Whitman's Phototypes

A Whitman’s Phototype is a black and white postcard produced circa.1937-1945 and printed on a Collotype Press. They were preceded by an earlier series (1931-1937) simply identified as Colortypes, Williamsport, Pa. although in the same black and white format. Whitman’s Phototypes were published by Harry M. Whitman of Canton, Pennsylvania, a small town in the southwestern corner of rural Bradford County.

Harry M. Whitman (1877-1947) was the son of William M. Whitman, a Canton pharmacist by profession. Raised in a middle-class environment Harry could basically be called an entrepreneur beginning at an early age. In 1891 at age 13 he and a teenage friend began publishing a small two column local newspaper sold on Saturdays. Eventually growing to become the Canton World, Whitman published once a week from the paper’s inception in 1891 through 1914. Declining revenues forced a revised publishing schedule in 1915 with the paper then coming out semi-weekly. By the end of 1915 small town newspapers were struggling to exist and the Canton World being no different ceased publication altogether.

Early census lists from the latter part of the 19th century show that William M. Whitman, his wife and family resided with a John Mix and wife on a residential street in Canton. John Mix was also a Canton pharmacist and at 24 years senior in age to William was probably his employer. The bond between the two druggists must have been good to share housing and upon the birth of Harry, the Whitmans chose Mix to be the infant’s middle name.

There is not much known about Harry’s life at the turn of the century. Again a review of census records show that he was an electrician by trade and had married Ella M. Foster, a union that produced no children.

John Mix had died in 1888 and by 1910 William Whitman, too, was deceased. Harry was now running the pharmacy under his own ownership. Upon the collapse of the newspaper and still possessing an entrepreneurial spirit Whitman formed a partnership with fellow electrician Horace Craven to found an independent telephone company serving Canton. The phone company like his earlier publishing efforts was located on the second floor of the pharmacy located in the heart of Canton at the intersection of Main and Troy Streets.

Harry had an older brother Fred, a printer by profession, who had left Canton circa.1910 and relocated to Williamsport to pursue a second career as a pharmaceutical salesman. It was in this location that Colortypes first appeared in 1931. My first inclination was that Fred was the publisher of these Colortypes but subsequent research revealed that Fred prematurely passed away in 1916 at age 46 and was returned to Canton for burial. The actual publisher of these postcards is not known at this time. All of these early Colortypes feature a primitive back with blank shield and a publisher imprint along the far left edge. The imprint simply stated “Colortypes”. P.O. Box 238, Williamsport, Pa.

Ownership is nothing more than speculation at this point but Harry and Ella did re-locate to Williamsport in 1935. At about this time the imprint changed from P.O. Box 238 to P.O. Box 744. Now one can wonder if Harry with his printing background took over production upon arriving in Williamsport and P.O, Box 744 was in fact his address.

The back side design had also changed with POST CARD in simple block lettering appearing at top center, a descriptive caption at top of the message half and a publisher imprint now dividing the back side into two halves. First it was a continuation of the Colortypes imprint with the original post office address, then it was replaced with the new address and finally some but not many replaced “Colortypes” with “Phototypes”. Text was clean and simple but sometimes varied in size and some imprints were printed in bold as opposed to standard type.

Harry and Ella relocated back to Canton in 1937 and the new Whitman’s Phototype imprint replaced Colortypes. In fact, the change was actually made before leaving Williamsport with a handful printed showing the imprint Whitman’s Phototypes, Williamsport, Pa. Soon Canton, Pa. replaced Williamsport once the move back home was complete. The imprint remained constant for the remainder of the production with one exception. A lone card showing the Susquehanna River from atop the Wyalusing Rocks is imprinted © Harry M. Whitman, Canton, Pa. A second printing of the same view also shows the imprint as © H.M. Whitman, Canton, Pa. This postcard is the only one I have ever seen bearing Whitman’s full name.

Whitman’s Phototypes were produced through approximately 1945 when changing tastes and the emergence of the colored chrome postcard at the end of World War II brought an almost complete halt to black and white postcard production. Whitman may have also been in declining health by this time as his death occurred in 1947 following by one year the death of his wife Ella. Both are buried in the East Canton Cemetery.

There was a postcard production company in Elizabeth, New Jersey at this time called the Collotype Corporation that produced large quantities of black and white postcards using the Collotype printing process. The publisher imprint on these postcards never identifies any local publisher or vendor rather crediting the company itself in Elizabeth. Whitman’s Phototypes are difficult to distinguish from Collotypes but always carry the Whitman imprint on the reverse side.

I once found a reference in the Bradford County Historical Society archives that said Whitman had a printing press in the post-Canton World days that was now located in the basement of the Canton pharmacy. Still to be resolved is whether Whitman’s press was a Collotype enabling him to print his own postcards or whether he used the larger and more commercial Collotype Corporation while maintaining his own publisher imprint. Until proven different I tend to lean towards his own in-house production based on the lack of local publisher imprints on Collotypes and the subject matter of a handful of his postcards. They suggest very small print runs and lead me to conclude that Whitman may well have offered small lot press runs perhaps numbering no more than 100-200 while mass producing others for the tourist trade. If my assessment is accurate it is difficult to believe that a 200 card press run would have been economical enough to produce using a commercial company such as Collotype.

