| Title: | Douglas McMurtrie Papers |
| Call Number: | Coll310 |
| Creator: | McMurtrie, Douglas Crawford |
| Dates: | 1919-1944 |
| Size: | 2 boxes (1.5 linear feet) |
| Language: | English, German |
| Abstract: | This collection contains the typographical scholarship of Douglas Crawford McMurtrie between 1919 and 1944. There are few instances of other authors that wrote on similar subjects or publications that are published in German, although majority of the materials are written in English. Those publications have been kept in the collections and interwoven into the arrangement of the collection. |
| Citation: | Douglas McMurtrie Papers, Collection 310, Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD). |
Douglas Crawford McMurtrie (July 20, 1888- September 29, 1944) was an American typeface designer, historian, and one of the most important bibliographers of printing. After leaving Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before graduating, he worked as a newspaper reporter and printing broker. Over several years, some of McMurtie's earliest and noted appointments were as general manager of the Cheltenham Press, then as printing manager of the Columbia University Printing Office, the Arbor Press, and Conde Nast Press. McMurtie designed two typefaces, helped design the format of the New Yorker Magazine, and was instrumental in forming the Continental Type Founders Association, which imported types from Europe, serving as the company’s first vice president. In the mid 1920s, he became the editor of the prestigious Ars Typographica magazine. Later in his career, McMurtrie became the typographic director of the Cuneo Press before becoming the director of advertising and typography at Ludlow typograph Company.
The Douglas McMurtrie Papers are organized chronologically by date and then alphabetically.
The collection history is unknown. Special Collections staff assumes materials were brought in by the previous curator but no provenance is available. The collections whereabouts before UMBC is unknown in addition to no notes of if Douglas McMurtrie’s estate is the donor or if a separate donor was responsible to sending materials to UMBC.
Describing Archives: a Content Standard (DACS)
Archives Processing Manual: Description (2015): The processing manual used in Special Collections for all descriptive platforms, including PastPerfect.
Finding aid available.
This collection is open for research. There are no restricted materials.
Permission required for all reproductions requests. UMBC is the copyright owner.
McMurtrie, Douglas Crawford
| Folder Title/Description | Date | Box # | Folder # | Additional Info. |
| (#325) Printing for the Inhabitants of the Island of Hainan, China | 1919 | 1 | 1 | |
| (#377) Geographic Names: Their Spelling as a Factor in Typographic Style | 1921 | 1 | 2 | |
| (#5) Anforingstecknets Uppkomst och Utveckling; | 1922 | 1 | 3 | |
| (#378) A List of Books on Typographical Style and Proofreading | 1922 | 1 | 4 | |
| (#381) Typographical Style Governing the Use of Marks of Quotation in Italian Composition | 1922 | 1 | 5 | |
| (#315) The Cost- Finding System of A French Printer in the Eighteenth Century | 1923 | 1 | 6 | |
| (#383) To the Inland Printer on its Fortieth Birthday | 1923 | 1 | 7 | |
| (#571) Typography- Announcing Vanity Fair Capitals | 1923 | 1 | 8 | |
| (#69)Types and Typefounding in Germany, The Work of Christian Egenolff, July 1924" | 1924 | 1 | 9 | |
| (#67) The Brother Voskens and Their Successors, October 1924 | 1924 | 1 | 10 | |
| (#351) American Type Design in the Twentieth Century | 1924 | 1 | 11 | |
| (#353) O tvorbe pisma ve Spojenych Statech Severo- Americkych | 1925 | 1 | 12 | |
| (#235) A Note On North Carolina Printing History | 1928 | 1 | 13 | |
| (#249) The Price of Printing in Philadelphia, 1754 | 1928 | 1 | 14 | |
| (#295) A Project for Printing in Bermuda, 1772 | 1928 | 1 | 15 | |
| (#71) The First American Paper Trade Agreement, January 1929 | 1929 | 1 | 16 | |
