By Stacy Locke
Title: Charles M. Higgins Collection, 1905-1943
Extent: 1.0 Boxes
Date Acquired: 05/01/2017
Subjects: Anti-Vaccination League of America, Anti-vaccination movement, Charles M. Higgins & Co., Higgins, Chas. M. (Charles Michael), 1854-, Ink Industry, Prohibition
Languages: English
The Charles M. Higgins Collection contains material pertaining to Charles M. Higgins and his ink manufacturing company, Charles M. Higgins and Co., compiled by an unknown collector. It is arranged into three series: published booklets, reproduction photographs, and manufactured materials.
Published pamphlets include six titles in two folders written by Charles M. Higgins, arranged chronologically by publication date, on the topics of vaccinations, prohibition, and transportation, dating between 1905 and 1919.
Reproduction photographs includes seven images in one folder pertaining to Charles M. Higgins & Co., arranged by subject, including a portrait of Charles Higgins, followed by several images of the company offices, factory, and store room.
Manufactured materials include one folder and one box of material produced by Charles M. Higgins & Co., later Higgins Ink Co, Inc.; including 18 bookplates, one packaging box, and three bottles of Higgins’ Brick-Red Ink.
All items were donated to The Green-Wood Historic Fund by Doris V. Amen in May 2017.
Charles M. Higgins (1854-1929) was an ink manufacturer and the creator of Higgins’ American India Ink. Higgins was born in County Leitrim, Ireland, in 1854. He immigrated to the United States at the age of six and lived with his family in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. He would reside in his childhood home at 101 Prospect Park West, not far from The Green-Wood Cemetery, for the duration of his life.
Higgins was twenty-six years old when he invented his world famous Higgins American India Ink. After working as a draftsman at Scientific American, he saw firsthand the need for quality ink and began developing an ink formula of his own. Higgins founded Charles M. Higgins & Company to manufacture his invention. Initially based in his home on Prospect Park West, the company soon moved to 271 9th Street. In eight years’ time, popular periodicals of New York were being published using Higgins’ ink. At the start of the twentieth century, Higgins had offices in New York, Chicago, and London, and his products were sold worldwide.
Higgins wasn’t only a prominent ink manufacturer, he also wrote about social and political issues, speaking out about religious ethics and morality. He was an early opponent to compulsory vaccines, producing several works citing them as dangerous to human health and serving as treasurer of the Anti-Vaccination League of America. Higgins was also a founding members of the Kings County Historical Society. With a passion for the Battle of Long Island, he was the primary mover behind the Altar to Liberty being erected on Green-Wood’s Battle Hill, which memorializes the battle. He also spoke out against corporate decisions and published his views on what actions he believed should be taken by political leaders. Higgins wrote 8 books as well as much public correspondence in his lifetime.
Charles M. Higgins died in his home in 1929 at age seventy-five. He is interred at The Green-Wood Cemetery in lot 23554, Section G/J, on Battle Hill. After his death, his son, Tracy Higgins (1901-1983) served as president of the Company. The company name was changed from Charles M. Higgins & Company to Higgins Ink Co. Inc. in 1941. Higgins’ Ink is still in use to this day, popular with artists, though it is now owned by Sanford Ink.
Anti-Vaccination League of America
Anti-vaccination movement
Charles M. Higgins & Co.
Higgins, Chas. M. (Charles Michael), 1854-
Ink Industry
Prohibition
Repository: Historical Collections
Acquisition Source: Doris V. Amen
Acquisition Method: Gifted to the Green-Wood Historic Fund by Doris V. Amen
