These records document primarily the history of typeface development at the Mergenthaler Linotype Company of Baltimore, Maryland. The company supplied most of the typesetting machines used in the printing industry, both in America and worldwide. As changing technology ended the usefulness of the linotype machine the company pioneered new computer-driven, photo typesetting machines.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the development of typefaces and contains some company business records, including reports, memoranda, correspondence, marketing materials, and other business papers; and typeface examples.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 13 series. The series level arrangement scheme was imposed during processing to facilitate a more usable order for the records. Several series documenting typeface were combined into a single series, Series 2: Typefaces.
In most instances, original folder titles were retained. In circumstances where there was no folder title, the processing archivist created one derived from the nature of the materials.
Series 1: Organizational Records, 1929-1997
Series 2: Office Files, 1908-1992
Series 3: Typefaces, 1904-1991
Subseries 3.1: Typefaces, 1923-1993
Subseries 3.2: Designers of Typeface, 1929-1987
Subseries 3.3: Technical Development of Typeface, 1933-1985
Subseries 3.4: Matrix Data for Typeface, 1923-1974
Series 13: Adobe Systems Incorporated Materials, 1983-1993
Biographical:
Ottmar Mergenthaler (born May 11, 1854 in Hachtel (today: Bad Mergentheim), Kingdom of Württemberg; died October 28, 1899 in Baltimore, MD) was part of a large wave of German immigrants who sailed to the United States and settled in Baltimore between 1861 and 1910. He arrived in 1872, at eighteen years of age, and started working for his step-cousin August Hahl, who ran a workshop for electrical equipment and patent models. It was during Mergenthaler's time in Hahl's workshop that he first discovered his true passion: print technology. In 1885, thirteen years after landing in the United States, Mergenthaler was awarded a patent for a typesetting machine that eventually became known as the Linotype. The invention was the result of a decade of intense engagement with mechanized typesetting machines and the surrounding literature. The Linotype represented a major milestone in the history of printing, and, by extension, the larger history of Mergenthaler's time. His invention revolutionized the printing industry, making it possible to print faster and more efficiently than ever before. Ultimately, Mergenthaler's Linotype opened a new chapter in the history of mass communication and determined the path of the printing industry for the next century.
Mergenthaler Linotype Company was founded in the United States in 1886 to market the Linotype machine invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler.
Source
Tsaniou, Styliani. "Ottmar Mergenthaler." In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 3, edited by Giles R. Hoyt. German Historical Institute. Last modified July 26, 2013. http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=42
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Printing and Printers
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Presentation of Mergenthaler Linotype Machine to the National Museum of History and Technology, now known as the National Museum of American History. (SIA Acc. 11-008 [OPA-1521])
Smithsonian Trade Literature Collection
Mergenthaler Linotype Company catalogs
National Postal Museum
Ottmar Mergenthaler, postage stamp, 1996. See 1997.2004.49.
Smithsonian American Art Museums
Ottmar Mergenthaler, sculpture, 1908. See IAS 08650110.
National Portrait Gallery
Ottmar Mergenthaler, sculpture, 1908. See NPG.79.77.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Linotype Machine used by the Chicago Defender Publishing Company, 1902-1906. See NMAAHC-2012.18.
Materials at Other Organizations
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections Department
Mergenthaler Linotype Collection, 1881-1954
Eight linear feet of materials including letters, legal papers, and patents. The collection represents only a limited portion of the company's history.
University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center
Primarily of manuscript correspondence, drawings, and proofs that document typefaces designed and developed by Chauncey Hawley Griffith, William Addison Dwiggins, and Rudolph Ruzicka for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company in the early- to mid-twentieth century.
Syracuse University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center
William Addison Dwiggins Collection, 1927
Typewritten manuscript for an essay written by Dwiggins and related correspondence.
University of Maryland, Special Collections
William Addision Dwiggins Collection, 1902-1990
Includes over 130 volumes and over 30 pieces of ephemera documenting Dwiggins's design career, as well as works written about him.
New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division
Paul A. Bennett papers, 1925-1966
Personal and professional correspondence, research materials, typescripts of writings, and other papers relating to Bennett's career in advertising and his work with the Typophiles. Includes material relating to the Chap Book series, published by the Typophiles.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts holds objects related to the Mergenthaler Linotype Company that include books, models, linofilm system, matrices, typecasting and typesetting machine, reports, and letters.