A possible example of a small press run may be this view of a man standing with his hand on a pump handle. The card is labeled simply S.W. McGarvey, New Freedom, Pennsylvania. A Google search for S.W. McGarvey revealed that he was a minister and Mid-Atlantic District Superintendent of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. In the late 1930’s the church had purchased the Summit Grove Christian Camp in New Freedom. Other Whitman views of the camp exist but are more readily found than this single view. It may indeed have been a small print run of 100-200 postcards for Rev. McGarvey’s own use.

My own Whitman’s Phototypes collection began in 1988 when I purchased two Towanda, Pa. views showing the Susquehanna River, Table Rock Mountain and the Bridge Street Bridge. In a collection now twenty-five years in the making I have acquired 450+ Colortypes or Whitman’s Phototypes and know of seven others sold on EBAY or located in institutional collections. Unfortunately Whitman’s Phototypes are neither numbered nor otherwise organized to shed any light on how many different postcards were actually produced. When I first began collecting Whitman’s Phototypes I thought I was looking for Pennsylvania localities only. In fact, it seemed that his publishing territory was the greater Susquehanna River Valley including both North and West branches reaching to Port Allegany on the west and Montrose on the east. Thus, the hunt continued searching out known Pennsylvania locations identified to date. That all changed in the late 1990’s when a friend, fellow collector and postcard dealer (Dan Duffy) called from Virginia Beach, VA to ask if I had ever heard of Lake Lure, NC. When I replied “no”, he said that “apparently your boy Whitman did because I have acquired a Lake Lure hotel postcard bearing his imprint for Canton, Pa.”

What had I been missing I wondered? How many other non-Pennsylvania locations existed? The search was on albeit slowly and unsuccessfully at first. But by now I was fairly adept at identifying a Whitman or a Collotype by its image side appearance. It was at a Florida postcard show that I stumbled into the Mother Lode finding several Florida and Virginia locations plus one from Georgia. As the search continued over the next 3-4 years checking dealer boxes at postcard shows, state archives, on-line library postcard collections and EBAY, I soon developed a list of non-Pennsylvania locations for Whitman produced postcards, and the search became more productive with many additional postcards rapidly being added to my collection. In addition to Pennsylvania the state list now includes Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and New York. Most recently I stumbled across a single card from Lisbon, New Hampshire of all places showing a girl’s camp. Did some female friend or family member attend this camp in her youth and Whitman was there with his camera to add a card to his line-up? Again, I suspect a small press run for this postcard.

There were a number of postcards issued for Bradford County locations but only a small number seen to date for his hometown of Canton, and three of them are not in town but views of nearby Lake Nepahwin where the Whitmans maintained a summer cottage.

Many Whitman postcards are of scenery especially in Pennsylvania and New York. In southern states, Florida and Georgia excluded, he seems to have concentrated on historical venues. All are produced from actual photographs although two seen to date are of paintings – one showing George Washington in military uniform kneeling at his mother’s knee; the other showing Barbara Fritchie of Frederick, Maryland at age 92. The paintings are located in Fredericksburg, VA and Frederick, MD respectfully. The majority of Whitman’s Phototypes feature no text on the image side of the postcard but there are exceptions, probably a requirement of sale to the prospective client. Most with image side imprints are of commercial establishments.

What perhaps makes Whitman’s Phototypes a unique collection is his additional emphasis on roadside Americana especially small family operated inns and tourist homes. This is especially true for places like Daytona Beach in Florida where perhaps Whitman accompanied by his camera made personal vacations profitable. Largely gone today, these inns and tourist homes have been replaced by hotel and motel chains such as Holiday Inn and Best Western. Whitman’s Phototypes are then a bit unique in that they document life in towns and smaller cities in the United States during the Depression, an era that due to its economic suffering and lack on money produced a much smaller number of postcards than the period 1900-1930.

Whitman’s Phototypes by name remain largely unknown to the collecting community and postcard dealers alike. Whitman’s Phototypes aren’t necessarily shunned by collectors but in that they are black and white printed postcards they do not command high prices. It’s an affordable collection to assemble with prices mostly running from $2.00 to $5.00 each (EBAY excluded). The most I ever paid was $18.00 for a Florida view and $20.00 for a Pennsylvania view both at postcard shows. The $18.00 view I have since seen one time on EBAY priced at $23.95. However, I have seen two additional Whitman’s Phototypes on EBAY that realized a final closing price of over $100.00 each. In both cases I believe it was subject matter rather than being a Whitman’s Phototype that took the price over the $100.00 threshold. Realized prices such as that, EBAY or otherwise, are certainly the exception rather than the rule.

To me Harry Whitman is special. First and foremost, he is an upthewoods postcard publisher. Secondly, he documents the Depression era, a period of significant interest to me that will become more evident with my coming Silvercraft and Wayne Paperbox Printing checklists. Perhaps also, it’s the thrill of the hunt finding previously undiscovered locations never knowing when and where another Whitman Phototype will surface. How many more exist yet to be discovered I do not know. The hunt continues, and Harry M. Whitman continues to bring me much pleasure in pursuing my postcard collecting hobby.

Following is my data base of known Colortypes, Phototypes and Whitman’s Phototypes. Filters are included to allow you to quickly focus on specific locales by state or community. Additions to the list are always solicited. The data base is then followed by a small gallery of my “better” Whitman’s.

Pennsylvania Whitman Card List

Return to Top

Return to Top

Other States Card List

Return to Top

Return to Top

Whitman's Phototypes Gallery

Return to Top

Return to Top