Printing

1876 · ref. BK0124 — Portland Oregon: Himes the Printer 1876. Illustrated broadside printed in red blue and black 12 ½ x 7 inches trimmed at edges and mounted to an album leaf. Tears to paper on verso from mounting with scattered soiling staining and handling wear; quite good overall. An Oregon Centennial broadside issued by Portland printer and later historian George H. Himes printed for the centennial of American independence. The sheet is headed "1776 Shake with 1876!" above clasped hands and a large "JULY FOURTH!" flanked by American flags. A portrait of Benjamin Franklin appears above Himes's enormous trade name while the lower half incorporates the Declaration of Independence within the outline of the Liberty Bell surrounded by thirteen stars and the slogans "THE HOPE OF THE WORLD" and "The Century Just Turned." The broadside repeatedly connects the history of American independence with the printer's trade. Verses surrounding Franklin celebrate him as the archetypal "printer boy" while Himes presents himself as his professional successor. The piece concludes with an optimistic request that customers retain his advertisement for another century: "Please preserve this sheet for reference in 1976 at which time the above named printer will endeavor to provide you with something more elaborate." Himes 1844-1940 had established himself as a printer in Portland by the 1870s advertising under the memorable name "Himes the Printer" at the same No. 5 Washington Street address printed here. He subsequently became an important figure in the preservation of Oregon history serving as a founder of the Oregon Historical Society and for decades as its assistant secretary and curator. An example of this broadside appears to be preserved in the George H. Himes papers at the University of Washington cataloged as a "Patriotic broadside used as printing sample by Himes 1876." We locate no other examples in the trade or institutional records searched. . Himes the Printer unknown