KENNEDY & SONS, FINE PRINTERS.
Kennedy & Sons collection, 1990-2019

Restrictions on Access

Unrestricted access.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Source

Purchase, 2001, with subsequent additions.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Kennedy & Sons collection, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Processing

Arranged and described at the folder level by Carrie Hintz, October, 2016.

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Historical Note

The African American commercial printing business, Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers, was founded by Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1995.

Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. was born in 1950 in Lafayette Louisiana. He graduated from the Grambling College in 1972 with a B.A. in Mathematics and worked as a computer programmer at IBM and AT&T for twenty years before leaving that career to pursue printing. He studied printing and book design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Walter Hamady, earning a Master of Fine Arts in 1997. Kennedy taught graphic design at Indiana University from 1999-2001 before leaving academia to open a print shop.

Kennedy produces both letterpress books, under the Kennedy & Sons name, and runs a commercial printing business called Kennedy Prints! that creates chipboard posters, business cards, bookmarks, and other commercial products. The commercial printing business was originally opened in York, Alabama under the name York Show Prints.

Kennedy moved his studio to Akron, Alabama, working in association with Auburn University’s Rural Studio. In 2008 he moved to Gordo, Alabama, to join a community of artists in Gordo centered around Glenn House and Kathy Fetters. In 2013 Kennedy again relocated his studio, this time to Detroit, Michigan.

Kennedy was a 2015 United States Artists Glasgow Fellow in Crafts and subject of a 2008 documentary by filmmaker Laura Zinger.

Kennedy has two sons, Amos Kennedy III and Adric Kennedy.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains books and printed material by Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers from 1990-2019, as well as some business records, promotional material, publicity, and work by other printers.

The majority of the collection is comprised of posters, placards, and small items printed by Amos Kennedy. This includes both commissioned work, often advertisements for community events or art festivals, and Kennedy’s own creative work. Kennedy’s non-commissioned work often takes the form of bright, irreverent, typographically-focused, posters on brown chipboard. These posters often explore themes of racial and social inequality.

Arrangement Note

Organized into 3 series: (1) Professional Files, (2) Work by Kennedy, (3) Work by Other Printers.