PRINT LETTERHEAD
Golden Age of
the Letterhead
The term letterhead first appeared in North America in 1890, according to letterhead.com, as a new business
economy boomed amid the Industrial
Revolution, which began decades earlier
with the arrival of the steam engine and
railroads.
Ornate letterheads flourished first with
moveable type and then hand drawings
reproduced by copper engraving and
lithography. Printing advances in engraving, letterpress, embossing, deboss-ing, thermography and silk-screening
expanded the possibilities of letterhead
design, until modern typewriters forced
a decrease in size and weight.
Arguably, the most notorious use
of a letterhead in North America
took place in the 1970s, when Republican staffers on the campaign
to re-elect Richard Nixon, including
Donald Segretti and Karl Rove,
stole thousands of sheets from
prominent Democrats to issue fake
memos and discredit the party.
These “dirty tricks” tactics resulted
in the Muskie letter, about a senator
fathering an illegitimate baby with
a teen prostitute, and the Canuck
letter, about a senator maligning
French Canadians.
– Jon Robinson
Original letterhead
materials provided
by Howard Graphic
