Scope and arrangement
Six record books, contain the names, addresses, orders, amounts charged (accounts were apparently kept in separate accounts ledgers, not included in this collection), and negative and duplicate numbers of Falk's portrait studio clients. Many of these clients were wealthy and prominent New Yorkers. The theatrical profession and New York's German-Jewish community are heavily represented. Members of the Guggenheim, Lewisohn, Straus, and Sulzberger families; actors Aubrey and Dion Boucicault, Lillie Langtry, Richard Mansfield, Julia Marlowe, Alla Nazimova, and Lillian Russell; and such disparate celebrities as Thomas Edison (who was a frequent sitter from the 1880s to the 1910s), Henry Ford, Jay Gould, and Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan are among those whose names appear.
Falk's autograph album contains inscriptions dating from 1895-1897 and 1914-1915. Names of some of the signers also appear in the record books.