prison made wood type. who has some?
reading through my copy of WOOD TYPE last night I read abotu the Day brothers firing all their wood type employees after a strike and moving production to prison based manufacturing.
this happened during a certain time period so i was wondering if anyone was able to identify some of this type as made in the prison.
anyone have any of this?
not sure why i care but for some reason it intrigued me when i read it and i wondered if it was any better or worse than type made by the original employees.
W.T. and S.D. Day Co.
In 1845, brother William and Samuel Day start producing wood type in Fredericksburg, OH. They struggled with a long strike in 1855, and moved production after the strike to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus. The name changed to W.T., J.R., and S.D. Day Co. In 1857, a fire at the prison destroyed the equipment, halting production. It resumes a year later under the old name after the brothers bought a press manufacturing plant in Cincinnati, J.D. Foster and Co. It’s all in vain, because they close shop in 1862.
this is what i found. you take it from here…
That is very interesting. How could we identify this type?
If I want to read more about this, where could I find information?
Yeah.. page 40 of the American Wood Type reprint talks about it in detail.. about how some of the foreman from Day went to supervise at the prison. Other employees went on to try to start their own businesses but couldn’t compete with the 50-60 cents per day per man prison wages.
based on the book it looks like they produced prison type from 1855-1857 when the fire occurred.
I produce and sell wood type in Columbus, Ohio where the Old Ohio Pen used to be. For the past year I have been trying to find out more info on the Day brothers company and the whole prison made wood type business, but I have not had much luck. I am making a trip to the Ohio Historical Society archives this week where the old prison records are stored.
Can you tell me what issue of Wood Type you saw the article in? I have already check my original print of American Wood Type and have that info as a base too. I will keep everyone updated here and on my blog site.