Details
Title Camp, John Henry
Alternate title Camp, Henry
Date ca. 1821-April 8, 1881
Description John Henry Camp, born ca. 1821 in Prussia (Germany), was an established engraver, lithographer, and transferrer who worked in Philadelphia ca. 1847-1881. Arriving in the United States before the 1840s, Camp declared his intent to naturalize in Philadelphia in September 1844. The Philadelphia city directories first listed Camp as a lithographer in 1847 with a residence in Northern Liberties at 22 Duke Street. Within a year, having possibly left the employ of P. S. Duval, he formed the short-lived partnership Brechemin & Camp with jeweler and lithographer Louis Brechemin and ca. 1849-1851 worked in a partnership with Augustus Kollner. Kollner served as artist and Camp as printer in their practical lithography firm on Phoenix Block (i.e., Second and Chestnut streets) that produced illustrations for American Sunday School moral lesson books, advertisements, views, and maps.
By 1852, the partnership with Kollner ended and Camp tenanted the Artisan Building, Ranstead Place (4th and Chestnut) and was noted for his production of maps for school atlases. He remained at the site until 1856 when fire destroyed his underinsured shop and he joined Theodore Leonhardt and Ferdinand Moras at 609 Chestnut Street (1857-ca. 1860) where he served as head of the printing department and his monetary misfortunes continued. According to credit reports, in 1857, poor financial dealings with the publishing firm H. Cowperthwaite & Co. caused Camp to lose any credit rating. However, he remained in the trade and by 1868, he relocated his own establishment from Seventh and Cherry Streets to 36 South Fifth Street, and began to receive a fair-credit rating. By 1870, however, he again associated with Moras at 609 Chestnut and 610 Jayne streets, where he remained for several years. Camp was also purported by Jackson to have operated the first steam lithographic press in the city.
In the early 1870s, Camp added photo-lithography to his printing services and produced a large number of photo-lithographs of views of the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. He also assumed sole operation of the 610 Jayne Street establishment in 1877 as well as produced fashion plates for "Godey's Lady's Book." That year, he was reported as "now pays and stands well, has a good stock of plates, does a nice business, and has good credit" and in 1878 had an estimated worth of $20,000. By 1881, he had assumed the business of his brother A. Camp, a dyer, and his son John, Jr. (b. ca. 1853) managed the lithographic establishment. Camp died on April 8, 1881 with an estate estimated at $40, 000 and left his shop with twelve employees and an estimated worth of $20,000 under the management of his son, John, Jr. The firm remained active until 1893 when assumed by Arno Leonhardt, the son of John Sr.'s former associate.
Camp lived in North Philadelphia from the beginning of his residency in Philadelphia. By the 1850 census, he lived at Duke Street with his French-born wife Sarah (b. ca. 1823), with whom he had three children, including son John, Jr., as well as his in-laws the Sniders, including brother-in-law George (b. ca. 1840), also a lithographer. Between 1852 and 1869, he and his family resided at 149 Noble Street and in 1870 the Camps relocated to 409 North Fourth Street where "lithograph printer" William Crawford (b. ca. 1834) lived with the Camps in 1870. Camp, who also associated with a number of German organizations, including acting as a director of the German Hospital, and serving as a member of the German Maennerchor and German Society, remained at that address until his death.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Portrait from Joseph Jackson, "Some Notes Towards a History of Lithography in Philadelphia." (Philadelphia, 1900)
References See Brechemin & Camp; Duval, P. S.; Kollner, Augustus; Leonhardt, Theodore; and Snider, George.
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Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Groce & Wallace, 105
Jackson, "Some Notes Towards a History of Lithography in Philadelphia" (Philadelphia, 1900), 19
Last, 173
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Merrill, 35
Peters, 131
Philadelphia Business and City Directories, 1847-1882
Philadelphia, 1789-1880 Naturalization Records
Pennsylvania, Vol. 140, p. 147, R.G. Dun & Co. Collection, microfilm, Hagley Museum & Library
Sunday Dispatch, April 11, 1881
WWWAA, 551
Image file HSP-JHenryCamp-Jackson-LithInPhila