Sign, Identification
Sign, Identification
Sign, Identification

Sign, Identification

Object number2017.97.2
MediumWood; Paint; Plastic; Formica; Metal
Credit LineGIft of the Graphic Communications Conference-International Brotherhood of Teamster's Local 24M
DescriptionCircular plywood office building sign with exterior plastic layer. Front has black border with gold text surrounding central white circle featuring union logo and label at center surrounded by gold text and a dotted ring. Sides are painted black. Reverse is faced with white Formica that has gold speckles. Reverse has two metal eyebolts with metal hanging wire strung between. DimensionsDiameter x Depth: 19.688 x 1.188 in. (50 x 3 cm)
InscriptionsFront has gold text around the perimeter "AMALGAMATED / LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA" and inset gold text around white circle's perimeter "CRAFTSMANSHIP FRATERNITY / SINCE 1882".

Central logo has polychrome text "A / LA" with smaller union label below with gold text "AMALGAMATED / UNION LITHOGRAPHERS LABEL / OF AMERICA".
MarksReverse has faint printed text on the top half "This mark certifies genuine ... Formica / ... / PRODUCT OF ... MADE IN U.S.A."
Historical NotesSign from the organization's Forbes and Market Street office. Part of a collection from Local 24 of the Graphic Communications Conference-International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The national union descends from the National Typographical Union which formed in 1852 and became the International Typographic Union in 1869. The union splintered in the late 1890s/early 1900s into several unions representing pressmen, bookbinders, stereotypers/electrotypers, lithographers, and platemakers, before slowly merging back together over the years. In 1983, the Graphic Communications International Union formed from the merging of the Int. Printing and Graphics Communication Union and the Graphic Arts International Union. Finally in 2005, the GCC union merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to create the present-day organization. Local 24 started in the early 1900s as a group of Lithographers in the Pittsburgh area. In 2016, they downsized their offices and moved from Uptown to Three Mile Run, and in the process, donated their records and this collection of artifacts. Most of the material donated was made by the union such as buttons, posters, stickers, flat product sheets, and two printing sheets that show the change in printing technology from raised letters to flat sheets.
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