Finding aid to the San Francisco Web Pressmen Photograph Album
Finding aid prepared by Wendy Welker
Labor Archives and Research Center
2019
San Francisco State University
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722
larc@sfsu.edu
Title: San Francisco Web Pressmen photograph album
Date (inclusive): 1921-1958
Date (bulk): 1951
Creator:
Web Pressmen's Union. Local 4 (San Francisco, Calif.)
Physical Description:
1 album
(30 pages); 26.5 x 53 cm.
Collection number: larc.pho.0040
Accession number: 2003/103
Repository:
Labor Archives and Research Center
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco, CA 94132-1722
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu
Abstract: Photo album consisting of images of web pressmen at work printing San Francisco newspapers, on break and posing with co-workers,
and spending leisure time together on recreational outings. The album documents the pressmen's working environment, including
web press machinery and ink-stained clothes, and hunting, fishing, and clam-digging trips taken throughout the San Francisco
Bay Area and greater California, and San Diego.
Physical Location: Collection available on site.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], San Francisco Web Pressmen Photograph Album, larc.pho.0040, Labor Archives and Research Center,
San Francisco State University.
Collection donated by the Graphic Communications International Union, 2003 (2003/103).
Arranged as received.
Printers in early America were the first craftspeople to form local unions and they formed the first International Union in
1852 called the International Typographical Union (ITU), originally named National Typographical Union. Technological advancements
transformed the printing industry in the late 1800s and by the turn of the century several separate printing unions had emerged
or seceded from the ITU, including the International Printing Pressmen's Union of North America, from which the San Francisco
Web Pressmen's Union most probably evolved. All the printing unions were joined together by 1983 under the name Graphic Communications
International Union (GCIU). In 2005, the GCIU merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The printers have
their own segment within the Teamsters called Graphic Communications Conference.
Two photos removed from page one (verso).
Photo album consisting of images from 1921-1958, the bulk from 1951, of web pressmen at work printing San Francisco newspapers,
on break and posing with co-workers, and spending leisure time together on recreational outings. The album documents the
pressmen's working environment, including web press machinery and ink-stained clothes, and hunting, fishing, and clam-digging
trips taken throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and greater California, and San Diego. The album has handwritten notes
identifying people in the photos, some with retirement and death dates. The album also contains two newspaper clippings of
obituaries.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Printers
Printing industry -- California -- San Francisco.
Printing presses
Photograph albums.
Photographic prints.