Donated by Mergenthaler Linotype Company in 1998 and 1999.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Social Security numbers are present and have been rendered unreadable and redacted. Researchers may use the photocopies in the collection.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Trade literature and technical specifications for a company that designed and manufactured printed circuits and printed motors used to power computers and other electromagnetic devices ; article from DESIGN ENGINEERING, Jan 1970 by Hans Waagen about "Motors with printed circuit armatures"...this comprises the uncataloged portion.
3.21 Cubic feet (consisting of 7 boxes, 3 oversize folders.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertising
Advertisements
Catalogues
Advertising fliers
Advertising mail
Sales letters
Print advertising
Invoices
Ephemera
Commercial catalogs
Printed materials
Printed ephemera
Publications
Sales catalogs
Photographs
Business records
Advertising cards
Sales records
Mail order catalogs
Business letters
Printed material
Reports
Commercial correspondence
Correspondence
Trade cards
Business ephemera
Catalogs
Business cards
Trade literature
Letterheads
Trade catalogs
Receipts
Periodicals
Manufacturers' catalogs
Illustrations
Date:
1833-1975
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Office Equipment forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes devices and systems such as typewriters, calculation machines, mimeographs and copiers, punches and canceling machines, coin counters, telephonics, addressing and indexing systems, recording and message transmission, stamping, perforating, records storage and files, and also some consumable products like fasteners, ledgers, erasures. A few product samples are present.
Some product information contains suggestions and information on good business business practices or increasing efficiency and accuracy in the office or workplace environment.
A small amount of material related to furnishings, such as desks, bookcases, lockers, and trade show displays is present.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three subseries.
Business Records and Marketing Materials
Genre
Subject
Brand Name Index:
The following is a list of brand names for various office equipment and related names that appear on this list is a compilation of those found on materials in the vertical document boxes. It is not a complete list of all the brand names for office equipment. The list is intended to assist researchers locate desired materials when only the brand name is known.
Brand Name Index
Efficiency -- Watson Mfg. Co.
Flatpakit -- American
Multigraph -- American Multigraph Sales Co.
Portland -- Southworth Machine Co.
Wiz -- American Sales Book Co.
Y & E -- Yawman & Eube Mfg. Co.
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Office Equipment is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Office Equipment, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Equipment for printers: composing sticks ; slug clippers ; newspaper bases ; mitering machines ; band saws ; lead and rule cutters ; newspaper files and racks ; hand millers for handling light cuts in brass, aluminum and similar materials, and rounding and burring operations on steel and cast iron ; paper lifts...this comprises the uncataloged portion
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Physical description:
6 pieces; 2 boxes
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Machine tools and metalworking equipment Search this
Printing; publishing; paper and bookselling (including type specimens) Search this
6.04 Cubic feet (consisting of 11.5 boxes, 1 folder, 9 oversized folders, 3 flat boxes (1 full, 2 partial), plus digital images of some collection material.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Legal documents
Print advertising
Business records
Correspondence
Invoices
Trade cards
Business cards
Business ephemera
Reports
Ephemera
Periodicals
Printed ephemera
Mail order catalogs
Advertising mail
Manufacturers' catalogs
Commercial catalogs
Catalogues
Proofs (printed matter)
Advertising fliers
Receipts
Letterheads
Illustrations
Publications
Advertisements
Sales catalogs
Catalogs
Commercial correspondence
Advertising cards
Advertising
Manuals
Trade catalogs
Business letters
Date:
1713-1993
Summary:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
The subject category Printing and Printers primarily represents material designed and created by printing companies, largely on the behalf of other companies. Additional material includes serial publications created by printers, the history of printing, biographical material about printers or typographical artists, as well as printing and engraving instructions.
Types of printmaking and printers in these records include stereotyping, electrotyping, planographs, typographs, linotypes, and monotypes.
No expansive documentation of any single printer company is represented within the records, and there is minimal breadth of material on specific subject areas within the printing field. However, business records, company histories, select historical overviews, and the cumulative examples of printers visual work may provide researchers with a broad overview of the printing industry as well as a visual sampling of the evolution of printing styles.
Arrangement:
Printing and Printers is arranged in three subseries. Records, advertising, and catalogues for proprietorships may be filed under either the first or last name of the individual, researchers should look in all applicable alphabetical folders.
