Depictions of labor

In honor of Labor Day I ransacked my images for billheads and letterheads that depicted working people.

1917 billhead John Burns fruit house and oysters La Crosse WI showing men unloading boxes on Mississippi River.

1888 billhead WD Newton cigar maker of Victor NY showing a man rolling a cigar.

1846 billhead Rich Downie Hereford brazier and tin plate worker UK showing interior scene of men pounding tin.

1868 billhead Samuel Richards glass makers pf Philadelphia showing men shoveling.

Billhead for Martin Dawon candy maker of Chicago IL with an interior scene of men working.

1884 billhead William King & Bro glass manufactures with interior scene of men working.

1894 billhead Buffalo Fish Company showing an interior scene of the factory and men working.

1855 billhead Mower & Rye job printers of Concord NH showing a man running a printing press.

1864 billhead for Big Redwood Mills manufactures of lumber of Mayfield showing a man leading a team of horses pulling a load of lumber.

Max Wocher & Son billhead surgical instruments and aseptic furniture of Cincinnati Ohio showing a man working on a machine.

Wonderful back graphic of the Peerless letterhead showing the Raw Oyster Department and the stages of production. The last two pictures show women working in the canning department.

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Baking Powder Billheads

In 1843 the first modern version of baking powder was discovered and manufactured by Alfred Bird, a British chemist. In 1846, Justus Von Liebig in Germany experiments with yeast made from sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid with explosive results. In 1885, Eben Horsford and George Wilson manufacture chemicals which eventually became the Rumford Chemical Works. Horsford formulated and patented Rumford Baking Powder, the first calcium phopshate baking powder. In 1889, William Wright and chemist George Rew developed a double-action baking powder marketed under the name Calumet Baking Powder. Below find some examples of baking powder billheads.

Rubber Goods

The rubber industry in the United States can hardly be said to have had any real and tangible existence until the discovery of the process of vulcanization in 1844 by Charles Goodyear. The first rubber ever imported into this country was brought into Boston in the year 1800 and came in In that same year a patent was granted to one Jacob Hummel, of Philadelphia, for a gum-elastic varnish; of which, however, there seems to have been no further mention. Some ten years later, in 1823, a Boston sea-captain, coming from South American ports, brought with him a pair of gilded rubber shoes which excited the greatest interest. Two years later, 500 pairs of rubber shoes, made by the natives along the Amazon, were brought into Boston, this time without the fantastical refinement of gilding. They were exceedingly thick, clumsy, and unshapely shoes, and yet they sold readily, bringing from $3 to $5 per pair as they were found that they were a secure protection against dampness. This was the e

Billhead of the Month: Schmit Bros trunks Oshkosh WI

I picked up this Schmit Brothers billhead recently in Eau Claire. I currently have it for sale on ebay right now. It is a nice triple graphic billhead. Here is my ebay write up: 1895 billhead for The Schmit Brothers Trunk Company manufacturers of trunks, traveling bags and valises of Oshkosh Wisconsin. Great header graphics with three images. Left side is the firm’s mill at Summit Lake, middle is the firm’s factory and left side is the firm’s warehouse. Billhead has creases. Peter Schmit was born in 1840 in Prussia. He emigrated to the U.S. in June 1854 and located inRacine WI. He was engaged in farming until 1861 when he enlisted in Company D, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He engaged in the battles at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Mine Run, Bull Run, Gettysburg, Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. He was mustered out in June 1865. He came back to Racine and kept a hotel until 1866 when he joined his brother Henry’s trunk business. Henry had established the bus

THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

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