United States 1852

Synopsis

The groundwork for formation of the National Typographical Union was laid at a meeting in New York City on a chilly evening in early December 1850. Gathered together in Stoneall's Hotel on Fulton Street, 18 printers, representatives from local typographical associations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Kentucky, discussed standards of craftsmanship, union discipline, and apprenticeship guidelines. They also explored the possibility of a national union and formed a temporary national leadership panel, headed by John F. Keyser of Philadelphia, who acted as chairman. Before going their separate ways, the delegates agreed to meet again in convention in Baltimore in September 1851. At the Baltimore convention, delegates resolved to form a national union. That union, the National Typographical Union, was formally organized at yet another convention, this one held in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 3 May 1852. The first national labor organization to endure to...