John Henry Bufford (July 27, 1810 - October 8, 1870) was a Boston based lithographer and printer. Bufford was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He apprenticed as an artist and lithographer at Pendleton Lithography (1825 - 1836) of Boston. In 1835 he relocated to New York where he took independent commissions from George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier, among others. Returning to his hometown of Boston in 1839, he took a position of chief artist with the firm of Benjamin W. Thayer, heir to Pendleton Lithography. He probably married Thayer's sister, Anna Melora Tufts Thayer (1808-1878). Bufford has been highly criticized as an engraver, with one historian, David Tatham, stating he had 'a mediocre sort of craftsmanship at best' and 'no very special skills as an original artist.' We, however, find no justification for this harsh criticism. Instead Bufford gravitated toward business and management. By 1844 Thayer's shop was renamed J. H. Bufford and Company. The firm specialized in decorative sheet music, panoramic views, illustrations for books, retractions of paintings, and commercial printing. Bufford is credited with being one of the first employers and mentors of the important artist and engraver Winslow Homer. Bufford died in 1870, passing on the business to his sons Frank G. Bufford and John Henry Bufford Jr. These young men, operating under the imprint of 'J.H. Bufford's Sons, Manufacturing Publishers of Novelties in Fine Arts', expanded the firm with offices in New York and Chicago. A possibly related lithographic printing firm named Bufford Chandler was incorporated in Boston in 1893. It later relocated to Concord, New Hampshire but closed in 1925 when its state business charter was repealed. More by this mapmaker...

John Perry Newell (January 27, 1832 - April 20, 1898) was a New England lithographer and naval painter active in the mid-19th century. Newell was born in Newport, Rhode Island. Newell apprenticed under John Bufford (1810 - 1870) in Boston. He was drafted into the Union army in 1863 to fight in the Civil War (1861 - 1865). Afterwards, he returned to Newport where he established himself as an artist and lithographer. He traveled extensively in New England creating paintings for lithograph. His work proved popular with wealthy visitors to the Newport Summer Colony, and he was acclaimed at the 1866 Pennsylvania Academy. He left new England in 1882 and moved to Brighton, England, where he died in 1898. Learn More...

Warren Fales Draper (December 12, 1818 - January 8, 1905) was a publisher and bookseller based in Andover Massachusetts. Draper was born in West Dedham, Massachusetts (Westwood) and was a student of Phillips Andover Academy and later Amherst College. He initially wanted to become a minister and, after Amherst, began studies at the Andover Theological Academy. Poor eyesight forced him to leave the academy, so in 1849 took work with the Andover publishers Allen, Morill, and Wardwell. By 1854, he had become proprietor of said establishment. For the subsequent 40 years, he was the most prominent publisher and bookseller in Andover. There he married Irene Patience Rowley, herself was a graduate of Abbot's Female Academy (also in Andover). Draper published periodicals for Andover Theological Seminary and was, from 1855 through the Civil War, owner-publisher of the Andover Advertiser, a Republican-leaning weekly. He became quite wealthy and was known for his support of Abbot's Female Academy, Phillips Andover Academy, and Andover Theological. After his death in 1905, Claude Fuess, Phillips Andover Headmaster, wrote that Draper was an example of 'the old New England type of a Christian business man.' Learn More...