Enquirer Printing Co. Records
Collection
Identifier: Wing-Modern-MS-Enquirer
Scope and Content of the Collection
Correspondence with circuses that were clients of the Enquirer Printing Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio.
There are incoming letters (on a variety of colorful circus letterheads) with attached carbon copies of outgoing letters and a few enclosures. There are also photocopies of ledger sheets from the 1920s concerning the company’s printing for theater companies. Some 38 circuses are represented. There are particularly long runs of letters to/from the Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus (1948-1968), the Carson & Barns Circus (1958-1970) and the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus (1961-1978). Several other circuses are represented by runs of a decade or more. The letters largely concern orders for posters, handbills, small advertisements, tickets, business cards and the like, including a few orders for letterheads. But a fair amount of other circus lore is also included: news about animal purchases and new acts (requiring new or changing art work), allusions to financial successes or more often straits (with requests for extended payment or credit), remarks on competition between circuses, and general circus gossip. Actual descriptions of art work are rare, but there are some fascinating specific cases; many of the orders refer to stock art work that can be identified in the thousands of printing blocks now at the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum. The ledger sheets include information on posters for touring companies that offered musical revues, vaudeville and minstrel shows, and a few dramatic productions.
There are incoming letters (on a variety of colorful circus letterheads) with attached carbon copies of outgoing letters and a few enclosures. There are also photocopies of ledger sheets from the 1920s concerning the company’s printing for theater companies. Some 38 circuses are represented. There are particularly long runs of letters to/from the Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus (1948-1968), the Carson & Barns Circus (1958-1970) and the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus (1961-1978). Several other circuses are represented by runs of a decade or more. The letters largely concern orders for posters, handbills, small advertisements, tickets, business cards and the like, including a few orders for letterheads. But a fair amount of other circus lore is also included: news about animal purchases and new acts (requiring new or changing art work), allusions to financial successes or more often straits (with requests for extended payment or credit), remarks on competition between circuses, and general circus gossip. Actual descriptions of art work are rare, but there are some fascinating specific cases; many of the orders refer to stock art work that can be identified in the thousands of printing blocks now at the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum. The ledger sheets include information on posters for touring companies that offered musical revues, vaudeville and minstrel shows, and a few dramatic productions.
Dates
- 1922-1979
Creator
- Enquirer Printing Co (Organization)
Language
Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
The Enquirer Printing Co. Records are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Enquirer Printing Co. Records are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
History of the Enquirer Printing Co.
Cincinnati, Ohio, printing company.
Enquirer Printing Co. was a small printing company specializing in printing for entertainment industries and located in Cincinnati, OH. The records in this collection came from the files of office manager Harry C. Anderson.
Enquirer Printing Co. was a small printing company specializing in printing for entertainment industries and located in Cincinnati, OH. The records in this collection came from the files of office manager Harry C. Anderson.
Extent
0.8 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Abstract
Chiefly correspondence between the Enquirer Printing Co. and the circuses for which it printed between 1948 and 1978. There are also photocopies of some ledger sheets from the 1920s concerning shipments to theater companies.
Organization
Papers are organized in the following series
- Series 1: Circus Correspondence, 1948-1979
- Boxes 1-2
- Series 2: Ledger sheets, 1922-1923
- Box 2
Collection Stack Location
4a 28 1
Provenance
Gift of the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, 2016.
Processed by
Paul Gehl, Mette Shayne and Robert Williams, 2016.
- Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus
- Carson & Barnes Circus
- Circus -- United States
- Circus owners -- United States -- Correspondence
- Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus
- Enquirer Printing Co
- Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum (Two Rivers, Wis.)
- Manuscripts, American
- Minstrel shows
- Posters
- Posters, American
- Printers -- Ohio -- Correspondence
- Printing -- Ohio -- Cincinnati
- Printing -- Posters
- Revues
- Theater poster
- Vaudeville -- United States
Creator
- Enquirer Printing Co (Organization)
- Title
- Inventory of the Enquirer Printing Co. Records, 1922-1979
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Paul F. Gehl
- Date
- ©2016.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts Repository
Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512
reference@newberry.org
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512
reference@newberry.org