Business Records and Marketing Material
Genre
Subject
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Printing and Printers is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Printing and Printers, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
This collection features business documents, legal papers, and examples of prints from Martin J. Weber, who pioneered the "Weber Process."
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the Weber Process for printing that made images on paper appear more three dimensional, as well as the photomechanical apparatus Weber developed to implement it . The collection contains patent documents, contracts and business papers, correspondence, design drawings, advertisements for the Weber Process and for his studio, and a paper he delivered to the American Photo Engravers Association. It also contains numerous samples of Weber's work, including magazines covers and advertisements, annual reports from companies featuring images enhanced by Weber, brochures, and other printed material.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series.
Series 1: Articles, 1931-1971
Series 2: Awards, 1931-1971
Series 3: Business Documents, 1931-1971
Series 4: Correspondence, 1931-1971
Series 5: Legal Documents, 1931-1971
Series 6: Prints, 1931-1980
Series 7: Weber Process Documents, 1931-1971
Series 8: Photographs, 1931-1971
Series 9: Large Prints, 1931-1971
Biographical / Historical:
Martin J. Weber was born in 1905 and worked as a graphic artist, inventor and typographer in the commercial art industry into his eighties. He died in 2007 at the age of 102.
Weber invented and patented the Weber Process in 1942, which utilized a photomechanical apparatus that altered images and text photographically to give pattern, texture, and shadow. Also known as Posterization, the process gave two-dimensional surfaces the "illusion of being reproduced in three dimensions" by printing multiple layers offset from one another. Weber helped to define the look of mid-twentieth century American advertising art, offering a "low-cost way of simulating multiple color reproduction." The process revolutionized lithography, screen printing, and standard printing, and later influenced computer typography.
Sources
Heller, Steven. "Martin Weber in the Third Dimension." Design Observer. June 19, 2007. Accessed August 03, 2016. http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=5657.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Martin J. Weber's son, Carl Weber, 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Information Technology and Communications, Div. of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Harris Automatic Press Company, Dayton, Ohio Search this
Extent:
6.5 Cubic feet (13 boxes and 5 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photograph albums
Newsletters
Photographs
Blueprints
Catalogs
Date:
2003 - 2003
1889 - 1995
Summary:
Collection documents the Harris Automatic Press Company, manufacturers of a printing press with an automatic feed primarily through drawings and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains photographs of the presses, factory and employees; a scrapbook of presses, 1915; drawings; trade literature and catalogs; the Harris Impressions newsletter; blueprints of the presses; and histories of the company.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Background Materials, 1889-1995
Series 2: Drawings, 1896-1929
Series 3: Photographs, 1921-1968; 2003
Biographical / Historical:
In 1890 jewelers and tinkerers Alfred and Charles G. Harris developed a new printing press with an automatic feeder. Their first press was a revolutionary breakthrough, delivering ten times what a pressman could feed by hand. The Harris Automatic Press Company was responsible for many printing innovations during the early 1900s including the first commercially successful offset lithographic press and the first two-color offset press. The company became one of the world's largest and most successful manufacturers of printing equipment.
Harris-Seybold Company (later Harris Intertype) of Cleveland, Ohio manufactured high-quality sheetfed offset lithographic printing presses. The Harris Automatic Press Co. of Niles, Ohio (the original company name) designed and built the first commercially successful sheetfed offset lithographic printing press in 1906. It was sold to the Republic Banknote Company (later became part of U.S. Banknote Corporation) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shipped on July 26, 1906. This printing press was retired in August 1940, rebuilt by Harris and donated to the Smithsonian Institution. From 1906 to 1976, Harris manufactured thousands of lithographic printing presses in various models and sizes along with various designs of bindery equipment. They were leaders in offset lithography technology. Many of the sheetfed offset lithographic presses presently being manufactured use some form of the early Harris innovations. In 1957, the company name was changed to Harris Intertype Corporation and in 1974 the name was changed to Harris Corporation. At this time the company was comprised of several electronic divisions in addition to the printing equipment divisions. The company stopped production of sheetfed lithographic printing presses in 1976. The corporate offices moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Melbourne, Florida in 1978 where Harris Corporation is still located. Harris Corporation disposed of its printing equipment plants in 1984 in a leverage buyout. Heidelberg (Germany) purchased some of the printing manufacturing plants in the late 1990s.
