Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- 2 boxes
- Language:
- English
Background
- Scope and Content:
This collection consists of publications both about and by the WFHP, including a newsletter, as well as various other publications from around the Finger Lakes area. Also included are a few photos, articles, and a scrapbook compiled by J. Andrew Foster.
An appraisal of the Press in 1928 was completed for all the equipment in the business, though the source of the gift is unknown, and gives a good idea of what machinery was owned by the company.
- Biographical / Historical:
W.F. Humphrey, originally from Poultney, Vermont, came to Geneva to attend Hobart College. After completing his studies, he worked for three years in a newspaper office and on May 1, 1885 began a business for himself on the second floor of a building on Seneca St. Humphrey expanded and built his business in printing, binding, and the production of blank books. The company relocated five times until 1915 when it settled on a location on Pulteney St near Hobart.
Following Humphrey’s death in 1934, the firm was run by various members of the Foster family. The employee base gradually expanded, with 35 workers in the 1930s and twenty more employed in the next decade. The company merged with the Almarco Printing Co in 1973.
In 1981, the Colleges purchased the company’s land to construct the Scandling Center. Unable to find suitable space in Geneva, the company relocated to Route 21 in Canandaigua. It merged with Canandaigua business Century of New York Inc. in 1984.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Indexed Terms
- Names:
- W.F. Humphrey Press
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
The final folder in the Foster collection is restricted to staff only.
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
- CONTACT:
-
315-789-5151archivist@historicgeneva.org