The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Pitman, Benn

PITMAN, Benn, American phonographer: b. Trowbridge, Wiltshire, 24 July 1822; d. Cincinnati, Ohio, 28 Dec. 1910. He was educated in the academy of his brother, Sir Isaac Pitman (q.v.), and for 10 years engaged in lecturing on and teaching phonography in England. In 1853 he came to this country and established the Phonographic Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, of which he was long president. His latter teaching differed in several particulars from that of his brother. He was military recorder of State trials during the Civil War, invented the electro-process of relief engraving, and in 1873-92 was lecturer on art and teacher of artistic wood-engraving in the Cincinnati Art Academy. He has published ‘Manual of Phonography’ (1854); ‘History of Shorthand’ (1858); ‘A Plea for American Decorative Art’ (1895); ‘Phonographic Dictionary’ (1899).