Matthew H. Whittaker was born in Manchester in 1869. He worked for Linotype & Machinery Ltd in Broadheath, Altrincham, where he was taught by Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the Linotype. In 1919, Whittaker formed his own printers’ supply company in Leeds. M.H. Whittaker & Son Ltd specialised in repairing linecasters, especially Linotypes. They also acted as sales agents for Intertype linecasters. Whittaker became the first man to build the American Linotype and Intertype composing and casting machines in the United Kingdom and immediately started to modify the machines he installed to improve their efficiency and capability. Whittaker held several patents that improved linecaster technology, including a composing-stick attachment, a standardised space-band, and a device for casting and centering headline print. Some of his inventions were adopted by Linotype and used on their machines. In 1925, he stripped-down and altered star-based Model 1 Linotypes to produce a different type of linecaster. It was called the "Mickey Mouse", and used several of his inventions. M. H. Whittaker & Son Ltd grew as other composing and casting machines came on the market until it became one of the largest independent suppliers to the printing and newspaper industries. The business was carried on by M. H. Whittaker's grandson Peter who carried on the company's work on both supply and innovation until late in to the 20th century. As well as the links from Matthew Whittaker’s employment at Linotype & Machinery Ltd, M. H. Whittaker & Son was a machinery supplier to the large newspaper industry in the city of Manchester. The collection itself is a history of the composing and casting industry for the production of printing typefaces. Information was collected by the Whittakers from all over the world to create a historical record from the days of floor casting type to the modern computer composing techniques.