Sources & acknowledgments

The wiki draws on historical works about writing, lettering, and the American monument trade. A citation labels the scanned page as PDF p.N; when the printed page is legible, it is listed separately as printed p.M. For example, (DM PDF p.11; printed p.8). Older citations such as (LM p.146) also use the PDF page number. Use the PDF page to locate a scan directly; the printed number may be absent or unclear.

Key	Work	Date	Notes
DM	Monument Dealer’s Manual: “The Monument Man’s Encyclopedia”, edited by O. H. Sample. Chicago: Allied Arts Publishing Co.	1919	A handbook of reference articles and reader questions (“Asked and Answered”) reprinted from Monumental News.
LM	The Manual of Monumental Lettering. Madison, Wis.: Monumental News. Parts by J. W. Wyckoff and Robert L. Cook.	1921 reported; exact edition unverified	Part One: letter cutting with the pneumatic tool and by hand. Part Three: decorative treatment of lettering. Part Five: special alphabets. Part Six: shop hints.
GMB13	Granite, Marble and Bronze, Vol. XXIII. Boston: A. M. Hunt Co.	1913	Monthly trade journal.
MN15	Monumental News, Vol. XXVII. Chicago: Allied Arts Publishing Co.	1915	Monthly trade journal.
GMB16	Granite, Marble & Bronze, Vol. XXVI. Boston.	1916	Includes Huger Elliott’s series Monumental Design and Memorial Art and the November “Better Headstone Number”.
DAY02	Lettering in Ornament, by Lewis Foreman Day. London: B. T. Batsford; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.	1902 (cataloged; title leaf undated)	Chapter IV, “Monumental Inscriptions.” Smithsonian-contributed Internet Archive item; only selected page crops are used.
J1906	Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering, by Edward Johnston. London: John Hogg; diagrams and illustrations credited collectively to Johnston and Noel Rooke.	1906	Part I, Chapters II-V cover formal-hand tools, methods, models, and practice. The selected figures have no individual maker credits. Smithsonian Libraries item, scanned by Internet Archive.

The publication dates and provenance below do not by themselves establish current rights status. Rights have not been independently verified for every source. Pages combine original summaries with selected, credited historical illustrations where the source-specific rights basis is documented; verify local law before wider redistribution.

More resources

For verified outside histories, trade archives, professional training, and conservation guidance, see Further reading.

Reading these sources today

They are historical. Prices, tools, materials and especially chemical methods reflect their time. Process articles describe historical purposes and omit obsolete recipes. See Using this library for current reference points.
They are opinionated. The writers argued with each other: Cook and Elliott condemned the raised letters that most shops cut every day. Articles attribute opinions to the person who held them.
They are scanned text. OCR is a finding aid, not final evidence. Uncertain working dimensions have been removed.

Authors you’ll meet

J. W. Wyckoff: working letter cutter; wrote the practical chapters on pneumatic and hand lettering (LM Part One) and drew the “Colonial” Roman alphabet.
Robert L. Cook: monument designer (W. F. Cook Granite Co., Springfield, Mass.); wrote on the design, spacing and arrangement of inscriptions (LM Part Three).
Huger Elliott: architect and critic; wrote Monumental Design and Memorial Art in Granite, Marble & Bronze (1916).
A. S. Hill: designer, Milwaukee; wrote on lettering headstones and two-piece monuments (GMB16).

Acknowledging the original work

This library depends on the writers, designers, editors, printers and craftspeople who documented the monument trade. Credit belongs to their original contributions. Modern summaries, reconstructed typefaces and explanatory drawings are separate editorial work; they do not imply endorsement by the historical authors or holding institutions.

Each subject article gives page references and a source-credit note linked to this register. The illustrated vocabulary and Wyckoff pages also carry fuller contributor and image records. Unidentified article writers and illustrators remain explicitly unverified.

DM · Monument Dealer's Manual

Verified locally: the title/copyright page (PDF p.4) names O. H. Sample as editor, Allied Arts Publishing Co., Chicago, Press of Monumental News, and copyright 1919. The cited vocabulary diagrams (PDF pp.11–12) do not identify an individual illustrator. An editor credit is not an authorship credit for every contribution.

Local reference: Monument_Dealer_s_Manual.pdf, retained in the private source library. PDF page numbers in this wiki refer to that scan. The title/copyright page (PDF p.4) confirms U.S. publication and copyright in 1919. The three reviewed page crops remain in the private source store and are excluded from the public release pending scan-host terms and individual diagram-credit review. The full source PDF is not bundled.

