A History of the Photoengravers’ Union Local 1,
the Founding Local:  1894 – 1997

A History of the Photoengravers’ Union Local 1, the Founding Local:  1894 – 1997 is the latest exhibit from the Botto House/American Labor Museum to be featured at the Labor Education Center, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University.

Photoengraving was the predominant means of printing illustrations in newspapers, magazines, and other graphic media for the first half of the 20th century, and has been called the vehicle responsible for modern advertising, as well as the newspaper and tabloid industry. 

Photoengravers started organizing unions almost concurrently with the birth of their technology; Local 1 of the Photoengravers Union was chartered by the International Typographers Union (ITU) in 1894. The union has a rich history; during the 1940’s and early 1950’s the local had a membership of 4,000 workers, all fully employed.  This skilled occupation began to be replaced in the 1960’s with newer, automated technology.  Today, photoengraving only exists in specialty shops, and the union has been merged with other graphic arts unions into the Graphic Communications Council of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Local One’s work was centered in New York City, but many of its members lived in New Jersey. The exhibit features artifacts donated by these members, coordinated by the local’s former Secretary-Treasurer, Robert Mitchell.  Items on exhibit include engraving tools; an engraver’s apron; the zinc plate used for the New York Times front page for July 1969 Moon Landing; Local One’s constitution and dues book, union label stamp, apprenticeship papers of Frederick von Cott, and photographs of members.