately. Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_founders_c1852.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-002
title: Meriden Britannia factory, view labeled 1863
kind: Historical illustrations
date: 1906
summary: An engraved factory view labeled Meriden Britannia Co. in 1863; horses and carts fill the foreground.
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ/page/n1096/mode/1up
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; Journal Publishing Co., Meriden; A Century of Meriden: The Silver City, part III; New York Public Library; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: Public Domain Mark 1.0. 1863, as labeled in the 1906 publication. Selected crop; complete page is available at the original source. Historical book scan; minor source clipping, uneven margins and halftone texture retained. Full page preserved separately. Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_factory_view_1863.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-003
title: Factory E: the Britannia works under International Silver
kind: Historical illustrations
date: 1906
summary: Factory E, International Silver Co. (Meriden Britannia Co.), as illustrated in A Century of Meriden.
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ/page/n1100/mode/1up
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; Journal Publishing Co., Meriden; A Century of Meriden: The Silver City, part III; New York Public Library; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: Public Domain Mark 1.0. Exact illustration date unknown; published 1906. Selected crop; complete page is available at the original source. Historical book scan; minor source clipping, uneven margins and halftone texture retained. Full page preserved separately. Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_factory_e_1906.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-004
title: Gold & Silver Plate at the Columbian Exposition
kind: Advertisements
date: 1893
summary: Meriden Britannia advertises its hollowware and 1847 Rogers Bros. flatware trademarks and its exhibit in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building.
url: https://archive.org/details/officialdirector00worl/page/n545/mode/1up
credit: Moses P. Handy, editor; W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago; The Official Directory of the World's Columbian Exposition, May 1st to October 30th, 1893; Library of Congress; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1893. Not a photograph. Complete selected page.  Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_columbian_ad_1893.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-005
title: The Vintage pattern
kind: Advertisements
date: February 1906 issue; rebound edition 1907
summary: A floral arrangement of Vintage-pattern flatware in the company’s Silver Standard, volume II, number 1.
url: https://archive.org/details/silverstandardpe00meri/page/n8/mode/1up
credit: Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden (International Silver Co., successor); The Silver Standard, special edition containing volumes II and III; Winterthur Museum Library; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1907. Not a photograph. Complete selected page.  Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_vintage_ad_1906.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-006
title: The Berkshire pattern
kind: Advertisements
date: February 1906 issue; rebound edition 1907
summary: Berkshire-pattern serving and eating utensils are promoted to retailers in The Silver Standard.
url: https://archive.org/details/silverstandardpe00meri/page/n11/mode/1up
credit: Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden (International Silver Co., successor); The Silver Standard, special edition containing volumes II and III; Winterthur Museum Library; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1907. Not a photograph. Complete selected page.  Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_berkshire_ad_1906.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-007
title: A silk-covered case for 26 pieces
kind: Advertisements
date: April 1906 issue; rebound edition 1907
summary: Case no. 3050 held 26 pieces and listed at $21.50. The copy positions it between inexpensive lined boxes and larger wooden chests.
url: https://archive.org/details/silverstandardpe00meri/page/n15/mode/1up
credit: Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden (International Silver Co., successor); The Silver Standard, special edition containing volumes II and III; Winterthur Museum Library; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1907. Not a photograph. Complete selected page.  Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_silk_case_ad_1906.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-008
title: Silverware as an anniversary gift
kind: Advertisements
date: December 1907
summary: Gift sets in lined boxes, cases, and chests, with the printed maker line identifying Meriden Britannia Co. and International Silver Co., successor.
url: https://archive.org/details/silverstandardpe00meri/page/n110/mode/1up
credit: Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden (International Silver Co., successor); The Silver Standard, special edition containing volumes II and III; Winterthur Museum Library; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1907. Not a photograph. Complete selected page.  Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_gifts_ad_1907.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-009
title: The Silver Standard: special edition
kind: Historical documents
date: 1907
summary: The title page explicitly dates this collected edition 1907. The decorative use of 1847 inside the periodical must not be treated as its publication date.
url: https://archive.org/details/silverstandardpe00meri/page/n4/mode/1up
credit: Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden (International Silver Co., successor); The Silver Standard, special edition containing volumes II and III; Winterthur Museum Library; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1907. Not a photograph. Complete selected page.  Selected image visually inspected; objects and principal reading text upright. No generated, colorized, or reconstructed content.
file: images/britannia_periodical_title_1907.webp
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-010
title: A Century of Meriden: The Silver City, part III — searchable source text
kind: Full source text
date: 1906
summary: Complete acquired repository OCR for this historical publication. Search additional names, product terms and addresses, then verify matches in the original scan.
