Seattle –
Poole Brothers was one of the diversified, high-quality firms
operating during the late 19th Century and early 20th Century in
Chicago's Printer's Row. The earliest maps show that they were
organized around 1880 and according to Chicago's Newberry Library
archives, the company was operating at 308-316 Dearborn Street in
1883.
Though the Rand McNally Corporation web page says that Rand McNally
was organized in 1864, in fact the direct predecessor of Rand McNally
was the company by that name organized in May, 1868 by four gentlemen,
according to John Tebbel's book (Xerox Educational Publishing, 1972),
"A History of Book Publishing in the U.S., 1630-1865". The four were:
* George A. Poole
* John Reid
* William H. Rand
* Andrew McNally
Ran McNally was the typesetting and production house for the Chicago
Tribune at that time and started producing books in 1877.
Poole Brothers were known for typesetting skills in the days of lead
type and in 1949 Taylor Poole authored a book (which the firm
published) called 'San Serif ABC.' The New York Times, in a brief
description, says that it covers the "problems of type design and
composition."
According to Graphic Arts Monthly (September, 1989) in an article on
Chicago's continued dominance of the printing industry titled "The New
Chicago Loop," Poole Brothers was merged with Newman/Rudolph. During
American Can Company's acquisition binge of the early 1960s, it
purchased the merged print concern. By the mid-1960s, American Can
liquidated the printers, according to Graphic Arts Monthly.
Poole Brothers had printed railway maps, as you noted, as well as
menus for the railroads and a host of other items. They were involved
in production of tickets (for amusement parks, railroads, coupons
books, etc.) and were one of 33 manufacturers cited in a September,
1948 price-fixing case by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC cited
Poole Brothers, Rand-McNally and four other Chicago companies,
according to the Sept. 18, 1948 New York Times.
Poole also set the type for Playboy Magazine and all of the Crain
Communications magazines, like Advertising Age and Business Insurance.
THE ARCHIVES
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You've undoubtedly seen the Poole Brothers maps at the Library of
Congress collection with the earliest being their map of Yellowstone
Park in 1880. What's interesting is their use of 3-D mapping
techniques for popular areas, a technique that's had a reprise in the
maps of Dorling-Kindersley and others:
Library of Congress
Map Collections, 1500-2002
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdAuthors17.html
Library of Congress
Railroad Maps (Creators)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrmapAuthors05.html
It is clear that the company is active in the 1880s because their book
"Rhymes of the Rockies is already in its 7th printing in 1891:
Voices West
"Cowboy Poetry Section"
http://www.cowboysong.com/poets/poetsr1.html
And in 1885 they produced a book called "Facts and Figures About
Michigan" that is a common reference for genealogists.
While some pieces of the Poole Brothers type inventory was donated to
Chicago's Newberry Library -- which later ran out of room and passed
the material along to the Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts at
Columbia College -- it is hard to tell what happened to the entire
mass of company archives:
Caxton Club of Chicago
" For the Love of Letterpress, a Tradition Continues in Chicago" (May,
1997)
http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/loveoflpress.htm
I used several fee-based services, Proquest and Infotrac, to find
references in the New York Times and trade publications. In addition,
on Google the search strategy was:
"Poole Brothers" + Chicago
"Rand McNally" + history
Several inquiries were made to people in the Chicago printing
industry; the Newberry Library; and Columbia College. I'll update you
with a clarification note if additional information is received.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
