Harris Automatic Press Company Records
name: label: Creator
content: GSS Printing Equipment Company.
label: Creator
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Information Technology and Communications
label: Creator
content: Harris Automatic Press Company, Dayton, Ohio
topic: label: Topic
content: Printing machinery and supplies
label: Topic
content: Printing industry
label: Topic
content: Printing
label: Topic
content: Offset printing
label: Topic
content: Inventors
label: Topic
content: Printing -- Instruments
label: Topic
content: Printing -- History
label: Topic
content: Printing presses
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by GSS Printing Equipment.
creator: label: Creator
content: GSS Printing Equipment Company.
label: Creator
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Information Technology and Communications
label: Creator
content: Harris Automatic Press Company, Dayton, Ohio
setName: label: See more items in
content: Harris Automatic Press Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents the Harris Automatic Press Company, manufacturers of a printing press with an automatic feed primarily through drawings and photographs.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: In 1890 jewelers and tinkerers Alfred and Charles G. Harris developed a new printing press with an automatic feeder. Their first press was a revolutionary breakthrough, delivering ten times what a pressman could feed by hand. The Harris Automatic Press Company was responsible for many printing innovations during the early 1900s including the first commercially successful offset lithographic press and the first two-color offset press. The company became one of the world's largest and most successful manufacturers of printing equipment.

Harris-Seybold Company (later Harris Intertype) of Cleveland, Ohio manufactured high-quality sheetfed offset lithographic printing presses. The Harris Automatic Press Co. of Niles, Ohio (the original company name) designed and built the first commercially successful sheetfed offset lithographic printing press in 1906. It was sold to the Republic Banknote Company (later became part of U.S. Banknote Corporation) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shipped on July 26, 1906. This printing press was retired in August 1940, rebuilt by Harris and donated to the Smithsonian Institution.  From 1906 to 1976, Harris manufactured thousands of lithographic printing presses in various models and sizes along with various designs of bindery equipment. They were leaders in offset lithography technology. Many of the sheetfed offset lithographic presses presently being manufactured use some form of the early Harris innovations. In 1957, the company name was changed to Harris Intertype Corporation and in 1974 the name was changed to Harris Corporation. At this time the company was comprised of several electronic divisions in addition to the printing equipment divisions. The company stopped production of sheetfed lithographic printing presses in 1976. The corporate offices moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Melbourne, Florida in 1978 where Harris Corporation is still located. Harris Corporation disposed of its printing equipment plants in 1984 in a leverage buyout. Heidelberg (Germany) purchased some of the printing manufacturing plants in the late 1990s.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6.5 Cubic feet (13 boxes and 5 oversize folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2003 - 2003
label: Date
content: 1889 - 1995
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Information, Technology and Communications, Graphic Arts Collection (now Division of Work and Industry).
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0928
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Newsletters
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Blueprints
label: Type
content: Catalogs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1: Background Materials, 1889-1995

Series 2: Drawings, 1896-1929

Series 3: Photographs, 1921-1968; 2003
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection is processed by Alison Oswald.  Historical background documentation provided by Richard Foley, 2001-2003.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters -- 1900-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1900-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Blueprints
label: Genre/Form
content: Catalogs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection contains photographs of the presses, factory and employees; a scrapbook of presses, 1915; drawings; trade literature and catalogs; the Harris Impressions newsletter; blueprints of the presses; and histories of the company.