| (#399) The Photomontage, A New Illustrative Technique, December 1929 | 1929 | 1 | 17 | |
| (#116) James Johnston, First Printer in the Royal Colony of Georgia | 1929 | 1 | 18 | |
| (#73) Present State of Printing and Bookselling in American by Henry Lemaine | 1929 | 1 | 19 | |
| (#403) What is Modern in Typography? | 1929 | 1 | 20 | |
| (#405) Active- age Typography | 1930 | 1 | 21 | |
| (#407) The Fundamentals of Modernism in Typography | 1930 | 1 | 22 | |
| (#13) The Introduction of Printing into Italy | 1930 | 1 | 23 | |
| (#409) Some Elementary Principles of Typography | 1930 | 1 | 24 | |
| (#410) Structure in the New Typography | 1930 | 1 | 25 | |
| (#404) Typographic Ornament | 1930 | 1 | 26 | |
| (#127) Pioneer Printing in Illinois, December 1, 1931 | 1931 | 1 | 27 | |
| (#326) Memorandum on the First Printing in Ceylon | 1931 | 1 | 28 | |
| (#126) Notes in Suppliment to "The First Printers of Chicago" | 1931 | 1 | 29 | |
| (#261) Pioneer Printing in Tennessee | 1931 | 1 | 30 | |
| (#201) Pioneer Printing in Nebraska, January 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 31 | |
| (#85) Pioneer Printing in Minnesota, February 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 32 | |
| (#172) Pioneer Printing in Maine, March 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 33 | |
| (#187) Pioneer Printing in Mississippi, March 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 34 | |
| (#273) Pioneer Printing in Washington, April 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 35 | |
| (#174) Pioneer Printing in Maryland, August 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 36 | |
| (#252) Prioneer Printing in Rhode Island, September 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 37 | |
| (#328) Sydney Curfew Law was Premier Printing Produced in Australia, October 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 38 | |
| (#236) Pioneer Printing in North Carolina, November 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 39 | |
| (#138) Pioneer Printing in Iowa, December 1932 | 1932 | 1 | 40 | |
| (#413) Advertising Typography | 1932 | 1 | 41 | |
| (#152) Antecedent Expericne in Kentucky of William Maxwell, Ohio's First Printer | 1932 | 1 | 42 | |
| (#574) Aus den Sammlungen des Deutschen Buchmuseums: Vom Amerikanischen Buchdruck und Seiner Erforschung | 1932 | 1 | 43 | |
| (#124) The Beginning of Printing in Idaho (Sonderabzug aus dem Gutenberg- Jahrbuch) | 1932 | 1 | 44 | |
| (#414) Calendar Typography and Design | 1932 | 1 | 45 | |
| (#415) The Economy of Replacing Obsolete Typefaces | 1932 | 1 | 46 | |
| (#416) Effective Typography and Economy, Reproducing a Speech made before Atlanta Prints | 1932 | 1 | 47 | |
| (#291) The First Printing in Alberta | 1932 | 1 | 48 | |
| (#296) The First Printing in Dominca | 1932 | 1 | 49 | |
| (#106) Pioneer Printing in Connecticut | 1932 | 1 | 50 | |
| (#245) Pioneer Printing in Oklahoma | 1932 | 1 | 51 | |
| (#417) Rules and Their Possibilities | 1932 | 1 | 52 | |
| (#547) The Typography of an Active Age | 1932 | 1 | 53 | |
| (#419) Typography Overseas | 1932 | 1 | 54 | |
| (#216) Prioneer Printing in New York, January 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 55 | |
| (#331) The Early Vernacular Press in India, February 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 56 | |
| (#265) Pioneer Printing in Texas, February 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 57 | |
| (#145) Pioneer Printing in Kansas, March 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 58 | |
| (#269) Pioneer Printing in Utah, June 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 59 | |
| (#165) A Louisiana Decree of 1770 Relative to the Practice of Medicine and Surgery, July 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 60 | |
| (#274) Wash there a printing press in Washington in 1844?, July 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 61 | |
| (#129) The Rise of Printing in Mount Morris, Illinois, September 1933 | 1933 | 1 | 62 | |
