American Graphic Arts has a long history of commitment to the graphic arts industry. Originally formed in the 1920s, the Weinstein family bought and sold used graphic arts machinery.

Specializing in die cutting and lithographic presses, the H. Weinstein Company thrived in a rapidly growing graphic arts industry. Mr. Weinstein’s nephew, Sidney White, joined the company in the 1930s and the H. Weinstein Machinery Company was forever changed.

Over the next several decades, Sidney White expanded the customer base and product mix. Sidney was responsible for moving the company from Manhattan to Elizabeth, New Jersey in the early 1970s. Later in the 1970s, Sidney White met a young, energetic man named John Jacobson at a bookbindery in Moonachie, New Jersey. John Jacobson had been the plant engineer at the Tapley Rutter Company for several years. He started his career at the JF Tapley Company in Brooklyn, which merged with the Russell Rutter Company to form Tapley Rutter. The Tapley Rutter Company made some of the finest Bibles and extra bound books worldwide. The close attention to fine detail and workmanship was admired and imitated throughout the industry.