The "Amending America: Part III" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished looking at the LancasterHistory.org display called "Amending America: The Bill of Rights" and was on my way out when one final painting caught my attention.  

Portraiture of Lydia Steele Bailey by Jacob Eicholtz.
You can see her holding a book she printed as well
as a job stick in her left hand. Click to enlarge image.

A painting very similar to the Crucifix that hangs in the Chapel at St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster that was painted by Lancaster artist, Jacob Eicholtz whose portraiture's were painted in the Romantic Victorian tradition.  I walked over to the painting and saw the portraiture of Lydia Steele Bailey painted by Eicholtz.  Wasn't sure who she may be, but did notice her holding, in her left hand...a job stick, known to some as a typesetter's composing stick.  Now the painting had my total attention.  Next to the artwork was a brief summary of Lydia Steele Bailey telling that she had a successful career as a businesswoman in a world of men.  

Sign in front of the Lancaster Newspaper
Office in downtown Lancaster, PA.

She was born in nearby Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Her father, William and his brothers all served with distinction in the American Revolutionary War.  Her father and his brothers established the Steele Paper Mill in Lancaster County while her mother, herself born a Bailey, was the sister of prominent Revolutionary-era printers, Jacob and Francis Bailey.  Francis was recognized as one of the United States' first type-founders and an official printer for Congress and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Lancaster's downtown newspaper was at one time known as Bailey's Printshop.  At the age of 19 she married her cousin, printer Robert Bailey.  He died ten years later in 1808, leaving her to raise their four children.  

LancasterHistory.org has this book that was printed
by Lydia Steele Bailey in Philadelphia, PA.

Most other women at the time would have found a man to take over the business, but Lydia wasn't like most other women.  She continued the business which had offices in both Philadelphia and Lancaster.  She later became the first woman appointed official printer for the City of Philadelphia.  She received contracts with the University of Pennsylvania and various banks and canal companies.  She was a staunch Presbyterian and printed much material for the church as well as the Female Tract Society, the Orphan Society, the Indigent Widow's and Single Women's Society and the Ladies' Liberia School Association.  

The Annual Report for the
Union Canal Company of PA.

She occasionally published books and pamphlets, but chose to concentrate primarily on book and job printing for others.  She was the master printer of a shop that at its peak was one of the largest in the city, employing more than forty workers.  She worked until the age of eighty-two and lived to the age of eighty-nine.  She closed her business upon retirement.  Most women during the same time in history didn't experience the freedom of economic solvency, independence and social control that she did.  I have a few books printed in Lancaster by Francis Bailey, but none by Lydia Steele Bailey.  I will have to see if I can find something printed by her to add to my collection.  The painting that drew my attention proved to be not only a beautiful piece of artwork, but a lesson in history for me.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.