LB2007.1.109579

LB2007.1.109579

The Kelley Press, 1949, Belfast, Maine Kelley Press, run by Homer Kelley and his brother Harold, was located on Church Street across from City Hall. George Robertson owned and operated City Job Print in the Opera House Block on Church Street. When he retired he sold the business to Harold Kelley, who was one of his employees. It is assumed that the business was renamed and moved to the location across from City Hall. It was in business in the late 1940s and at least into the mid-1950s, when it was sold to an out-of-state concern. There were approximately 10 - 12 employees that included editors, proofreaders, linotype operators and printing press operators. Much of the type setting was done by a linotype machine but some of the fancier work was set by hand. The business was a general purpose print shop, with a handful of presses that did everything from books to business printing (e.g. forms, vouchers, letterhead, etc.). One of its major customers for the business printing was Maplewood Poultry. It also, for example, printed the History of Stockton Springs and "Horse and Buggy Days, A Brief History of Union, Maine" by Edwards A. Matthews which was published by The Kelley Press in 1950. In the book, Mathews who was from Union caught, in print, the yarns and musings voiced by cronies around the general store, which is part of every town in Maine. A German Press was purchased by the new owners to improve speed and quality. Among the employees hired by the new owners was Linda (Pickering) Dunson, hired as a proof reader (1955-1956), Mabel Rhodes, Percy Murphy.