The Advancement of Typography

Figure 1

Morris Fuller Benton working alongside his father, Linn Boyd at ATF.

Introduction

The American Type Founders (ATF) Company was a business founded in 1892, comprised of twentythree American type foundries. This company was dominant in creating and distributing typefaces. ATF is characterized as highly influential in the world of printing and type setting. Many wellknown type designers and typefaces emerged from ATF. One fruitful individual in the American Type Foundry was Morris Fuller Benton. Morris was an American Typeface Designer and the director of the Department of Type Design at ATF after his father, Linn Boyd Benton (Figure 1). Morris Benton’s work revolutionized American typeface design. A successful, prolific, innovative, and commonly overlooked designer, Benton developed and perfected over two hundred sixty typefaces through ATF.1 One of Benton’s outstanding typefaces, Stymie, was created in 1931. Stymie is an example of a solid, lasting, dependable and powerful typeface. This monograph will express the impact and success of Morris Fuller Benton and Stymie.

1. David Consuegra, “Morris Fuller Benton.” Communication Arts 45, no. 8:130-131, 2004, 131. 01

02

The Benton Family Business

Though unfamiliar to the public eye, Benton lineage is recognized as one of fruitful and innovative individuals. From generation to generation, it was the Benton family business to transform and impact the realm of type, notably in the areas of typeface design and typesetting. One significant member of the Benton familywas Linn Boyd Benton. Linn Benton was an American typeface designer as well as an inventor of numerous technologies used for type founding. Born in 1844, Benton learned to set type around the age of eleven. He was influenced by his father, Charles Swan Benton, an owner and editor of the Milwaukee Daily News. L. Benton went on to gain an uncommon education in various fields of study due to constant relocation of the Benton family as well as his work experiences.2

Well educated in type, printing, engineering, and more, Linn Benton was a skillful asset to the world of typography. Benton advanced from working as a bookkeeper in Northwestern Type Foundry to an owner of the Benton, Waldo, & Co. Type Foundry. The foundry later combined with twenty-two other type foundries to form the American Type Founders (ATF) Company (Figure 2). Here, Linn was a founding director and the chief consultant.3 Linn produced and polished impeccable and timely machines for the foundry and also worked on other projects. One of these successes includes the development of a foundry typeface, Century, for The Century Magazine, owned by Theodore Low De Vinne,an American printer, author, and publisher. In no time, Linn Boyd established the first Department of Type Design within a type foundry. Soon after, his son, Morris F. Benton, joined him at ATF to work under him as a mechanical engineer. Morris sub-sequently added to the Century type family and began to thrive within ATF, following in his father’s footsteps.4

2. David Consuegra, American Type: Design & Designers (New York: Allworth Press, 2004), 62 3. Ibid.

4. Ibid., 64. Figure 2

An Image of the American Type Founders (ATF) manufacturing plant located in Jersey City, New Jersey.