Details
Title Leonhardt, Theodore
Alternate title Theo. Leonhardt & Son
Date October 18, 1818 - August 9, 1877
Description Theodore Leonhardt, born October 18, 1818 in Bautzen, Germany, worked as a commercial lithographer in Philadelphia, producing certificates, bonds, checks, diplomas, cards, letterheads and labels. Trained in the trade in Germany under Beneke, he worked in Leipzig and Gorlitz until 1848 when forced to emigrate from the revolutions. As a result , Leonhardt arrived in New York City in 1849 with his German-born wife Emilie (b. 1820), and two young sons, who died from cholera shortly thereafter. By August 1850, Leonhardt relocated to Philadelphia and established a shop at Third Street and Elbow Lane ca. 1851 before partnering in 1853 with fellow German-born lithographers Maurice Traubel, Edward Schnabel and John F. Finkeldey in the purchase of Frederick Kuhl's "Lithographic Institute" near Dock Street (46 1/2 Walnut Street). Departing the "Institute" ca. 1856, Leonhardt worked with J. Henry Camp (211 Chestnut Street) in 1857, then with Ferdinand Moras (609 Chestnut Street 1858-1859), before in 1861 he opened his own firm at 109 South Fourth Street. In 1868, he relocated his firm to 114 South Third Street and in 1871 Leonhardt engaged Theodore Bosin as his partner so that he could travel and take a brief hiatus from the business until 1872. By 1871, he had also become a naturalized citizen, probably through the New York Court in 1857. At his return, the establishment removed to 324 Chestnut and in 1874 he promoted his son, Arno Leonhardt (1850-1909), from "errand boy and stone grinder" to partner in the company. Two years later, the partnership celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the family business in conjunction with the Centennial Exhibition and issued a souvenir flier advertisement illustrated with Centennial imagery, including vignettes representing the arts. The firm also issued specimen sheets and catalogs promoting their "finely detailed" commercial job printing work as well as expanded theirbuilding ca. 1880, despite the "dreadfully dull" trade during the late 1870s. In 1890, the firm relocated to the southeast corner of Fifth and Library streets and began to include an illustrated, quarter-page advertisement promoting the firm in the city directory (The Library Company holds one of the original copperplates).
Although primarily a lithographic firm specializing in commercial work, the Leonhardts' also imported European trade cards and printed a number of membership certificates reflective of their ties to the local German community, including "Die Deutsche Gesellschaftes staates Pennsylvanien and Gambrinus Unterstutzungus Gesellschaft and Gambrinus Unterstutzungus Gesellschaft" (ca. 1875). The certificate for membership to a German brewing society contains a jauntily portrayed King Gambrinus, patron saint of beer.
Upon arrival in Philadelphia, Leonhardt resided with his wife, and son Arno in the Dock Street Ward, the area Leonhardt would reside his entire career and the rest of his life. Originally tenanting Second and Spruce Streets (Arno's residence at birth), by 1854, the family lived at 208 South Fourth Street and later 247, 518, 344 South Fourth Street, respectively, before finally settling at 526 Buttonwood Street. Leonhardt died on August 9, 1877 and his son Arno continued to operate the lithographic establishment and produce mercantile and bank lithographs. The firm remained in operation until at least 1960.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Portrait from Joseph Jackson,
References See Bosin, Theodore; Camp, Henry; Finkeldey, John F.; Kuhl, Frederick; Leonhardt, Arno; Moras, Ferdinand; Schnabel, Edward; and Traubel, Maurice.
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Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1850 (as Theodore Lewinhoff)
Edwin T. Freedley, Philadelphia and Its Manufactures (1867), 540.
Groce & Wallace, 393
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Merrill, 157
Pennsylvania, Vol. 143, p. 295, R.G. Dun & Co. Collection, microfilm, Hagley Museum & Library
Peters, 264
Philadelphia Business and City Directories, 1854-1945 (intermittently)
United States Centennial Commission, International Exhibition 1876. Official Catalogue. Art Gallery and Annexes. Department IV. Art. Ninth and revised edition (Cambridge, Mass.: Published for the Centennial Catalogue Company by John R. Nagle & Co., 1876), 58.
U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918
Warshaw Business Ephemera Collection, Archives Center, NMAH, Smithsonian Institution
WWWAA, 1998
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