Guide to the Fred Anthoensen Collection, 1901-1969

Frederick William Anthoensen was born to Peter Jacobson Anthoensen and his wife on April 14, 1882, in Tondor, South Jutland, Denmark. He was brought to the United States as an infant and attended schools in Portland, Maine, during which time he became interested in printing through the works of two Boston printers, D.B. Updike and Bruce Rogers. In 1901, Anthoensen began working as a compositor for the Southworth Press in Portland, and by 1917 he had become its managing director. By 1934 the name of the press was changed to Southworth-Anthoenson to reflect Fred Anthoensen's important role, and after 1944 it was simply called The Anthoensen Press. Nationally known as an exemplary craftsman in the field of typography and the graphic arts, Anthoensen also authored two books: Types and Book Making and John Bell Type: Its Loss and Rediscovery. In 1924 Anthoensen married Madeleine Hagan and the two had one daughter. He died on August 13, 1969

The collection contains correspondence, newsclippings, photographs, a manuscript of "Types and Book Making," and assorted biographical material. Most of the correspondence is with Kenneth Boyer, Bowdoin College Librarian from 1945-1961, and concerns Anthoensen's 1946 gift to the college of almost every book he had designed and printed since 1923. Also present is a small amount of personal correspondence and letters concerning the Southworth Press printing of The Pearl in 1932-1933. Others represented in the correspondence are: Stanley P. Chase, Professor of English Literature at Bowdoin College; Constant Southworth, president of Southworth Press; and Sheldon Christian of the Pejepscot Press. See also the Anthoensen Press Business Records and the Anthoensen Press Work Orders.