Finding aid to the Nelson C. Hawks papers, Kemble MS 3
Finding aid prepared by Marie Silva
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
2015
Title: Nelson C. Hawks papers
Date: 1855-1918
Collection Identifier: Kemble MS
3
Creator:
Hawks, Nelson Crocker, 1840-1929.
Extent: 7 flat boxes, 1 slipcase
(3.3 linear feet)
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105-4014
(415) 357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Location of Materials: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in
English, with a few news clippings in
Spanish and German.
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.
Access
Publication Rights
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.
Related Collections
The California Historical Society's copy of the Pacific Type Foundry's
Handy book of specimens contains inscriptions by Hawks
indicating which pages he personally composed.
Processing Information
Processed by Marie Silva in 2015.
System of 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.
Biographical Information
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.
Scope and Contents
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.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's public access catalog:
Hawks, Nelson Crocker,
1840-1929--Archives.
Hawks, Nelson Crocker, 1840-1929--Portraits.
Marder, Luse and Company.
Pacific Type Foundry.
Palmer & Rey.
Type and type-founding.
Printers--California--San Francisco.
Printers--Wisconsin.
Printing--Specimens.
Diaries.
Ledgers (account books)
Letter books.
Scrapbooks.
Diaries and scrapbooks
1855-1896
Box 1, Volume 1a
Journal! by N.C. Hawks
1855 January 1-1855 December 31
Box 1, Volume 1b
Diary, edited by Nelson C. Hawks
1855 January 1-1856 August
Box 1, Volume 2
Daily journal for the year of our Lord 1862
1862
Box 1, Volume 3
Daily journal for 1863
1863
Box 2, Volume 4
My book, for 1867
1867-1869
Scope and Contents
Includes a preface, written in 1867, and household accounts and daily
journal entries for the year 1869. Journal entries for the year 1867
were never written.
Box 2, Volume 7
Journal for 1872
1872-1880, 1888
Scope and Contents
Includes monthly journal entries for the years 1872 and 1873; daily
journal entries for the pivotal year 1874 (during which Hawks moved from
Milwaukee to San Francisco to manage the Pacific Type Foundry); and
yearly summaries for the years 1875-1880. One of Hawk's children added
daily journal entries for 1888 April 22-23.
Box 2, Volume 8
1882. Home plan and other memoranda. N.C. Hawks. Journal for
1883.
1882-1883
Box 3, Volume 9
Home memorandum expense etc., 1884
1884
Box 3, Volume 10
Home journal and expense, 1885
1885
Box 3, Volume 12
Home journal, 1887-88
1887-1888
Box 3, Volume 13
Home journal, 1889-1893
1889-1893
Box 3, Volume 14
[Journal], 1894-1896
1894-1896
Box 5
Scrapbook of news clippings about Hawk's Iron Stand,
etc.
1869-1883
Scope and Contents
Includes news clippings (1870-1873) about Hawk's Iron Stand, a composing
stand patented in 1869, and Hawk's printing business in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Also includes accounts for Hawk's Iron Stand (1869-1870) and
the California Bracket Stand (1883).
Box 5
Scrapbook of news clippings about Nelson C. Hawks
1874-1896
Scope and Contents
Includes news clippings about Hawks and the various San Francisco
printing establishments he managed or owned between the years 1874 and
1894. Also includes articles about the California Press Association and
Hawk's California Camera Company, established after he retired from the
printing business in 1896.
Correspondence and business records
1872-1885
Box 6
N.P. Hawks ledger
1872
Scope and Contents
Contains customer accounts for Hawk's Rural Press (Delafield, Wisconsin)
for the year 1872. Approximately 130 specimens printed by the Rural
Press, including billheads, broadsides, advertisements, certificates,
and election tickets, are pasted in.
Box 7
Pacific Type Foundry letter book
1875 June 10-1876 September 16
Scope and Contents
Contains copies of business letters written by Hawks as manager of the
Pacific Type Foundry.
Box 4
A.P. Luse letters to N.C. Hawks
1876 February 9-1881 December 1
Scope and Contents
Bound volume of business letters written by A.P. Luse of Marder, Luse
& Co. to Hawks.
Box 7
N.C. hawks letter book
1882 February 16-1885 December 6
Scope and Contents
Contains copies of business letters written by Hawks as the owner of N.C.
Hawks & Co. and superintendent of Palmer & Rey.
Publications and miscellany
1857-1918
Box 4
Young America, Delafield, Wisconsin,
edited by N.C. Hawks
1857 January 20-1858 September 8
Explanation of the point system of printing type
with specimens in the office of the Island City Press, Alameda,
California
, by Nelson C. Hawks
1918
Location of Materials: In slipcase on
General Note
Housed in custom slipcase.
Box 4
Proof of first type set on point widths
undated
Box 4
Carte de visite portrait Nelson C. Hawks, by Abell's Art-Studio
Car
1870s
