It’s always nice to find the names behind the postcard publishers, especially as there were so many publishers, and many companies didn’t last that long…

So, continuing from the prior post, the St. Paul Souvenir Company, of St. Paul, Minnesota was run by Conrad Hamm. “C. Hamm” was found listed under his company name in a 1909 publication listing new members in the month of November for the National Association of Credit Men. The lead-in paragraph states:

“The list of new members which follows points to a forward movement for organized credit work throughout the country. It will be noted that some of the associations, notably Pittsburgh and New York, are this month lifting their membership record to new high figures. And the best feature of it all is that past success does not encourage membership committees to adopt a more comfortable pace. The feeling is rife that if the association is good for some, it is good for all, and for the cause of progress every available house must be invited and, if necessary, urged to come into the association.”

To digress a little, what is organized credit work? It has to do with business credit, financial management, industry credit problems, and solutions sometimes in the form of laws being enacted. The National Association of Credit Men, now the National Association of Credit Management or NACM, was founded in 1896 in Toledo, OH and was a leader, “…in the framing and passage of the National Bankruptcy Act”, and started the drive to get the Fictitious Name Laws enacted. (Just to quickly name two areas of major influence.)

But back to our subject:  C. Hamm, assumed to be the Conrad Hamm found in the 1910 Federal Census for Saint Paul, was thus confirmed in the 1911 Saint Paul city directory under the heading “Post Cards”, business address 106 Gilfillan block.

Conrad Hamm was born in Wisconsin, in July of 1878. He married Minnie A. Hensch or Hinsch in Portland, Oregon in 1901. By the 1910, they had four boys, Homer, Gilbert, Conrad and Lewis, ages 8 years to 2 months, with Homer being the oldest. Conrad’s occupation on this 1910 record was listed as “Jobber, Souvenirs, Wholesale” and the family was living at 801 Aurora Ave., St. Paul, MN.

Conrad appears to have gotten his start in the postcard business working for the paper wholesaler and postcard publisher of Wright, Barrett & Stillwell, of St. Paul. WB&S produced hand-colored regional view cards for a number of small publishers and operated from about 1887 – 1921 (per Metropostcard.com). From the St. Paul city directories we see that he worked for them as a color-er (re the coloring done by hand for cards) then later a traveling salesman. Around 1907 Conrad Hamm started (we presume, though it’s possible he bought it from someone else) the St. Paul Souvenir Company, which ran through about 1911.

Directory listings from 1893 – 1914

1893 – Clerk for Brownink, King & Co., boards at 613 Sherburne Ave.

1897 – “Colr” most likely color-er, for Wright, Barrett & Stillwell, and boarding at 613 Sherburne Ave.

1901 – Moved to Portland, Oregon, per the St. Paul, MN directory. (Possibly for his job as traveling salesman with WB&S.)

1903 – Traveling agent for Wright, Barrett & Stillwell, residence 772 Inglehart.

1906 –  Traveling agent for Wright, Barrett & Stillwell, residence 801 Aurora Ave.

1908 –  Notions-Wholesale. Business address 325 Gilfillan block.

1909 –  Postal Cards. Business address 213 Gilfillan block.

1911 –  Post Cards. Business address 106 Gilfillan block.

1914 –  Clerk, residence 801 Aurora Ave, St. Paul, MN.

Sources:  Bulletin of the National Association of Credit Men, 1909. Publisher: Chas. E. Meek, Secretary-Treasurer. 41 Park Row, New York, NY. Vol. 9, p. 919.

Year: 1900; Census Place: St Paul Ward 8, Ramsey, Minnesota; Roll: 785; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0129; FHL microfilm: 1240785

Year: 1910; Census Place: St Paul Ward 12, Ramsey, Minnesota; Roll: T624_720; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0156; FHL microfilm: 1374733. (Ancestry.com)

Ancestry.com. Web: Multnomah County, Oregon Marriage Index, 1855-1911 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1893. St. Paul, MN. p. 645. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1897. St. Paul, MN. p. 635. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1901. St. Paul, MN. p. 684. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1903. St. Paul, MN. p. 738. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s The Dual City Blue Book, 1906. St. Paul, MN. p. 803. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1908. St. Paul, MN. p. 1898. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1909. St. Paul, MN. p. 2037. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1911. St. Paul, MN. p. 2007. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s St. Paul City Directory, 1914. Vol. L. St. Paul, MN. p. 755. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)