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Curt Teich Co. / Curteich-Chicago / C. T. American Art / C. T. Art-Colortone

Chicago, Illinois, USA 1898-1978 (Publisher, Printer)

The Curt Teich Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Curt Teich (1877–1974) in 1898. The company printed postcards, view postcards, and advertising cards, and became the world's largest printer of postcards. Teich was born in Greiz, Thuringia (Germany), and had been a lithographer in Lobenstein, Germany, before emigrating to Chicago in 1895. He founded his own firm in 1898, printing newspapers and magazines, and became an early publisher of postcards but did not begin printing them in number himself until 1908. Most of the company's postcards had white borders. The company employed offset printing beginning in 1907 and began producing linen postcards in the early 1930s. The Curt Teich Company employed various credit lines, including Curteich-Chicago, C. T. American Art, and C. T. Photochrome.  After Curt Teich's death in 1974, the business was sold to Regensteiner Publishers who continued to print cards at the Chicago plant until 1978, when the rights to the company name and processes were sold to the Irish firm John Hinde Ltd. Their California subsidiary prints cards under the name John Hinde Curteich, Inc. Postcards produced between 1908 and 1928, are usually prefixed A or R and numbered 1 to 124180. These are tinted halftone cards and were issued either under the C. T. Photochrome, C. T. Art-Colortone, or C. T. American Art trade names.

The Curt Teich Company is also known for its "Greetings From" postcards with big letters, vivid colors, and a bold style. "Greetings From" postcards had originated in Germany in the 1890s, and Teich successfully imported the style to the American market in 1904. Curt Teich & Company also encouraged businesses to create advertising postcards and trade cards. The Teich family donated the archives of the company to the Lake County Discovery Museum in Illinois. In 2016, the collection transferred to the Newberry Library, Chicago.

C. T. American Art Credit Line and Logo
C. T. American Art Credit Line and Logo

Curteich - Chicago Credit Line
Curteich - Chicago Credit Line

Curteich-Chicago C. T. American Art Credit Line
Curteich-Chicago C. T. American Art Credit Line