LM · The Manual of Monumental Lettering

Verified locally: the alphabet plate (PDF p.146 / printed p.138) credits J. W. Wyckoff. The scan identifies a Columbia University original and Google digitization; PDF metadata identifies HathiTrust nnc1.0036694738. The local reference is Manual_of_Monumental_Lettering_HathiTrust.pdf.

Bibliographic evidence: the Monument Lettering Center history reports first publication in 1921. This is secondary evidence, not confirmation of the scanned edition. A contemporary advertisement in Monumental News, September 1927, printed p.533, corroborates the title and publisher Monumental News, Madison, Wisconsin.

Catalog access: HathiTrust record/viewer. The record was unavailable during the provenance review; exact edition date and the item’s reuse designation remain unverified. Holding-library and digitization credits acknowledge custody and scanning, not endorsement or permission.

Editorial tool-bench image

The homepage “Tools by role” feature uses an AI-generated editorial image supplied as a project asset. The file record does not identify a model or individual creator. It depicts a generic bench, hand tools, a measuring square and stone; it is not a historical photograph, a product depiction, or evidence for a tool’s identity, use, or safety.

Rights and image labels

Attribution alone does not establish reuse rights. The DM and MN15 publication dates and local scan provenance are recorded, but the scan-host reuse terms and individual diagram/illustrator credits remain unresolved. All DM and MN15 page crops are excluded from this public release. Other reproduced historical figures are limited to sources with an item-specific U.S. rights basis recorded below; those designations do not extend worldwide. Full source PDFs are not bundled. See Duke Law Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Public Domain Day 2025.

Historical source image: a reproduction of an original plate or photograph. It needs creator credit when known, publication, page, holding/source link and an evidenced reuse status. Selected source-faithful, non-destructive crops from Johnston (1906, Archive PDF pp.56, 70, 79, 80, 90, 96, 121, 128, 203-205, 213, 221, 297, 395, 397, 398; printed pp.52, 66, 75, 76, 86, 92, 117, 124, 199-201, 209, 217, 293, 391, 393, 394), Page (1886, Archive PDF pp.34, 44-59, 235, 239, 373, 377; printed pp.9-31, 156-159, 239-245), Day (1902, Archive PDF pp.79, 81-84; printed pp.43, 45-48), and Brown (1909 printing, Archive PDF pp.157-159, 189; printed pp.133-135, 165) are reproduced on the linked subject pages. The source pages remain in the private review collection; source page and contributor credits accompany each figure.
Modern editorial illustration: a new explanatory drawing. The cap/die/base and panel-section diagrams were created with AI assistance for this wiki, drawing on cited terminology. They are not historical artifacts or construction drawings.
Modern digital specimen: type rendered from a reconstructed font. Wyckoff’s source alphabet and the editorial reconstruction are credited separately; reconstruction does not resolve source rights.
AI illustration: generated scenes are labeled as imagined editorial context, not historical photographs or documentary evidence. They are not technical measurements or product specifications.

Historical practices are presented for study. Any future modern technical guidance needs its own current, qualified sources; period instructions are not silently updated into present-day advice.

Editorial workshop image

The homepage feature is an AI-generated editorial illustration supplied through ChatGPT Library for this project. It imagines a generic workshop with a blank granite tablet, floral ornament and hand tools. It does not depict Johnson Monument Company’s actual premises, and is not historical or technical evidence. The generation model and individual artist are not identified in the supplied record.

The original 1536 × 1024 PNG is preserved in the source assets; responsive derivatives reduce page weight. The optional Antique treatment applies only to this image’s presentation, leaves the original bytes intact and does not change its AI-generated status. Technical lettering specimens and stone illustrations retain their original presentation.

GMB13 — Granite, Marble and Bronze, 1913

Volume XXIII, Boston: A. M. Hunt Co. Local scan: Granite (1).pdf. Regional-granite pages include promotional notices; their individual writers have not been verified. A public scan link and scan reuse terms remain unverified.

GMB16 — Granite, Marble & Bronze, 1916

Volume XXVI, Boston. Local scan: Granite.pdf. Named design contributions include Huger Elliott and A. S. Hill; other report and promotional authors remain unverified. A public scan link and scan reuse terms remain unverified.

MN15 — Monumental News, 1915

Volume XXVII, Allied Arts Publishing Co., Chicago. Local scan: Monumental_News_Devoted_to_Monumental_an.pdf. James Currie is credited for the quoted design essay. Richard A. Swanson is credited as the Smails mausoleum designer, not as the report’s writer. The Kearny report names sculptor Edward C. Potter, granite contractor John Edwards, Jr. and bronze caster Gorham Company; its writer remains unidentified. Public scan access remains unverified. The considered ornament plate names Wyckoff as article author but does not separately identify an illustrator; its scan-host reuse terms remain unresolved, so the crop is excluded from this release.

