Inland Type Foundry
Encyclopedia
The Inland Type Foundry was an American type foundry
established in 1894 in Saint Louis, Missouri
and later with branch offices in Chicago
and New York City
. Although it was founded to compete directly with the "type trust" (American Type Founders
), and was consistently profitable, it was eventually sold to A.T.F,.
Two magazines, Practical Printer and Printers' Wit & Humor were published by the firm in order to showcase their type. In 1897 Inland bought out the Western Engravers' Supply Company of St. Louis. In 1911 the brothers sold the foundry to A.T.F., which divided the matrices between their own facility in Jersey City and that of their subsidiary Barnhart Brothers & Spindler
in Chicago
. While the other two brothers simply retired, Oswald Schraubstadter worked for A.T.F. for many years.
Inland was arguably the most successful American type foundry, certainly the most successful of its day. Several factors were responsible for this including the experience and capability of the Schraubstadter brothers, a well designed high-quality quality product, an aggressive program of direct mail advertising, and reduced transport costs due to both the closeness of lead mines and the concentration of the printing industry in the Midwest and Tennesee. Another factor in their success might have been wide-spread resentment among printers of the "type trust," represented by A.T.F,.
Type foundry
A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...
established in 1894 in Saint Louis, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and later with branch offices in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Although it was founded to compete directly with the "type trust" (American Type Founders
American Type Founders
American Type Founders was a business trust created in 1892 by the merger of 23 type foundries, representing about 85% of all type manufactured in the United States...
), and was consistently profitable, it was eventually sold to A.T.F,.
History
Inland was founded by the three sons of Carl Schraubstadter, one of the owners of the Central Type Foundry which had shut down upon being sold to A.T.F. in 1892. William A. Schraubstadter had been superintendant of the old foundry and, not being offered a similar position in the consolidation, founded Inland with his two brothers, Oswald and Carl Jr. At first the foundry sold type made by the Keystone Type Foundry and the Great Western Type Foundry, but soon enough was cutting and casting faces of their own. All three brothers were familiar with the foundry business and quite soon the firm began making type that was "state of the art," being point-set and having a common base-line for all faces of the same body size. This last feature was a recent innovation and, as Inland had no back stock of non-linging faces, they advertised this heavily as "Standard Line Type."Two magazines, Practical Printer and Printers' Wit & Humor were published by the firm in order to showcase their type. In 1897 Inland bought out the Western Engravers' Supply Company of St. Louis. In 1911 the brothers sold the foundry to A.T.F., which divided the matrices between their own facility in Jersey City and that of their subsidiary Barnhart Brothers & Spindler
Barnhart Brothers & Spindler
Barnhart Brothers & Spindler Type Foundry was founded as the Great Western Type Foundry in 1873. It became Barnhart Brothers & Spindler ten years later. It was a successful foundry known for innovative type design and well designed type catalogs. Oz Cooper, Will Ransom, Robert Wiebking, and...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. While the other two brothers simply retired, Oswald Schraubstadter worked for A.T.F. for many years.
Inland was arguably the most successful American type foundry, certainly the most successful of its day. Several factors were responsible for this including the experience and capability of the Schraubstadter brothers, a well designed high-quality quality product, an aggressive program of direct mail advertising, and reduced transport costs due to both the closeness of lead mines and the concentration of the printing industry in the Midwest and Tennesee. Another factor in their success might have been wide-spread resentment among printers of the "type trust," represented by A.T.F,.