Description
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.
Background
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.
Extent
7 flat boxes, 1 slipcase
(3.3 linear feet)
Restrictions
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.
Availability
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates: https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/