Sunday, October 16, 2022

UEF News

Minnesota ephemerist Gary Hornseth recently posted several 1930s covers of the UEF News, employee magazine of the Underwood Typewriter Company (then called Underwood Elliott Fisher).

The moody photo of its Hartford, Conn., plant on this April 1935 cover wraps around to the back cover of the publication:

 

This two-color illustration is by James Hobbins, the magazine's in-house artist:

 

The explanation given inside the magazine makes it clear the drawing is meant to portray the great sales activity at the company and the gang-busters quarter they were having. Which is interesting, given that it was published in October 1934. 

But it appears typewriter sales at Underwood were not particularly sensitive to the Great Depression. According to sources cited on its Wikipedia page, about 2 million machines had been sold by the early 1920s, and another 3 million by 1939.

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