Current reference additions — October 2026

The article notes distinguish U.S. occupational standards from preservation advice. OSHA FS-3697 is dated September 2014; the linked regulatory pages were checked October 17, 2026. NPS’s Cleaning Grave Markers page was updated March 16, 2022; VA’s government-furnished-marker guidance was updated February 15, 2023. Links and applicable sections are provided with each claim. Current availability does not imply that an older fact sheet supersedes a regulation.

The blast-exposure diagram is an original AI-assisted editorial vector drawing created in October 2026. Its three-source relationship is paraphrased from OSHA FS-3697 p.1; no agency image, logo or equipment illustration was copied. It is a conceptual reading aid, not an exposure assessment or certified safety diagram.

PAGE1886 - James Page, Guide for Drawing the Acanthus

Physical edition verified: the title leaf identifies Guide for Drawing the Acanthus, and Every Description of Ornamental Foliage, by “I. Page,” Ornamental Draftsman and Designer; London: Bernard Quaritch; “re-printed 1886.” The Internet Archive catalog identifies the creator as James Page, designer, and the item as an 1886 London, B. Quaritch reprint. The archive item is guidefordrawinga00pagerich.

Selected pages: the first chapter, “History and Rules for Drawing the Acanthus Mollis, Perpendicularly,” supplies printed pp. 9-10 and 15-20 / Archive PDF pp. 33-34 and 41-46. Plate 1 shows its proportional framework; Plates 4-6 show the change from a clear outline through a higher-view treatment to richer close-view drawing. The next chapter opens on printed p. 21 / PDF p. 49; printed pp. 22-25 and 27-31 map to PDF pp. 50-53 and 55-59. Page 21 opens “Rules and Practice for Curvilinear Foliage”; Plates 7-10 show leaf geometry, outline, modeled folds, and projection around a curved architectural member. Chapter V, “On the Designing of Trophies,” is printed pp. 112-116 / Archive PDF pp. 156-160; the unnumbered illustration on printed p. 116 is PDF p. 160 and has no standalone caption or separate draughtsman credit. Chapter “On Frets and Guillochis” is printed pp. 156-159; its explanatory text maps to Archive PDF pp. 232 and 241-243, with selected unnumbered plates at PDF pp. 235 and 239. “On Mouldings” begins on printed p. 239 and continues through p. 245; selected text maps to PDF pp. 371-372, 375-376, and 380-381, with unnumbered profile plates at PDF pp. 373 and 377. The Archive item lists 398 scan pages; selected citations use page numbers from the downloaded 386-page PDF. Rights evidence and limits: Archive item metadata reports no visible copyright notice, gives possible status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT, and specifies the United States as the copyright region. This is item-level, U.S.-specific catalog evidence, not a worldwide legal determination. The local wiki reproduces fifteen selected Page visuals documented in the private review manifests: a full-page opening, Fig. 3, Plates 1 and 4-10, four selected unnumbered plates for frets and mouldings, and one unnumbered trophy illustration (printed p. 116 / PDF p. 160). It does not bundle the full PDF. See the Internet Archive item record.

The title leaf names “I. Page” as ornamental draftsman and designer; the preface says he undertook the work as author, engraver, and printer. No separate draughtsman is credited for the selected figures and plates, so none is inferred.

DAY02 - Lewis Foreman Day, Lettering in Ornament

Physical edition verified: the title leaf names Lewis Foreman Day and the publishers B. T. Batsford (London) and Charles Scribner’s Sons (New York), but prints no date. The Smithsonian Libraries and Internet Archive item records identify the Smithsonian-contributed edition as 1902 (letteringinornam00dayl).

Selected pages: Chapter IV, “Monumental Inscriptions,” printed pp.43-48 map to Archive PDF pp.79-84 in the 266-page downloaded PDF. Figures 27-31 were visually checked. The articles reproduce Figs.27-31: raised letters in marble (printed p.43 / PDF p.79), the tomb of Mary of Burgundy in Bruges (printed p.45 / PDF p.81), the incised inscription on Benozzo Federighi’s tomb (printed p.46 / PDF p.82), an embossed silver-gilt inscription from Dalmatia (printed p.47 / PDF p.83), and a cast-iron grave slab (printed p.48 / PDF p.84). Day’s illustration list attributes the Federighi tomb to Luca della Robbia and dates it 1450. The book does not identify separate makers for the printed reproductions of Figs.27-31. Chapter VI, “Scrolls or Labels,” printed pp.75-86 / PDF pp.111-122, adds Figs.57-58: printed p.83 / PDF p.119, captioned “Bookplate by H. S. Beham,” and printed p.85 / PDF p.121, captioned “Engraved on copper by H. S. Beham.” Day compares their lettering placement on printed p.86 / PDF p.122.