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ
credit: Charles Bancroft Gillespie and George Munson Curtis; Journal Publishing Co., Meriden; New York Public Library; digitized by Google; Internet Archive
notes: Public Domain Mark 1.0. Original repository OCR preserved without silent correction. OCR contains errors; verify quotations against the page image.
file: 
text_file: texts/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ_djvu.txt
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-011
title: The Silver Standard, special edition containing volumes II and III — searchable source text
kind: Full source text
date: 1907; includes issues originally published in 1906 and 1907
summary: Complete acquired repository OCR for this historical publication. Search additional names, product terms and addresses, then verify matches in the original scan.
url: https://archive.org/details/silverstandardpe00meri
credit: Meriden Britannia Co., Meriden (International Silver Co., successor); Winterthur Museum Library; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1907. Original repository OCR preserved without silent correction. OCR contains errors; verify quotations against the page image.
file: 
text_file: texts/silverstandardpe00meri_djvu.txt
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-012
title: The Official Directory of the World's Columbian Exposition, May 1st to October 30th, 1893 — searchable source text
kind: Full source text
date: 1893
summary: Complete acquired repository OCR for this historical publication. Search additional names, product terms and addresses, then verify matches in the original scan.
url: https://archive.org/details/officialdirector00worl
credit: Moses P. Handy, editor; W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago; Library of Congress; Internet Archive
notes: Public domain in the United States: published in 1893. Original repository OCR preserved without silent correction. OCR contains errors; verify quotations against the page image.
file: 
text_file: texts/officialdirector00worl_djvu.txt
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-013
title: History: December 16, 1852
kind: Sources & research leads
date: December 16, 1852
summary: Meriden Britannia Co. was organized under Connecticut joint-stock law with $50,000 capital. The 1906 account names I. C. Lewis, H. C. Wilcox, D. C. Wilcox, James A. Frary, Lemuel J. Curtis, W. W. Lyman, and John Munson as subscribers. Retrospective 1906 history; full page and OCR preserved.
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ/page/n1099/mode/1up
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-014
title: History: 1863
kind: Sources & research leads
date: 1863
summary: The history says construction of a factory over 500 feet long on the west side of State Street began in 1863. 
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ/page/n1101/mode/1up
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-015
title: History: November 19, 1898; 1899
kind: Sources & research leads
date: November 19, 1898; 1899
summary: International Silver Company was organized under New Jersey law on November 19, 1898 and bought constituent company stock. The 1906 account distinguishes those acquisitions from the 1899 corporate mergers. It names Meriden Britannia and Meriden Silver Plate separately. 
url: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-zQWAAAAYAAJ/page/n1093/mode/1up
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-016
title: Meriden Britannia Co., finest electro silver plated ware
kind: Sources & research leads
date: Date described in source
summary: Publicly readable primary ephemera record; undated. No explicit image reuse license found on the item page, so retained as a credited link, not copied.
url: https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/267787/
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-017
title: International Silver Company Records, 1853–1921
kind: Sources & research leads
date: Date described in source
summary: Archival finding-aid lead cited by published histories; endpoint returned 403 during this pass. Do not claim the records were inspected.
url: https://archives.lib.uconn.edu/islandora/object/20002%3A860140297
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-018
title: Britannia factory view in King’s Hand-book (1891)
kind: Sources & research leads
date: Date described in source
summary: Rights and metadata inspected; direct Wikimedia image download returned 403; accessible 1906 factory views used instead.
url: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-CT(1891)_p137_MERIDEN,_MERIDEN_BRITANNIA_COMPANY.jpg
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-019
title: International Silver Factory E and general office postcard
kind: Sources & research leads
date: Date described in source
summary: Not selected: Commons metadata gives 1897, preceding International Silver’s 1898 formation; date needs repository verification.
url: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:International_Silver_Company,_General_Office,_Meriden,_Connecticut.jpg
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: MBR-020
title: Meriden Britannia advertisement in 1857 atlas
kind: Sources & research leads
date: Date described in source
summary: Available reusable lead under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, with required credit and commercial-use limitations; not downloaded because selected public-domain ads suffice.
url: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~36308~1201465
credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source
notes: External source. Catalog facts and source notes are included; the full publication is not necessarily reproduced. A finding aid or retrospective is not an original corporate filing.
file: 
text_file: 
institution: Britannia metal, silver plate & the 1847 Rogers Bros. brand
accessed: 2026-09-08
license_url: 
external_image_url: 
document_file: 

id: ED-IG-MBR-01
title: Beverage Service
kind: Photographs
date: 1866–1867 object; photograph undated
institution: Meriden Britannia Company
summary: A Meriden Britannia service retailed by M.S. Smith in Detroit shows the reach of Connecticut silverware beyond the state.
url: https://www.thehenryford.org/collections/explore/artifact/214865
credit: Meriden Britannia Company (manufacturer); M.S. Smith (retailer) / The Henry Ford
notes: Available at the linked repository; image or full record is not included in this download.  Reuse: link-only; museum photograph rights not established; The Henry Ford copyright policy permits public-domain content but limits its copyrighted images to personal noncommercial uses; this modern object photograph has no item-level open license.
file: 
text_file: 
accessed: 2026-09-12
license_url: https://www.thehenryford.org/copyright-policy
external_image_url: https://collections-media.thehenryford.org/CollectionImages/_detail/photos/thf129206.jpg
document_file: 

id: ED-IG-MBR-02
title: Card receiver
kind: Photographs
date: circa 1880 object; photograph undated
institution: Meriden Britannia Company
summary: This ornate receiver illustrates the decorative household goods produced by Meriden Britannia.
url: https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitions/eclectic-taste-victorian-silver-plate/gallery
credit: Meriden Britannia Company / SFO Museum
notes: Available at the linked repository; image or full record is not included in this download.  Reuse: link-only; no open image license found; Gallery credits a private lender and supplies no open image license.
file: 
text_file: 
accessed: 2026-09-12
license_url: 
external_image_url: https://www.sfomuseum.org/sites/default/files/01_eclectic_taste_sfom.jpg
document_file: 