BEP History History

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BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

Papers prepared by the 

Historical Resource Center, 2004
The mission of the Historical Resource Center is to collect, document, 

and preserve the history of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and 

its products. The HRC serves as a resource for research and dissemination of information concerning Bureau of Engraving and Printing history and products.

This booklet consists of assorted documents prepared by the staff of the 

Historical Resource Center.

In this inaugural edition of historical works concerning the Bureau 

of Engraving and Printing, there is a brief historical narrative of the 

Bureau, a timeline of significant events in Bureau history, and a collection of biographies of all the Chiefs/Directors who headed the Bureau.

Our sincere hope is that the information contained in this edition will 

provide a better understanding and appreciation of the overall history 

of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 

Future editions will include essays, studies, and other documents 

related to the history of the Bureau and the many items it has produced 

over the years.

For questions or comments, contact the Historical Resource Center at:

Curator, Historical Resource Center

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Room 602-11A

14th and C Streets, SW

Washington, DC 20228
TABLE OF CONTENTS

A BRIEF HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

ORIGINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

PRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

BUREAU GROWTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

A BRIEF TIMELINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1800s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1900s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2000s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

A BRIEF HISTORY 

OF THE BUREAU OF ENGRAVING

AND PRINTING

Prepared by 

the Staff of the Historical Resource Center

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

June 2004

A variety of sources was used to produce this Brief History. Primary 

sources included Bureau documents and reports contained in the files of 

the Historical Resource Center. Other primary sources included Treasury 

Department records, congressional hearings and reports, and legislative 

acts. A number of secondary source materials was also consulted.
ORIGINS

Faced with the growing costs of preparing for civil war in 1861, but

limited in its ability to raise the required sums of money, Congress 

resorted to the use of paper money and authorized a general circulation 

of currency notes for the first time since the failed Continental Currency 

of the American Revolution. Such financial difficulties, precipitated by 

military and constitutional crises, led to the emergence of the Bureau 

of Engraving and Printing. 

The paper notes were essentially Government IOUs, paid out in lieu of 

traditional coin payments, and were called Demand Notes because they 

were payable “on demand” in coin at certain Treasury facilities. The 

U.S. Government had no facility for the production of paper money in 

August 1861, so a private firm produced the Demand Notes in sheets 

of four. These sheets were then sent to the Treasury Department, where 

dozens of clerks signed the notes and scores of female workers cut the 

sheets and trimmed the notes by hand. A new issue of paper currency, 

called United States Notes, replaced the Demand Notes the following 

year. While signatures were engraved on the United States Notes, the 

work of placing seals on them, as well as trimming and separating, took 

place in the Treasury. Later in 1862, Spencer Clark, chief clerk in the 

Treasury Department’s Bureau of Construction, used steam-powered 

machines to trim and separate some of the notes. Gradually, additional 

work on currency and Government obligations, including engraving 

and printing, devolved to Clark’s operations. 

Initially, the currency processing operations in the Treasury were not 

formally organized. When Congress created the office of Comptroller 

of the Currency and the National Currency Bureau in 1863 to 

supervise National Banks and issue National Bank Notes, Spencer 

Clark’s operation was nominally subordinated to that agency and 

designated the “First Division, National Currency Bureau.” For years, 

however, the currency operations were known by various semi-official 

labels, such as the “Printing Bureau,” “Small Note Bureau,” “Currency 

department,” and “Small Note Room.” Even though Clark had 

2 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

View of Numbering Room, late 1800s

$5 Demand Note, 1861, face

Spencer Clark, Chief of the First 

Division, National Currency Bureau, 

1862–1868
advocated the creation of “The Engraving and Printing Bureau of the 

Treasury Department” as early as 1864, it was not until 10 years later, in 

1874, that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was officially 

recognized in congressional legislation with a specific allocation of 

operating funds for fiscal year 1875. Moreover, another 22 years passed 

before Congress officially established the supervisory relationship 

between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Bureau 

of Engraving and Printing in 1897. This arrangement was subsequently 

changed in 1981 when the United States Treasurer was assigned 

responsibility for oversight of the Bureau.

PRODUCTION

At first, production of currency in the Treasury Department was limited 

to the final preparation of notes for issue to the public; private firms 

performed the actual engraving and printing. The first currency actually 

engraved and printed completely at the Treasury Department was the 

first issue of Fractional Currency in 1863, called such because the notes 

were in denominations of less than one dollar. It was not until 1877 

that the Bureau began producing all currency for the U.S. Government. 

Up until that time, United States Notes (produced from 1862 to 1971) 

and National Bank Notes (1863–1935) had been produced privately at 

first and later under a shared arrangement between the Bureau and 

private companies. Other issues of currency produced by the Bureau 

have included Gold Certificates (1865–1935), Silver Certificates 

(1878–1964), and Treasury Coin Notes (1890–1899). Federal Reserve 

Notes, originally issued in 1914, are the only currency notes still 

being issued today.

From almost the very beginning of its operations, the Bureau designed 

and printed a variety of products in addition to currency. As early as 

1864, it made passports for the State Department and money orders for 

the Post Office Department. Other early items produced by the Bureau 

included various Government debt instruments such as interest-bearing 

notes, refunding certificates, compound interest Treasury notes, and 

bonds. In 1866, the Bureau began printing internal revenue stamps; by 

around 1878, it was producing almost all revenue stamps. The 

production of postage stamps began in 1894, and for almost the next 

century the Bureau was the sole producer of postage stamps in the 

country.

The Bureau has produced numerous items besides currency, stamps, 

and securities: military commissions and award certificates; White 

House invitations and admission cards; and many different types 

BEP HISTORY 3

$2 Silver Certificate, 1899, face

First Bureau Issue, 2¢ stamp with 

portrait of George Washington, 1894

Headpiece for Certificate of Letters 

Patent, Patent and Trademark Office, 

early 1900s
of identification cards, certificates, and commissions for a variety of 

Government agencies. Additionally, during times of war or conflict, 

the Bureau has printed special products to include military payment 

certificates for American forces, Allied military currency, and postage 

stamps for a number of Allied countries. The Bureau has also designed 

or produced, in whole or part, currency for the Philippines, the Republic 

of Cuba, South Korea, the Kingdom of Siam, and Eritrea. 

Currency Production. Currency has been printed primarily by the 

intaglio method, whereby fine-line engravings are transferred to steel 

plates from which an impression is made on sheets of distinctive paper. 

Ink is applied to the plates — each plate containing 32 note impressions 

— and then wiped clean, leaving ink in the engraved lines. The plate is 

pressed against the sheet of paper with such pressure as to actually press 

the paper into the lines of the plate to pick up the ink. Both faces and 

backs are printed in this manner, the backs being produced first. After 

the faces are printed, the sheets are then typographically overprinted 

with seals and serial numbers.

Currency was first produced at the Bureau on hand presses utilizing 

plates capable of printing four notes per sheet. Plate capacity on power 

presses increased from four to eight notes per sheet in 1918 in order to 

meet greatly expanded production requirements related to World War I. 

With the dramatic redesign of currency in 1929 — the first major 

change since paper currency was first issued in 1861 — note design 

was not only standardized but note size was also significantly reduced. 

Due to this reduction in size, the Bureau was able to convert from 8-

note printing plates to 12-note plates. The redesign effort came about 

for several reasons, chief among them a reduction in paper costs and 

improved counterfeit deterrence through better public recognition of 

currency features.

