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Antioch Company was founded in 1926 by Ernest Morgan and Walter Kahoe, students
at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Ernest and Walter worked at the campus
print shop as part of a work/study program offered by the college. Distressed
by the volume of paper cut-offs generated by the printing process, the two students
decided to find ways to turn waste into an opportunity. Scrounging printing supplies
and using the shop's press after hours, they printed a trial press run of decorative
bookplates. With permission from the college, the students
named their venture The Antioch Bookplate Company. Eventually, Kahoe sold his
interest to Morgan for the sum of two hundred dollars. Morgan continued his education
during daylight hours and printed bookplates and bookmarks by night. |  |
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As Morgan neared the end of his academic education, an attractive employment
opportunity with McGraw-Hill presented itself. He had to decide between a promising
future with an established publishing firm or continuing the struggle to make
his own business grow. After much thought, he chose to risk following his
own course because his dreams included much more than simply earning a living.
His goal was to create a "community of work," based on the Quaker values with
which he was raised. These values included honesty, mutual respect, tolerance,
recognition of the dignity of people and their ideas, and corporate and individual
responsibility. | | |
| Far ahead of his time, Ernest looked
upon the workplace as a community of equals, sharing in the process of meaningful
work and its rewards. As early as 1929, profit-sharing was practiced at The Antioch
Bookplate Company. When the company incorporated after World War II, employees
were allowed to nominate two of their own board members, a practice that continues
to this day. The company grew. Its business and people prospered. Antioch's
products included bookplates, bookmarks, calendars and commercial printing. Sales
reached $350,000 annually in 1968, when Lee Morgan, Ernest's youngest son, joined
the company as treasurer, eventually becoming president and C.E.O. |
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