Welcome to the San Francisco Club of Litho and Printing House Craftsmen home page. Here you will find information about our meetings, officers, history and more.

Meetings & Events

Click here for a complete calendar of events.

Membership

Membership Application

Officers

President

Nathan Atkinson
City College of San Francisco
415-551-1125

Secretary

Lonn Lorenz
408-536-3012

Treasurer

Paul Matheson
650-857-8887

Immediate Past President

Becky Lindstrom
707-562-2787

Club History

In October 1921, the seed of Craftsmanship took root in the City by the Golden Gate. It is appropriate that we pause to review briefly the way which we have come to refresh ourselves with the determination to continue to promote and expand the objectives of Craftsmanship which have won the San Francisco Club of Litho and Printing House Craftsmen a respected niche in the printing industry.

The knowledge-sharing principles actually began around the turn of the new century when the age of specialization had arrived in the commercial printing industry. As a result, foreman, superintendents, and managers often felt torn between the best interests of their employers and those of the employees they directed. Daily they faced problems demanding of them more thorough knowledge than they possessed. They did not possess knowledge adequate enough to properly train the journeymen to operate the new equipment. And above all, they were babes in handling employee problems. The printing world changed all around them. They could not keep pace, and their shortcomings frightened them.

The combined background of ill-feeling between the crafts, the technical and economic revolutions of the time, and the recognition of the craftsmen of the need for improved knowledge, synthesized the movement to be called Craftsmanship. On October 19, 1909, the first Club of Printing House Craftsmen was formed in New York City by a group of supervisory executives.

Resembling medieval craft guilds and espousing the slogan "Share Your Knowledge," an ideal designed to break down the barriers of distrust and jealousy and bring to bear on every problem the best experience and thought of all those in the craft, affiliated clubs were eventually established in many large cities in the country. The San Francisco-based club, The San Francisoc Bay Cities Club of Printing House Craftsmen, organized October 10, 1921, was the thirtieth association formed. The "Bay Cities" was dropped from the name in 1928 when the East Bay Club was formed in Oakland.

Instrumental in organizing the San Francisco Club was Joseph Phillis, who had learned his craft in England back in the days when apprentices were properly indentured for seven years. Phillis took time off from his work and personally interviewed graphic arts executives all over the City.

The first staff of officers of the San Francisco Club were: Hartley Everett Jackson, President; Joseph FauntLeRoy, Vice President; Frank Seward, Secretary-Treasurer; Joseph Phillis, Recording Secretary.

While the Craftsmen Clubs are maintained primarily for the dissemination of technical knowledge, we feel that members have benefited equally from the creation of a more friendly feeling among the members and the entire body of the graphic arts. In fact, without this leavening of fellowship, it would be impossible to effectively share our knowledge.

The San Francisco Club is proud to have had four International Presidents and to have hosted three International Conventions. The Convention of 1940, chaired by Colonel George Filmer, was highlighted by the Exposition on Treasure Island and had an attendance of about 600. In 1949, chaired by Oscar Pedersen, with A.R. Tommasini as Program Chair, we hosted 670. And in 1965, Chairman Frank Kane and Program Chairs Lee Zavoral and Steve Johnson, Jr. welcomed 615 members and spouses.

The San Francisco Club salutes the founding members of our club and thanks them for showing us the leading way.

In the mid 1970s, in the Golden Gate city, club members realized that the Craftsmen Club and the Litho cub were working toward the same goals -- member education, scholarship programs, and the sharing of knowledge with other members. It was felt that there was much unnecessary competition between the two clubs. A joint committee was established to study the situation and the possibility of forming a new club by consolidating the groups.

The joint committee comprised of Dave Kohnke, Karl Tartsch, Jim Whitaker, Al Hericourt, Bill Corcoran and Jack Miller, met tot discuss the facts and the advantages and disadvantages of a merger. The group formulated a workable plan and presented it to the regular meetings of the two clubs in April 1975. The plan was approved almost unanimously by member of both clubs.

