Details
Title Collins, Alfred M.
Alternate title Alfred M. Collins, Son & Co.
Date 1819-1895
Description Alfred M. Collins, card and cardboard manufacturer for printers and lithographers, was born in New York in 1819. Residing in Philadelphia by the early 1840s, Collins pursued the mercantile trade before he established the paper manufacturing business A. M. Collins & Co. at 506-508 Minor Street in the early 1850s. By the 1860s, the business expanded to include card manufactory and by the end of the decade Collins's son Harry H. as well as Edward Cope, Jr. became partners in Alfred M. Collins, Son & Co. Around this time (ca. 1867), Collins also expanded to an additional location at North Third Street and Canal Street and introduced the "Chrystal Card" to the local market.
A prolific advertiser in the "Printers Circular" journal, Collins gained a reputation as the "best and most appointed cardboard manufactory" in the country by the 1870s, and in 1876 he relocated his manufactory and warehouse to 9 Decatur Street (destroyed by fire December 1, 1879), and 18 South Sixth Street.
Collins was married in 1843 to Hannah (b. ca. 1820), with whom he had three surviving children and was a contributor to and a secretary for the House of Refuge. Collins died on May 26, 1895 with funeral services held at his late residence of 1518 Locust Street.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1860, 1870, 1880
New York Times, December 2, 1879
Philadelphia City Directories, 1841-1895, intermittently
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 27, 1895
Printers' Circular (January 1867): 146
Printers' Circular (September 1875): 182