A further increase in the number of notes per sheet was realized in 

1952 after breakthrough developments in the production of non-offset 

inks. Beginning in 1943, the Bureau experimented with new inks that 

dried faster, therefore obviating the need to place tissues between sheets 

to prevent ink from offsetting to other sheets. The faster drying ink 

also enabled printed sheets of backs to be kept damp until the faces 

were printed, thereby reducing distortion caused by wetting, drying, 

and re-wetting of the paper (sheets needed to be dampened before 

each printing).

By reducing the distortion that increases proportionally with the size of 

the sheet of paper, the Bureau was able to convert from 12-note printing 

plates to plates capable of printing 18 notes in 1952. Five years later in 

1957, the Bureau began printing currency via the dry intaglio method 

4 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

Engraving Division, 1915

Trimming 12-subject currency sheets

Examining a 32-subject currency 

sheet, 1961
that utilizes special paper and non-offset inks, enabling a further increase 

from 18 to 32 notes per sheet. Since 1968, all currency has been printed 

by means of the dry intaglio process, whereby wetting of the paper prior 

to printing is unnecessary.

In the early 1990s, the Bureau produced some currency on a web-fed 

rotary press. Using a roll of paper instead of sheets, the new press printed 

both sides of the notes in a single pass. Considered the next generation 

of printing technology, the press was used until 1995, but because it was 

unable to sustain the long production runs for which it was intended, its 

use was discontinued.

The next major change in currency came in 1991 when the Bureau 

added microprinting and translucent security threads as advanced 

counterfeit deterrents. Just 5 years later, in 1996, currency notes 

underwent the most significant redesign since 1929. Besides 

microprinting and security threads, the new notes featured a larger 

off-center portrait, watermark, color-shifting ink, and concentric fineline printing, all in an effort to address counterfeiting threats posed by 

advances in color reproduction equipment and processes. 

Currency underwent another noteworthy change in October 2003. 

Series 2004 notes were the first to feature subtle background colors that 

added complexity to the note, making counterfeiting even more 

difficult. The offset printing method was used to apply background 

color to these new notes. This marks the first time that the production 

of U.S. currency included offset printing in addition to traditional 

intaglio printing.

Other Production. While currency production has primarily utilized 

the intaglio method of printing, the Bureau has used assorted printing 

methods for its other products. For example, postage stamps have been 

produced using intaglio, gravure, and a combination of intaglio and 

offset methods. Gravure printing consists of a pattern of tiny etched 

dots on the printing plate. Ink held inside the tiny dots is lifted up 

when paper is pressed against the plate, as in the intaglio method. In 

offset production, the image is lifted off the printing plate onto a rubber 

blanket by means of chemical attraction/repulsion and then offset to 

the paper.

At different times throughout its history, the Bureau has adjusted its 

production methods to meet new challenges. For instance, to fulfill 

increased production requirements without reverting to overtime, the 

Bureau started producing internal revenue stamps in the 1890s using the 

faster method of relief printing. Later, in 1912, the Bureau started using 

offset presses to produce checks, certificates, and other miscellaneous 

items to reduce production costs.

BEP HISTORY 5

Engraving the New Currency Design 

$100, Series 1996

Postage stamp production

Offset press, Surface Printing Division, 

1953
BUREAU GROWTH

From the very beginning of Government currency operations, space 

has been a perennial concern. The first home of the nascent Bureau of 

Engraving and Printing was the Treasury Department located at 1500 

Pennsylvania Avenue next to the White House. From 1861 until 1880, 

the work of engraving, printing, and processing securities was completed 

in a variety of rooms in the Treasury Building, including the basement 

and attic, where a dumbwaiter was used to transport paper and printed 

materials between the two locations. As early as 1864, Spencer Clark 

— in effect, the first head of Government currency production — 

recommended to the Treasury Secretary that a fireproof building be 

built for the express purpose of printing currency and other securities 

of the United States. In addition to safety concerns, the need for a 

separate facility also grew out of the disruption that the Bureau’s 

industrial operations brought to other offices within the Treasury.

However, it was not until 1878 that Congress appropriated funds for 

construction of a separate building. A section of land on the southwest 

corner of 14th and B Streets, owned by William W. Corcoran, banker 

and founder of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, was 

purchased in 1878. James G. Hill, then Supervising Architect of the 

Treasury, designed the Bureau’s first building. The concrete foundation 

was poured in September 1878 and construction was completed in 1880 

at a cost of $300,000. Later designated the Auditors’ Building after 

Bureau operations moved in 1914, the structure is Romanesque in style, 

constructed with rolled iron girders and pressed brick that is dark red 

in color. Upon completion, it was 220 feet long and 135 feet wide with 

four stories, a basement, a sub-basement, and a tower. In the tower, 

there was to be a clock, but it was never installed.

Over the next 30 years, the facility underwent many renovations to 

meet the growing need for currency and other Government obligations 

attendant with the country’s enormous economic growth. Extensions 

were constructed, additional land was acquired, and outbuildings were 

erected. By 1906, expansion of the facility had reached its limit and 

several plans for a larger facility were put forth. Eventually, it was decided 

that a new building would be constructed between 14th and 15th 

Streets, just south of the existing facility. Congress appropriated a total 

of $2,300,000 toward the purchase of land and construction. James 

Knox Taylor was supervising architect and J. Henry Miller, Inc. of 

Baltimore, Maryland, was the construction firm. The building was 

completed in February 1914 at a cost of $2,882,000.

The architectural style of what is now considered the main building 

of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is neoclassical. It has a steel 

6 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

1880 building

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

main building

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

main building
superstructure with fireproof concrete, Indiana limestone, and granite 

trim exterior. The main façade of the building faces Raoul Wallenberg 

Place, the Tidal Basin, and the Jefferson Memorial, with stone columns 

spanning the 505-foot length of the building’s front. The building 

is 296 feet deep and 105 feet high with four wings that extend back 

toward 14th Street. There are four floors, a basement, and a fifth-floor 

attic that houses a cafeteria and offices — all told, it takes up 5 acres of 

land and contains almost 10 acres of floor space.

Bureau growth continued through the years. Employment hit an all-time 

high of 8,432 in November 1918 due in large part to the enormous 

production requirements related to World War I financing operations. 

To accommodate these increases in personnel and activities, several 

temporary outbuildings were constructed. As early as the mid-1920s, 

the Bureau had called for the construction of another permanent facility, 

as further expansion of the main building was impractical. In August 

1935, Congress provided the first appropriation of money for land and 

construction of an additional building on 14th Street between C and D 

Streets, opposite the main building. After extensive plans were drawn 

up and site preparation was accomplished, the first concrete 

was poured in June 1936. Completed at a cost of $6,325,000, Bureau 

personnel moved into the annex building on 17 May 1938, and the 

building was officially dedicated in November 1938.

The architect of the annex was Louis M. Simon, and John McShain, 

Inc. and Sons of Philadelphia handled construction. The building is 

570 feet long and 285 feet wide, occupies almost 4 acres of land, and 

contains over 19 acres of floor space. Due to a shortage of funds, the 

building was made of reinforced concrete with a limestone façade. It 

contains 6,400 tons of reinforced steel, 1,340 tons of structural steel, 

and 139,968 tons of concrete. At the time it was built, it was believed 

to be the second largest building constructed with reinforced concrete. 

The exterior is derived from the simple design of early Federal buildings 

with little ornamentation. The structure consists of a central “backbone” 

running from 14th Street to 13th Street with five wings extending 

north and south from the backbone. The sub-basement, basement, 

first floor, and second floor cover the entire footprint while the third 

through seventh floors, attic, and penthouse extend over the wings. 

Beneath the building are two tunnels, one that connects with the main 

building and one with a freight-receiving building and spur line of 

railroad tracks to the south, though the tracks are no longer in use. 

Other offices of the Treasury Department were housed in the annex 

building until the 1990s.

