Joseph E. Ralph
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Joseph E. Ralph (1863–1922) was an official in the United States Department of the Treasury who was Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 1908 to 1917.
Biography[edit]
Joseph E. Ralph was born in Pennsylvania in 1863.[1] He was raised in Joliet, Illinois.[1]
After school, Ralph apprenticed in a steel works machine shop, ultimately becoming an expert mechanic.[1] He was active in union and political activities.[1] By these connections, he became Assistant Postmaster of the United States House of Representatives.[1] He was later Superintendent of Construction at Ellis Island.[1] He worked for the United States Customs Service as Deputy Collector at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.[1]
Ralph joined the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1895 as a plate cleaner.[1] In 1897, he became Custodian of Dies and Rolls.[1] He was made Assistant Director of the Bureau in 1906.[1] Upon the sudden death of Thomas J. Sullivan in 1908, Ralph replaced Sullivan as Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.[1] He resigned from the Bureau in 1917.[1]
After leaving government service, Ralph headed a banknote company.[1] He later became assistant to the president of U.S. Steel.[1]
Ralph died suddenly in 1922 at age 59.[1]