Wallpaper Slides and Pattern Archive
My grandfather worked at Birge Wallpaper in Buffalo, NY (USA) from approximately 1950 to the late 1970's as the Director of Design and later the Vice President of design. I believe the Buffalo NY office was shut down in 1976.
Since his passing we have been storing this wooden cabinet of photographic slides that appears to be wallpaper patterns. There appears to be around 1500 slides. See photos.
There is a business card in the box for C. Oscar Hesse. When doing google searches for him I have found some patents under that name for wallpaper patterns in conjunction with Birge Wallpaper: https://patents.google.com/patent/USD191288S/en
There is nothing in the archive to indicate that these patterns have anything to do with Mr. Hesse and it's just as likely that my Grandfather tossed the card in the box to save it, but it helps to prove the Birge Wallpaper connection. My parents recall the name Hesse being mentioned over the years by my Grandfather.
What might this archive of wallpaper patterns be worth? I can imagine it has having a lot of artistic value for set designers, pattern designs, fabric designers and other artistic interests.
Is there is an appropriate library or historical archive for these types of materials? In a perfect world I would love to create high resolution scans and post them as a free digital archive, but realistically don't see myself having the time to do that.
Any information would be fantastic.