The need for additional space again became evident in the early 1970s, 

and over the next decade a number of studies and plans were made for 

BEP HISTORY 7

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

annex building, under construction, 

1937

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

annex building

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 

annex building entrance
construction of a new facility. Finally, in 1985, the Bureau began a site 

search for a satellite operating facility west of the Mississippi River. 

In addition to meeting increased production requirements, a western 

location was seen to serve as a contingency operation in case of 

emergencies in the DC metropolitan area; additionally, costs for 

transporting currency to Federal Reserve banks in San Francisco, Dallas, 

and Kansas City would be reduced. Of the 83 cities that responded 

to initial solicitations from the Bureau, 11 were asked to submit nocost proposals. In November 1986, the City of Fort Worth, Texas, 

was chosen to host the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Western 

Currency Facility.

In 1987, the city completed site preparation, made property 

improvements, and constructed the building “shell” and Federal Reserve 

vault. The State of Texas contributed to the project with major road 

improvements, and Texas Utilities extended electrical services to the 

facility. The architectural engineering firm of Kirk, Voich & Gist, Inc., 

was the supervising architect and the Walker Construction Company of 

Fort Worth performed the work. Upon completion of the exterior, the 

Bureau contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers for design review 

and contract administration for the interior portion of the project, with 

Clearwater Construction, Inc., responsible for interior construction. 

The single-story facility, which sits on 100 acres of land donated by the 

City of Forth Worth, has more than 12 acres of floor space. Currency 

production began in December 1990 and the official dedication 

took place on 26 April 1991. Soon after initial currency production 

began, additional press and processing equipment was installed under 

a phased, multi-year approach. There were also modifications and 

upgrades to facility support functions, as well as some additions to the 

facility. In April 2004, a new Visitor Center opened, which offers a 

public tour of the currency manufacturing process.

From several scattered offices in the Treasury Building to three large 

production plants in two cities, from trimming and cutting sheets of 

Demand Notes to engraving and printing all United States currency 

as well as myriad documents and products for many Federal agencies, 

the long history of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has been 

characterized by challenge, innovation, and success in meeting the 

needs of the nation.

8 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

Western Currency Facility, 

under construction, late 1980s

Western Currency Facility, circa 1987–

1991

Western Currency Facility, atrium, 1991
A BRIEF TIMELINE 

OF BEP HISTORY

Prepared by Michael Scalia 

for the Historical Resource Center 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

June 2004

The following pages contain a timeline of significant events in 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing history. 

The Bureau has been in existence for over 140 years. It would 

be extremely difficult to include all the important and interesting 

events that have occurred over such a long period. Instead, 

noteworthy firsts as well as milestone events have been chosen 

to provide a well-rounded timeline of Bureau history.

A variety of sources was used to compile this timeline, 

including annual reports, order books, and other Bureau 

documents contained in the files of the Historical Resource 

Center. Other primary sources included Treasury Department 

records, congressional hearings and reports, and legislative acts. 

A number of secondary source materials was also consulted.
10 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

July 17, 1861

Spider press with plate printer and 

printer’s assistant, 1902–1914

August 1861

circa April 1862

July 11, 1862

August 1862

circa March 1863

June 1863

The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to issue paper currency in 

lieu of coin due to the lack of funds needed to finance the Civil War. 

Basically Government IOUs, the currency notes are called Demand 

Notes because they are payable upon demand in coin. 

Sheets of Demand Notes, printed by a private firm, are delivered to 

the Treasury Department where scores of clerks sign, separate, and 

trim the notes by hand before issuance to the public.

Presses are used in the Treasury Department to overprint seals on a new 

issue of currency called United States Notes. Designated the first legal 

tender paper money, the United States Notes are printed by private firms 

and then sent to the Treasury for final processing before issuance.

Legislation authorizes the Treasury Secretary to engrave and print 

notes at the Treasury. (Though such work did not immediately begin, 

the act is viewed as the enabling legislation for work performed by the 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing.) 

Steam-powered machines are used to trim and separate some notes. 

The effort is led by Spencer Clark, chief clerk in the Treasury 

Department’s Bureau of Construction, who would later 

head the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Currency processing operations in the Treasury are nominally placed 

under the Comptroller of the Currency who heads the National 

Currency Bureau; as a result, Spencer Clark’s operations are called 

the “First Division” of the National Currency Bureau.

Government securities — coupon bonds popularly known as “five 

twenties” after the minimum and maximum years of redemption — 

are the first items produced by the First Division.
BRIEF TIMELINE OF BEP HISTORY 11

circa July 1863

circa November 1864

circa March 1866

July 1869

May-November 1873

June 20, 1874

August 15, 1876

March 3, 1877

October 1, 1877

January 30, 1878

July 1, 1880

Work begins on the production of Fractional Currency notes, called such 

because they are in denominations under one dollar. Issued 

later in October 1863, it is the first currency engraved and 

printed completely by the First Division.

Items other than currency or Government obligations, such as passports 

for the State Department, are produced by the First Division. 

Revenue stamps are produced by the First Division. By this time, 

the operation is known by a variety of semi-official names, including 

“Bureau of Engraving and Printing.”

United States Notes are printed for the first time by the Bureau, but only 

partially. Previously, private firms produced the notes, and only 

the seals were printed by the Bureau.

The Bureau participates for the first time in an international exposition 

at Vienna, Austria, exhibiting a display frame of engravings which 

garners a medal for excellence.

Congress passes an appropriations bill that allocates money to 

the “Bureau of Engraving and Printing.” It is the first specific 

appropriation of funds to the Bureau.

Legislation directs the Internal Revenue Service to procure stamps 

engraved and printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, provided 

costs do not exceed that of private firms. As a result, the Bureau begins 

producing almost all revenue stamps in fiscal year 1878. 

In an appropriations bill, Congress mandates that the engraving and 

printing of notes, bonds, and other securities of the United States be 

performed at the Treasury Department, provided the work can be 

done as cheaply, safely, and perfectly as work by private firms.

The Bureau begins producing all United States Notes and National Bank 

currency without outside help. Previously, private firms had 

been contracted for some of the production.

The “Milligan press,” a steam-powered printing press, is brought 

into the Bureau. Power presses are initially used for partial currency 

production as well as revenue stamps.

The first building constructed specifically for Bureau operations is 

completed at the corner of 14th Street and B Street (Independence 

Avenue). Since 1861, currency operations had been accomplished in 

various rooms of the Treasury Department. 
12 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

Stickney press, 1912–1914

July 1, 1889

circa August 1891

April 1894

July 1, 1894

June 4, 1897

March 3, 1899

March 1903

March 1907

August 26, 1912

The use of automated intaglio printing presses ceases. The move results 

from legislation that drastically reduces royalty payments to patent 

holders of the presses. Rather than accept the low royalty, the patent 

holders withdraw permission to use the presses.

Some internal revenue stamps are produced by relief printing 

for the first time. 

Automated intaglio printing presses are re-introduced to the Bureau 

to produce postage stamps. The presses are bought outright, thereby 

avoiding previously mandated patent royalty rates. Because stamp 

production previously had been accomplished in the private sector on 

power presses, the Bureau’s use of them is not contested by organized 

labor.

The agreement between the Postmaster General and the Treasury 

Secretary for the Bureau to produce all postage stamps goes into effect. 

The first stamp printed by the Bureau, the 6-cent “President Garfield” 

regular issue, goes on sale July 18th. 

Legislation is passed that formally subordinates the Director of the 

Bureau to the Treasury Secretary, the first official legislation regarding 

the organization of the Bureau since work first began on paper 

currency in 1861. 

The use of automated printing presses is again restricted by legislation, 

this time in the production of revenue stamps.