| (#420) City Printers and Country Competition | 1933 | 1 | 63 | |
| (#421) Contemporary European Typography | 1933 | 1 | 64 | |
| (#188) The Earliest Extant Mississippi Imprint | 1933 | 1 | 65 | |
| (#15) The Earliest Use of Type Ornament? | 1933 | 1 | 66 | |
| (#330) Early Mission Printing Presses in India | 1933 | 1 | 67 | |
| (#263) An Early Tennessee Paper Mill | 1933 | 1 | 68 | |
| (#16) An Example of 15th Century Proofreading | 1933 | 1 | 69 | |
| (#332) The First Printing at St. Helena | 1933 | 1 | 70 | |
| (#237) The First Twelve Years of Printing in North Carolina with a bibliography of the issues of the North Carolina press, 1749-1760 | 1933 | 1 | 71 | |
| (#423) Fitness to Purpose vs. Beauty in Book Typography | 1933 | 1 | 72 | |
| (#257) Four South Carolina Imprints of MDCCXXXI | 1933 | 1 | 73 | |
| (#425) The Layout of Illustrations | 1933 | 1 | 74 | |
| (#426) March of Lead Soldiers | 1933 | 1 | 75 | |
| (#189) The Mississippi Militia Law of 1799 | 1933 | 1 | 76 | |
| (#427) The Nagra Colors for Printing Inks | 1933 | 1 | 77 | |
| (#428) New Architecture Significant of the New Typography | 1933 | 1 | 78 | |
| (#333) Pioneer Printing Press on the Island of Madagascar | 1933 | 1 | 79 | |
| (#258) Two Georgia Printed acts of 1757 and 1763 | 1933 | 1 | 80 | |
| (#432) Uncommon colors in Printing Inks the Most Effective | 1933 | 1 | 81 | |
| (#134) The First Printing in Indiana, May-June 1934 | 1934 | 1 | 82 | |
| (#434) Demand for Readers' Time Your Real Competition, June 1934 | 1934 | 1 | 83 | |
| (#80) Det Forsta Trycket Pa Svenska I Americka | 1934 | 1 | 84 | |
| (#298) The Early Press of Jamaica | 1934 | 1 | 85 | |
| (#19) Erhardt Ratdolt, "The Father of Typographic Decoration" | 1934 | 1 | 86 | |
| (#119) Located Georgia Imprints of the Eighteenth Century Not in the DeRenne Catalogue | 1934 | 1 | 87 | |
| (#436) Modern School of Typography and Its Present Status | 1934 | 1 | 88 | |
| (#334) A Printing Press at St. Helena in 1806 | 1934 | 1 | 89 | |
| (#364) Types Grow Tall | 1934 | 1 | 90 | |
| (#443) Upper and lower case Pays | 1934 | 1 | 91 | |
| (#447) Specimens showing typogrphic stype of page heaqding for school and college yearbooks...December 1935 | 1935 | 1 | 92 | |
| (#207) A Further Note on the New Jersey Acts of 1723 | 1935 | 1 | 93 | |
| (#202) The General Epistle of the Latter Day Saints | 1935 | 1 | 94 | |
| (#335) A Memorandum on the History of Printing in the Dutch East Indies | 1935 | 1 | 95 | |
| (#446) Selling Printing to Meet the Sales Requirements of the Customer | 1935 | 1 | 96 | |
| (#316) Stereotyping in Bavaria in the Sixteenth Century | 1935 | 1 | 97 | |
| (#283) The Sweetwater Mines: A Pioneer Wyoming Newspaper | 1935 | 1 | 98 | |
| (#141) Two Early Issues of the Council Bluffs Press | 1935 | 1 | 99 | |
| (#449) Typography of Magazines and House Organs | 1935 | 1 | 100 | |
| (#225) Additional Geneva Imprints, 1815-1849 | 1936 | 1 | 101 | |
| (#336) A Memorandum of Early Printing on theIsland of Malta | 1936 | 1 | 102 | |
| (#135) The Need of a Printer in Indiana Territory | 1936 | 1 | 103 | |
| (#227) A Short-Title List of Books, Pamphlets and Broadsides Printed in Auburn, NY 1810 to 1850 | 1936 | 1 | 104 | |
| (#453) Typographic Display in Retail Advertising | 1936 | 1 | 105 | |
| (#454) Proofs of House Organ Headings, September 22, 1937 | 1937 | 1 | 106 | |
| (#229) A Bibliography of Books and Pamplets Printed at Ithaca, N.Y. 1820-1850 | 1937 | 1 | 107 | |
| (#247) The First Printed Message of the First Governor of Oregon | 1938 | 1 | 108 | |
| (#193) The Mississippi Territorial Session Laws of May, 1802 | 1938 | 1 | 109 | |
| (#344) Negotiations for the Illinois Salt Springs, 1802-1803 | 1938 | 1 | 110 | |
| (#477) American Imprints Inventory: The Historical Records Survey, Manual of Procedure, January 1939 | 1939 | 1 | 111 | |
| (#346) An Early Description of Middle Tennessee, April 20-22, 1939 | 1939 | 1 | 112 | |
| (#482) A Suggested Program for Augmenting Materials for Research in American Libraries, December 18, 1939 | 1939 | 1 | 113 | |
| (#299) A Broadside Issued at Mobile, December 28-30, 1939 | 1939 | 1 | 114 | |
| (#232) A Bibliography of Books and Pamplets Printed at Canadaigua, New York 1799-1850 | 1939 | 1 | 115 | |
| (#132) The Contributions of the Pioneer Printers to Illinois History | 1939 | 1 | 116 | |
| (#347) The Future of Chicago- in 1834 | 1939 | 1 | 117 | |
| (#337) A Malta Imprint of 1643 | 1939 | 2 | 1 | |
| (#22) Some Facts Concerning the Invention of Printing | 1939 | 2 | 2 | |
| (#507) The 300th Anniversary of the Printing Press in the United States | 1939 | 2 | 3 | |
| (#476) Further Progress in the Record of American Printing, May 1940 | 1940 | 2 | 4 | |
| (#38) Boxmakers Join Printers to Commemorate 500th Anniversary of Invention of Printing, July 1940 | 1940 | 2 | 5 | |
| (#504) Gutenberg's Life Recordings in Documents, July 1940 | 1940 | 2 | 6 | |
| (#45) The Invention of Printing and Its Five Century Progress, July 1940 | 1940 | 2 | 7 | |
| (#39) The Chicago Dinner to Commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the Invention of Printing, October 1940 | 1940 | 2 | 8 | |
| (#506) Dinner to Commemorate the Five Hundredth Anniversary of the Invention of Printing, October 1940 | 1940 | 2 | 9 | |
| (#36) Advertising and Publicity Spotlighted by Printing's 500th Anniversary | 1940 | 2 | 10 | |
| (#318) A Bibiography of the History of Printing in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, as compiled in 1861 | 1940 | 2 | 11 | |
| (#320) A Bibliography of Materials on the History of Printing Published in the Netherlands in the Nineteeth Century | 1940 | 2 | 12 | |
| (#24) Der Buchdrunk Seine Erfindung und sein Nutzen der Menschheit | 1940 | 2 | 13 | |
| (#26) An Essay on the Invention of Printing by John Bagford; | 1940 | 2 | 14 | |
| (#28) The Life and Work of Johann Gutenberg as recorded in comtemporary documents | 1940 | 2 | 15 | |
| (#47) A Portfolio of Informational Articles on the Invention of Printing and the Beginning of Papermaking in the United States | 1940 | 2 | 16 | |
| (#585) Printing Publications | 1940 | 2 | 17 | |
| (#48) Printing: The Story of its invention and its service to mankind | 1940 | 2 | 18 | |
| (?) The Rotarian | 1940 | 2 | 19 | |
| (#55) War Blacks Out Celebrations in Shrine Citites of Printing | 1940 | 2 | 20 | |
| (#522) Footnotes: The Bulletin of The Friends of the Library | 1941 | 2 | 21 | |
| (#35b) Proposal in 1855 for a Typographic Council to meet in Brussels to determine the facts regarding the Invention of Printing | 1941 | 2 | 22 | |
| (#462) Una Asociacion que Fomenta la Ensenanza de la Impenta | 1941 | 2 | 23 | |
| (#304) A List of Printing Offices Currently Operating in the Republic of Guatamala | 1942 | 2 | 24 | |
| (#314) A Preliminary Check List of Published Materials Relating to the History of Printing in Venezuela | 1942 | 2 | 25 | |
| (#184) A Printed Broadside dated at Detroit, January 26, 1790 | 1942 | 2 | 26 | |
| (#461a) The Printing Industry After the War | 1942 | 2 | 27 | |
| (#133a) Project for a Newspaper in Chicago in 1833 | 1942 | 2 | 28 | |
| (#533) The First Printing on the Island of Tobago | 1943 | 2 | 29 | |
| (#525) Pioneer Printing in Ohio | 1943 | 2 | 30 | |
| (#514) A Report in the April, 1848, on the Discovery of Gold and Other Minerals in California, and on the People, Commerce, Agriculture, Customs, Religion, Press, etc. of the New Pacific Coast Territory | 1943 | 2 | 31 | |
| (#543 and 544) Printing Press versus Tyranny | February-April 1944 | 2 | 32 | |
| (#541) The French Underground Press And Its Support of de Gaulle | 1944 | 2 | 33 | |
| (#300) The First Printing in Jamaica | undated | 2 | 34 | |
| (#60) Johann Guturky (Coast to Coast NBC Broadcast to Honor) | undated | 2 | 35 | |
| (#349) Outline Captials of a New Design, An Announcement by the Conde Nast Press | undated | 2 | 36 | |
| Typographical Samples & Original Listing | undated | 2 | 37 |
