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.
Braddock and Cumberland Road Series
Dr. John Kennedy Lacock (1871-1933) born in Amityville in southwestern Pennsylvania was a noted professor at Harvard University and a public lecturer on American history topics. He was especially well versed in his knowledge of British General Braddock’s ill-fated Monongahela campaign against the French at Fort Duquesne in 1755. This expedition ended in failure and the death of Braddock after days of hacking its way through virgin wilderness and constructing what became known as the Braddock Road only to be ambushed by French and Indians and his army scattered just a few miles short of Fort Duquesne. During the retreat Braddock succumbed to wounds received on the field of battle and was buried in the middle of the road near today’s Chalk Hill. Early in the 19th century as the Braddock Road was being widened and re-opened for commerce, Braddock’s grave was discovered and a monument to his memory placed at the present day side of the road. Braddock’s remains were returned to England for interment in London’s Westminster Abbey.