The Bureau begins production of currency notes for the Philippines. 

The Bureau would later produce or design, in whole or part, currency 

for Cuba (1935), Siam (1946), South Korea (1947), and Eritrea (1994).

Legislation repeals the prohibition on the use of automated printing 

presses for the production of revenue stamps.

The Bureau begins using automated presses again for the partial 

production of currency. Since 1898, various legislative acts restricted 

the use of automated presses for currency production. 
BRIEF TIMELINE OF BEP HISTORY 13

Fiscal Year 1913

February 1914

April 1914

October 28, 1914

July 26, 1918

November 7, 1918

April 1920

July 1, 1920 

January 3, 1923

Fiscal Year 1925

Offset printing, whereby images are first taken up on rubber-coated 

cylinders and then transferred or offset to the paper, is first used in 

the Bureau for the production of checks, certificates, and other 

miscellaneous items.

Construction is completed on a new building for the Bureau. Facing 

15th Street, it is known as the main building. 

The “Stickney press,” the world’s first rotary web-fed intaglio press, 

begins producing postage stamps. Created by the Bureau’s mechanical 

designer Benjamin Stickney, financed by the Bureau and Post Office 

Department, and tested for over 2 years, the breakthrough press 

performs printing, gumming, and perforation in one continuous 

operation using rolls of paper.

The Bureau begins printing Federal Reserve Notes.

Currency is first produced from plates that print 8 notes per sheet, 

a doubling of the usual 4 notes per sheet on power presses. The change 

is made to meet expanded production requirements related to the 

financing of World War I costs. 

The number of Bureau employees peaks at 8,432. The dramatic increase 

in production results from war finance measures instituted 

upon America’s entry into World War I.

The Bureau begins making printing plates using the electrodeposition 

method, whereby engraved steel plates are layered with nickel and 

copper by electrolysis to form an exact replica in reverse. The reverse 

replica plate is then processed the same way to produce a finished plate. 

Devised by the Engraving Division Superintendent, the process 

enables the Bureau to produce printing plates faster and cheaper 

than the traditional transfer method. 

After the Bureau sells its last horse, Bureau transportation is completely 

mechanized with electric and gasoline vehicles.

Legislation repeals all prohibitions on the use of automated printing 

presses for the production of currency.

The “high-etch” process of plate making is conceived and perfected 

by Bureau personnel. A genuine contribution to the graphic arts 

industry, the new method is a photomechanical process that etches the 

background of a design rather than the design itself. 
14 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

July 1929

Flatbed power press, 1949–1953

August 7, 1929

February 5, 1935

May 17, 1938

June 1943

July 1943

October 20, 1950

July 1, 1951

In the most dramatic development since paper currency was first put 

into circulation in 1861, small-sized currency notes with standardized 

designs are issued. The reduced size of the note, adopted in part to cut 

paper costs, enables the Bureau to convert from 8 to 12 notes per sheet. 

Production of large-sized National Bank Notes on hand presses ceases. 

As a result, the hand press section is closed, and the presses are 

dismantled and sold. 

The first stamps perforated by means of an electric-eye perforator are 

delivered to the Post Office Department. The electric eye reads 

marks on the paper and automatically adjusts printing registration, 

thereby minimizing manual adjustment and reducing spoilage due to 

inaccurate perforation. 

The Bureau begins operations in a new annex building located on 

14th and C Streets, across from the main building.

The Bureau starts producing Allied military currency for use by Allied 

invasion forces in Italy. Along with private and other Government 

agencies, the Bureau would design or produce such currency, in 

part or whole, for use in Austria, Germany, France, and Japan. 

Production begins on Allied military postage stamps. In all, the Bureau 

would supply stamps for use in Italy, France, Germany, and Austria.

A faster drying green ink developed by the Bureau is first used to print 

currency backs. Because the ink no longer offsets from one sheet to 

another, drying and rewetting production steps are eliminated. 

The Bureau begins to operate on a reimbursable basis in accordance with 

a legislative mandate to convert to business-type accounting 

methods. As a result, annual congressional appropriations cease. 
BRIEF TIMELINE OF BEP HISTORY 15

July 1952

July 11, 1955

July 1957

October 15, 1957

circa 1972

circa 1977

May 1985

December 1990

A faster drying black ink is formulated by the Bureau for currency 

faces. Like the green non-offset ink previously developed by the Bureau, 

the new black ink permits the elimination of several production steps. 

Additionally, distortion due to drying and wetting steps is reduced, 

enabling the use of a larger sheet of paper. As a result, the conversion to 

plates with 18 notes instead of 12 begins the next month. 

Legislation directs that the inscription “In God We Trust” be placed on 

all United States currency.

Currency is first produced on 32-subject plates. The larger printing 

plates are made possible by the electrodeposition method of platemaking, as the traditional transfer process proves impracticable for 

making plates containing so many impressions. 

The first notes bearing the national motto “In God We Trust” are 

issued, $1 Silver Certificates, Series 1957. They are also the first notes 

produced on new high-speed rotary presses using the dry intaglio process 

which is faster than the traditional method that required 

wetting of the paper. The complete conversion from wet to dry 

printing of currency comes in 1968. 

Prototype currency overprinting and processing equipment (COPE) is 

installed. Conceived by Bureau personnel and custom built to Bureau 

specifications, the equipment mechanizes currency finishing operations.

Water wipable inks are formulated for web- and sheet-fed intaglio 

presses. First used in postage stamp production, the new inks eliminate 

the use of hazardous solvents and wiping paper for removing excess ink 

from printing plates.

The Bureau initiates a site feasibility study for a new currency 

production facility west of the Mississippi River. The facility is 

intended to better meet the currency needs of the western half of the 

nation and act as a contingency production operation. From the 

83 cities that respond to the initial solicitation, Fort Worth, Texas, is 

chosen as the site in November 1986.

The Bureau’s Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas, begins 

producing currency. It is the first Government facility outside of 

Washington, DC, to print United States paper money.
16 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING

March 1991

Web currency press, 1990–1995

July 1992

March 25, 1996

circa 1997

June 14, 2000

October 9, 2003

April 26, 2004

$100 Federal Reserve Notes are produced that contain microprinting 

and an embedded security thread. The new features, which are 

later integrated into other denominations, are aimed at deterring 

counterfeiting via advanced color copying equipment widely available to 

the public. 

The first currency notes produced on a web-fed rotary press are issued. 

Using a roll of paper instead of sheets, the press prints both sides of the 

notes in a single pass. The press is used until 1995 but because it is 

unable to sustain the long production runs for which it was intended, 

it is discontinued.

Redesigned Federal Reserve Notes with multiple advanced counterfeit 

deterrent features are issued beginning with the $100 denomination. 

Intended to thwart technological advances available to counterfeiters, 

the new designs and features represent the most dramatic change 

in currency since the introduction of small-sized notes in 1929. 

An electronic inspection system is implemented for currency and postage 

stamps. The new technology builds upon the mechanical inspection 

process put into place in 1982.

The Bureau is awarded certification from the International 

Organization of Standardization for its currency manufacturing 

quality management system.

Federal Reserve Notes with subtle background colors and improved 

security features are first issued.

The Bureau’s Western Currency Facility opens a Visitor Center and 

public tour of the currency manufacturing operations.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES 

OF BEP DIRECTORS

Prepared by Michael Scalia 

for the Historical Resource Center 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

June 2004
SPENCER M. CLARK (1811–1890)

Chief of First Division, National Currency Bureau

circa 1862–1868

Spencer Clark was a native of Vermont. He was involved in a variety 

of business activities until 1856 when he became a clerk in the Bureau 

of Construction of the Treasury Department in Washington, DC. 

