Type Tuesday - Keystone Type Foundry

The ornaments found in the pages of the Keytone Type Foundry's 1901 specimen of nickel-alloy types have made me think of Spring days and the enjoyment of all things that can be done outdoors (certainly, the Bay Area's recent stretch warm weather has also been an influencing factor!)

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist

MS Monday—PPIE Part 1: the “lady champion rifle shot of California”

On June 11^th, 1915, The Hebrew announced that “the greatest shooting festival ever held in America” would be celebrated at Shell Mound Park in Emeryville in August and September in connection with the Panama Pacific International Exposition. According to Arms and the Man, men and women from around the world evinced a “lively interest” in the upcoming Grand Prize Shooting Tournament, in part due to “the war in Europe, the revolution in Mexico and other disturbances between warring nations which emphasize the vital importance of superior marksmanship” (June 10, 1915).

Target, 1915?, San Francisco Shuetzen Verein records, MS 4007, California Historical Society

The Hebrew and other San Francisco Bay Area newspapers continued to cover the festival with great excitement, leading up to and following its opening day on August 8, 1915. On the second day of the tournament, the prize was taken by “the lady champion rifle shot of California” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 1915), Mrs. Captain Chris (or Christian) Krempel, who scored a bulls-eye in her first shot. The Oakland Tribune captured PPIE’s own Annie Oakley on camera, declaring this marvel of sharpshooting a “modern Diana” (August 15, 1915). A native of Los Angeles, Mrs. Krempel held the Middle West championship title for rifle shooting; a regular 32-40 Winchester rifle was her weapon of choice. 

Official programme of the Grand Prize Shooting Tournament, 1915, San Francisco Shuetzen Verein records, MS 4007, California Historical Society

The California Historical Society holds records and realia of PPIE’s Grand Prize Shooting Tournament as part of its collection of San Francisco Schuetzen Verein records. Founded in 1859 as a militia and shooting society for Germans in San Francisco, the Schuetzen Verein evolved into a social and athletic club that sponsored shooting festivals and events throughout the Bay Area. The group was critically involved in the organization of the San Francisco International Shooting Festival Association (incorporated in 1912), which hosted the 1915 shooting tournament. 

San Francisco International Shooting Festival Association 1915 stock certificate, San Francisco Shuetzen Verein records, MS 4007, California Historical Society

The collection includes a wonderful array of records, publications, manuscripts, ephemera, and realia documenting the festival, including programs, tournament entry cards, a shooting record book, a scrapbook (from which the quotations above were gathered), an assortment of targets with bullet holes, a metal box, and a still-working embosser. 

Marie Silva

Archivist & Manuscripts Librarian

msilva@calhist.org

Type Tuesday - T.J. Lyons Antique Type Collection for Visual Graphics Corporation's Photo Typositor

Today's Type Tuesday features samples from typography's more recent history. The Visual Graphics Corporation (VGC) was a phototypesetting foundry based in North Miami, Florida. VGC was active in the phototypesetting phase of printing history, introducing the Photo Typositor, a machine that used a photographic process to reproduce characters onto photographic paper. After a few chemical baths the photographic paper would be ready for paste-up. 

Although implementing a cold-type process, the Photo Typositor captured the warmth and richness of fonts belonging to printer and collector of antique metal and wood type, T.J. Lyons. The VGC re-issued types for photo-lettering from Lyon's collections. Here are some samples from an undated VGC catalog. Each advertising sample is followed by the specimen from which the font was selected. 

Jaime Henderson
Archivist

Type Tuesday - Ludlow Typograph Company's Record Gothic Family

Today we feature the Ludlow Typograph Company's Record Gothic Family. 

This sans serif, hot metal type was designed in 1927 by Robert Hunter Middleton, typographer for the Ludlow Typographic Company. 

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist

Type Tuesday - District of Columbia Paper Manufacturing Company

We here at Type Tuesday love type, but what is it worth without the paper on which it appears? In addition to type specimens, the Kemble Collection on Printing and Publishing also holds a variety of paper samples from fine paper manufacturing companies such as the District of Columbia Paper Manufacturing Company. Their 1924 publication, Designs & Typography for Cover Paper, features samples created by esteemed designers, demonstrating how the company's paper could be used for advertising, taking into consideration color, size, paper weight and other features, such as deckling. As the introduction states, "every design, therefore, represents the unhampered taste and thought of its producer, to whom full credit for the result is due."

The District of Columbia Paper Manufacturing Company produced their own papers in their mill in Washington D.C., where "in addition to making [their] own rag pulp, [they] also produced [their] own chemical wood pulp, thus having complete control over these raw materials."

The following are some examples of the designers work, including information about their particular paper choices for their designs. 

Cover design for Women’s Wear by Mary McKinnon, printed at the Marchbanks Press. Reproduced on Green Executive Cover, Light Weight.

Cover design for Hotel Prospectus by W.A. Dwiggins, printed by McGrath-Sherrill Press. Reproduced on White Executive Cover, Heavy Weight.

Cover design for Children’s Wear by Lucille Patterson Marsh, printed by Norman T.A. Munder. Reproduced on Gray White House Cover, Light Weight.

Cover design for Automobile Catalogue by Edward A. Wilson, printed by Norman T.A. Munder. Reproduced on Terra Cotta National Cover, Light Weight.

Cover design for Sporting Goods Catalogue by George J. Illian, printed at the Printing House of William Edwin Rudge.

Jaime Henderson

Archivist

Type Tuesday - Reardon & Krebs

Today we feature another San Francisco type foundry, Reardon & Krebs. 

The type specimen is undated, although it looks to have been published in the early 1950s. 

The personal favorite here at Type Tuesday are the curved and numbered arrows seen above!

Jaime Henderson
Archivist

Manuscript Monday—More from the Nelson C. Hawks papers

N.P. Hawks ledger, 1872, Nelson C. Hawks papers, Kemble MS 3, California Historical Society

This 1872 ledger is one of the many treasures found in the Nelson C. Hawks papers. Kept in 1872 for Hawks' Rural Press in Delafield, Wisconsin, it contains approximately 130 specimens of the press' work, including billheads, broadsides, advertisements, certificates, and election tickets. Hawks was never afraid to mix a variety of bold types, and these examples from his Wisconsin job printing days demonstrate the young printer's confidence, style, and joie de vivre. It is hard not to feel a personal affection for Hawks, a sickly Midwestern boy whose early childhood was marked by intense physical suffering. Nonetheless, Hawks pursued his adolescent love for printing with great zest and perseverance, and was rewarded by a long and happy career as one of San Francisco's preeminent printers.

The finding aid to the Nelson C. Hawks papers is available on the Online Archive of California: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8nk3j92/

Marie Silva
Archivist & Manuscripts Librarian
msilva@calhist.org