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The Davis Press, Inc.

Worcester, Massachusetts, USA (Printer, Publisher)

The Davis Press, Inc. was a publishing house founded in Paxton, Massachusetts by Gilbert Gates Davis (1859–1921), in partnership with George L. Sanford (under the name of Sanford and Davis) at 38 Front Street. In 1890, Davis became sole owner of the business under his own name. In 1901, The Davis Press was incorporated in Worcester, Massachusetts with Gilbert Davis as president. He and Fred Daniels, supervisor of drawing for the City of Worcester, wanted to create a periodical that would help art teachers develop and implement an art curriculum in the city's schools. Daniels, along with Henry Turner Bailey, state agent for the Promotion of Industrial Drawing, and James Hall, supervisor of drawing for the City of Springfield, founded the Applied Arts Guild and Gilbert Davis agreed to publish The Applied Arts Book (later known as SchoolArts Magazine), and thereby the publishing arm of The Davis Press was established.