Later, as acting engineer, Clark became interested in the work of finishing 

new currency notes at the Treasury and gradually assumed increasingly 

greater responsibilities in the engraving, printing, and processing of U.S. 

Government currency and securities. A strong advocate for a distinct 

bureau within the Treasury Department for the production of currency 

and securities, Clark was essentially the first head of the Bureau of 

Engraving and Printing. He resigned in 1868 amidst a congressional 

investigation into record-keeping and security within the fledgling 

currency operations at the Treasury. Clark went on to work at the 

Department of Agriculture in the Statistical Division. He later headed 

the Bureau of Vital Statistics in the Agriculture Department until his 

death in 1890.

GEORGE B. MCCARTEE (1832–1903) 

Chief, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1869–1876

George McCartee was born and raised in New York City. He engaged 

in business pursuits there, later worked as a railway superintendent in 

Iowa, and in 1858 moved to Salem, New York, where he was an agent 

and manager of a steam mill. In 1859, McCartee went to Washington, 

DC, as the private secretary to the Secretary of the Treasury. He held 

other positions in the Treasury, including superintendent of the Treasury 

Building, and he also went abroad during the Civil War to negotiate the 

sale of Government bonds. In 1868, McCartee was made Acting Chief 

of the “Engraving and Printing Bureau” after a congressional investigation 

into the currency operations forced Spencer Clark’s resignation from 

the Treasury. McCartee was officially put in charge of the developing 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1869. After serving more than 6 

years as Chief, he resigned, citing ill health. In later years, while back 

in Salem, McCartee tried in vain to secure reappointment as the Chief 

of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He managed the Salem Press

newspaper and stayed active in local politics, gaining appointment as 

Paymaster of the Capitol at Albany, New York. McCartee died at the 

age of 70 in Salem, New York.

18 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
HENRY C. JEWELL (1827–1908) 

Chief, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1876–1877

Henry Jewell was born and raised in Georgetown in the District of 

Columbia. He attended local seminaries as well as school in New 

York and later entered the United States Navy as an engineer. While 

in the Navy, Jewell helped survey the Pacific coast. After leaving the 

Navy, he worked as chief accountant for a private banking firm. Later, 

as a bookkeeper for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Jewell was 

responsible for revamping the agency’s accounting system. He was 

appointed Chief of the Bureau in 1876 but served just over a year. A 

prominent citizen of the District of Columbia, Jewell was reportedly 

close to many leading public figures, including Presidents Grant and 

Hayes. Jewell died at the age of 80 in Georgetown.

EDWARD MCPHERSON (1830–1895) 

Chief, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1877–1878

Edward McPherson was born and raised in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 

He graduated from Pennsylvania College in 1848. Afterwards, 

McPherson studied law and edited several Pennsylvania city newspapers. 

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1858 

and served in the 36th and 37th Congresses. In 1863, McPherson 

became Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and later that

same year he was appointed the Clerk of the House of Representatives, 

a position in which he served until 1875. McPherson was Chief of 

the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 1877 to 1878. Later, from 

1881 to 1883, he again served as Clerk of the House of Representatives 

and from 1889 to 1891 as well. He was editor of several publications 

from 1877 to 1895, and from 1880 until his death in 1895 he was 

editor and proprietor of a Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, newspaper. 

McPherson also authored political handbooks and histories of the 

United States dealing with the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. 

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BEP DIRECTORS 19
O. H. IRISH (1830–1883) 

Chief, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1878–1883

Orsamus H. Irish was a native of New York. He attended school in 

Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1857, Irish moved to Nebraska where he later 

became the editor and owner of a newspaper in Nebraska City. He 

was later made an Indian Agent at the Omaha Reservation in 1861, 

and in 1864 he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the 

Northwest with offices at Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1866, Irish returned 

to Nebraska, where he served as internal revenue collector for Nebraska 

and again took up the newspaper business. Irish was very active in 

politics, the Masons, and various other causes; he also practiced law and 

was involved in the railroad business. In 1869, he was appointed United 

States Consul at Dresden, Germany. Returning to Nebraska in 1873, 

he entered into a nursery business, but in 1875, the nursery was wiped 

out by grasshoppers. Irish then moved to Washington, DC, to practice 

law. He was appointed Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and 

Printing in 1877. The next year, Irish became Chief of the Bureau and 

served in that position until his sudden death at age 53. 

TRUMAN N. BURRILL (1832–1896) 

Chief, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1883–1885

Truman Burrill was born and raised in Elbridge, New York. In the 

1850s, he and his brother operated a dry goods and clothing store in 

Penn Yan, New York. With the Civil War underway, Burrill formed 

and headed an infantry company from New York in 1862, serving 

until he was discharged for a physical disability in 1863. He was again 

commissioned as a captain in 1864 and served on the staffs of several 

commanding officers as a commissary officer. After his discharge from 

the military in 1866, Burrill worked in the furniture-making business 

in both Rochester and Buffalo, New York. He entered the Bureau of 

Engraving and Printing as a storekeeper in 1880 and later was made 

clerk in charge of proposals and supplies. From this position, Burrill 

was appointed Chief in 1883 after the sudden death of O.H. Irish, 

passing over the Assistant Chief and others closer in line for promotion 

to the top spot. He served for just over 2 years. After leaving the 

Bureau, Burrill followed various pursuits until his death in New York 

City in 1896. 

20 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
EDWARD O. GRAVES (1843–1909) 

Chief, Bureau of-Engraving and Printing

1885–1889

Edward Graves was born in Gravesville, New York. After graduating 

from Hobart College (now the Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in 

Geneva, New York, in 1863, he received an appointment as a clerk in 

the Treasury Department. He was made Chief Clerk in the Treasurer’s 

office in 1868. Graves also served as Chief Examiner of the U.S. Civil 

Service Commission during which time he instituted new procedures 

for the examination and appointment of candidates across the country 

for Government positions. He was appointed Superintendent of the 

National Bank Redemption Bureau of the Treasury Department in 1874 

and was selected by the Treasury Secretary to investigate the efficiency, 

organization, and management of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

as part of a special committee in 1877. Graves later served as Assistant 

Treasurer for 2 years before his appointment as Chief of the Bureau of 

Engraving and Printing in 1885. Upon his resignation from the Bureau, 

Graves became president of a bank in Seattle, Washington, where he 

lived until his death at age 65. 

WILLIAM M. MEREDITH (1835–1917)

Chief, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1889–1893 & 1900–1906

William Meredith was born in Centreville, Indiana. He attended school, 

including a year in college, but left to work in his father’s printing office. 

Meredith went on to work at the Indianapolis Journal newspaper. At the 

outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Army but shortly afterwards 

he was appointed by the Indiana governor to the military post of state 

commissary-general. Later, in 1862, Meredith formed a company of 

volunteers made up mostly of printers and was selected as its captain. 

He served with the company until 1864 when he was discharged for 

service-related injuries. After the war, Meredith worked as a printer in 

several cities, becoming foreman at newspapers in Indianapolis and St. 

Louis. In 1875, he began work at the Western Bank Note Company in 

Chicago as superintendent of plate printing. He was appointed Chief 

of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1889 largely through his 

association with President Benjamin Harrison, under whom Meredith 

had served in the Army during the Civil War. After leaving the Bureau 

in 1893, he returned to the Western Bank Note Company. He was 

appointed Chief of the Bureau a second time in 1900, making Meredith 

the only person to hold the top position twice. He left the Bureau 

in 1906, assuming another position within the Treasury Department, 

where he remained until his death at age 82. 

