From Maurice Annenberg:
"Type Founders of America and Their Catalogs",
Oak Knoll Press, 1975.

H. C. Hansen Type Foundry, Boston, Massachusetts
1872-c1922

In the continuous and different articles about the H. C. Hansen
Type Foundry we have been unable to discover the meaning of the
abbreviations. Not even in the 1909 type catalog, which includes a
complete story of the founder and his foundry and where his name is
mentioned over a dozen times, or in the different awards and patents,
is his full name given.

Mr. Hansen, as many others in the type founding profession
during the formation years, was not born in this country, but in
Norway on October 16, 1845. His family was well-to-do, owning
water mills and iron works, allowing young Hansen to receive an
indoctrination into all phases of industry, including blacksmithing,
carpentry, painting, glazing, bridge building, and brick laying. He
wished to become a mechanical engineer.
He graduated from the School of Technology in 1866 and went
further afield to increase his technical skill, remaining for some time
in Denmark, Germany, and England, working in mechanical indus-
tries such as engine and ship building, boiler making, and the
manufacture of cylinder printing presses. At the end of his long
mechanical training period, instead of returning to his native Nor-
way he embarked for the United States, arriving in Boston in 1868 to
enter the employ of the Dickinson Type Foundry.
At the foundry he made himself extremely useful in all divi-
sions. It was stated that he could look at a mechanical problem and
immediately go to a drafting board and create the solution, and then
make the part. He remained at the Dickinson plant until the big
Boston fire of November 9, 1872, principally in the manufacture of
type, brass rule, leads, metal furniture, etc., a business in which he
had no prior experience.

The fire destroyed the plants of all the foundries of Boston,
except some mats, molds, and punches which had been stored in
vaults. All machinery and tools of the Dickinson plant were de-
stroyed, and it was these circumstances that convinced Hansen to go
into business for himself, with a new. concept on methods to man-
ufacture material, and with improved labor-saving machinery and
devices. According to his contemporaries his only resources were' 'a
two-foot measuring rule, plenty of brains, and limited capital."
He surprised everyone by working night and day, enabling him
to start filling orders by the end of 1872. This really meant that in less
than two months time he was able to install casters, start casting, and
create sales. Where formerly he had cast spaces and quads to the
irregular system used by different foundries, in 1875 he standardized
to match the point system recently established by the Marder, Luse
& Company type foundry of Chicago, and is credited with being the
first plant in New England to do so. Soon all other type foundries
were following his leadership.

When the American Type Founders consolidation was or-
ganized in 1892 there were five type founders in Boston: the Dickin-
son Type Founders, Boston Type Foundry, New England Type
Foundry, Curtis & Mitchell Type Foundry, and the H. C. Hansen
Type Foundry. The Dickinson and Boston foundries were absorbed
in the consolidation, the New England and Curtis & Mitchell were
shortly dissolved, and the only remaining independent was the
Hansen operation. This was stressed in all their advertising.
The father brought his two sons, L. A. and H. Alfred Hansen,
into the business, starting them in mechanical work. Under the
supervision of H. Alfred Hansen branches were established in other
cities and type was shipped to all parts of. the world.
Their type catalog of 1909 is rated one of the best that has ever
been produced, comparable to the American Type Founders Com-
pany and Barnhart Brothers & Spindler. In the catalog they were still
exclaiming' 'this type foundry is absolutely independent and is not
controlled by any combination or trust. " By 1922 appeared their last
advertisement in the American Printer and the release of a 72-page
type supplement. After that date they closed operations and the
machinery was dismantled.