The official date of consolidation was June 1975. The first president was Dave Kohnke. And the new club adopted the name The San Francisco Club of Litho and Printing House Craftsmen, Inc. The first president of the combined club, Dave Kohnke, had this to say about the merger: "To sum it up, we how have a much more active and enthusiastic membership. Other clubs considering a move of his type should get busy at once. We are now wondering why we took so long to see the light.

We have only one graphic arts industry, so why should we have competing organizations? We have enough competition in the business already, without creating more rival organizations."

Past Presidents
San Francisco Club of Printing House Craftsmen

* Hartley E. Jackson 1921-1923
* Haywood H. Hunt 1924-1925
* Clifford H. Cassiday 1926-1927
* Henry E. Kreiger 1928
* Herbert Fahey 1929
* Finn J. Angell 1930
* Thomas E. Cordis 1931
* Jay P. Black 1932
* James A. Gruner 1933
* Paul E. Gallagher 1934-1935
* Henry E. West 1935
* Max H. Schmidt 1936-1937
* Richard A. Mattoch 1938
* George Filmer 1939
* W. H. Griffin 1940
* Ivan Guisti 1941
* John C. Gardner 1942
* Durwood Wright 1943
* Andrew George 1944
* Gene Gallagher 1945
* Oscar Pedersen 1946
* Harry Freeman 1947
* A. R. Tommasini 1948
* Tom F. Hislop 1949
* Clarence Ayer 1949
* Don E. Harris 1950
* Peter Nielson 1951
* Herman Schunter 1952
* Louis Hinz 1953
* Lester Lloyd 1954-1955
* Fred Gross 1956
* Clive Atherton 1957
* Carl Swenson 1958
* Ed Maggi 1959
* Peter Lang 1960
*Frank Kane 1961
* John Bevens 1962
Franklin Woodruff 1963
* Lee Zavoral 1964
Neil MacNeil 1965
* Hal Mitchell 1966
* Robert Lehman 1967
*Dudley Riggs 1968
* Forrest (Guy) Condrott 1969-1970
Richard Briggs 1971
Clifton Baker 1972
Robert Craft, Sr. 1973
*Karl Tartsch 1974

Past Presidents
San Francisco Litho Club

Past Presidents
San Francisco Club of Litho and Printing House Craftsmen, Inc.

David J. Kohnke 1975
Richard Briggs 1976
Jim Whitaker 1976
Joe Peri 1977
Gordon Lindstrom 1978
*Charles E. Mainprice, Jr. 1979
*Len Lender 1980
Arthur Velardo, Sr. 1981
Julius Domotor 1982
Arthur Hossenlopp 1983
P. J. O'Donnell 1984
Larry Nelson 1985
Larry Hirtzel 1986
Deidre McBride Valencia 1987
George Caughman 1988
Susan Stark Kent 1989
Robert Ward 1990
*Henry Aguirre 1991
Louis Kopecky 1992
John D. Kohnke 1993
Jean Dreyfus 1994
Donald J. Landers III 1995
Timothy Rooney 1996
Michael Herzog 1997
David Halpin 1998
Lonn Lorenz 1999
Blair Dreyfus 2000
Heidi Ericson 2001
Patti Copeland 2002
Becky Lindstrom2003-2004
Nathan Atkinson

*Deceased

DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CLUB

PAST PRESIDENTS
National Association of Litho Clubs
Dave Young 1976
Charles E. Mainprice, Jr. 1983
John D. Kohnke 1997

NALC/3M OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF THE YEAR
National Association of Litho Clubs
George Caughman 1992
Susan Kent 1994

PAST PRESIDENTS
International Association of Printing House Craftsmen
* Thomas E Cordis 1933-1935
* William H Griffin 1946-1947
* A. R. Tommasini 1955-1956
* Forest (Guy) Condrott 1976-1977
Gordon Lindstrom 1988-1989
Larry Nelson 1997-1998

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL CRAFTSMAN OF THE YEAR
International Association of Printing House Craftsmen
* Haywood H. Hunt 1954
* A. R. Tommasini 1958
* Robert M. Lehman 1975
Gordon Lindstrom 1992
*Deceased

Membership Application

Other NALC Local Clubs

NALC Home Page
NALC Table of Contents