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BEP DIRECTORS 21
CLAUDE M. JOHNSON (1852–1919) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1893–1900

Claude Johnson was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and he attended 

school there and in New York. After returning to Lexington, Johnson 

worked in the drug business and grocery trade. He was also involved in 

local politics, winning election to the city council and serving as mayor 

for 8 years from 1880 to 1888. Johnson’s appointment as Director 

of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was due in large part to his 

affiliation with Treasury Secretary John G. Carlisle, a fellow Kentuckian. 

He was Director for 7 years, during which time the Bureau assumed 

the production of all United States postage stamps. It was also during 

his tenure that the title of Chief was changed to Director, at Johnson’s 

urging, to distinguish the Bureau head from the other chiefs of the 

various divisions within the organization. He later served as a United 

States Indian Agent in Arizona and headed a printing establishment in 

England. Johnson died in Lexington, Kentucky, at the age of 66. 

THOMAS J. SULLIVAN (1845–1908) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1906–1908

Thomas Sullivan was born in Washington, DC, and lived there all his 

life. After attending public and private secondary schools, Sullivan 

received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law from Georgetown 

University. He worked as a bookkeeper for a private banking firm 

and as a clerk in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned 

Lands. Sullivan entered the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1869 

as an accountant, becoming principal accountant in 1872. He became 

Assistant Chief in 1882 and served in that capacity for almost 25 years 

before appointment as Director of the Bureau in 1906. Less than 2 

years later, while still serving as Director, Sullivan died of pneumonia at 

the age of 62. 

22 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
JOSEPH E. RALPH (1863–1922) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1908–1917

Joseph Ralph was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Joliet, Illinois. 

After school, he apprenticed in a steel works machine shop, eventually 

becoming an expert mechanic. Ralph was also prominent in union and 

political activities, which led to his appointment as Assistant Postmaster 

of the House of Representatives. He was later selected as Superintendent 

of Construction at Ellis Island, New York, and in 1892 he was named 

Deputy Collector for the Customs Department at the Chicago World’s 

Fair. Ralph first worked in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as a 

plate cleaner in 1895 and then as the Custodian of Dies and Rolls in 

1897. In 1906 he was appointed Assistant Director and upon the 

sudden death of Thomas Sullivan in 1908, he was chosen as Director. 

During his tenure, Ralph oversaw the construction of the Bureau’s 

new facility on 15th Street that opened in 1914 and still serves as the 

Bureau’s main building. Although he resigned from the Bureau in 1917 

to head a new banknote company, Ralph eventually went on to become 

the assistant to the president of the United States Steel Corporation. 

He died suddenly at age 59. 

JAMES L. WILMETH (1870–1959)

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

1917–1922

James Wilmeth was born in Chewallah, Tennessee, and he was raised 

there and in Arkansas. He attended college in Arkansas and taught 

public school for several years prior to joining the Treasury Department 

as a clerk in 1895. While working at the Treasury, he earned a Bachelor 

of Law degree from the National University in Washington, DC. 

Wilmeth became Assistant Chief of the Money Order Division and was 

later a law clerk in the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury. In 

1910, he served as Chief Clerk of the Treasury and worked in Europe 

as the Custodian of Gold before his appointment as Director of the 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1917. Wilmeth was dismissed by 

Presidential executive order along with 28 other top Bureau officials 

in 1922 as a result of controversial charges involving the improper 

duplication of bonds. Later exonerated of wrongdoing and offered 

reinstatement to the Director position in 1924, Wilmeth declined the 

appointment. After leaving the Bureau, he worked for an insurance 

firm, served as National Secretary of the Junior Order of American 

Mechanics, and won election to the office of mayor in Takoma Park, 

Maryland. Wilmeth later moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where 

he lived until his death at age 88. 

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BEP DIRECTORS 23
LOUIS A. HILL (1865–1933) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1922–1924

Louis Hill was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended Columbian 

University (now The George Washington University) in Washington, 

DC. He worked as an engraver in Philadelphia before beginning work 

at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1900. (Hill’s father, John 

R. Hill, also worked as an engraver at the Bureau for over 30 years, 

from 1882 to 1913.) He became the Assistant Chief of the Engraving 

Division in 1913. As a result of President Harding’s surprise executive 

order dismissing Director James Wilmeth and 28 other top officials 

from the Bureau, Hill was elevated to the Director’s position in 1922. 

He served for about 2 years but resigned to allow Wilmeth, who had 

been exonerated and offered reappointment, to return as Director. 

Despite Wilmeth’s refusal to return, Hill let his resignation stand. Little 

is known of Hill after his departure from the Bureau in 1924 until his 

death in 1933 in Washington, DC.

MAJOR WALLACE W. KIRBY (1881–1962) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1924

Wallace Kirby was a native of Washington, DC. After attending school, 

he went into the printing business. Kirby entered Government service in 

1900, working for the U.S. Geological Survey. When the United States 

entered World War I, he was commissioned as an Army officer and 

assigned to the Corps of Engineers, where he was responsible for map 

reproduction activities for the Army. While serving with expeditionary 

forces in France, Kirby commanded the 29th Engineers, a unit of experts 

in surveying and map-making. In February 1924, he was detailed by 

President Coolidge to head the Bureau of Engraving and Printing after 

Director Louis Hill resigned; however, because a military officer could 

not hold a civilian position, Congress passed a joint resolution that 

enabled Kirby to serve for 6 months while still a commissioned officer. 

At the end of his special term as Director, he returned to the Army’s 

Engineer Reproduction Plant in Washington. Later, in 1927, Kirby 

started a printing company — still in operation today in Arlington, 

Virginia — that he headed until his death at age 81. Additionally, 

he was a founding member of the National Association of PhotoLithographers (which evolved into the National Association for Printing 

Leadership). Kirby is unique in that he was the only active duty military 

officer ever to serve as Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

and the only Director appointed by an act of Congress. He also has the 

distinction of serving the shortest amount of time as Director. 

24 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
ALVIN W. HALL (1888–1969) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1924–1954

Alvin Hall was born and raised in Harleigh, Pennsylvania. He received 

a Bachelor of Law degree from National University in Washington, DC, 

and worked as an accountant and auditor in the private sector before 

entering Government service as an accountant in the Bureau of Army 

Ordnance in the War Department. In 1920, he became an investigator 

for the U.S. Bureau of Efficiency and conducted efficiency studies in 

many Government agencies. Hall was assigned to a special committee 

tasked by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon to survey procedures in 

the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1922. His participation on 

that committee led to his appointment as head of the Bureau’s planning 

unit and later as Director in 1924. Only 36 years old at the time of his 

appointment, Hall was the youngest Bureau Director, and he held the 

top spot for 30 years _ far longer than any other Bureau head. During 

his tenure, he oversaw many technological advances and changes in 

production, most notably the conversion to small-sized, standardized 

currency notes in 1929 and the development of non-offset inks in the 

early 1950s. Hall died in 1969 in Washington at the age of 80.

