Scope and Contents
The collection contains personal and professional papers accumulated by American printer and businessman Harold Hugo over the course of his career at the Meriden Gravure Company. Materials include personal and professional correspondence, writings, publishing prospectuses and drafts of printed works, papers of professional organizations, school records, book plates, printed ephemera, print books and pamphlets, photographs, financial records, and computer media. Also included are clippings and periodicals related to Hugo or printing processes, as well as correspondence and writings related to Hugo’s death and memorial services.
Dates
- 1922 - 2016
- Majority of material found within 1928 - 1989
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Box 4 (computer media): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of electronic files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Box 4 (computer media): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of electronic files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Harold Hugo Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Gregg Hugo, 2018, and Old Sturbridge Village, 2019.
Arrangement
Materials in Box 1 maintain order found at time of acquisition, and the remainder of the collection is arranged alphabetically by file title, with computer media filed at the end of the sequence.
Extent
1.29 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The collection contains personal and professional papers accumulated by American printer and businessman Harold Hugo over the course of his career at the Meriden Gravure Company. Materials include personal and professional correspondence, writings, publishing prospectuses and drafts of printed works, papers of professional organizations, school records, book plates, printed ephemera, print books and pamphlets, photographs, financial records, and computer media. Also included are clippings and periodicals related to Hugo or printing processes, as well as correspondence and writings related to Hugo’s death and memorial services.
Harold Hugo (1910-1985)
Everett Harold Hugo was born in Stamford, Connecticut. He began working for the Meriden Gravure Company in 1924 and assisted with experiments to improve the collotype printing process. When company president James F. Allen died in 1928 and was succeeded by his son Parker Allen, Hugo, then enrolled at Northeastern University, left school to help run the company. His interest in fine presswork was enhanced by the influence of printer Gregg Anderson, who worked at the company from 1932 to 1935. Hugo became vice president of the company in 1943, and president in 1962, a position he held until 1975. In addition to his leadership at the Meriden Gravure Company, Hugo served on the board of directors of Stinehour Press in Lunenberg, Vermont from the time of its founding in the 1950s. Due to the close relationship between the two printing companies, they merged in 1977. Hugo’s expertise and advocacy of fine printing earned him numerous honorary degrees, including an M.A. from Yale in 1963. He died in 1985 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Creator
- Title
- Guide to the Harold Hugo Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Emma Gronbeck
- Date
- January 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.