Where can I find more information about a business that has been closed for decades?

by GroundsKeeper2

I'm trying to find more information about the old, family business in Pennsylvania. It was a print shop called Markowitz & Haas.

Trying to find out things like:

  • A logo, to be specific.

  • Any additional info would be nice.


Some sources I've found:

M&H basic info: https://www.industrycat.com/99/18012394599.html

Source of several books printed by M&H: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Venable%2C%20William%20Mayo%2C%201871%2D1955

Street view of M&H (05/04/1965): https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3A715.65117091_A8.CP

"The Children's Home of Pittsburgh: A Century of Service and Caring" - https://www.childrenshomepgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Childrens-Home-of-Pittsburgh-A-Century-of-Service-and-Caring.pdf

A Google Book (in German) that uses another book printed by M&H, as a citation. - I'll have to search for the book mentioned. https://books.google.com/books?id=dqPiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=%22markowitz+%26+haas%22+pennsylvania&source=bl&ots=0wEbWmtzYi&sig=ACfU3U1pXRl2mztWGh-KundZUr_oTt5ENQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVrcmVjIn6AhUnmGoFHbKuD384ChDoAXoECB0QAw#v=onepage&q=%22markowitz%20%26%20haas%22%20pennsylvania&f=false

Links that showed up in the results, and mentioned M&H, but I have to read through them to find the reference:

Affectionate-Egg8452

If you know that’s town or county that it was located in, I would recommend pursuing state licensing offices for records. I’m not familiar with what a print shop might need for licenses but they almost certainly would have had to pay taxes or have gone to local courts to deal with any disputes.

Another route would be looking at local papers, most have a older additions digitized on their websites or digitized thru local universities or museums. If you had a timeframe and general location you could poke thru digitized collections with a few key words. There might be old advertisements or announcements for the business opening?

Local historical societies also tend to have random stuff squirreled away somewhere so you could reach out to them too for info, research, or even fresh eyes with a baseline familiarity of the local history that might think of an angle you didn’t consider.