This photo was among my father's things. The back says that it is Photograph # 17 from the Swearingen A.P Collection in the Western History Collection of the University of Oklahoma Library.
Walker & McCoy Sign Company, next to City Marshall's office on Harrison Avenue, Guthrie, OK 1889.
[ February 15, 2003, 08:57 PM: Message edited by: Kimberly Zanetti ]
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Kemberly, that's a wonderful photo. I'm thinking that those signs are the first....a new town, the first signs that were needed.... Real Estate, Brokers, Grocery, J.M. Ennis, Mayor...Counsellors at Law.
The beginnings.... needed signs to tell people what's what.
Who is in Guthrie, Ok. now, any letterheads??
Thanks, John Lennig / SignRider
Posted by J.G. Kurtzman (Member # 1736) on :
Kimberly; Great photo of the original "Letter Heads" love the setting, reminds me of a John Wayne thing. The serif on the bottom of the "N" in the word SIGNS is absent. That in itself reflects a self taught sign guy of days gone by, which is what early sign industries for the most part were. Catagorically sign industries then, as they are today, nothing more than a reprensentation of the geographic and industrial demands of the times.
J.G. Kurtzman
Posted by Bill Cosharek (Member # 1274) on :
J.G. - Better check your font sources as most every modern seriffed type style also lacks your missing serif on their N's. Just glanced thru my Corel source & found maybe 1 bold type with your serif. All else were just as the oldtimer had painted it. Looks right to me.
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Bill, you got it. Doesn't it just BURN YOU when you see dimensional letter put up BACKWARDS.
A,M,N,U,V,W,Y.... drives me crazy!!
Don't think there's to many fonts/letterstyles with a serif on the lower right on an N.
Keep both eyes open, letter crimes are everywhere!
John Lennig / SignRider
Posted by J.G. Kurtzman (Member # 1736) on :
personal preference is just a reflection of taste and or attitude.
J.G. Kurtzman
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Cool pic.
I can't imagine lettering signs while wearing a tie and vest.
Posted by Arthur Vanson (Member # 2855) on :
Fascinating, they certainly weren’t heavily committed to margins in that shop, were they?
Posted by Ed Williams (Member # 846) on :
Great pic......I quess if it wasn't for the beginning, you won't know where you were at today. Thanx for the post Kim. CJ
Posted by Signs by Shawn (Member # 426) on :
What I find is a sign of the times, look at who has the biggest sign... the "UNDERTAKER"!!! lol
Posted by Cam Bortz (Member # 55) on :
Whatever else you think about their work, the place was BUSY! Those guys were pounding out some signs - how many are stacked up there, waiting to be installed? At least 8 or 10 I can see, most with heavy copy; that's a lot of lettering. 1889 - wasn't that right around the time of the opening of Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to settlement?
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
I'm curious about how much these signs went for back then compared to how much the signpainters earned.
Posted by VICTORGEORGIOU (Member # 474) on :
Looks like the sign biz was healthy in those days.
Do you suppose the American Sign Museum has these?
Vic G
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Kimberly...
That photo was made into a poster back around 1974 or later... I used to have it hanging in my shop.It was part of on old west poster series by a major western boot manufacturer. I saw it hanging in a shoe store, and I made the store owner save it for me. And I saw it in a book one time too, a history of the west series, I forget which one, might have been Time-Life......
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
One of the FIRST things to be done when towns were starting out. Was to go back East,find a sign painter,bring him BACK to town! Perhaps this is where the notion of....... "working in MY town" came about?
Thanks Kimberly
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
Getting kind of scary Kimberly...I'm starting to think you have a hidden camera here.
I have that same pic on my wall at the shop.
Posted by captain ken (Member # 742) on :
Cam is right, dem boys is busy, look at all the work they were pumpin' out. Everybody in town needs a sign, and I don't think there was a speedy sign*a*rama in the next town. And take a look, I can't tell how far back it goes but the storefront is only 5' wide. You'd be lucky to get 2 guys in there working. Half those signs you would have to take outside to turn em around, and I thought my shop was small! 'N'<<<<<< look at that, no lower serif. Most of the fonts that were developed early were taken from ancient Roman styles which most of had no lower serif i.e. goudy, garromond, times etc...
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