While searching for a seasonal image to share for our Photo of the Week, I came up with a different kind of “spring” entirely. This 6-inch metal sign from Zimets Bed Spring Corp. was likely originally attached to a bedspring made by this Brooklyn manufacturer.
Though the Center for Brooklyn History doesn’t hold any records from the business itself, we can learn more about Zimets by searching through CBH’s digitized Brooklyn business directories and newspapers. In the newspapers we can find the obituary of the founder, David J. Zimet, printed in the Brooklyn Eagle on August 26, 1944. It notes that Zimet founded the company about 30 years prior.
The directories allow us to narrow down when in the company’s history this metal tag was made; Zimets was only at 225-229 Hudson Avenue for a few years in the early 1930s, before a fire in November 1936 forced them to relocate to 139 Emerson Place. Interestingly, the tagline on this circa 1934 sign, “Relaxation for the Nation”, wouldn’t be copyrighted for Zimets until 1939.
Interested in seeing more images from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our items, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We welcome appointments to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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