The Currier and Ives Shop Front vintage postcard shows the store front at 115 Nassau St. in New York City around 1875, and the people in the doorway are believed to be the lead print operator Daniel Logan, and his son. The postcard shows the headquarters of the famous duo, Nathanial Currier and James Ives, that produced the many lithographs that are beloved by Americans and others since the 1880’s and even today.
Originally, the firm was started by Currier in 1834 after an apprenticeship in lithography with William and John Pendleton of Boston. In 1852 he hired James Ives as a bookkeeper, who had recently married into Nathaniel Currier’s family.
Ives proved to have a great intuition for the American public’s taste combined with business sense and a demand for technical perfection. All this combined prompted Currier to offer him a partnership in 1857.
The photograph for the vintage postcard was taken in 1875 of their Shop Front, after Currier & Ives had been in business together for twenty-three years. The now famous firm of “Currier & Ives” continued until the death of Nathaniel Currier in 1888 and Ives in 1895.