Details
Title Hunter, Thomas
Date b. ca. 1828
Description Thomas Hunter, born ca. 1828 in Ireland, worked as a lithographer in Philadelphia from ca. 1868 to ca. 1894, including the partnership Duval & Hunter (ca. 1869-1874). Immigrating to Pennsylvania by 1831, Hunter worked as a manufacturer and resided with his parents and Philadelphia-born siblings, including brother Charles (b. ca. 1833), a calico printer, in Blockley in 1850. By 1860 Hunter entered his brother's trade and was listed as a mast calico printer in the census, married to Julia (b. ca. 1832), with three children and two servants. The family resided in West Philadelphia near the family of his brother James (b. ca. 1825), also a calico printer. Hunter remained a resident of Hestonville, West Philadelphia when he entered the lithography trade in 1868. Soon thereafter, he partnered with Stephen C. Duval, son of P. S. Duval, in the firm Duval & Hunter (223 South Fifth Street, 716 Filbert).
Hunter continued to head a well-to-do household and manage a successful business with his switch in trades. In 1870, he still retained a servant and in 1874 won an American Manufacturer Exhibition silver medal; assumed the business of partner Duval; and printed the noted "Portraits and Autograph Signatures of the Framers and Signers of The Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, July 4th, 1776 published by the Centennial Portrait and Autograph Co., Philadelphia. According to credit reports which previously rated the business of Duval & Hunter an excellent one, the sole proprietorship by Hunter "rendered the house stronger in the opinion of the trade." Hunter's brothers James and John, calico printers, supplied much of the capital for the establishment estimated to perform $100,000 worth of business a year.
Two years after assuming sole proprietorship of the lithographic firm, Hunter served as one of the few Philadelphia publishers of Centennial Exhibition of 1876 views (copyrighted by the Centennial Board of Finance) depicting the buildings and grounds of the fair. Cited in the "Printer's Weekly" as a "first-class lithographer" for his "artistic excellencies of coloring and drawing" of the prints, Hunter also used the journal to advertise his business in 1878 as the "oldest lithographic establishment in the country;" capitalizing on the legacy of his former partner. Between ca. 1878 and 1881, Hunter issued another significant series of views when he printed a series of panoramas, predominately after W. W. Denslow, showing the several county seats of Pennsylvania. During the early 1880s, Hunter also produced photolithographs as well as sheet music covers before handing over the management of his debt-riddled firm (still owned by his brothers) to William H. Butler, formerly of Packard & Butler, in 1885. In January 1886, the "Hunter" establishment suffered a business-ending fire with Butler having paid off near 2/3 of the debt owed by the firm to its local suppliers.
By 1880, Hunter continued to reside with his family, including sons and lithographers James (b. ca. 1856) and Owen (b. ca. 1861) as well as a servant in Hestonville at North Fifty-Fifth Street and Lancaster Avenue. Following the disposition of his business to Butler, Hunter remained listed as a lithographer in city directories until 1894. Throughout the early 1890s, he was listed with a variety of addresses, including 803 North Forty-First Street, 626 North Fortieth Street, and 3324 Lancaster Avenue. Hunter remained listed until 1894 and his probable death.
Hunter was also a member of the Supreme Grand Orange Lodge of the United States, in which he served on the Committee of Finance during the Centennial as well as active in the opposition to the 1877 tariff to abolish the duty on books.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
References See Butler, William H. and Duval, S. C.
Has format LCP-Hunter-Am1875Key-19263-D-2-162.jpg
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Last, 72-73
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Pennsylvania, Vol. 152, p. 318; Vol. 158, p. 327, R.G. Dun & Co. Collection, microfilm, Hagley Museum & Library
Philadelphia Business and City Directories, 1868-1894
Report of the Twenty-Seventh Exhibition of American Manufactures (1874), 89.
Peters, 227
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 1875
Printers' Circular (June 1876): 107
Wainwright, 74
Image file LCP-Hunter-Am1875Key-19263-D-2-162