THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

Robert P. Studley was born in New Hampshire but moved to St. Louis and began a printing business in the City around 1855 with partner Thomas Usick. The firm operated as Usick, Studley & Co. By 1864 the firm was simply known as R.P. Studley & Co. However, through outside speculations by a partner the firm failed in 1875, but with the aid of his brother and friends he began again. Studley was the first to introduce lithographic presses to St. Louis. Studley also has a type face named after him. 

Besides having highly decoative billheads, many companies also carried this over into the receipts for collection. These receipts are smaller than billheads are are normally printed lenghtwise. Think of a piece of letterhead but have the size. Many of these were pre-printed with blanks to fill in the amounts owed.

Paint, Oil, and Varnish Industry. The paint industry in the United States started in New York City , in 1715, when linseed oil was put on the market as an article of commercial value. This first mill was closely followed in 1718 by one in Connecticut , erected by John Prout, Jr. Later in 1750 the Dunkers, in Lancaster Co., Pa. , started the industry and by 1786 had four mills in operation. While paint had been used many years before the linseed-oil industry was started, yet its manufacture added a great stimulus to the use of paints because it aided greatly in the manufacture of paints and varnish and later became a necessary adjunct to the business. The rapid growth of the linseed-oil industry had not been without its effect in stimulating the use of paints. These colors were, however, wholly imported, and grew but slowly in general favor. Nevertheless by 1714 painters' colors were for sale in Boston , and while their employment, even for painting the churches, was fr...

While color trade cards abound and the black and white versions are rarer, that is the exact opposite for billheads. As the popularity of trade cards died out, color became more popular on billheads. Also probably due to the decreasing cost of using color and the increasing importance o billheads as a means of advertising to companies. See below for some neat examples.

Tobacco advertising in America first appeared in 1789, when the Lorillard brothers advertised their snuff and tobacco products in a local New York daily paper. Advertising for tobacco, and most other products, over the next 70 years took this same form - mostly unadorned advertisements in local or regional newspapers. It wasn't until the 1840s that brand names slowly began to appear on labels. Customers traditionally would ask for the "best" product, rarely requesting a specific brand, when they purchased their tobacco from the local grocer, or possibly from a traveling peddler. After the Civil War, there was an increased demand for tobacco products in general. The tobacco companies used trade cards (similar to business cards), tin tags and posters to advertise their products. Color lithography developed in the late 1870s, and businesses could now promote themselves with a variety of attractive colorful images, some having nothing at all to do with any of their product...