Club History

OUR HISTORY   1909 – 2011

Over 100 years of continuous rich history…dedicated to the printed word.

November, 1909 marked the formal beginning of the Calumet Ben Franklin Club. Formed on the basic understanding of sharing the trade, the Club was the dream of  five printers, Will C. Smith, George W. Bolling, A.R.  Schultz, J. Mittlespzy and A. Urbanack. These “founding fathers” gathered together to form a worthy organization that was thoroughly representative of the printing and allied trades of the South Side of the City of Chicago and communities adjacent.

It was the intention that the club would help printers learn about each other and their businesses.

The group expanded and invited typographers and binders to be a part of the organization and all other support  businesses.  The spirit of the group’s intent was to unite the members in bonds of good fellowship through friendly relations and mutual helpfulness to one another.

They worked very hard, to secure a concerted action, for the general good and betterment of the printing and allied trades, and to  discuss successful methods of conducting business and dissemination of information affecting a profitable operation.

The club has continued for over 100 years, to date, with no interruption of continuous meetings--many of  today’s members are the sons and grandsons (granddaughters!) of the original members.

In 1910 the first recorded history was presented in the newly founded “Starch” (now The Printer’s News) newsletter. Starch, named after a printer’s backbone, published until 1928 when the name was changed to The Printer’s News.  The publication featured meetings notices, meeting minutes as well as advice from suppliers and owners of printing companies.

The club remains committed to meetings where you meet your counterparts in the industry and have the opportunity to exchange your ideas and thus gain knowledge of new techniques and production methods.

Special field trips are still planned to visit member facilities of production as well as institutions of interest. Meetings are also held with prominent leaders and trainers in the graphic arts field as well as monthly communication from The Printer’s News.

The name Ben Franklin was selected based on the rich history of Ben Franklin as a printer…
M.T. Cicero's Cato Major, Franklin's personal favorite from his press, is considered to be the finest example of the printing art in colonial America. Furthermore, this work by the Roman philosopher statesman Cicero is the first classic work translated and printed in North America. In his "Printer to the Reader," Franklin explains that he has printed this piece "in a large and fair Character, that those who begin to think on the Subject of old-age, . . . may not, in Reading by the Pain small Letters give the Eyes, feel the Pleasure of the Mind in the least allayed."

We continue in the Franklin spirit of producing the “finest example of the printing art”…..

Bill Gibson,
Grandson of one of the original members, John R. Gibson, (1927)