Nelson C. Hawks papers, 1855-1918

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Summary

Creators:
Hawks, Nelson Crocker, 1840-1929.
Abstract:
The collection consists of diaries, scrapbooks, correspondence, business records, printing specimens, publications, and other materials created or collected by the printer Nelson C. Hawks between the years 1855 and 1918. Papers document Hawks' childhood; his religious education and observances as a devout Episcopalian; his work as a job printer in Delafield and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the 1874 establishment of the Pacific Type Foundry in San Francisco; the history of the point system for sizing types, first introduced by Hawks at the Pacific Type Foundry around 1878; and the business operations of the Pacific Type Foundry, Marder, Luse, & Co., Palmer & Rey, and other printing firms with which Hawks was associated. Also included in the collection is a portrait of Hawks, dated from the 1870s.
Extent:
7 flat boxes, 1 slipcase (3.3 linear feet)
Language:
Collection materials are in English , with a few news clippings in Spanish and German.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Nelson C. Hawks papers, Kemble MS 3, California Historical Society.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of diaries, scrapbooks, correspondence, business records, printing specimens, publications, and other materials created or collected by the printer Nelson C. Hawks between the years 1855 and 1918. Papers document Hawks' childhood; his religious education and observances as a devout Episcopalian; his work as a job printer in Delafield and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the 1874 establishment of the Pacific Type Foundry in San Francisco; the history of the point system for sizing types, first introduced by Hawks at the Pacific Type Foundry around 1878; and the business operations of the Pacific Type Foundry, Marder, Luse, & Co., Palmer & Rey, and other printing firms with which Hawks was associated. Also included in the collection is a portrait of Hawks, dated from the 1870s.

Hawks' diaries cover a wide span of his life, beginning in 1855 when he was fourteen years old and continuing until 1896, after he retired from the printing business. Journals contain daily, monthly, and yearly entries detailing Hawks' domestic life and professional activities; many include drawings, stickers, and humourous prefaces. Two scrapbooks contain news clippings and printing specimens documenting Hawks' contributions to the typographic and printing professions in Wisconsin and San Francisco between the years 1869 and 1896. The collection also includes correspondence written by Hawks, A.P. Luse, and others related to the business activities of the Pacific Type Foundry, Marder, Luse & Co., N.C. Hawks & Co., and Palmer & Rey in the 1870s and '80s. A ledger, dated 1872, contains approximately 130 specimens of printing issued by Hawk's Rural Press in Delafield, Wisconsin. Publications include Young America, a Delafield newspaper published by Hawks in 1857-1858, and Hawk's Explanation of the point system of printing type, published by the Island City press in Alameda, California, in 1918.

Biographical / historical:

Nelson C. Hawks was a San Francisco printer and originator of the American point system for type sizing. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 21, 1840, grew up in nearby Delafield, and worked as a printer's apprentice in Waukesha. At the age of sixteen, Hawks began publication of the newspaper, the Young American, in Delafield; a few years later, he started the Free Press in Oconomowoc. Beginning in 1865, he worked as a job printer in Milwaukee, patenting Hawk's Iron Stand, a composing stand, in 1869. Hawks moved to San Francisco in 1874 in order to set up and manage the Pacific Type Foundry as an agent of the Chicago firm Marder, Luse & Co. In 1874, Hawks also started the Pacific Specimen, the Pacific Type Foundry's well-regarded typographical journal.

According to his diary, Hawks proposed the point system for which he became famous to his employer John Marder in 1877. The system was first implemented by the Pacific Type Foundry around 1878, and, thanks to Hawks' persistent advocacy, was widely adopted by type founders throughout the United States and England. Around 1882, Hawks left the Pacific Type Foundry and established his own printers supply house, N.C. Hawks & Co., at 532 Clay Street in San Francisco. He sold this business to San Francisco type founders Palmer & Rey, and served as Palmer & Rey's superintendent for two years. In 1885, Hawks again established his own company, a printers supply house located at 410 Kearney Street and later at 320-322 Battery Street in San Francisco. In 1888, he and W.F. Shattuck formed a partnership, establishing Hawks & Shattuck, and publishing the Occasional Typograph. Hawks retired from the printing business in 1894, but remained a stockholder in the Pacific States Type Foundry, a firm he founded with W.F. and A.E. Shattuck, Samuel Martin, and T.G. Cantrell. A skilled photographer, he opened the California Camera Company at 124 Geary Street in San Francisco in 1896.

Processing information:

Processed by Marie Silva in 2015.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in three series: 1) Diaries and scrapbooks, 1855-1896; 2) Correspondence and business records, 1872-1885; and 3) Publications and miscellany, 1857-1918.

Physical location:
Collection is stored onsite.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

California Historical Society collections have been transferred to Stanford University Libraries. Collections will be unavailable as Stanford accessions them and updates records. Please contact chscollection@stanford.edu with any inquiries.

Terms of access:

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Nelson C. Hawks papers, Kemble MS 3, California Historical Society.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
Website