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Chester Jenkins Collection Relating to Frederic Goudy

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 16 Feb 2018

Biographical History

Frederic W. Goudy (1865-1947) was an American printer and type designer of more than 120 fonts, among them Copperplate Gothic, Kennerley, and Goudy Old Style. Frederic's wife Bertha M. Goudy worked closely with him and was a noted graphic designer in her own right. Both Frederic and Bertha were self-taught. With Will H. Ransom, Goudy founded the Village Press in 1903, an Arts and Crafts venture similar to those of William Morris in England. In addition to his independent work Goudy was the art director for Lanston Monotype for more than twenty-five years (1920-1947). In 1940 Goudy was appointed a lecturer at Syracuse University's School of Journalism; today Fine Arts students at SU have access to the Frederic W. Goudy Typographic Laboratory and its three letterpresses. Goudy's studio at Marlborough-on-Hudson, a converted mill he christened Deepdene, was the site of an annual "pilgrimage" by typographers as well as the namesake for Goudy's Deepdene typeface.

Among Goudy's designs was a typeface called "Sherman." Thought to be lost, the original matrices for the font were rediscovered at the Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University Libraries. The University contracted with Chester Jenkins, co-founder of Village (a foundry union in Brooklyn) and Michael Beirut of Pentagram, the world's largest independent design consultancy, to reinterpret the font and develop a digital version, which is now used across the University's websites, publications, and other material as part of its official branding. For additional information, see the short documentary Goudy at Syracuse.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Chester Jenkins Collection Relating to Frederic Goudy consists of two original drawings of Sherman Book Serif Italic and a presentation for "Sherman revival typeface development" with original markup from the Pentagram design team (including Michael Beirut and Jesse Reade).

Arrangement of the Collection

Subdivided by type of material.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has a number of cataloged items and manuscript collections relating to type designer Frederic Goudy. Please search our collections to locate all related collections and Libraries Search to locate cataloged items.

Subject Headings

Persons

Beirut, Michael.
Goudy, Frederic W. (Frederic William), 1865-1947.
Jenkins, Chester.

Corporate Bodies

Pentagram Design.
Syracuse University -- History.

Subjects

Graphic design (Typography) -- United States.
Type and type-founding -- History.
Type designers -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Drawings (visual works)
Presentations (communicative events)

Occupations

Type designers.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Chester Jenkins Collection Relating to Frederic Goudy,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Chester Jenkins, 2017.

Table of Contents

Artwork

Presentations

Inventory