HENRY J. HOLTZCLAW (1897–1969) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1954–1967

Henry Holtzclaw was born in Virginia and attended school in the 

District of Columbia. He began at the Bureau of Engraving and 

Printing as a machinist’s helper in 1917. Although he had little formal 

schooling, Holtzclaw rose to become the Bureau’s designated mechanical 

expert and designer in 1931 and later, when that position expanded into 

the Office of Research and Development Engineering, he served as its 

first head. As the mechanical expert for the Bureau, Holtzclaw was 

primarily responsible for developing the electric eye perforator in the 

1930s. In 1949, he became Assistant Director and in 1954 he was 

appointed Director. Holtzclaw served as Director for 13 years, the 

second longest tenure of any Bureau head. He died at age 71, a little 

more than a year after retiring from the Bureau of Engraving and 

Printing and completing 50 years of Government service.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BEP DIRECTORS 25
JAMES A. CONLON (1921–2000) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1967–1977

James Conlon was born and raised in New York City. He joined the 

Bureau in 1942 as an apprentice plate printer and, after military service 

in World War II, served in increasingly higher positions of responsibility, 

including head of the Quality Control Branch, Assistant Chief and later 

Chief of the Office of Currency and Stamp Manufacturing, Assistant 

Director of the Bureau, and then Deputy Director until his appointment 

as Director in 1967. During Conlon’s decade-long tenure as Director, 

significant improvements were made in Bureau production methods, 

such as the procurement of high-speed, sheet-fed currency presses; 

installation of prototype currency overprinting and processing 

equipment; and the acquisition of advanced gravure, intaglio, and 

gravure/intaglio combination presses for printing multicolor postage 

stamps. Conlon entered the private sector upon retirement from 

Government service in 1977. He died in 2000 at the age of 79. 

SEYMOUR BERRY (1922– ) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1977–1979

Seymour Berry was born and raised in New York City. Not long after 

completing high school, he began a plate printer apprenticeship with 

the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1942. Within a short time, 

however, Berry went into the Army and served as an infantryman 

in Europe during World War II. After the war, he resumed his 

 apprenticeship at the Bureau in 1946. Additionally he attended 

The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and eventually 

received a law degree. Berry worked his way up in the organization, 

becoming a plate printing foreman, Superintendent of the Examining 

Division, Chief of the Office of Securities Processing, and Assistant 

Director for Administration before being named Bureau Director in 

1977. He retired from Government service in 1979 after serving over 

33 years in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 

26 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
HARRY R. CLEMENTS (1929– ) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1979–1982

Harry Clements was born in Blackwell, Oklahoma, and was raised in 

both Oklahoma and Kansas. After graduation from high school, he 

served in the Army for a short time and then earned bachelor’s and 

master’s degrees in aeronautical engineering from Wichita University 

(now Wichita State University) in Kansas. Clements worked in the 

aerospace and transportation industries in a variety of technical and 

managerial positions for over 20 years. He entered Government 

service in 1972 through a personnel exchange program, working at 

the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The next year, in 

1973, Clements was appointed by President Richard Nixon as Deputy 

Director of the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the Department 

of Health, Education, and Welfare. He then served as head of the 

National Industries for the Severely Handicapped for 3 years before 

joining the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as the Director. After 

resigning from the Bureau in 1982, Clements returned to the private 

sector and held various positions in the aerospace and defense industries. 

He also earned a master’s degree in economics from George Mason 

University in Virginia. Clements returned to Kansas in 1988 where he 

headed a manufacturing firm and later taught economics at Wichita 

State University. 

ROBERT J. LEUVER (1927– ) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1983–1988

Robert Leuver is a native of Chicago, Illinois, and was raised there 

and in Buffalo, New York. He received a master’s degree from Catholic 

University of America in Washington, DC, and taught high school and 

college for several years. He went on to hold numerous managerial and 

administrative positions in educational, business, and private institutions. 

In 1972, he began his Government service with ACTION (the umbrella 

agency for the Peace Corps, VISTA, and other volunteer service agencies). 

He went on to hold management posts at the Treasury Department 

in the Employee Data and Payroll Division and in the Management 

Information Systems program. Leuver joined the Bureau of Engraving 

and Printing in 1979 as Assistant Director for Administration and later 

held the Deputy Director position before appointment as Director in 

1983. After resigning from the Bureau in 1988, Leuver served as the 

Executive Director of the American Numismatic Association for 10 years, 

consulted for printing corporations, earned a Ph.D. in business and 

economics, and formed a private consulting practice.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BEP DIRECTORS 27
PETER H. DALY (1941– ) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1988–1995

Peter Daly was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor’s 

degree in economics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Daly 

began as a management intern in the Treasury Department in 1965 

and worked in the Office of Policy Planning as well as in the Savings 

Bond Division. He moved to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 

1968 and worked in labor relations, eventually serving as the first chief 

of the newly formed Human Resource Development Division. Daly 

later worked as the Assistant to the Director and Chief of the Office 

of Planning and Policy Analysis before leaving to become the Deputy 

Director of the U.S. Savings Bond Program. In 1983, he returned to 

the Bureau as Deputy Director and in 1988 he was appointed Director. 

During his tenure, Daly oversaw planning and completion of the 

Bureau’s Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas, the first 

Government currency production plant outside of Washington, DC. 

After leaving the Bureau in 1995, Daly worked as a senior advisor in the 

Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, during which time he served on 

the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. Since 

retiring from Government service in 1998, Daly has performed contract 

and private consulting for several corporations and nonprofit agencies.

LARRY E. ROLUFS (1942– ) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1995–1997

Larry Rolufs was born in Springfield, Missouri, and grew up in 

northern California. He received a bachelor’s degree from California 

Polytechnic State University in printing engineering and management 

and later went on to earn a master’s degree in printing management 

from South Dakota State University. Rolufs began his Government 

career in 1967, working first at the Internal Revenue Service. He also 

held printing management positions with the U.S. Geological Survey 

and the National Ocean Survey until 1979, when he joined the Bureau 

of Engraving and Printing as the Assistant Director of Operations. 

Rolufs left the Bureau in 1982 to become Deputy Director of the 

U.S. Mint and later served as a Deputy Treasurer at the Treasury 

Department. In 1986, he joined the U.S. General Accounting Office 

as Chief of Printing and went on to become an Assistant Director in 

that agency’s Office of Information Management and Communications. 

Rolufs was appointed Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing 

in 1995 and served for 2 years, retiring in 1997 after 30 years of 

Government service. 

28 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
THOMAS A. FERGUSON (1950– ) 

Director, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

1998– 

Thomas Ferguson was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. He 

attended Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and later, while in 

Government service, received a Master of Public Administration degree 

from the University of Southern California. He joined the Bureau in 

1974 as a quality assurance specialist and later served in various 

production positions including Manager of the Production Management 

Staff and Chief of Currency Production and Stamp Printing. In 1988, 

Ferguson headed the Office of Advanced Counterfeit Deterrence. He 

went on to hold management positions as Deputy Assistant Director 

of Operations and Assistant Director of Research and Technology, 

during which time he chaired the New Currency Design Task Force 

that developed recommendations for the new counterfeit deterrent 

security features incorporated in the Series 1996 currency. He then 

served as Assistant Director of Management and Deputy Director before 

his appointment as the 24th Director of the Bureau of Engraving and 

Printing in 1998.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF BEP DIRECTORS 29
SOURCES

CLARK Benny Bolin, “Spencer M. Clark,” Paper Money, Vol. 27, June/July 1988, 77-80; “Report...from the First Division National Currency Bureau,” November 1864; 

Senate Report 273 (40th Congress, 3rd Session), March 1869, 102-03.

MCCARTEE Senate Report 273 (40th Congress, 3rd Session), March 1869, 382-83; Notes taken from Treasury records at National Archives (see “100 years History of the 

Bureau” files, Box 6); burial listings for Evergreen Cemetery, Salem, New York, through www.slibrary.org (web site for Bancroft Library, Salem, NY); Salem Review-Press (Salem, 

New York), June(?) 1903. 

JEWELL “Funeral of H.C. Jewell,” Washington Evening Star, 5 August 1908, 8; Boston Evening Transcript, 6 August 1908; James D. McCabe, Behind the Scenes in Washington

(Arno Press, 1974 reprint of 1873 edition), 420; clippings found in scrapbook of Mary E. Sullivan (daughter of Thomas Sullivan; see “100 years History of the Bureau” files, 

Box 6). 

