Date of use : 1930s, USA

Standard Photoprint Company: San Francisco Photographic Printing Firm

This commercial envelope sent from San Francisco represents a piece of corporate correspondence associated with the Standard Photoprint Company, a photographic printing firm operating in California. The printed return address on the upper left identifies the company's location as 142 Sansome Street in San Francisco. During the early decades of the twentieth century, Sansome Street formed part of the city's financial and commercial district, suggesting that the company operated within a professional urban business environment. The name "Standard Photoprint Company" indicates a specialization in photographic printing services, a field that developed rapidly as photography became increasingly integrated into publishing, advertising, and commercial communication.

From the perspective of the photographic industry, companies such as the Standard Photoprint Company played a significant role in the commercial expansion of photography. Photographic printing laboratories were responsible not only for processing individual photographs but also for producing images for catalogues, advertising campaigns, printed promotional materials, and various forms of visual communication. In American cities, specialized photographic printing businesses formed an essential part of the broader commercial printing sector.

Record Information

Title: Standard Photoprint Company Business Envelope (San Francisco)

Category: Photographic Printing Industry / Commercial Correspondence

Subcategory: American Photographic Printing Laboratories / Urban Commerce

Country: USA (Sender: San Francisco, CA) → USA (Recipient)

City: San Francisco, California (Sender: Standard Photoprint Company) → [Domestic Recipient]

Date of use: 1930s

Company (Sender): Standard Photoprint Company, 142 Sansome Street, San Francisco, California, USA. A photographic printing firm specializing in processing and producing photographic images for catalogues, advertising campaigns, printed promotional materials, and commercial communication.

Object Type: Commercial envelope (business correspondence)

Postal Features: US postage stamp; San Francisco postal cancellation (1930s).

Language: English

Material: Paper envelope

Dimensions: Standard commercial envelope format

Collection Theme: Standard Photoprint Company, San Francisco commerce, Sansome Street, photographic printing, commercial photography, American printing industry, California photographic trade, 1930s US postal history, urban business correspondence.

Archival Significance: This 1930s envelope documents a San Francisco photographic printing firm, illustrating the role of specialized printing laboratories in the commercial expansion of photography for catalogues, advertising, and visual communication in early twentieth-century America.

Research Note:

This article is based on historical research and independent analysis of the material in the author's collection. The text has been prepared as an original interpretative study and does not reproduce copyrighted material.

This item is documented as part of the Photography in Postal History research project.
For research context, see the Research Methodology.
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