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• Own a great piece of USPCC history from Norwood Station Cincinnati, Never before seen, personally spoken by John Omwake, President of the USPCC, hand typed 4 page letter, signed , mailed to Mr. E. Dowdall.

ONE OF A KIND MUSEUM QUALITY DOCUMENTS

• In 1922, tensions were building as printers, workers , and Lithographers,Photo engravers,electro typers, Machinists were in negotiations with each other.

• Great subject matter on several topics from the companies integrity, and the reference to the Pressman & Press Assistance union in efforts to work with the Printers League Comittees, Coal shortages affecting the buisness,as the playing card manufactures maintaining competition.

Condition:

• Historic! Truly superb, well preserved! Slight staining on page 1, paper clip impression on pages,slight pin holes in top center of all pages from being hung on board long ago, while all others page conditions are excellent.

FACTS:

The United States Playing Card Company (USPC) WAS the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world and was selling more than 100 million decks of playing cards per year, including more than 20 million decks to casinos.

• The company's long-lived brands include Bicycle, Bee Club Cards, Aviator, Aristocrat, and Hoyle, each with a distinctive card back design through licensing agreements.

HISTORY:

• The United States Playing Card Company began as an offshoot of a printing business founded in Cincinnati in 1867 by four men named Russell, Morgan, Armstrong, and Robinson.

• Named for the two printers in the group, Russell, Morgan and Company purchased some office space from the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper and began printing promotional posters for theatrical performances and circuses, as well as placards and labels. The company's growth soon necessitated a move to larger facilities nearby.

• In 1880 Russell, Morgan and Company decided to enter the playing card business, then an industry dominated by companies on the East Coast.

FACTS:

The company's first deck of playing cards was produced on June 21, 1881. Soon thereafter, the company was employing 20 people for the operation and producing 1,600 decks of playing cards per day.

Russell, Morgan's first brand of playing cards was called Congress. By 1885 the company had begun to produce the Bicycle brand. Over the years Bicycle card back designs featured various images of a bicycle in a mirror image so that the card never appeared upside down.

The "rider back" deck pictured the front view of a cherub riding a bicycle in a mirror image, with Florentine decorations framing the card.

In 1891 Russell, Morgan and Company was renamed The United States Printing Company, and three years later, the successful new playing card business segment was incorporated separately as the United States Playing Card Company.

Acquisitions followed, most notable, perhaps, being that of New York Consolidated Cards, known for its Bee brand of playing cards introduced in 1892. Having outgrown its facilities in downtown Cincinnati, USPC moved five miles south to Norwood, in 1900.

The 30-acre site provided ample space for offices and production and warehouse facilities, as well as for expansion. A public company, USPC operated profitably and paid dividends on a regular basis.

• USPC expanded internationally in the 1910s, establishing the International Playing Card Company in 1914, initially for product distribution to Canada.

Successful sales in that country led the company to establish a manufacturing facility in Windsor, Ontario, in 1928. Among the unique brands marketed to Canadian customers was Texan 45, a style popular in Quebec since its introduction in the 1930s.

• In 1922, to promote card playing, particularly bridge, USPC established a radio station called WSAI. Housed at the company's Norwood facilities, WSAI featured the show "Bridge by Radio" which provided bridge instruction from experts actually playing the game on the air. USPC operated WSAI until 1930. As contract bridge became increasingly popular in the decade that followed, the company's Congress brand emerged as a favorite brand of card for bridge.

USPC expanded its sales network during the 1930s, acquiring other selling agencies to promote certain brands of playing cards to different markets.

The company sold its products through wholesalers, jobbers, cigar stores, and department stores. Playing card brands at the time included Tally-ho, Blue Ribbon, and Aristocrat, as well as the standards Bee, Bicycle, and Congress. The Aviator brand, introduced in 1927, honored Charles Lindberg for his historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

With the legalization of gambling in Las Vegas in 1931, casinos provided a new base of business.

As one of a few companies licensed to provide cards to casinos, USPC garnered a large portion of the casino market. A majority of casinos preferred its Bee brand playing cards as characteristics of the product addressed the requirements of casino gaming, such as durability and good "slip" for ease in shuffling and dealing. "Snapback" flexibility allowed the cards to bend without creating identifying creases.

Despite the failed economy in the United States at the time, sales at USPC increased substantially during the 1930s, from less than $700,000 in 1933, to $6.9 million in 1935.

In 1936 the company purchased more production machinery and equipment from another playing card manufacturer that had gone out of business. By 1940 sales at USPC had increased to $8.3 million, with net earnings of $1 million.

At this time the company produced about 75 percent of cards sold in the United States and was the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world.

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