MCPHERSON bioguide.congress.gov; Herringshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, 1906 ed., s.v. “McPherson.” 

IRISH New York Times, 28 January 1883, 7; Raymond E. Dale, History of the State of Nebraska (Chicago: The Western Historical Company, 1882), 384, 741; Raymond E. 

Dale, unpublished biographical sketch of O.H. Irish, 14 February 1955 (planned as part of a book about Otoe County, Nebraska, pioneers, and provided in response to Bureau 

inquiry; see “100 years History of the Bureau” files, Box 6); “Report of T.N. Burrill, Chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing...Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1883,” 

1 October 1883, 6.

BURRILL Frank L. Swann (Yates County, NY, historian), unpublished biographical sketch of Truman N. Burrill, 1962 (see “100 years History of the Bureau” files Box 6); 

Boston Evening Transcript, 31 December 1896; Washington Evening Star, 31 March 1883, 1; “A Popular Officer Promoted,” New York Times, 21 March 1883, 1.

GRAVES Herringshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, 1906 ed., s.v. “Graves”; History of the Federal Civil Service, 1789 to the Present, (U.S. Civil 

Service Commission, 1941), 44; New York Times, 28 June 1889, 5; Washington Evening Star, 31 March 1883, 1; “Once Assistant U.S. Treasurer,” Boston Evening Transcript, 

10 February 1909, 4.

MEREDITH “Capt. W.M. Meredith Dies,” New York Times, 25 December 1917; “Capt W.M. Meredith Dies at Home Here,” Washington Evening Star, 24 December 1917; 

Washington Evening Star, 29 June 1889; John Howard Brown, ed., Cyclopedia of American Biographies, 1903, s.v. “Meredith, William Morton.” 

JOHNSON Boston Evening Transcript, 22 March 1919; Robert Peter, History of Fayette County, Kentucky (Chicago: O.L. Baskin, 1882), s.v. “Johnson, C.M.”; New York Times, 

22 March 1919, 15; Washington Evening Star, 30 June 1893; Glenn E. Jackson, “Too Many Chiefs and Not Enough Indians,” The Essay-Proof Journal, No. 136, Fall 1977, 

155-57; Jay Womack (researcher), “Mayors of Lexington” (unpublished manuscript in Lexington Public Library holdings), 23 June 1976; “Lewis Brown Asks Divorce,” 

Washington Post, 3 September 1907, 1.

SULLIVAN Copies of notes from Sullivan’s papers supplied by his daughter in 1962 (see “100 years History of the Bureau” files, Box 6); Senate Document 109 

(55th Congress, 3rd Session), February 1899, 140; “T.J. Sullivan is Dead,” Washington Post, 5 May 1908, 2. 

RALPH “J.F. (sic) Ralph Resigns as Engraving Chief,” New York Times, 5 October 1917, 11; “J. E. Ralph Dies Suddenly,” New York Times, 31 December 1922, 4; “New Head 

of Bureau,” Washington Evening Star, 11 May 1908; Senate Doc. No. 109 (55th Congress, 3rd Session), February 1899, 161; “J.E. Ralph Made Director,” Washington Post, 12 

May 1908, 5. 

WILMETH Notes from phone interview with James L. Wilmeth III (grandson of Wilmeth), 29 January 2002; Harry N. Price, “Wilmeth Dismissed in Sweep of Bureau,” 

Washington Post, 1 April 1922, 1-2; “Mellon Declares Engraving Bureau Attack Unfounded,” Washington Post, 15 February 1924, 4; “James L. Wilmeth Dies,” New York Times, 

25 April 1959, 21. 

HILL Harry N. Price, “Wilmeth Dismissed in Sweep of Bureau,” Washington Post, 1 April 1922, 1-2; Gene Hessler, The Engraver’s Line, (Port Clinton, OH: BNR Press, 1993), 

s.v. “Hill, Louis A.”; Who Was Who in America, Vol. IV, 1961-1968, s.v. “Hill, Louis A.”; “L.A. Hill, Former U.S. Official, Dies,” Washington Post, 26 February 1933.

KIRBY “Maj. Kirby Retires as Bureau Director,” Washington Post, 16 December 1924, 4 (Financial); “Maj. Kirby Greeted as Engraving Chief,” Washington Post, 17 June 1924, 

2 (Financial); “Mellon Declares Engraving Bureau Attack Unfounded,” Washington Post, 15 February 1924, 4.; “Maj. W. W. Kirby Named to Succeed Hill as Engraving Bureau 

Director,” Evening Star, 14 February 1924, 1 & 3; “Wallace W. Kirby, 81; Ex-Printing Bureau Head,” Washington Post, 6 November 1962.

HALL Bureau Specialist, Vol. 25, December 1954, 298-99; United States Specialist, March 1969, 98-99; “Hall takes Post as Bureau Head,” Evening Star, 23 December 1924, 3. 

HOLTZCLAW United States Specialist, March 1969, 98-99; Bureau Specialist, Vol. 28, September 1957, 264; Annual Report of the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and 

Printing, 15 October 1938, 3; Annual Report of the Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 15 October 1931, iii; Washington Post, 22 January 1969; New York Times, 

24 January 1959.

CONLON The Essay-Proof Journal, Vol. 34, No. 4, Fall 1977, 158-60; Washington Post, 29 July 1980, B3. 

BERRY “Biographical Sketch of Seymour Berry,” undated/unsigned; The Bureau, Fall 1975; Fred Barbash, “Engraving, Printing Chief Latest to Leave Bureau,” Washington Post, 

8 February 1979, C11; BEP Employees’ Newsletter, September 1972; Oral History Interview with Berry, 25 September 2002 (HRC Collections).

CLEMENTS “New Bureau Director,” Washington Post, 6 July 1979, C11; John M. Berry, “When the Nation is Short of Ready Cash—Literally,” Washington Post, 4 October 

1980, A3; Myron Struck and Ward Sinclair, "Executive Notes," Washington Post, 24 December 1982, A11; Treasury Department Press Release, 5 July 1979; Oral History 

Interview with Clements, 16 September 2002 (HRC Collections).

LEUVER Treasury Department News Release, 22 February 1983; BEP News, June/July 1979; “Federal Page,” Washington Post, 2 September 1988, A19; Resume from Robert 

Leuver, e-mailed 24 June 02.

DALY “The Nation’s Real Money Maker,” Federal Manager, Winter 1990, 10-13; Numismatic News, 11 April 1995, 24; Numismatist, December 1988, 2072; BEP Employees’ 

Newsletter, October 1970; BEP Employees’ Newsletter, July-August 1971; The Bureau, Spring 1974; BEP News, November 1979; “Federal Page,” Washington Post, 2 September 

1988, A19; Curriculum Vitae (undated) from Peter Daly via e-mail 2 July 2002; Oral History Interview with Daly, 1 August 2002 (HRC Collections).

ROLUFS Numismatist, December 1982, 2921; BEP Memorandum, “BEP Director,” 14 July 1995; BEP Communicator, Jan/Feb 1998; BEP News, Dec(?) 1979; Treasury 

website printout (www.treas.gov/treasury/officers/rolufs.html), 8 December 1997; Oral History Interview with Rolufs, 4 September 2002 (HRC Collections).

FERGUSON Oral History Interview with Ferguson, 29 April 1999 (HRC Collections); Linn’s Stamp News, 28 December 1998, 19.

30 BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING
COVER IMAGES

Department of the Treasury, the first home of the BEP, 1861–1880

Currency Printing Room, 1904

Revenue stamp for process or renovated butter, Series 1902 (die proof)

Bureau of Engraving and Printing, main building

$20 Federal Reserve Note, 2004, face
www.money factory.com

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY