“The Late Geo. S. Harris,” in Joseph Jackson, Some Notes Toward a History of Lithography in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1900).  Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

 

George S. Harris (1823-1891) initially worked in Philadelphia in the 1840s as a letterpress printer before adding lithography to his operations. By the 1870s the firm, renamed Geo. S. Harris & Sons, had built a seven-story, “iron front” factory for their mass production of lithographic trade cards, can and cigar-box labels, circulars, calendars, and stamped envelopes. In 1889 Harris & Sons bought T. Sinclair & Son and became the largest lithographic firm in the city with about 600 employees.

 

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