Curt Otto Teich (March 1877 – 1974) was an American
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
of German descent who produced popular color
postcard
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare.
In some places, one can send a postcard f ...
s, primarily of scenes from American life. He was a pioneer of the
offset printing
Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithography, lithographic process, which ...
process. Under his management, ''Curt Teich & Company'' became the world's largest printer of view and advertising postcards.
Life
Teich was born in
Greiz
Greiz ( ; ) is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the Greiz (district), district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, east of the state capital Erfurt, on the White Elster river.
Greiz has a large park ...
,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
(modern-day Germany), and, following his family's traditional career as printers and publishers, worked as a printer's apprentice in Lobenstein.
[Lopes, Shana]
"Curt Otto Teich."
In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 4, edited by Jeffrey Fear. German Historical Institute. Last modified July 24, 2015. He immigrated to the United States in 1895, where he initially worked as a
printer's devil
A printer's devil was a young apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type. Notable writers including Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Ambrose Bierce, Bret Harte, and Mar ...
in New York, a much lower position than he had held in Germany.
Teich moved to Chicago, Illinois, and started his own firm—''Curt Teich & Company''—in January 1898.
Teich is best known for its "Greetings From" postcards with their big letters, vivid colors, and bold style.
"Greetings From" postcards had originated in Germany in the 1890s, and Teich successfully imported the style to the American market after a visit in 1904.
Teich employed hundreds of traveling salesmen, who sold picture postcards to domestic residences, and encouraged business to create advertising postcards; these salesmen also photographed the businesses and worked with the owners to create an idealized image.
The company closed in 1978. The Teich family donated archives of the company to the
Lake County Discovery Museum in Illinois which started the Curt Teich Postcard Archive. In 2016, it was announced that the archives would be transferred to the
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wo ...
. Altogether, the Newberry Library received approximately 2.5 million total items including nearly 500,000 postcard images. On April 3, 2017, the Curt Teich Postcard Archives Collection was opened to researchers.
[Ronnie Wachter]
Greetings from the Newberry Library: A world-class postcard collection opens to researchers
''American Libraries Magazine'', April 17, 2017.
Gallery
File:Untitled - Large Letters (NBY 804).jpg, Curt Teich & Co's distinctive "Greetings From" large-letter postcard
Large-letter postcards were a style of postcards popular in North America in the first half of the 20th century, especially the 1930s through the 1950s. The cards are so-called because the name of a tourist destination was printed in three-dimens ...
layout and art style.
File:The Great White Liner "South American," Chicago, Illinois, circa 1915-1930.jpg, The Great White Liner "South American", Chicago, Illinois, circa 1915–1930 ''source'' Curt Teich & Co. postcard 103504
File:Sunset Route, Mile Creek Canyon, Texas.jpg, Sunset Route, Mile Canyon
Mile Canyon or more recently known as Eagle Nest Canyon is a tributary canyon of the Rio Grande entering on the north side of the river just downstream from Langtry, Texas. Mile Canyon received its name due to its length being approximately one ...
, Texas, circa 1908 ''source'' Curt Teich & Co. postcard
File:Carnegie Blue Island.jpg, The Carnegie Library in Blue Island, IL
Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,558 at t ...
- William A. Otis, architect (1903, demolished 1969) ''source'' Curt Teich & Co. postcard 60274
File:Ozark State Zephyr.JPG, "The Ozark State Zephyr
The ''Ozark State Zephyr'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) and the Alton Railroad (the "Alton") between St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, home of the Ozarks. It operated from 1 ...
", Alton-Burlington first streamlined diesel powered train, circa 1937 ''source'' Curt Teich & Co. postcard 7A-H49
See also
*
Tichnor Brothers
Tichnor Brothers, Inc. was a Boston-based American graphic arts and printing company in operation from 1908 to 1987. Tichnor was one of the major producers of souvenir postcards of American cities in the 20th century, including large-letter post ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Curt Teich Co. recordsat
The NewberryTeich Family papersat
The Newberry
Curt Teich Postcards in the NEW WEST ''The Wagener-Erganian Collection''
Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collection ''CARLI Digital Collections''
Curt Teich Postcard Dating Guide from the Newberry
Curt Teich postcards in the Bowden Postcard Collection Online ''Walter Havighurst Special Collections in the Miami University Libraries''
, ''Metropostcard.com''
* Jim Craig
The Picture Postcard King - Curt Otto Teich December 30, 2016.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teich, Curt
Postcard publishers
People from Deerfield, Illinois
1974 deaths
1877 births
Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States