Conjoined letters: Chapter VIII, “Conjoined Letters,” begins at printed p. 107 / Archive PDF p. 143. Figs. 83 and 84 are both captioned “Diagram of conjoint letters” on printed p. 112 / PDF p. 148. The descriptive list (printed p. xvii / PDF p. 29) describes Fig. 83 as “conjoint letters of various periods” and Fig. 84 as “diagram”; neither the captions nor list identifies an individual draughtsman.

Monograms: Chapter IX, “Monograms,” is printed pp. 114-128 / Archive PDF pp. 150-164. Figs. 90-91 are printed p. 118 / PDF p. 154. Their printed captions read “F L, reversible” and “S P L, continuous.” The descriptive list on printed p. xviii / Archive PDF p. 30 calls Fig. 90 a continuous monogram and credits it “by J. Bonella. (Barclay.)”; it groups Figs. 91-92 as the continuous monograms “S. P. L. and G. P. L.” and credits the pair “by W. H. Rogers. (Barclay.)” The p. 118 image is Fig. 91, the S. P. L. example. Day discusses sequence and relative importance on printed pp. 121-128 / PDF pp. 157-164. The new article’s short practice exercise is a present-day application, not a historical monument-shop instruction.

Rights evidence and limits: the Smithsonian Libraries record for this exact item identifies the work as public domain and “No Copyright - United States.” This is an item-specific U.S.-law statement, not a worldwide rights determination. The selected source-faithful crops and their smaller display derivatives are documented in the private review manifest; the full source PDF is not bundled with the wiki. See the Smithsonian item record, Internet Archive record, and U.S. rights statement definition.

J1906 - Edward Johnston, Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering

Physical edition verified: London: John Hogg, 1906. The title page credits the diagrams and illustrations collectively to Edward Johnston and Noel Rooke; the selected figures do not name individual makers. The Smithsonian Libraries-contributed Internet Archive scan is item writingillumina00john.

Selected pages: Part I, Chapters II-III provide the nib and pen-position examples in Broad-edged pen. Chapters IV-V provide model analysis and formal-hand practice. The new practice lesson uses Figs.51-52 (printed pp.75-76 / Archive PDF pp.79-80), Fig.58 (printed p.86 / PDF p.90), and Fig.65 (printed p.92 / PDF p.96). Printed pages are mapped to the downloaded 520-page PDF scan.

Rights evidence and limits: the Smithsonian Libraries record for this exact item identifies it as “No Copyright - United States.” This is an item-specific U.S.-law statement, not a worldwide rights determination. Only selected page crops are reproduced; the complete source PDF remains in private review storage. See the Smithsonian item record and Internet Archive scan.

BROWN1909 - Frank Chouteau Brown, Letters & Lettering

Physical edition verified: the title leaf reads Letters & Lettering: A Treatise with 200 Examples, Frank Chouteau Brown, Boston: Bates & Guild Company, MCMIX (1909). The copyright leaf reads “Seventh Thousand” and “Copyright, 1902, by Bates & Guild Company.” The Internet Archive item lettersletterin00brow, contributed by Smithsonian Libraries, catalogs the work as 1902; the reviewed 250-page PDF is the 1909 printing, not a title leaf dated 1902.

Selected pages: printed pp. 133-135 map to Archive PDF pp. 157-159; printed p. 165 maps to PDF p. 189. Fig. 144 (p. 133) is “German Blackletter Construction,” credited in Brown’s illustration list to Albrecht Dürer and sourced there to his Underweyssung (Nuremberg, 1525). Figs. 145-146 show manuscript-derived German blackletters and a rounded-angle variant; Fig. 175 is German Gothic capitals from manuscripts. The printed list and captions do not identify a particular draughtsman for Figs. 145, 146 or 175. Chapter V, “To the Beginner,” printed pp.199-205 / Archive PDF pp.223-229, includes Figs.210-211, diagrams for enlarging a panel from an upper-left corner or a perpendicular centerline (printed pp.204-205 / PDF pp.228-229). The illustration list names no separate draughtsman for these diagrams.

Rights evidence and limits: the exact Smithsonian Libraries item is marked “No Copyright - United States.” This is an item-level, U.S.-only designation, not a worldwide rights determination. The selected high-resolution crops and separate display derivatives are listed in the private brown-1902-increment/SOURCE_MANIFEST.md; the full PDF is stored outside the web repository. See the Smithsonian item record and Internet Archive record.