Provenance:
Collection donated by GSS Printing Equipment.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
27 Volumes (approximately 6,900 p.; 1 index v., 29 cm. +)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Volumes
Date:
[189-?]-1940
Summary:
The collection consists chiefly of hand-written notes made by Southgate on a wide range of postal history topics and related matters, generally on lined or graph paper measuring 25 x 15 cm. or smaller, for keeping in triple-post binders. Some of the notes were made in "Lefax" or other commercially-available notebooks. The collection includes numerous mounted newsclippings, brochures, and excerpted articles from philatelic journals, as well as statistical data, advertisements, copies of correspondence, and diagrams made by Southgate to illustrate plate variations, etc.
Biographical/Historical note:
Hugh McLellan Southgate (b. Sept. 3, 1871; d. Oct. 23, 1940), a resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was an important postage stamp collector and an active member of several philatelic societies. He was a founder and the first president of the Philatelic Plate Number Association (1926-1928), as well as the first president and chairman of the board (1930-1940) of its successor, the Bureau Issues Association (now the United States Stamp Society). He was also an authority on the printing of stamps by the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
General note:
Each leaf containing data has been photocopied from the original notebooks, with the exception of v. 5, which consists entirely of a printed checklist of Bureau of Engraving and Printing precancels and Presidential series for 1938-1940 (an index sheet noting the contents of v. 5 is present, only).
The presence of blank leaves in the original notebooks is noted in the index sheets and the finding aid.
Local Notes:
The volumes are numbered 1 through 26, plus a miscellaneous compilation labelled "vol. xl" (or "HMS notebook prelim. no. 1" by G.W. Brett). There is also a separate index volume containing copies of all the index sheets that Brett created to serve as tables of contents for each volume in the collection.
[Trade catalogs from Charles Wagner Litho Machinery Co., Inc.]
Company Name:
Charles Wagner Litho Machinery Co., Inc. Search this
Related companies:
Charles Wagner Litho. Machinery Co., Inc. Search this
Notes content:
automatic drying ovens, coating and varnishing machines, offset and direct hand presses and offset proving presses...this comprises the uncataloged portion.
Includes:
Trade catalog and photographs
Black and white images
Physical description:
1 piece; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Hoboken, New Jersey, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Printing; publishing; paper and bookselling (including type specimens) Search this
Golding Press Div. (Franklin, MA) ; Golding Mfg. Co. (Franklin, MA) ; Amertype Recordgraph Corp. (New York, NY) Search this
Notes content:
One envelope (Golding Press Div.) OVERSIZE. Photocompositors ; printing presses. Type specimens ; music type specimens ; crossword puzzle fonts ; Holiday, Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving Decorators and type ; typecuts. Golding Press Div.: Pearl Press ; Pearl Paper Cutter ; Boston Card Cutters ; Official Card Cutters ; bench shears ; Golding Tablet Press ; Official Hand Lever Press... this comprises the uncataloged portion.
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Color images
Physical description:
113 pieces; 5 boxes
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States
Date:
1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Printing; publishing; paper and bookselling (including type specimens) Search this
January 1991 List of 9 Million Businesses Complied from the Yellow Pages and Telephone verified ; business lists ; consumer lists; other lists ; special services ; businesses in the United States ; Big Business ; Publicly Traded Companies ; Small Business File ; Work at Home Businesses ; New Business Names ; Canadian Businesses ; Manufacturers in the United States ; Farm Operators and owners ; high-income Americans ; households in the United States ; High School and College students ; Doctors ; Dentists ; Lawyers ; Aircraft Owners ; Boat/Yacht Owners ; Insurance Agents ; Car Owners ; International Business Lists ; Investors ; Millionaires ; Opportunity Seekers ; Pilots ; Real Estate Agents ; Stock Broker Executives ; Students - high school and college...this comprises the uncataloged portion.
1859. "A Catalogue of Works in Architecture (Civil and Naval), Agriculture, Chemistry, Electricity, Engineering (Civil, Military, & Mechanical), Mathematics, Mechanics, Metallurgy, Etc. Etc. and Books in General and School Literature including Mr. Weale's Series of Rudimentary Works, Series of Educational Works, and Series of Greek and Latin Classics."
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Physical description:
3 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
London, United Kingdom
Date:
1800s
Topic (Romaine term):
Printing; publishing; paper and bookselling (including type specimens) Search this
